Long swims getting real boring

I always pick the last lane next to where the female water polo team practices.  Sometimes it's a tad too distracting!

x2 for PACE BOOTAY!

However, the next paycheck I am getting a H2OAudio case for my shuffle. I stared at that black line for 17+ years, now it drives me nuts.

John

Yeah, thought about getting a SwiMP3. They look kind of silly, but it sure would beat the boredom. 

Well I'm out on Martha's Vineyard this week, come join me, did a couple miles this morning, water temp was perfect (no wetsuit needed), bright sun, lady lifeguards training on the beach... alas I'll be back to the line soon enough... I actually rarely do straight long swims other than as a time test.  Most swimmers I know never did very long swims (like 1 mile straight), even the milers.  But when I do them I just try and focus on my breathe and do some meditation type junk.

This except we don't have any water polo teams I just pick a lane next to the cutest girl   Be warned though if they are too cute this strategy can back fire. 

On days when I'm doing drills and sets it's not as bad. But like this morning when I just wanted to get 2.5K in, man did it feel like a drag.

Lots of workouts here:

http://navymasters.com/

I would also suggest a masters group if you have access to one and it fits your schedule.

FWIW, unless I'm doing a test set or a race, I will never swim more than about 500m straight (and that's pretty rare).  Lots of stuff in the 50-300 range though with several repeats on varying rest.

Shane

I agree that breaking it up is a much better way to swim. If you train long and slow you'll race long and slow. I only long swims as time trials and they are only about 25 minutes long at the longest. Also if you cant find a water polo team theres always water aerobics. Haha

x2.
I only do a long continuous swim about once a month, and then I pop on the swiMP3 and just zone out to the music.  All other swim workouts are sets with short rest periods.

H2O Interval for the Shuffle had me double my swim workouts overnight.

Good luck finding one for the G2 Shuffle, but they have one for the newer crappy Shuffles too, as well as several other case options, but the Interval on the goggle straps is awesome.

-eric 

echo'ing others - break it up - do some sets, and for even more enjoyment (and more rapid improvement) do some speed play (fartlek), ex:

Here is an excerpt from a blog post that I just completed on this very subject (link at the bottom to see full post):


I hear a question often repeated by self-coached endurance athletes: how do you keep form getting bored while doing long swims? The short/most frequent answer I hear is: don't do them, break them into smaller chunks. Which is pretty good advice, however, when long, straight swimming is necessary it doesn't have to be boring. What follows are some examples of activities that you can do to make a straight swim more exciting, and some good, endurance building broken swim sets.

The athletes main tool for overcoming boredom in long swims is speed play (fartlek). By changing speed within a given swim you can find yourself so focused on counting your different chunks of distance and holding good form that the laps just melt away. Two examples:

Ex #1 (ladder style speed-play):
1 x 1000 swim, alternate 50 slow/50 fast, 100 slow/100 fast, 150 slow/150 fast, 200 slow/200 fast

Ex #2 (pyramid style speed-play - this is from my old masters coach, the "locomotive", done with no breaks between repeats, so it is a continuous 1650 yard swim. Note that you always alternate a slow with a fast swim, but by doing only 1 x 150, you end up finishing your last effort fast):

2 x 25 fast/slow, 2 x 50 f/s, 2 x 75 f/s, 2 x 100 f/s, 2 x 125 f/s,
1 x 150 fast
2 x 125 s/f, 2 x 100 s/f, 2 x 75 s/f, 2 x 50 s/f, 2 x 25 s/f

Read Full post: "Going Long Without Going Bonkers" - http://www.findingfreestyle.com/passive-technique-blog

regards,
r.b.

great post, thanks.

Another vote for breaking it up.  I did my first Olympic Tri last weekend and that was the first time that I swam 1500m straight in probably 15 years since I quit swimming competitively - and to tell you the truth, I might have done a straight 1500 once in a pool prior to that.

Besides being a lot less boring, you will get a lot more out of your work out by doing sets.

Here's a quote from a blog I just read by Tim Manley, 

Think Quality of Training Volume Not Quantity

"If you want to race 1500m fast then swim 1500m fast in your workout!  There’s many ways to swim 1500m fast, i.e.; 15 x 100’s @ :30-1:00 rest or 3 x 500 @ :40-2:00 rest or even 30 x 50’s @ :30-1:00 rest"

I would also say finding a team is key.  If you have not tried, look for a team to swim with at www.USMS.org.  There are training groups every where.  Besides the fact that you will have a coach on deck, you are much more likely to push yourself if you are training with someone.

When I go to Y by myself to swim, I mess around for a few thousand yards, and then come up with an excuse to get out.

When I train with a masters team , I push it hard the entire way, and get a lot more yards in.

Great thread and great points. I dread swimming b/c I get sooo bored. I am also not a very good swimmer (pretty slow). Usually I just get in and go for x time straight and then get out. After reading this thread it now makes a lot more sense to me to break up the workout and do speed drills. All of my runs are not 20 milers and all of my rides are not 4 to 5 hours. Need to take the same mentality into swimming and break it up a bit.

Thanks!
Buck

There's no way around it. The 6000yrd long sets (in prep for a 5k swim) were awful. Just mind numbing awful.

