What do you all train for

I often ask myself this question, especially since I feel like I started swimming at a relatively late stage in life. Sometimes I really struggle to find motivation when I don’t know why I’m even training. I doubt I’ll qualify for regionals or join a varsity team at my current level, and no one really expects me to be great. Yet, I genuinely enjoy training and spending time with my team and the coaches. I want to be a competitive swimmer, but a lot of the time, I think it might be too late for me to be good enough.

Since this forum is so diverse, I’d love to hear why you all wake up at 5 am every day to train

For my mental health, fitness, and fun

Nari said:
For my mental health, fitness, and fun

Same here.

To stay motivated, I focus on being consistent, beating my past personal bests, and improving my average pace. I swam 45 meters in a small town club as a teenager, doing it more as a hobby. I picked it up again about two and a half years ago. I call it my healthy midlife crisis obsession

Nari said:
For my mental health, fitness, and fun

Lol same and I want to compete with my past self and improve with every session :slight_smile:

I started swimming 1.5 years ago, and last year I began learning the butterfly stroke. My goal for this year is to swim 100 meters of butterfly with good technique. I love it because it’s a multi-layered challenge: there’s the pool, gym workouts, gathering feedback from here :hugs:, nutrition, and improving my technique by applying advice from other swimmers. I also try to apply that long-term planning mentality to my career in regular life

@Brogan
I started this week at 33, mostly freestyle, with some backstroke. How do you learn new techniques? Is it silly to say I’m using YouTube

Vic said:
@Brogan
I started this week at 33, mostly freestyle, with some backstroke. How do you learn new techniques? Is it silly to say I’m using YouTube

Taking inspiration from YouTube is completely normal! Once you learn some techniques, you keep refining them. That includes watching more videos, filming yourself to analyze your strokes, and getting a coach

I’m training for USAF SPECWAR TACP

I’m training to live longer than my enemies

I want to swim under a minute for 100 meters freestyle. Plus, I want to look amazing and enjoy the challenge

Kyrie said:
I want to swim under a minute for 100 meters freestyle. Plus, I want to look amazing and enjoy the challenge

I just did my first hard 100 sprint a few days ago, after 30 years. My goal is to swim longer, but I figure I’ll sprint 100 meters every now and then just to see. Nope not close, like 1:13, not close enough to be excited Lol

@Omar
How exhausted were you really? Because in a race, you can push yourself even harder. A good start can shave a few seconds off too

I’m here to crush my 17-year-old state champion son’s spirit

Sparrow said:
I’m here to crush my 17-year-old state champion son’s spirit

Haha. I was training the other day alongside a kid (probably around that age) who was one of the local elite swimmers.

Wow, they make swimming look so easy. It was a joy to watch. I think his butterfly was faster than my freestyle

I started at 27, I’m 31 now. I train to improve my overall health and to be the best person I can be. My times might never match those of younger swimmers, but that doesn’t mean I can’t compete against myself

I’m preparing for open water events. I signed up for a 2-mile open water swim in August (I did a 1-mile before) and I’m also trying to get faster

Speed!!!

I’m aiming for the Vuelta de Obligado, a 20-kilometer river marathon in November

I’m training for life. Just to keep moving forward

I’m training for a triple 5k for cancer in March x