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".
The good: I decided on Feb 21, 2019, that swimming is my new drug. 7 weeks later I found myself at BC Masters 400m freestyle, nervous and relatively clueless. But I desperately wanted to do a meet in 2019, so that I could have a starting point. I'm so glad that I did this. I learned so much. I can't wait to do it again. I'm eagerly setting goals for next time.
The not so good: I had a rather silly swim. I was too nervous, and too quick on the first half. I was trying to keep up with the lady in the lane next to me when I should have been thinking only about my race. Consequently, I died on the second half. It was a gigantic struggly mess. I swam 6:58, and I'm willing to bet that I can swim 6:48 in the training pool next week. (Anyone want to bet?)
But I'm not going to beat myself up about not having a perfect first race. DOING this was the main thing. I am happy.
The good: I decided on Feb 21, 2019, that swimming is my new drug. 7 weeks later I found myself at BC Masters 400m freestyle, nervous and relatively clueless. But I desperately wanted to do a meet in 2019, so that I could have a starting point. I'm so glad that I did this. I learned so much. I can't wait to do it again. I'm eagerly setting goals for next time.
The not so good: I had a rather silly swim. I was too nervous, and too quick on the first half. I was trying to keep up with the lady in the lane next to me when I should have been thinking only about my race. Consequently, I died on the second half. It was a gigantic struggly mess. I swam 6:58, and I'm willing to bet that I can swim 6:48 in the training pool next week. (Anyone want to bet?)
But I'm not going to beat myself up about not having a perfect first race. DOING this was the main thing. I am happy.
