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?
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
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
