I am surprised mmlr38 has not responded to this thread since he would seem to be a good example.As I understand it he did not have a competitive swimming background,joined Masters in his 30s, and has several TT pool times to his credit.
I've been watching this thread and haven't responded yet. The fact that the OP hasn't posted back made me wonder if the thread was abandoned.
But thanks for thinking of me, Allen :)
My story:
I was a life-long runner but a serious knee injury forced me to hang up the running shoes at the age of 34. I had dabbled in triathlons in my 20s, culminating with an IronMan distance event before the knee pain got too bad, so I knew how to swim and was comfortable in the open water. But I had no formal swim training of any kind. I remember my sister and I taking the standard summer swim lessons class when we were kids, so I knew how to swim, but I didn't know how to do any strokes, turns, etc. or really know anything about competitive swimming.
In 2011, at the age of 34, I did my first swim-only event; a local USMS sanctioned 5K open water swim. At the time I wasn't swimming with a masters team and was only swimming 2 days a week (about 2500 yards a session) in an aqua-fitness class at the YMCA. I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out I won the event! At that point a friend convinced me to join the masters team. I hadn't started swimming with them previously because I was afraid I'd be too slow and not doing flip turns nor really knowing any of the strokes was a deterrent.
I trained with the masters team starting in August 2011 and at my first-ever swim meet in December 2011, I earned my first Top Ten (TT) time in the 1500 SCM freestyle, despite the fact I didn't do flip turns :)
Since then, as Allen mentioned, I've gone on to earn several (14) TT times, even earning my first non-freestyle TT last year in the 400 IM. I expect to add a few more TT times this LCM season.
So, YES! It is absolutely possible to start swimming at the age of 31 with the intent to compete AND to be successful in doing so. If anything, I am a good example of that. But one thing I've learned is that you have to work hard -- very hard! I'm sure everyone does who is successful at the national level. But unlike people who had coaching and competitive swim training when they were younger, especially through college, very little will come naturally for someone who didn't practice turns or technique repeatedly for years and years. It's a constant mental battle to fight yourself to keep technique good. Every practice it's important to focus on technique instead of worrying too much about keeping up or swimming as fast as possible.
And there are so many technique points to focus on from breathing and turns to catch and body position. And if you're interested in IM events, you can multiply those technique points by four! Having good body awareness and control will be key to success. Flip turns used to be exceptionally challenging every time I did them. Finally, after doing them for 1.5 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 3.5 years or so, they've become much more natural. So it is possible to "teach an old dog new tricks" so to speak. I'm still not as good at turns as most people of my ability level, and probably never will be, but I just keep focusing in improving. It's a lot of fun to continually improve!
A lot of the other responses to this thread that encourage competing against yourself are very true. While I do use the TT times for motivation, more than anything I really love seeing my times improve as compared to what I swam previously. fatboy's post at #14 in this thread really resonates with me. I think that's sound advice!
I am surprised mmlr38 has not responded to this thread since he would seem to be a good example.As I understand it he did not have a competitive swimming background,joined Masters in his 30s, and has several TT pool times to his credit.
I've been watching this thread and haven't responded yet. The fact that the OP hasn't posted back made me wonder if the thread was abandoned.
But thanks for thinking of me, Allen :)
My story:
I was a life-long runner but a serious knee injury forced me to hang up the running shoes at the age of 34. I had dabbled in triathlons in my 20s, culminating with an IronMan distance event before the knee pain got too bad, so I knew how to swim and was comfortable in the open water. But I had no formal swim training of any kind. I remember my sister and I taking the standard summer swim lessons class when we were kids, so I knew how to swim, but I didn't know how to do any strokes, turns, etc. or really know anything about competitive swimming.
In 2011, at the age of 34, I did my first swim-only event; a local USMS sanctioned 5K open water swim. At the time I wasn't swimming with a masters team and was only swimming 2 days a week (about 2500 yards a session) in an aqua-fitness class at the YMCA. I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out I won the event! At that point a friend convinced me to join the masters team. I hadn't started swimming with them previously because I was afraid I'd be too slow and not doing flip turns nor really knowing any of the strokes was a deterrent.
I trained with the masters team starting in August 2011 and at my first-ever swim meet in December 2011, I earned my first Top Ten (TT) time in the 1500 SCM freestyle, despite the fact I didn't do flip turns :)
Since then, as Allen mentioned, I've gone on to earn several (14) TT times, even earning my first non-freestyle TT last year in the 400 IM. I expect to add a few more TT times this LCM season.
So, YES! It is absolutely possible to start swimming at the age of 31 with the intent to compete AND to be successful in doing so. If anything, I am a good example of that. But one thing I've learned is that you have to work hard -- very hard! I'm sure everyone does who is successful at the national level. But unlike people who had coaching and competitive swim training when they were younger, especially through college, very little will come naturally for someone who didn't practice turns or technique repeatedly for years and years. It's a constant mental battle to fight yourself to keep technique good. Every practice it's important to focus on technique instead of worrying too much about keeping up or swimming as fast as possible.
And there are so many technique points to focus on from breathing and turns to catch and body position. And if you're interested in IM events, you can multiply those technique points by four! Having good body awareness and control will be key to success. Flip turns used to be exceptionally challenging every time I did them. Finally, after doing them for 1.5 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 3.5 years or so, they've become much more natural. So it is possible to "teach an old dog new tricks" so to speak. I'm still not as good at turns as most people of my ability level, and probably never will be, but I just keep focusing in improving. It's a lot of fun to continually improve!
A lot of the other responses to this thread that encourage competing against yourself are very true. While I do use the TT times for motivation, more than anything I really love seeing my times improve as compared to what I swam previously. fatboy's post at #14 in this thread really resonates with me. I think that's sound advice!