But the only way to make it easier was to do it. Swim it. Find something to dwell on, and do it. Think FORM for a few laps, practice transitions (in your head), something...anything...

On a more serious note though, my now workouts, now that the 5k is over, are sets. Sets broken up make it a whole lot easier.

Just got back from my swim at the Y. The YOUNGEST woman is the WA class was 60+,  how is that for a visual?

This thread makes it evident that a great many people are experiencing boredom in their swim training. Is it a fair statement that those who find long swims boring don't find long bikes or runs boring?
If so, the difference is partially captured by Joe's description of swim practice as "following the black line." On a long run or ride there is the potential diversion of all the nature you can see, and even the possibility of socializing if it's a group ride or run.

Apart from that, I'm curious to learn whether those who experience boredom while swimming - but not while running or riding - find it more difficult to invest their swim practice with a sense of purpose equal to that they may feel in land training? Any input on this question would be of interest and value to me, and provide a better basis for answering the question.

Speaking from personal experience -- both from my own training and input received from many people whose swimming practice is guided by TI principles -- the amount of interest you can generate seems to be a matter of
1) appropriate and concrete goals
2) designing your practice to provide feedback which measures progress toward those goals,
3) continually adjusting your goals upward as benchmarks are achieved.

Some of the feedback and metrics are qualitative - i.e. how a particular part of your stroke FEELS - and some is quantitative - how many strokes, what tempo, what distance or duration, what pace. In every quantitative set I do, I always use at least two of those to measure my progress toward a particular goal.

If your goal for the day is "get in 2500 yards" then your feedback loop may be limited to counting laps. No one would argue that's a tracking method that offers little possibility of engagement or interest.

If on the other hand, you add just one piece to that goal "complete 2500 yards at an average stroke count of 16 SPL" then you have a goal that will necessarily focus your attention. The mere fact of keener focus will make the time pass more quickly. Not to mention that the 2500 will have more strongly wired your nervous system for greater efficiency.

I have some further thoughts but rather than turn this into a very long post, I'll put them into a new reply.

I really do think it is time for me to start breaking up my swims, most of my swims have been straight out 1x500- 1x1500.
And quite frankly I am not seeing much  (if any Improvement) except in my endurance.
That quote of if you all you is to swim long slow distances that is all you will do, really makes more sense.
Monday is the next scheduled swim, that is what I will do.
Thankk you all for the affirmation of what I have been suspecting for about 6 months now.

There's a striking contrast in the widespread boredom reported on this thread and an absolute absence of any reports of boredom in threads on the TI Discussion Forum. To the contrary, the overwhelming spirit one feels in the questions and chronicles posted there is of keen interest, motivation and enjoyment. Click here to see for yourself. http://www.totalimmersion.net/forums

One reason I can point to is that, some 10 years ago, we began to emphasize the "behaviors of excellence" in TI methodology, as much as the mechanics of stroke efficiency. One of the earliest sources of insight into that was the book " Mastery, the Keys to Success and Long Term Fulfillment" by George Leonard. I'll append below some excerpts from my notes on that book.

>>George Leonard is a student of Zen who–though he began training relatively late at age 40--became an Aikido sensei. Leonard describes Mastery as a “little-understood process by which an activity that was difficult becomes easier and more enjoyable.” He writes that fulfillment comes not from achieving a goal but from *choosing a challenge that requires your full devotion* – a perfect description for swimming well.
His book’s central lesson is that Success and satisfaction in any endeavor are byproducts of *learning to love practice.* Leonard describes four behaviors found in most endeavors. Each reflects a different response to a nearly-universal phenomenon: You improve quickly as you tackle the easiest and most basic aspects. Then improvement slows or stops, as you encounter more exacting aspects. What happens next reveals more about the individual than about the activity.
• The Dabbler starts many new things and makes good initial progress. Upon encountering the first plateau he loses enthusiasm, gives up and tries another activity . . . then repeats the pattern.
• The Obsessive lives for the growth spurt. When progress slows, he presses seeking better results faster. He burns out then gives that up for something else.
• The Hacker hits the first plateau then redefines satisfaction as status quo. Rather then seek instruction or adjust his approach, he contents himself with that level.
• The Master When her learning curve flattens, she commits to mental discipline, persistence, flexibility and incremental improvement. She understands that lessons learned more slowly have more meaning and permanence.

According to Leonard, Masters do all of the following:
• Seek out a sensei. As I tell swimmers, Roger Federer has a stroke coach. Shouldn’t you?
• Love the plateau. When our improvement curve flattens, it’s critical to understand that, if you practice deeply, cellular change (rewiring the brain) is ongoing. At intervals that incremental change consolidates to produce a thrilling leap forward. Between those leaps, the pleasure of being fully engaged in practice--with implicit confidence in your neuron-level imprinting--is its own reward.
• Surrender. Be willing to fail in order to improve. Failure concentrates your attention and the information you gain from ‘mistakes’ is essential to the course corrections that produce progress.
• Visualize. Maintain a constant clear vision of the better future you are creating. Make a difference every day. Bring all your willpower and focus to your practice.
• Avoid complacency. Tirelessly pursue improvement and find it at the ‘leading edge’ of your ability, where there’s a constant tension between struggle and skill, failure and success.

I tried that but it didn't help. 

Masters was the only way I found to make it better, coach has us working so hard no time to get bored...