Hello - I'm new to this board. I recently took up swimming again (did it a lot (competitively) in my much, much younger days), and have dabbled here and there for the past 6 years or so, but I'm now doing more regular workouts at a local indoor pool. I started because I'm a runner currently off land with a stress fracture, so while doing pool running I noticed the masters workouts going on and decided to join in for the added crosstraining.
It turns out that this coach is great. The workouts generally have 3 to 8 people, and being new, I'm always in Lane 1 getting constant input on my stroke, which has already changed. He really pushes us pretty hard, doing all strokes, lots of drills and intervals - definitely good for lactate threshold workouts, endurance, and V02 max (things I relate to in running).
I was wondering, if you care to share, what you pay for masters workouts, and what you get for that (how many days per week, additional pool time at no extra cost, etc.).
And, a couple more questions if you don't mind: Any benefits to joining USMS if you are not planning on doing swim meets? (I'm planning on doing a triathlon here and there, hence the swimming.)
And, kickboards: cheap foam okay, or any difference in what's out there?
Thanks for any input!!
I belong to an area Rec Dept. but I'm out of district so I usually pay $219 a year to be a member but they just increased the fees so it will now be $295 a year. I also pay $25 annualy to the team, $38 to USMS and $30 a month for coached practices.
As for joining USMS, the way we see the USMS set rules is this, if one person is not a member, the insurance is voided so all people practicing on our team MUST be a member unless they are under the 30 day trial period. To quote the back of the USMS card, it says "USMS registered swimmers are provided excess accident insurance 1) in practices supervised by a USA swimming certified coach or USMS member where all swimmers are USMS registered". So our team reads this as if one person is in practice and not registered, then the insurance is void. And we have had swimmers use the insurance.
I belong to an area Rec Dept. but I'm out of district so I usually pay $219 a year to be a member but they just increased the fees so it will now be $295 a year. I also pay $25 annualy to the team, $38 to USMS and $30 a month for coached practices.
As for joining USMS, the way we see the USMS set rules is this, if one person is not a member, the insurance is voided so all people practicing on our team MUST be a member unless they are under the 30 day trial period. To quote the back of the USMS card, it says "USMS registered swimmers are provided excess accident insurance 1) in practices supervised by a USA swimming certified coach or USMS member where all swimmers are USMS registered". So our team reads this as if one person is in practice and not registered, then the insurance is void. And we have had swimmers use the insurance.
