Greetings all!!
A long time ago, I was a mildly successful competitive swimmer. Started at age 8 or so, ended after high school. Not many wins along the way, I do remember going to the state meet and placing something like 8th out of 8!! College brought beer and girls ... how could swimming compete?
Fast forward to 2006. Coming up to age 56, probably 40 lbs overweight. Luckily, no major health issues. Have a 7 year old son who started swim lessons this summer and he challenged me to join him in the pool. Son of a gun ... I can still swim pretty well!! Joined the local Y and tried a few laps (nothing organized, just open swim). Hey, I can still finish a few laps without stopping! Timed myself for a 50 (2X25) at about 45 seconds or so. Hmmm, can I compete again someday??
I recently found this site, and may well join up. This may just be the right kind of great challenge right now ... to help lose some weight and stay alive a bit longer! Maybe have some fun!
My question is ... what's the best way to get started?
I don't even know what all to ask. I am lucky to be a "stay-at-home" dad and run a computer networking business from home, so I do have some flexibility, time wise.
Look forward to some sage advice ...
Cheers!!
Ken
Parents
Former Member
Ken,
Welcome back to swimming. My experience is similar to yours. I swam summer club until 16 or 17 but no high school or college. I got back in the pool early last year at 50 while teaching my six year old son to swim. (My then 12 year old twins had been swimming age group for about 1 ½ years.) I decided if I needed to exercise anyway, I'd much rather swimming be my main outlet than anything else. I work out on my own where my kids swim team practices as we're kind of rural and a Masters team isn’t really an option right now.
When I first started, I couldn't swim over 100 yds. without having to stop and rest. After some advice from folks on the forums here, I slowed "waaaay" down and started to build up a little stamina. It wasn't too long before I could go 500, then 1000. Once I got to doing 1000 fairly regularly, I started to do some intervals.
I joined Masters to have the carrot of the occasional competition to keep me going. I've competed 4 times in the last year, the most recent being in April. While improvement measurement is inexact as my 1st meet was LCM and last was SCY, my 50 free improved 1.5 & 2 seconds, my 100 closer to 9 seconds. Had improvement in times been my main focus, I could probably have done better but, as with a lot of Masters, real life takes precedence & with 3 kids (and all that that entails), that means missed or shortened workouts.
From what I’ve seen here before, if joining a local team is convenient, it is definitely the way to go. (Your flexibility time wise should be a boon to you there.) Most teams cater to all skill levels and would be able to help you measure your progress based on what you set as your priorities. If you have a local team, stopping by and talking with the coach might not be a bad first step. I expect they’d allow you to observe, perhaps even participate in, a couple of practices to see if it might be what you’re looking for.
Don’t know how sage the advice is but thought it might be a start. (I can attest that swimming will help some with the weight loss even though I’ve still got a way to go myself!)
Again, welcome back to the pool.
Leonard
Ken,
Welcome back to swimming. My experience is similar to yours. I swam summer club until 16 or 17 but no high school or college. I got back in the pool early last year at 50 while teaching my six year old son to swim. (My then 12 year old twins had been swimming age group for about 1 ½ years.) I decided if I needed to exercise anyway, I'd much rather swimming be my main outlet than anything else. I work out on my own where my kids swim team practices as we're kind of rural and a Masters team isn’t really an option right now.
When I first started, I couldn't swim over 100 yds. without having to stop and rest. After some advice from folks on the forums here, I slowed "waaaay" down and started to build up a little stamina. It wasn't too long before I could go 500, then 1000. Once I got to doing 1000 fairly regularly, I started to do some intervals.
I joined Masters to have the carrot of the occasional competition to keep me going. I've competed 4 times in the last year, the most recent being in April. While improvement measurement is inexact as my 1st meet was LCM and last was SCY, my 50 free improved 1.5 & 2 seconds, my 100 closer to 9 seconds. Had improvement in times been my main focus, I could probably have done better but, as with a lot of Masters, real life takes precedence & with 3 kids (and all that that entails), that means missed or shortened workouts.
From what I’ve seen here before, if joining a local team is convenient, it is definitely the way to go. (Your flexibility time wise should be a boon to you there.) Most teams cater to all skill levels and would be able to help you measure your progress based on what you set as your priorities. If you have a local team, stopping by and talking with the coach might not be a bad first step. I expect they’d allow you to observe, perhaps even participate in, a couple of practices to see if it might be what you’re looking for.
Don’t know how sage the advice is but thought it might be a start. (I can attest that swimming will help some with the weight loss even though I’ve still got a way to go myself!)
Again, welcome back to the pool.
Leonard
