Hello. First post. I'm Canadian (British Columbia), and I haven't found a forum like this for Canada. This looks like a wonderful place - friendly, intelligent people - a great resource.
So.....I was a runner for 40+ years. Then it became a struggle in my mid 50s. (I'll be 57 next month.) Osteoarthritis in both knees put an end to it. When I got this diagnosis, I moped for a while, and then, on February 21st, 2019, it suddenly occurred to me that Swimming is my new sport.
I bought a few books, and went to the pool most days since SRD. (Swimming Realization Day.) I absolutely love the feeling of swimming. It's my new drug. I hope I can have 40+ years of it. :)
But in these early days I cannot claim to be very good at it. I'm improving rapidly, and that in itself is thrilling. The books are very helpful, and I'm making adjustments/improvements in form. I care only about Freestyle.
At the time of this post, my very modest PRs in a 25m pool (without diving in) are:
25m-19sec
50m-42sec
100m-1min32sec
200m-3min26sec
400m-7min19sec
800m-14min53sec
1600m-31min19sec
I think by the time mid-April rolls around, I can be under 7min 400m. 400m seems to be my favourite event at this early stage. It just so happens that our Provincial Masters Meet is in mid-April. In running, I lived for meets. Those events organized my running. I'd love to do the same in swimming.....but I am so new at this.
I'm terrified about signing up for this meet in mid-Apr. Do I belong there with a 7min 400m? I've looked at old results, and I'm in awe of the times recorded. I understand that as a 7min 400m person, I would be in a heat with other people around my time, no matter the age/sex. That's a wonderful thing. But I'm still mortified.
It's a new sport. I'm very new at it. I'm not even sure what I'm asking in this post.
Perhaps some of you will describe similar situations in your journey? Maybe you can talk me into signing up and losing my inhibitions? I'd hate to wimp out of this, then read results afterwards and cringe, while shouting "I would have loved this".
How can you improve so fast? I'm stuck for many years already below your level, failing to improve my top-end speed while only making minimal progress in long distance.
May I ask what's your top speed of sprinting a single length (i.e. 25 m for 25 m pool, 50 m for 50 m pool) now? Have you got any improvement in it?
Pushing off the wall I did 25m lo19sec last week, but I'm dreaming of hi18sec this week!! :) (Thursday is 25m day!!) I struggled with 42sec 50m SC yesterday. I'm a math guy. I'm OCD about numbers. I take the WR (SC) time, and divide it by my time, and right now I seem to be 49% across the spectrum. But 49% in 25m/50m/100m is HARD, whereas 49% in 800m/1600m seems rather pleasant, so I'm sure I will tend towards longer distances later on.
I'm no expert, but I am sure there are some improvements you can make. The video thread was a great idea. There's got to be a book out there that can help you a lot. I quickly acquired 4 books, all quite different, which gave me some essential things to think about when trying to swim well. It was a good start. I know I will plateau soon. At some point I will need to bring out other cards from the deck. At this early stage though, I'm trying to figure out where the deck is. :)
How can you improve so fast? I'm stuck for many years already below your level, failing to improve my top-end speed while only making minimal progress in long distance.
May I ask what's your top speed of sprinting a single length (i.e. 25 m for 25 m pool, 50 m for 50 m pool) now? Have you got any improvement in it?
Pushing off the wall I did 25m lo19sec last week, but I'm dreaming of hi18sec this week!! :) (Thursday is 25m day!!) I struggled with 42sec 50m SC yesterday. I'm a math guy. I'm OCD about numbers. I take the WR (SC) time, and divide it by my time, and right now I seem to be 49% across the spectrum. But 49% in 25m/50m/100m is HARD, whereas 49% in 800m/1600m seems rather pleasant, so I'm sure I will tend towards longer distances later on.
I'm no expert, but I am sure there are some improvements you can make. The video thread was a great idea. There's got to be a book out there that can help you a lot. I quickly acquired 4 books, all quite different, which gave me some essential things to think about when trying to swim well. It was a good start. I know I will plateau soon. At some point I will need to bring out other cards from the deck. At this early stage though, I'm trying to figure out where the deck is. :)
