Motivation for swimming...?

Question

Hi - thanks for helping me :) I'm on a summer swim team at my nearby pool. I'm all right at swimming. I'm great at my strokes, have good speed when I'm not tired, but have little endurance! So whenever we do long, hard sets, I describe this as my feeling; a pit in my stomach and a lump in my throat. I'm almost positive I have the physical ability to do these, but for some reason I get really tired and my stomach starts doing flips and I feel not motivated at all! Is there any way you can help me?

Answer 1

my motivation for long hard sets is by thinking about how much better a swimmer im going to be after finishing the sets.

also to make it go by faster, sing a song in your head.

or if you're really competicous (sp), swim to beat everyone else!

Answer 2

ive been through this stage too and theres lots of other swimmers out there who will be the same. you basically have to tell yourself that you can do it and believe in yourself. you will feel really happy and please wih yourself if you get out the water knowing that you have done all that hard work. it also means that you go to races feeling a lot more confident. You may feel like you want to give up but you have to push yourself to the point where you feel you couldn't possible work any harder and keep working at this pace. ive lost count of the amount of training sessions where i have left the pool feeling exhuasted and on the edge of being sick. Make sure your hydrated. for every 15 minutes that you swim intensively you should dring 250-300ml of fluid. That's about equivilent to a litre and hour. Also, why not try to increase the amount of carbohydrates in your diet. This means that you will have more energy for doing harder sets.

It's down to self belief, tell yourself you can do it and be proud of your achievements

hope this helps :)

Answer 3

There are a couple things that will help.  First, make sure you're properly hydrated.  Drink small amounts of water throughout the day ideally totaling about 60 oz.  Second don't eat anything heavy before practice.  Keep it light - bagel and cream cheese, yogurt, etc.  Third - suck it up.  The only way to get more endurance is to keep pushing when you are tired.  Your body will tell you to slow down and back off as part of its self preservation instinct.  Have your mind tell the body what to do, not the other way around.  The first two weeks of doing this will be the hardest.  Once you get through them you body will adapt to the workload and it will be easier to push through.  There is no shortcut or easier way.  You just have to push your body to the limit and that limit is much farther than you think it is.

Answer 4

why not swim to keep yourself healthy.

Answer 5

if ur physically sure that u can do it and it really isn't a problem with ur endurance, than the problem is all mental.  concentrate on what u are currently on, not how much more u have or how much longer it is. jsut try to do ur best at whatever current part of the set u are on. i think u are just scared/ nervous and that is why u feel this waty. think postive thoughts..think about what u do well, how great ur strokes are, how fast ur going, etc.  if u think u just need to be motivated, than think about how much swimming will improve ur overalll body strenght. for me, i HATE getting up at 5:15 for morning practice outdoors but then i think, by the time summer is over, i will have a really great tan, and i can work out at the same time and be toned. i am killing two birds with one stone.

Answer 6

I just try to focus on one thing at a time.  If you have like 5 500s just think about doing one.  When you're done with one challenge yourself to another.  Also if you split it up say like you do one 500 200 medium, 50 sprint, 200 build.  I do that to help keep me entertained.  Good luck :)

Answer 7

Instead of thinking about how bad your body feels (not very motivating), you need to focus on something that WILL motivate you.

I suggest you focus relentlessly on the clock. Learn to get your splits without stopping at the wall (sneak a peak during a breath going into and/or out of the walls). Your goal should be to keep the same pace (or get faster!) on each long repeat. Negative split all your swims (make the second half of each swim faster than the first half).

Keeping track of your splits and times will keep your mind busy. It won't keep your body from hurting on hard sets, but you'll have less chance to wallow in feelings of self-pity. Make it a game. It can be really fun and can make you very tough mentally.