Significant Milestones

Last year my goals were to do a 400 IM, 100 fly and 1000 free. I started swimming at age 38, and am now 43, so having completed these events is a good accomplishment for me. Hmmmmm, should I try 200 fly? I can swim them in practice, but not sure anyone would have patience to wait for me to swim it in a meet!

I think my most significant milestone was making the cuts for the high school team in my freshman year. Until that point I had never been in any age-group program or other sort of team. The only real "training" I had in swimming was from hanging around other kids who were on age-group teams as I was growing up. Other than swimming I am (and have always been) about as athletic as a twig. And I was as skinny as a twig! But for some reason I found the guts to try out for swimming. We had about 2 weeks of practices before tryouts. To make the team we were supposed to swim a 50 (SCY) free in under 33 seconds. I came in at 33.9, but there was still one available slot on the team and my time was the best of the guys who did not make the cut time. The coach let me join. Had I not made the cut, I probably would never have kept an interest in swimming on my own. I will always have a special place in my heart and an eternal gratitude for Coach Bardo for his decision to let me join. My next milestone was my first (and only) race in a meet my freshman year. It was a 4x100 free relay at the end of a meet that we already had a guaranteed win. I swam second. It was 5 lengths in a 20-yard pool, and by the third length I thought I was going to die. Had it been an individual event, I probably would have quit at that point. But I had 3 other guys on the relay depending on me. I finished. I did a horrible time (1:29 if I recall) but I finished. I took a lot of ribbing for it, but I didn't care. I finished! Had I quit in the middle of the race, I probably would have quit the team out of embarrassment, and I probably would have never kept up with swimming after that. My next milestone was to earn a point for the team. At least one. (The way the did the scoring back then, a 3rd place finish in an individual event earned a point.) I earned that point (and a few more) in my Sophomore season. I didn't earn enough points to earn a varsity letter, but I earned some points! I earned a varsity letter in my Junior year, and also broke a minute in 100 free that year, and I never looked back.

My most significant swim was after I had a colectomy. I had an oestomy bad. The lifeguard & I taped the bag to my body with waterproof tape & I wore a t-shirt. The first time, I was able to only swim 400 yds. It took me 5 minutes. But it is only swimming!

there's a few then, now, and future milestones THEN Years ago a few milestones were going under 50.00 in the 100 y fl 45.00 in the 100 free 21.00 in the 50 free 1:55.00 in the 200 IM 1:40 in the 200 y free Bench pressing more than 225 pounds Doing more than 25 pull ups NOW Recently I was very happy as a 40 year old to go under 2:00 in the 200 IM and 5:00 in the 500 y free FUTURE Next season I'd like to go under 4:20 in the 400 y IM 4:50 in the 500 y free and 10:00 in the 1,000 free when I become a sprinter again I'd like to go under 22.00 in the 50 y free 47.50 in the 100 y free 1:45.00 in the 200 free 25.00 in the 50 back and 24.00 in the 50 fly One day I'd like to weigh less than 200 lbs again. in practice in the future I'd like to swim a 500 free in less than 5:00 ande

For me it'd be breaking 40 in the 50fr, 1:20 in the 100, and being able to do 300 with no open turns. I'm looking forward to more.

