Significant Milestones

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.

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.