I just got back from the SPMS meet and I am in a funk. I have talked to several of my contemporaries who share my dysphoria at getting slower. From age 50-62 I slowed down very little. Ages 63 and 64 were one injury or illness after another, but at least there was a cause and I felt I would do better. Age 65 I aged up and for most of the year was healthy. That was a great year,but my times were all significantly slower than at 62. Since then it is very unusual to have one swim that is faster than I did the previous year.At 67(almost 68) I am notably slower than at 65. I have seen the graphs of how times slow with age, intellectually, if I am staying at the same rate of decline as my peers I should accept it, but I don't like it. I know most forumites are much younger and what I am saying may seem like something natural that I should just acknowledge and go on, that is what I thought until I was 63. I know that our having age groups every 5 years is a partial solution to the problem, but there is more difference between a 65 year old and a 68 year old than between a 40 year old and a 50 year old, in my experience. How do the other older swimmers out there cope and have a good attitude? The common saying in Masters Swimming is that "you are only competing against yourself",but my slightly younger self is kicking my butt and I am tired of it.
How do the other older swimmers out there cope and have a good attitude?
I went to a meet a little over a year ago, did all personal worsts, and it pissed me off. I realized that wasn't a healthy attitude. At 58, I'm not dealing with stuff at an acute level yet, but I've realized I have to start developing a new relationship with sport.
Right now, my attempts are fairly primitive. "Anything that's not a personal worst is a victory!" And I'm trying to re-imagine Ande's famous thread: The point is no longer how to swim faster faster, it's all about how to swim slower slower. :)
Here in Knoxville, we benefit from living in the same town as Bill Lauer, now 82, who seems irrepressibly cheerful, no matter what. Whatever the answer is, he seems to have found it. Talk to Bill. :)
How do the other older swimmers out there cope and have a good attitude?
I went to a meet a little over a year ago, did all personal worsts, and it pissed me off. I realized that wasn't a healthy attitude. At 58, I'm not dealing with stuff at an acute level yet, but I've realized I have to start developing a new relationship with sport.
Right now, my attempts are fairly primitive. "Anything that's not a personal worst is a victory!" And I'm trying to re-imagine Ande's famous thread: The point is no longer how to swim faster faster, it's all about how to swim slower slower. :)
Here in Knoxville, we benefit from living in the same town as Bill Lauer, now 82, who seems irrepressibly cheerful, no matter what. Whatever the answer is, he seems to have found it. Talk to Bill. :)