In October of 1995 I started a self-initiated program where I basically had to teach myself to swim again due to a condition known as Psoriatic Arthritis. I started out doing only breaststroke, one length at a time, for 300yds, which took about 45min (in the water). I was 37 at the time and have had a number of milestones and memorable moments since then. The #1 problem I've had throughout the whole process has been that I fatigue easily. It has been quite a head game too. For the most part my swimming practice is fear driven: fear of mobility loss (I was heading rapidly for a wheelchair at the time), and fear of injury. My condition primarily affects my extremities: hands, feet, shoulders, and (apparently now also) hips. My 1st goal was to be able to lift my arms out of the water. This took a total of 6mos for back crawl and 1yr6mos for front crawl. Butterfly was never on the radar screen at this point, in fact for many months I was doubtful that I'd ever do front crawl again. Along the way I increased yardage, but generally spent the same amount of time in the water (about 45min+). It took 2yrs2mos to (consistently) break the 1000yd mark, and 4yrs5mos to break 1400. All this time I'm averaging practices 5x/wk. (I only practice on my own.) In July 2000 (4yrs9mos) I did one stroke of fly. I would spend a year focusing on improving the strength and mobility in my shoulders before I would actually start practicing butterfly. I invented a drill, which I still do, to help me in this endeavor. I now (June 2005, almost 10yrs later) typically swim 1600-2000/day, 3x/wk (I'm in the water about 60min+). I'd like to get back up to 4-5x/wk, but yadda, yadda, yadda, it hasn't happened yet. (Lack of morning lanes and water temperature are the biggest problems right now.) I currently do 600yds/day butterfly (12x50). I generally accomplish this by not thinking about how difficult it is, and it still blows my mind every time I truly realize what I'm actually doing (like when I write it down). I often endure mild shoulder pain throughout all my fly sessions and occasionally worry that I'm doing more harm than good (which is all part of the head game). I love doing IM's. I've done two 400IM's in competition so far. They weren't pretty, but I got the points. I mostly swim for points at meets. My times have remained fairly consistent in the 5yrs or so I've been in USMS. At my last LMSC championship I was 2nd (in a field of 10) in my age bracket (45-49) with 67pts (1st was 90, 3rd was 37). It was my highest scoring meet ever, and my 3rd one in the 60pts+ range. (Not too bad for a "feels old" crippled guy.) In most of my heats my "competitors" are typically 10-20yrs older than I am. Pretty intimidating really, and enough to start me considering dropping out of USMS (but I will probably quit swimming only when I can no longer get to the pool). There is one guy in my LMSC almost 30yrs older than me that is often in my heats and only recently have I been able to consistently beat him. I occasionally actually beat someone in my age bracket (the only problem is they never come back to a meet). And much more rarely get to compete next to someone in my age bracket (but I'm guessing this is true for most folks). My most memorable moment in my competition career (which has only been with USMS) was at the last SCM championship for my LMSC. It was the 50 fly and I was (in lane 4) with someone in my age bracket on either side of me, which has never happened before or since. Both of them beat me to the 1st touch by a substantial margin. (Dang! Why does it seem like everyone pads their seed times?) Not wanting to risk injury for (another) last place, I simply trudged along. The guy who started on my left was long gone, but with half a pool length to go, and a full body length or more behind, I saw the guy who started on my right start to flounder (i.e. butter-struggle). I held my breath, dug in, and touched him out by 0.61 seconds (for 6th vs. 7th ). That ribbon is prominently displayed in my kitchen. I also am keenly aware of injuries (so I count them as milestones). The last significant one I can recall was several years ago when I made a quick, jerky movement in a flip turn and wrenched my shoulder, which took weeks to recover from (I kept swimming, just more tenderly). It is the recovery in fly that makes me the most nervous. No injuries there (shoulders) yet though, so I'm still doing it. I live to swim and swim to live.

Mr Radical. We're in the same agegroup and you're my hero. Fritz Lehman

side note: Ande there was a point in my life where I could do more than 25 pull-ups ... I'd bet money I could still eek out 7 or 8 ... (remember I was a gymnast, we did pull-ups and chin-ups every day ... we used to do 20 pull-ups, switch our grip and do 20 chin-ups; we'd go through that multiple times) As for milestones ... breaking :30 in a 50fr ... Easily holding 200s under 3:00 ... breaking 1:10 on a 100 fr ... swimming a legal 400IM, swimming the mile ... Future milestones ... breaking 1:00 in a 100 fr, breaking :30 in the 50 fly, breaking :30 for a 50M fr ... breaking 2:00 in the 200yd Fr ...

This is not really a "beginner's" goal, but.... In 2003, I was the first person to participate in all 12 USMS national championship events in the same year. These events included: USMS Short Course Nationals, USMS Long Course Nationals, One-Hour Postal Championship, 5K Postal Championship, 10K Postal Championship, 3000 Yard Postal Championship, 6000 Yard Postal Championship, 1-Mile Open Water Championship, 2-Mile Cable Open Water Championship, 1-3 Mile (3K) Open Water Championship, 5K Open Water Championship, 10K Open Water Championship. Prior to 2003, one person (Bob Beach of St. Petersburg Masters, Florida) had participated in all 10 USMS long distance national championship events in the same year. I am working on a two-part story about the experience, which will be featured as Fitness Articles of the Month for July and August. Stay tuned... Swimmer Bill

The first time, as a masters swimmer, surpassing 500,000 yards of training.