I am more of a fitness swimmer than competitive swimmer. Yes I have done meets, and will probably do so again, but mainly I swim for fitness. I don't think more open water events will help the fitness swimmer to compete. Bleh, don't put me in a lake.
Fitness swimmers swim because it feels good to get to the pool and move their bodies. It is their form of exercise and they are consistent every week on doing it. Besides swimming, I weight train and do aerobics. I don't enter contests for weight training or aerobics. I do these because I feel good when I do them, and they help my body stay physically fit.
And to do aerobics or weight train, I don't need to join an organization. I just do it. So why does a fitness swimmer need to join USMS?
I can understand why a fitness swimmer would want more out of this forum. Swimming has technique, fitness swimmers benefit from technique. When I started wieght lifting 25 years ago, I read books about training with weights. It is natural for a fitness swimmer to want to learn more about the exercise they do, but not to compete.
So I asked myself why I competed? The first time I competed, I was curious. I had learned to swim the year before and my coach was telling me I was fairly decent and needed to compete. So I went to see what it was like. My kids had been swimming for awhile, and it gave me a good perspective on how hard it is to do a meet. So then, I did not compete for awhile, no time, no local meets. When I did decide to compete in the one meet that is close(45 minutes away), I got sick, so there went that. Then I decided I needed a goal, so I chose 2004 Nationals because it was in Indy, somewhat close. I competed that year to get times, went to Indy, had an OK time, had some good swims for me. It was OK, but for me, competing just gives me a goal if I am lacking motivation. Most times I am motivated to swim just for the exercise.
Lainey, I am short a Colorado operator on a Saturday morning session May 20, wanna come to Illinois? :) My husband is on call and can't run it for me, and I have tried, but I get hit with too many questions to concentrate on it, since I set up the meet and run the computers!
I am more of a fitness swimmer than competitive swimmer. Yes I have done meets, and will probably do so again, but mainly I swim for fitness. I don't think more open water events will help the fitness swimmer to compete. Bleh, don't put me in a lake.
Fitness swimmers swim because it feels good to get to the pool and move their bodies. It is their form of exercise and they are consistent every week on doing it. Besides swimming, I weight train and do aerobics. I don't enter contests for weight training or aerobics. I do these because I feel good when I do them, and they help my body stay physically fit.
And to do aerobics or weight train, I don't need to join an organization. I just do it. So why does a fitness swimmer need to join USMS?
I can understand why a fitness swimmer would want more out of this forum. Swimming has technique, fitness swimmers benefit from technique. When I started wieght lifting 25 years ago, I read books about training with weights. It is natural for a fitness swimmer to want to learn more about the exercise they do, but not to compete.
So I asked myself why I competed? The first time I competed, I was curious. I had learned to swim the year before and my coach was telling me I was fairly decent and needed to compete. So I went to see what it was like. My kids had been swimming for awhile, and it gave me a good perspective on how hard it is to do a meet. So then, I did not compete for awhile, no time, no local meets. When I did decide to compete in the one meet that is close(45 minutes away), I got sick, so there went that. Then I decided I needed a goal, so I chose 2004 Nationals because it was in Indy, somewhat close. I competed that year to get times, went to Indy, had an OK time, had some good swims for me. It was OK, but for me, competing just gives me a goal if I am lacking motivation. Most times I am motivated to swim just for the exercise.
Lainey, I am short a Colorado operator on a Saturday morning session May 20, wanna come to Illinois? :) My husband is on call and can't run it for me, and I have tried, but I get hit with too many questions to concentrate on it, since I set up the meet and run the computers!
