How to make swimming less boring? (Page 3)

Join a group. I love my swim group. It used to be USMS affiliated, now it's basically the same people but USAT affiliated (also have bike and run workouts too, but the swims are the best). The group workouts are a huge motivator for me. I enjoy the challenge of trying to keep up with people who are a bit faster, and trying to implement the tips the coach is giving me - particularly trying to keep good form when I start getting tired. Also, depending on the workout and how many / how long the rest intervals are, you can really develop a nice camaraderie with the people you swim with. It's an odd social group, based mostly on breathless conversations on precise time intervals ;-)

I don't think it came across badly (I don't always pick the best descriptions), but wanted to emphasize that you were serious and that it really does work.

Many have said similar things, but I'll say it a different way.  Learn a new skill.  Can you breath bilaterally?  If not, it sounds like a good time to learn....I picked this up in the off season last year.  When you first start you'll be ready for some "boring" swim time after sucking water in your lungs the first twenty minutes of a swim.

Get lost in improving your technique.  I like to pick one aspect, watch a youtube video, then focus on that one piece through out a workout (or vary it with others).

I just started picking up flip turns.  Learning flip turns is a lot of fun.  It adds fluidity to your swim and it gives you somehting to think about at each turn...execution, then analysis of the execution....how can I correct it on the next wall?  or celebrate a sweet turn....oh look at that there is the wall....turn....repeat...3200 yards already.

technique and skills.

+1

I started doing the prescribed workouts from this site and I look at my workouts completely differently.  Not sure how or why, I just know it's a good thing.

When I swim in ab Olympic size swimming pool, I get into a zone, almost a meditative state. My body finds a natural rhythm. For some reason it does not happen in smaller pools.

I also imagine that I'm a dolphin swimming in a beautiful ocean.

Have you tried psyching yourself up before a swimming work out? When I'm not in the mood for swimming in the pool, I watch swimming videos on you tube. When I'm psyched up I never get bored.

Swimming at Mirror Lake in Lake Placid last week was very much like this. Just follow the cable and swim, not endless back and forth in a 25yd pool. But I will try the suggestions here and see what works for me.

I'm more a turtle than a dolphin.