Today, I swam the 200 yards free in 2:09.11.
This beats my previous best of 2:09.54 from April 1994.
I challenged the 2:09.54 in the past 11 years, over 20 times, many times under what I learned the hard way to be the wrong preparation, and never came close.
My result will be posted officially in the USMS databse.
I won't be able to make the 2005 Short Course Nationals, but hopefully I will make the 2005 Long Course Nationals.
The reason that I bring this success here is that there are some lessons to learn from it:
1.) to pursue virtue and excellence by meeting the intrinsic requirements that come to having a worthwhile goal (in my case, the goal is to stay in my prime intellectually and physically, for longtime), that's intelligence and tenacious work;
I immigrated to U.S. and relocated within U.S. on job skills in science to live my lifestyle;
this lifestyle comprises now, over 39 weeks of the 2004-2005 season so far, of 1,093 kilometers of training (an average of 28.025 kilometers per week, or 30,828 yards per week, no matter the holidays, tapering or illness, that includes kicking, strokes, and technique quotas), the most mileage I slowly built my late starter physiology up to in life, mostly under a Masters club with primarly college and age group swimming expertise, which I searched for and choosed;
I also cross train consistently in weights and running;
2.) I scrutinize self-indulgence and greed (to an employer who was asking me to work overtime like his Japanese employees do, even though I was ahead in schedule in a project, and who thought that I am a slave to him giving me a work visa, I stated "You know, my life doesn't depend on you." and I walked away from a near six-figures salary because it was jeopardizing my swim training; I looked for and found another) and I scrutinize good intentions backed up by feelings without hard data.
2:09.11 and staying in my prime, that's a tribute to 1.) and 2.).
The 200 free has always been a personal nemesis of mine. When I was younger I never really had the speed to put together a fast 200. Now I don't have the endurance to put together a good swim of much longer than the 200!
My personal goal for this week (Nationals) is to break 1:50. There, I said it. Now I've got to do it :)
1:50 is smoking fast, for me anyway. Good luck with your pursuit!
Former Member
I read the replies, quickly and under pressure and I appreciate the congratulations.
But congratulations are always for winners.
And to me, the process is bigger than winning.
Where winning is bigger than the process is in the business world, where the bottom line for results overtakes life's values.
I never liked this.
Me, I congratulate winners and losers though, providing the process is honestly searching for right.
For years I stress in this forum my quest for a right process.
I remember my disappointment at my declining results when I first joined this forum in 2001.
And my partial conclusions from different experiences in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
My opening post stresses the quest for the right process during eleven years.
I tell my coach here that I let the nature decide about winning, because we are only working on the process with the little that we know about the nature.
Originally posted by aquageek
1:50 is smoking fast, for me anyway. Good luck with your pursuit!
Thanks. The key for me is taking it out fast enough. I have a tendency to nearly even split the race, and that's probably not the best strategy for a 200 free!
Former Member
Originally posted by SwiminONandON
I'd sell my family up the river to go under 2 minutes ...
Actually, being "sold down the river" is the more common phrase, because it was worse. Basically it was a death sentence. Slaves sold down the (Mississippi) river had a life expectancy of about 3-4 years due to the harsh conditions in the south Louisiana sugar cane fields.
Former Member
Originally posted by Ion Beza
.
But congratulations are always for winners.
And to me, the process is bigger than winning.
Where winning is bigger than the process is in the business world, where the bottom line for results overtakes life's values.
I never liked this.
Me, I congratulate winners and losers though, providing the process is honestly searching for right.
For years I stress in this forum my quest for a right process.
I remember my disappointment at my declining results when I first joined this forum in 2001.
And my partial conclusions from different experiences in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
My opening post stresses the quest for the right process during eleven years.
I tell my coach here that I let the nature decide about winning, because we are only working on the process with the little that we know about the nature.
Ion,
Is your PB any more impressive than anyone elses PB?
If someone else did a PB in the 200 F in 4:00 or 1:40 would
it be any less of an a accomplishment?
Just curious....:confused:
Former Member
That's excellent. I swam in college but since joining USMS two years ago have been unable to break 2:07. Of course I was never a sprinter and overcame a lack of talent with lots of yardage. Interestingly, in the 500 the gap between me and the fastest in my age group remains about the same as it was 25 years ago. In his book The Naturalist Prof. E.O.Wilson describes how he, as an adult, decided to train seriously in running. Despite his training, he found that the gap between him and the fastest runners in his age group remained the same as it had been when he was younger. He attributed this to genetics. Ion's (and Dima's) success as a late starter in the sport is likely due to a combination of genetics and a lot of training. Unfortunately, I can't change my genes.
Former Member
I'd kill my entire family with a chainsaw if it would get me anywhere in that time range for a 200.
-LBJ
Former Member
I'd sell my family up the river to go under 2 minutes ...
