So since at least two people on this board are interested in my adventures in joining my University's team I thought I'd create a thread (much like ande's swimming blog) to detail all of it. Yeah.
Since the season doesn't actually start regular practice for another week and a half, this is mainly an intro post - and I'll update it with what happens when I go meet the other girls on the team and such! Stay tuned! It'll be better than any general hospital or passions!
Today I actually swam for the first time (since my freshman swim test last year) in the University pool. It was huge. And cold. Over the summer I got used to swimming in health club pools with water hovering around 80-85. Not exactly the most comfortable water at times, but at least nice and warm. The Ratner pool here is...freezing by those standards. I'm guessing the water temp is 75 at the warmest. Gives new meaning to the term "warm up".
I was really nervous when I first got in - the girls and guys returning members were having informal practices and I was sort of afraid they'd notice me. Although, I don't think they did. Or maybe they did and I just didn't hear what they said about me. Haha.
I also swam a 600 for the first time in a long time. I mostly stuck to 400s and below in my summer workouts (yeah, I know, I'm a little bit of a wimp). Unfortunately, that couldn't last. The coach suggested when I met her that I get in the water and swim 6-800 straight every day this week as part of my workout. It kind of hurt. Actually, it was one of the odder experiences of my life. For the first 200 or so my chest was tight from my asthma and I was freaking out about the distance (I was also really cold). Then all of a sudden I started to get really into it and just kept on going. I probably could have done 1000 if I wanted to.
The workout was cut short - only about 2300yds - because I promised my friends I'd come home and cook dinner for them tonight. And that's where I leave it tonight.
Background: For those who didn't see my posts on the board throughout the year, I'm a soph. in college who has been going through the prepartion to join my school's team. I attend the University of Chicago (a div 3 school) and was a competitive swimmer for seven years before high school. Burnout put me out of the water for almost 5 years, however, and I'm only recently getting back into it.
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Former Member
Originally posted by hmlee
I'm also really hoping to be accepeted by the girls on the team - it will make it so much easier if I have support from them as well as from the other people in my life.
When I first moved into the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs (1981) to train with the other racewalkers who lived there, I was worried about the same thing. Doubley so because I knew I was probably the least naturally talented, slowest person and one of the oldest. However, I discovered that I had two things that the others didn't and eased the way:
1) I had no fear of distance and could do really long, steady workouts (3-6 hours). No one else had ever really trained much in this range and I was asked constantly to "pull" some of the better walkers (including a number of Olympic team members) through some pretty nasty distances.
2) I didn't/don't drink (alcohol) and I had a car. This made me the ideal person to go out with for socializing since people knew that they could get a bit loose (nice after a 5 hour walk in the heat) and get home alive. I also think that it helped that I was in a committed monogamous relationship with my girlfriend (now wife) even though she was in Pennsylvania - no competition from me with the ladies we happened to meet (A.K.A. the ideal wing man).
Please STOP the negative thoughts/doubts. Go to practice as if you really BELIEVE that you belong there and everyone else will soon believe that you belong there as well.
A story to emphasize the last point: Before the 1988 Olympics, I coached a number of athletes, some of whom made the team. We had a training group that met on Saturday mornings for some pretty frightening workouts. A guy named Harold, who was 67 years old and had had triple bypass surgery, showed up from Nebraska and wanted to train with the group. Putting it mildly, Harold was nowhere near the ability of the group. BUT... Harold trained harder than I thought was humanly possible. He was the first person there and the last to leave and in between he'd literally leave blood on the track if that is what was required. (His wife, Dorothy, used to come to practice, sit in a chair by the track, knitting or reading mystery novels and yell at Harold - Harold was hard of hearing - that he really COULD do better than he was. I'm still not sure if she was trying to kill him to collect the insurance money.) One of the other athletes, who eventually made a total of 4 Olympic teams, once said that if he could train as hard as Harold, he'd win the Olympics. Later, when Harold placed 6th in his age group in the World Master's championships 20km, we had a bigger celebration than when 3 of the other guys made the Olympic team. We all loved and respected and admired Harold, but not because of the times he achieved, but because of this unbelievable attitude and work ethic.
I'm not sure what the "h" stands for in "hmlee", but I dub thee "Harold". Go get 'em, Harold.
-LBJ
Originally posted by hmlee
I'm also really hoping to be accepeted by the girls on the team - it will make it so much easier if I have support from them as well as from the other people in my life.
When I first moved into the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs (1981) to train with the other racewalkers who lived there, I was worried about the same thing. Doubley so because I knew I was probably the least naturally talented, slowest person and one of the oldest. However, I discovered that I had two things that the others didn't and eased the way:
1) I had no fear of distance and could do really long, steady workouts (3-6 hours). No one else had ever really trained much in this range and I was asked constantly to "pull" some of the better walkers (including a number of Olympic team members) through some pretty nasty distances.
2) I didn't/don't drink (alcohol) and I had a car. This made me the ideal person to go out with for socializing since people knew that they could get a bit loose (nice after a 5 hour walk in the heat) and get home alive. I also think that it helped that I was in a committed monogamous relationship with my girlfriend (now wife) even though she was in Pennsylvania - no competition from me with the ladies we happened to meet (A.K.A. the ideal wing man).
Please STOP the negative thoughts/doubts. Go to practice as if you really BELIEVE that you belong there and everyone else will soon believe that you belong there as well.
A story to emphasize the last point: Before the 1988 Olympics, I coached a number of athletes, some of whom made the team. We had a training group that met on Saturday mornings for some pretty frightening workouts. A guy named Harold, who was 67 years old and had had triple bypass surgery, showed up from Nebraska and wanted to train with the group. Putting it mildly, Harold was nowhere near the ability of the group. BUT... Harold trained harder than I thought was humanly possible. He was the first person there and the last to leave and in between he'd literally leave blood on the track if that is what was required. (His wife, Dorothy, used to come to practice, sit in a chair by the track, knitting or reading mystery novels and yell at Harold - Harold was hard of hearing - that he really COULD do better than he was. I'm still not sure if she was trying to kill him to collect the insurance money.) One of the other athletes, who eventually made a total of 4 Olympic teams, once said that if he could train as hard as Harold, he'd win the Olympics. Later, when Harold placed 6th in his age group in the World Master's championships 20km, we had a bigger celebration than when 3 of the other guys made the Olympic team. We all loved and respected and admired Harold, but not because of the times he achieved, but because of this unbelievable attitude and work ethic.
I'm not sure what the "h" stands for in "hmlee", but I dub thee "Harold". Go get 'em, Harold.
-LBJ
