So I have decided to join USMS at the ripe age of 35, after spending the past 12 years teaching myself to swim. I've never been able to be a part of an organized USMS team due to work schedule or being in the middle of po-dunk America with no teams nearby.
So with my recent move back from Korea, I now have a good opportunity to train with a team, a real coach, and get good at this.
My first observation is this: I suck. I mean I REALLY suck. Everything I thought I had been doing right for the last decade, the coach quickly pointed out everything I was doing wrong. Which is good of course, because I want to learn and do it right and get better. But this is going to be tough, I can tell.
My question to everyone is this: Am I unique in the age I join and try to be on an organized team? Is it worth my time and effort to do this?
My question to everyone is this: Am I unique in the age I join and try to be on an organized team?
No. Not even a little. Actually, I’d say one of the most common age brackets to join a team. My first most common joining age is near 50, second most common is 35-40, third most common is 24-26, and lastly around 60-65. These are when I see people join after long breaks or years swimming by themselves. They tend to coincide with common periods for life changes that make people try new things or in the case of the 35-40’s, finally just feel settled enough in life to restart things they used to like to do.
Is it worth my time and effort to do this?
If you enjoy swimming and you like the coach and the team, yes.
My first observation is this: I suck. I mean I REALLY suck. Everything I thought I had been doing right for the last decade, the coach quickly pointed out everything I was doing wrong. Which is good of course, because I want to learn and do it right and get better. But this is going to be tough, I can tell.
When I first read this, I'll have to admit I :lmao:. I wasn't making fun of you, I was just laughing at how funny YOU are. Then, I realized you may have been dead serious, and you weren't being funny at all. In that case, I offer you a sincere :bighug:. If you are indeed being serious, I apologize for laughing! (Just so you know, I read it to my husband, and he laughed, too, so you may be mad at both of us now.)
ANYWAY, there are so many advantages to joining USMS as YOUNG as you are. If you stick with it (and, I hope you will), think of how many years you have ahead of you to improve! I joined USMS in 2010 when I was 48, and just when I felt like I was really making strides, age and congenital-related injuries kept yanking me back. I can't tell you how many times I have had to start over after recovering from this (non-swimming-related) injury or that surgery.
You, my friend, are just a KID at 35! "Ripe age"? To quote Sumorunner, "Pfffft!"
Ok, so you taught yourself to swim over the past 12 years. Kudos to you! What happened, though, is that you may have
taught yourself (or ingrained) some bad habits without realizing it. Now, you are in a situation where somebody can watch you objectively, and those ingrained bad habits are being pointed out. Please don't be discouraged! Be thankful those corrections are being made at your YOUNG age!
I hope you will be patient with yourself and stick with it-- and, stick with us here on the Forums. Your fellow Forumites have a lot to offer, including encouragement, great tips, and a great community spirit of support.
If you can get somebody to shoot some video of your swimming (good quality, close-up footage), go ahead and upload the video to YouTube and post the links here. If you ask us Forumites to offer constructive criticism, I guarantee you that you will receive excellent "coaching" from some top USMS experts. Do you need help with breaststroke? My fellow frog, "King Frog" (Allen Stark) is a World Record holder in the 200 Breaststroke (65-69 age group), and gives fantastic feedback.
Stick around, 'poke, ok?
Good luck!
:cheerleader:
Hello,
First of all, thank you for your service.
What an inspirational swimming story you have! As waves101 said, one of the best parts about swimming is that there is ALWAYS something to work on. Your 12-year journey towards learning how to swim in the first place is the hard work that you put in towards joining our wonderful sport. It's the journey that counts. From here on out, it'll be about testing yourself, seeing how and what you can do to improve. Hopefully, we at the forum can help you along your swimming path! Best of luck.
My first observation is this: I suck. I mean I REALLY suck. Unless you're Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky or some other such swimming god/goddess, you will always find things to improve upon and find others who are better / faster than you. What matters is not the relative comparison of yourself to others, but of yourself to your past self and your future self - are you on your own path to personal improvement?
