Master's Swim? Really? This is helpful?

[KSH]

Well in Master's swimming most coaches are just there to give you a workout. They are not there to coach on you on how to swim. They are also use to generally working with people who were competitive swimmers in HS/College and who understand all the pool lingo and are use to working out in the pool. Ya know?


It sounds like you need to get a private swim coach to perfect your stroke. Anyone who wants to swim as an adult, and swim laps... needs to do this I think.

As for what you are doing helping you with open water swimming... as long as you get some practice in open water... pool workouts translate to open water fine. You can read my 3 mile open water swim RR... and I'll tell you that to prep for that I did 2 workouts a week in the pool (the bulk of my distance) and 1 in open water (only :45 minutes). It translated just fine for me.

[MartianDestiny]

Sorry KSH, but the day I can afford a private swim coach is the day I go back to riding horses. That's just the way it is, and if it turns out to be a "need" then I can assure you I won't be competing.

[alpinerabbit]

Hey MartianDestiny,

can't you find a college student who'll teach you a bit? Surely this would be affordable. I did about 8 or 10 lessons with one.

[KSH]

Hey MartianDestiny,

can't you find a college student who'll teach you a bit? Surely this would be affordable. I did about 8 or 10 lessons with one.

Well coaching doesn't always have to be all that expensive. You would be shocked.

In Dallas... my boyfriend got 8 private swim lessons for the price of what he would have paid for group swim lessons with a tri club.

Master's programs cost... so maybe you can take that money and spend it towards coaching.

You mentioned a personal trainer???? Maybe that money can be used towards a coach?


This Master's swim class is not for you though, so it's best you move on.

Good luck!

[MartianDestiny]

The Master's class I signed up for was a whopping $22 for 6 weeks (or was it 8) 3 days a week. Perhaps this is why the coach is not the greatest, but suffice to say they are cheap.

I mentioned an "in person trainer" not a personal trainer. I do tend to work harder when I have someone physically standing there "yelling" at me (or just beating me...I have a bad case of gotta-keep-up-itis), but I don't have one. I was explaining why I had chosen to attempt a class (with a coach physically there) instead of going with the Total Immersion DVD's. I was probably a bit confusing on that point, sorry!

As of right now $$ expenditure is almost solely gear and any entry fees. I don't mind putting some $$ in for lessons/classes/workshops, but I don't have much and if it comes down to $40 a week in private lessons they will be on a horse not in a pool.

I am looking into different class/coach options (as well as just going the Total Immersion route). I'll keep personal sessions an option if I can find them inexpensive enough.

Though at this point my goal is to be decent enough to make it through my first tri. It's unlikely, but I may not even like it or stick with it, so it's even harder to justify going crazy to fix my swimming at this point.

I appreciate the input.

[Kimmyt]

Keep in mind that most masters coaches are just that, coaches. They are not instructors. They are there to take someone who swims passably well and perhaps make them a bit faster. As others said, they tend to provide a structured workout environment for those who want to train in that manner. Perhaps some of the snottiness of your coach is because he is 1)not paid very well (this is likely, at $22/person!) and 2) you are expecting more of him than he is willing to give.

Here is a way to think of it, imagine a college professor and a first grade teacher. Both are intelligent and adept at making the young mind learn. However, one is particularly suited to helping children in the formative years learn to do very basic skills but skills that require huge leaps of the mind, i.e. learning to read. Whereas the other teaches very highly developed skills and knowledge to people who already have the rudimentary skills down pat. I think of a Masters coach as similar to the professor. They might be really good at shaving seconds off of someone's IM time and explaining how to do a very fast flip turn, but ask them to teach a screaming, scared 5-year old how to swim (or for that matter to teach a person who doesn't have a competitive swimming background how to do an efficient open water stroke), and they'll struggle. Or just not want to do it.

It seems like this Masters team is not what you're looking for and maybe you should look elsewhere. With a tri coming up in a month you should be focusing on what you want to focus on, not a workout that is not necessarily geared towards tri's.

I belong to a Master's team, but if I only had a month to go before a tri I would not be taking part in Masters, unless they were very geared towards tris. I would be in the pool just logging yards.

In the off-season, however, Masters is a good way to get stronger and build skills (and alleviate off-season boredom).

K.

[MartianDestiny]

Perhaps some of the snottiness of your coach is because he is 1)not paid very well (this is likely, at $22/person!) and 2) you are expecting more of him than he is willing to give.

I can almost guarantee his salary is subsidized by the rec. program at the University in addition to what we pay, and he was snotty from the second I walked in the door (before he even knew I was a) a triathlete or b) a not-so-great swimmer). IMO, he's "snotty" (honestly I just think it's poor social/coaching skills) because he's a college undergraduate male...

I do understand what you are saying, and I agree it's not the class for me and that is not entirely his fault. In my defense here is the class description:

Master's Swim is a program designed to provide a structured workout environment for different types of swimmers, ranging from those individuals looking to work out for general fitness, to individuals looking to refine their strokes, and also to competitive athletes. Workouts vary from emphasizing endurance and building fitness, to speed work and stroke development. All levels are encouraged to join.

This seems not very accurate in hindsight, especially that last part. It also seems different (on paper) than most Master's programs, but not different in practice.

[colby]

At my gym, masters swim is something like $60 (for a member) for 6 or 8 weeks, and I can get 6 or 8 lessons for $85 (as long as I find a buddy to sign up with me, it's more if I do one-on-one). A friend of mine and I did this, and got more individual attention and coaching at not much more cost. You might have to shop around. If you can switch to adult group lessons, that does sound like a better fit than masters swim where they just want to give you a guided workout. I found that only one lesson a week was good enough for me, the other 1 or 2 times I swam during the week it was nice to not be coached and get more different stuff in (I'd have 1 coached lesson, 1 endurance swim, and 1 drill-focused swim).