By Katie Wingert, Swimming World College Intern
Swimming alone can be a struggle between staring at the black line and wanting to smash your incessantly beeping tempo trainer with your fins. Ideally, we swimmers would always have a team to practice with. Sometimes, though, life gets complicated. School commitments conflict with practice times. Vacations pull us away from our teams. Pools need to be drained and renovated.
Swimming alone doesn’t have to be a drag. It just requires a bit of extra creativity. Here are five ways to spice up your solitary practices this season:
1. Remember Why You Love Swimming
Photo Courtesy: SW
At the top of your practice, write down three things you love about swimming. If you remember why you love your sport, you will be more inclined to swim your practice with purpose, rather than with a sense of guilty, reluctant obligation. You might love swimming because of the thrill you get pounding your hands on the touchpad, the pasta salad your mom makes you for post-practice snacks, or the way your team high-fives each other after sets. It doesn’t matter why you love swimming; it matters that you remember.
2. Find Your Jam
Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
Listen to something—anything—before you plunge into the water. Find a song that pumps you up and will stay in your head for the entire time you are in the water. If you swim alone regularly, a waterproof MP3 player may be worth the investment. Add songs with strong beats to your playlist to help you pace.
3. Work On Yourself
Pick three things that you want to fix about the last race you swam, and fix them right now, on your own. Adapt the practice your coach has given you to fit your unique needs, or write yourself a practice with your weaknesses in mind. No matter how incredible your coach is, you don’t always have the opportunity to experiment with technique and pacing when you are in the middle of regular practice. Do you struggle with your pullout in an I.M.? Come up with a set to practice transitioning intensely from back to breast. Are you feeling unbalanced and bulky in the water after changing up your weights regimen? Take the extra five minutes to work on balance drills during warmup.
4. Swim Like Someone Is Watching You
Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott
It might seem silly to imagine a race and a crowd when your most notable competitor is a 75-year-old man wearing a brief two sizes too small, and your biggest fan is the lifeguard, who wants you to finish your practice quickly so she can leave early. But you can use your own fears and goals to fuel yourself to race. Before your main set, play a walk-out song in your head and imagine your friends and family in the stands, cheering you on. Pick two rivals, in the lanes on either side of you, who are half a body length ahead of you.
5. Reward Yourself
Obviously, completing a 1,000-yard stretch swim on your off day doesn’t necessarily merit a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream—although someone has certainly done that before. But we all deserve to give ourselves a pat on the back sometimes. Before you get in the pool, promise yourself something you will enjoy if you practice well. Some ideas: an extra five minutes in the shower, a 50 of dolphin dives, your favorite smoothie, or a new song download. At the very least, give yourself a pat on the back. You did it!
