Any swimmers?

hey! I love swimming, it is not my number one activity but I am trying to hit the pool at least once in two weeks! two days ago I had such a great time swimming that it still makes me feel so good when I even think about it:)

I just sometimes have a problem that I don´t have enough things to think about so I just keep watching the clock:/ how do you stay motivated and interested? any tips?

Right now I only swim once per week and I stay in the pool for an hour without taking too many breaks. I'm not sure how long the pool is at my gym (less than 25 yards for sure), so I have no idea how many yards I am doing which is kind of annoying. I do just try to make up little sets for myself even so. For example, one day I did 20 lengths of the pool 3 times with a short break in between. Another one I really liked was doing 10 lengths of the pool, sprinting one length, then slow and easy the next. I also like to give myself little challenges such as seeing how far I can go without taking a breath or swimming 50 lengths without stopping. To the person who gets bored, try changing things up with different strokes or using a kick board or pull buoy. I am also thinking about buying paddles--I saw them in an online swim shop the other day and had completely forgotten about them. Or if you have a waterproof watch you could try swimming a certain amount of time (10, 20, 30 minutes) and see how many lengths you can get in and then try to see if you can do more each week. You could also look online for swimming workouts.

Thanks for posting that site kspecks! Last night I was forced to use my gym's indoor pool due to rain (why in the world they closed the outdoor one for rain alone I do not understand) and they had the workout up for a swim training class that I have been too intimidated to attend (even though I swam competitively for half my life!). I adjusted some of the interval times and cut the last set in half because I was tired and it was already 7pm, (I also added a cool down) but I LOVED having a directed workout. If anyone has any other sites they use for swimming workouts please post them!

If you are interested, this is the workout I did (the pool is 20 yards)

200 swim/kick/pull (600 yd)
8x40 alternating IM on :50 (320 yd)
fly/bk br/fr bk/br fr/fly
3x {1x160 pull 3:00 (720 yd)
{4x20 :30
{1-uw kick 2-swim 3-bi-lateral 4-fast
40 easy (40 yd)
4x100 1:50 (400 yd)
80 easy (80 yd)

Total 2160 yd...holy crap

I was a lifeguard/swimming instructor for over 10 years...and I grew up at the pool. It has gone to the back burner since moving around and didn't really have a pool with a schedule that fit mine. Those days are over so I am back to getting my swims back to where they were. I love it! I also run, but swimming was my first love!

Another good site is www.swimplan.com. It allows you to put in your settings and what you want to use for equipment and what strokes you want to do and will make a 30-45min or 45-60 min workout for you based on your information. It also gives you a place to enter time trials for different distances so you can see how you progress.

Feel free to add me, anyone. Always looking to find people with similar interests

Yup swimmer here-I go frequently-sometimes twice a day, until my shoulder gives out-I do triathlons and love them-welcome back!

I love swimming but I haven't been since I moved (just over a year ago). I WANT to but I'm too scared to go to the pool for some reason
I miss swimming so much though!

Yep I swim! I'm a complete newbie really, i just finished my beginner course at the end of July, so am doing half an hour, twice a week at my gym and will be doing the improver course at the end of August - so I only do ten lengths of 25m each so far, but am working on it slowly and building up my stamina and concentrating on enjoying being in the water I used to run, but by far prefer getting in the pool! And no need to fork out on expensive trainers

I like a swim daily - although I did stop for a while due to an incident of "pool rage" :laugh:

Back in the pool now, feel free to add me other fisheys! :bigsmile:

Just a warning - I am approximately slower than a three-legged elephant in the pool...but I get it done

I was on a swim team most my childhood. Lived at the pool. Was also a lifeguard, water safety instructor, and now I'm back to being a swim coach for the team that I was on growing up (second time coaching). I love swimming.

I'm also a swimmer. I used to be on our local swim team as a kid. Did that for years. I started up again a couple of years ago and lost 60 lbs doing it. Then I had a horrible knee injury that had me off my feet for almost a full year. Needless to say, I gained all my weight back. I had tried running (prior to injury) because I thought it would help with weight loss. I think the wear and tear on my knees actually contributed to my knee injury. I've since been told by my specialist that running and high impact sports are out for me. That is if I want to be able to walk in the next few years, lol
So I'm back to swimming! Great exercise and it's my "down time". The world goes away and I'm completely focused on "ME" when I'm in the pool. Silent, except the sound of my strokes.
I'm still working up my endurance. Managed to do 40 laps today in about as many minutes. My goal is to do 50 in as much time, then re-assess.
Nice to meet some fellow swimmers here, feel free to add me as a friend