How to stay motivated for swimming for the long-term

In brief: Find new ways to achieve and measure progress

A friend recently told me he’s thinking of giving up swimming. He feels as strong in the water as he always has, and he works just as hard, but he’s got slower.

If you stay in swimming long enough, this will happen to you too, if it hasn’t already. Ageing is remorseless and it will impact your swimming.

It’s easy to get demotivated. In your head, you may be the same swimmer you were 20 years ago. The pace clock tells a different story. It’s normal and natural to feel frustrated.

But there are plenty of other ways to find joy and satisfaction in swimming.

Amor Fati

The first step is acceptance. The Stoics, who Renaissance thinkers looked back to, told us to love our fate. We can’t change getting older. But rather than bemoaning our declining fitness, can we practice gratitude? It’s good that we’re still here, and still able to swim. We can still access all of swimming’s benefits. One day that will be taken from us too. Make the most of who you are and what you can do today.

Change perspective

Swimming performance inevitably declines with age, on average. Depending on where you start, you might keep getting faster for many years. But not forever. Sorry. But you can still improve. Instead of tracking your absolute speed, watch your age-adjusted speed. You may be getting slower according to the clock but with the right training, you could still get faster in age-adjusted terms.

Try something new

The Renaissance Swimmer approach is to swim philosophically and to explore a wide range of swimming activities. In the pool, the clock tells us if we’re getting slower. But outside, distances are vague and the conditions may slow you down (or speed you up). Speed loses meaning when we can’t measure it accurately so stop looking at your watch. Instead, concentrate on other elements of your swim: for example, the scenery, your pace, or how you feel.

Alternatively, take your swimming elsewhere. I recently started playing water polo and I’m enjoying playing a team sport and learning new skills. My ball control is so poor that there is plenty of scope for improvement.

Intrinsic enjoyment

Another way to separate your satisfaction with swimming from your speed is to focus on the pleasure you get from the activity itself. Practice mindful swimming. Notice how the water surrounds and supports you. Feel how it moves over your skin. Listen to your bubbles and the sound of your hands entering the water. Tune in to how your body moves. Stop fighting the water and allow yourself to flow with it.

Tune into technique

Swimming isn’t something you learn and then do the same forever. There are always refinements we can make and new ideas we can try. The Renaissance Swimmer is curious and believes in self-improvement. When we’re young, we practise technique to swim faster. As we get older, improving our technique helps us hang on to speed for longer and should reduce the risk of injuries.

The Renaissance Swimmer project isn’t just about swimming further and faster or in colder water (although it covers all those things). It’s also about finding joy in the water and staying fit and healthy.

And it’s for all swimmers; young or not so young, fast or not so fast, skilled or not so skilled.