Significant Milestones

I started Masters Swimming in January and have been following these forums since. Finally decided to officially register and communicate with what seems like a terrific bunch of people. The thread of milestones really caught my interest. The story of the individual with the Colon surgery and his milestones was truly inspirational. My story is simpler and not inspiring at all. I started swimming at Countryside Country Club in Clearwater, just for recreation fitness and weight control. The coach Denis Kaltchev suggested I join the team. I had never been a competetive swimmer in my life, never had formal training on strokes. Previous sports were football, track and wrestling. First workouts were very painful experiences, I could barely make my way through them. My big milestones have been. 1. Swimming the St pete short course meet in march 34 50 free, 148 100 IM, 46 50 ***. Not very good for a 48 year old, but the very first swim meet of my life. 2. Swimming 75 yards fly in a 25 pool. I'm close to doing 100. My goal, swim the long course meet in st pete with adjusted times 10% better than my last meet. jw

When I was 14, my goal for the entire summer was breaking 1:10 in the 100m *** (long course). I did it at the last meet of the summer, and it qualified me for junior nationals. The most recent milestone I achieved that was major was breaking 1:00 in the 100m back (LC). I did it in November 2002. I've done it twice since then, and I was surprised at the fact that my backstroke was getting faster into my 30s. I don't have any major milestones now. Just get on the blocks and race.

Originally posted by dorothyrde .... I can swim them in practice, but not sure anyone would have patience to wait for me to swim it in a meet! I say let 'em wait. They'll get over it. Just be sure you do it legal. Getting DQ'd would probably take some of the air out of that balloon. I especially like to hear from folks who are "non-career" swimmers. I think what you are doing is pretty impressive. Most people (that even bother to show up at the pool) would not consider a 400IM, let alone a 200 fly. Heck, I hear a lot of folks complain about backstroke. Consequently the 200 back is one of my best point getters. I get the distinct feeling that a lot of folks don't do certain events (or even show up at meets) because they feel like they "can't do them well enough". Like there is some sort of unwritten standard of excellence out there that you have to measure up to before you can participate. It kind of makes me wonder if that attitude is what keeps folks from returning (or even showing up) to meets... especially the smaller local events. I reckon I should probably keep my yap shut, not give anyone any ideas. After all, every event I'm in that someone from my age bracket does not show up to just means that many more points for me and my team. :-D But it would be a lot less boring for me at meets if I had more folks near my ability to compete against. At my last 400IM I was milling about behind the blocks with all the "old-guys" waiting for heat one when another "old-guy" (who is somewhat of an icon in swimming around here) walked through the crowd and said, "Ah! So these are all the tough guys." I looked around and thought, "Boy... You can say that again!" :"> "Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time." -- T. S. Elliot

I posted this same info on a different thread a bit ago but I reckon it kinda belongs here as well. I just started swimming again in late April after a 30+ year hiatus and at that I only swam summer league, no high school or college. Right now I'm just putting in yardage, trying to increase distance per workout. I've enterend one event so far - an open water 800m. As I finished, I consider it a resounding success (& I guess my first milestone). I'm going to enter a meet in July (Zone LC champs!) to basically get some benchmark times. I know my technique & stamina will not allow me to be competitive but, like in the 800, if I just finish my events, it will be a major accomplishment for me. I'm also taking the advice of someone on an earlier thread and entering many events (8) rather than just one or two to "get my feet wet" so to speak. They had done that but ended up deck-entering everything they could just for the experience and said they had a blast (if I'm remembering correctly!). If I don't DQ, I'll have met my expectations regardless of time. (And, with any luck, nobody will fall asleep (or get peeved!) waiting for me to finish!! :D)

When I was in college (1976), breaking 5:00 in the 500. Last year, breaking 6:00 in the 500.

Originally posted by Dashly .... My story is simpler and not inspiring at all.... I don't believe anyone can judge what is inspirational (or not). What may seem totally insignificant to one may be a totally jaw dropping experience for another. I am reminded of a street performer I saw at a fair in Atlanta, GA back in the early 80's. I happened to catch his act about 4 days or more into the festival. He explained that every new fair he went to he would dream up a new stunt to attempt. This particular stunt involved balancing a number of objects on someone's head. I distinctly recall that the bottom object was a glass of water, and the top object was an egg (probably raw). I believe all that was in between was an aluminum pie tin (right side up) on the glass of water, with the egg nestled on top of a curled up business card (obtained from an audience member) inside the pie tin. The object of the stunt was to knock the pie tin (and the card) out of the way and have the egg fall into the glass of water. He claimed that up to this time he had so far been unsuccessful in accomplishing this particular stunt. I did not think he could do it. And initially I was most impressed with how well the person (an audience volunteer, a young girl) seated in the chair in front of everyone was managing to contain their obviously growing state of near panic as he is stacking all this stuff on top of her head and describing what he is about to (try and) do. This was not a scheduled performance, he simply stopped on a sidewalk in the park where the fair was being held and just began his act (with juggling and such), and people wandering by had stopped to watch. This stunt was the grand finale. The moment of truth came. He braced himself for the blow (to the pie tin) with a remarkable sense of concentration. The tension of the audience was palpable. Thwack! The pie tin flew out, and the egg fell into the glass! You could have knocked me over with a feather. The audience cheered loudly. He grabbed the glass of water with the egg safely inside of it, held it up and exclaimed, "I did it!" At this point he became even more intense. He pointed at the audience (still holding up the glass), scanning back and forth from one end of the crowd to the other and almost blurted, "There! That is for all the go-getters in life! That is for all of those who keep trying and never give up!" It was quite a remarkable experience. .... "Close to the edge is okay, falling over the edge is trouble, but going over the edge and walking on air is advanced development."