May/June cover of USMS Swimmer

Since the non-serious posts are already drowning out the attempts at serious discussion I might as well jump in: Just in case you've had a rough day, here is an 8-step stress management technique recommended in the latest psychological texts. 1. Picture yourself near a stream. 2. Birds are softly chirping in the cool mountain air. 3. No one but you knows your secret place. 4. You are in total seclusion from the hectic place called "the world." 5. The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity. 6. The water is crystal clear. 7. You can easily make out the face of the person you're holding underwater. 8. See? You're smiling already.

Thanks for that Lindsay! :D

And that is precisely why we need to seal our borders.

Originally posted by laineybug Interesting thoughts Lindsey but perhaps swimmers would earn green, yellow, red, brown, black suits... Why does proficiency have be tied to time? That is a time/speed/racing mind set. Lainey What would you propose? Swimming is a sport about time, the same as all other competitive sports - running, cycling, etc. Do you propose it be judged on form like, say, figure skating or gymnastics? You can't take time out of swimming.

This morning - shortly after the lap swimmers had to give up the pool to the noodlers - I was walking to the locker room. I must have been day-dreaming because all of a sudden - BOOM - I was run over by the lady pushing the bin holding all of the noodles. That lady was able to push the bin without even breaking a sweat! All I can say is that noodling must really have some hidden benefits.

Originally posted by MichiganHusker all of a sudden - BOOM - I was run over by the lady pushing the bin holding all of the noodles. Now that is a photo worthy of a USMS cover.

I think we all love pasta. Think about it. Over the last 15 years there have been long intervals where I did not compete due to various real-life concerns, but still swam (mostly). Does that make me a fitness swimmer? Our club has numerous socials in a year (where real beer is consumed) 'fitness' & 'competitive' swimmers attend & do not come to blows. The original question of cover suitability is a totally legitimate question to be debated by bona fide USMS members, it is their magazine. It ill behooves outsiders (myself included) to use harsh labels to characterize members exercising that right, whether using satire or extensive backgrounding (Matt, did you write the Warren Commission Report?) to make their point. As I have said in the past, I think we have a thriving little posting community here & value it greatly. Where is the Moose?

lainey, i'm probably just out of the loop (i'm assuming you've probably already answered this somewhere along the line), but what is it about competing that keeps you so adamantly away from it? not that there's anything wrong with that- there's only about 3 people on the team i train with (out of over 30) that ever do meets, so i'm used to swimmers who do it for love of the sport/fitness/etc. i'm just curious, what is keeping you away from it? but i think tall paul has a good idea- go to a meet, just for observation, and see the friendships that have been forged through USMS. on the team i compete with (different than the group i train with), there are multiple examples of people who have met their significant others because of USMS (myself included!) yes, competition is a big part of it for the 20% of us who compete, but that's not all there is to it. unfortunately, the swimmers who don't compete don't really ever get to see the other side, the social/friendship side.

competitive swimmers are probably never going to fully understand fitness swimmers. most of us competitive swimmers do, however, understand that you like to swim, just like us. and we respect that. like i said in an earlier post- i swim with a group of primarily fitness swimmers, and i have no problem sharing with pool with that group. in fact, some of my closest friends from the 7 years i've spent in the town i'm in have been the fitness swimmers in my group. fitness swimmers are probably nevery going to fully understand competitive swimmers. but you guys seem to think we're insane for wanting to compete, and many of you don't seem to respect the fact we want to compete. and that we like to compete. fitness swimmers want competitive swimmers to respect their decision not to compete. but fitness swimmers also need to respect competitive swimmers decision to compete... i train daily in a lane with a guy who does not compete, but he understands my drive to compete. and i understand that his drive is to stay in shape. too bad not everyone can have a situation like that... if everyone just realized that the 2 groups have different goals for swimming, goals that can be meshed successfully together in USMS, we wouldn't have a rift between the two groups. IMHO of course.

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!