I had a really cool experience back in 2012. I happened to be in Seattle when the Men's NCAA Division 1 championship meet was going on in Federal Way. I went to open lap swimming that morning in a pool in downtown Seattle and jumped into the fast lane. This was a basic community pool with pairs of lanes designated as fast, medium and slow. After awhile, while resting on the wall, one of the other swimmers in my lane stopped and said that she was going to move to the medium lane, "I was fast here until you showed up," she said (pleasantly, I will add).
About 30 minutes into my workout, a few 20-something guys jumped into the lane and started swimming ... much faster than me. I noticed that they both were wearing Texas Longhorn suits and, like the lady who moved out when I got there, I moved over to the next 'fast lane' and let the young guns have the 'really fast' lane to themselves. I was fast until they showed up.
As I finished my workout, those guys were on the wall resting and I asked them why they were swimming at this downtown pool instead of out at NCAAs. "Well, we didn't qualify for NCAAs." They were super-fast ... but the faster guys were in a different league again.
Enjoy your own improvement and your own path. There's a lane for everyone!
You're situation is not unusual at all. There is a very wide range of skill and speed in masters swimming even at meets, let alone practice.
Don't focus on how fast or far you are swimming or what anyone else is doing in other lanes (especially those young whippersnappers). Focus on the technique changes your coach is suggesting. Because, it's technique that provides efficiency and speed, once you get past the basics. The speed and conditioning will develop over time, if you have good technique. A good coach can be so very helpful.
I agree with the above responses and will add to your statement, "Everything I thought I had been doing right for the last decade, the coach quickly pointed out everything I was doing wrong." Don't take this so seriously. I know several great swimmers who do something "wrong" but it works for them. The joy of swimming is that we all have something to work on to get better, forever. I guarantee if you interview Michael Phelps he can point out several things he worked on to make him self better and several more things he could've done and wished he had. So, follow the mantra of most USMS swimmers and Just Keep Swimming!
Unless you're Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky or some other such swimming god/goddess, you will always find things to improve upon and find others who are better / faster than you. What matters is not the relative comparison of yourself to others, but of yourself to your past self and your future self - are you on your own path to personal improvement?
I had a really cool experience back in 2012. I happened to be in Seattle when the Men's NCAA Division 1 championship meet was going on in Federal Way. I went to open lap swimming that morning in a pool in downtown Seattle and jumped into the fast lane. This was a basic community pool with pairs of lanes designated as fast, medium and slow. After awhile, while resting on the wall, one of the other swimmers in my lane stopped and said that she was going to move to the medium lane, "I was fast here until you showed up," she said (pleasantly, I will add).
About 30 minutes into my workout, a few 20-something guys jumped into the lane and started swimming ... much faster than me. I noticed that they both were wearing Texas Longhorn suits and, like the lady who moved out when I got there, I moved over to the next 'fast lane' and let the young guns have the 'really fast' lane to themselves. I was fast until they showed up.
As I finished my workout, those guys were on the wall resting and I asked them why they were swimming at this downtown pool instead of out at NCAAs. "Well, we didn't qualify for NCAAs." They were super-fast ... but the faster guys were in a different league again.
Enjoy your own improvement and your own path. There's a lane for everyone!
Wonderful post Patrick
Hello,
I just started swimming with a group late last year when I was 36. I was extremely terrible as well. Still am to be honest. When I first went back in the water, I would swim on my own at the gym. I went from resting every 25m to 200m. I took that as major progression. Boy was I wrong. I joined a masters team because I started getting bored/lonely. And from day 1, it was clear I was just simply terrible. But the coach was very encouraging, he told me to keep at it, and challenge myself. The only stroke I could do was freestyle, and I was doing everything wrong.
Now a year later, I've moved 2 lanes over. When a set has backstroke and breaststroke, I am usually asked to lead the lane. I can swim butterfly with fins. Flipturns! I've done a couple of swim meets since, and I can see my progression. I'm still considered to be in one of the slow lanes. And there's still a lot of mistakes I am making. But I look forward to going to swim with the team every morning, even if I barely had any sleep. It has improved my personal life as well. I am much happier when I do go swim with the team. So yes, extremely worth it.
