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
Thanks, folks!!
The local Y indicates they have a Master's program, but the time is not favorable at all. (It's 5:30 to 7:00 AM Tuesdays and Thursdays and my mornings at that time are filled with getting my son up & ready for school, and my wife up and out to catch her bus to go to work ). However, they do have an "open" time at 9 AM to 10 AM that looks likely as that's just about right for my trip back home after dropping my son at his school.
I suspect y'all are right that I'm trying too hard, too fast. I noticed today that I had a very difficult time slowing down and swimming "casually". I do not consider myself to be very "competitive" in general, but it seems I keep wanting to try to go faster and faster!!
For example, today I did a 50 warm up, 50 kick w/board, 50 pulls with floats, a 100 "sprint" (well, as much as I can sprint ...), all freestyle. After catching my breath, I did a 50 ***, followed by a 25 back. Tried a 25 fly, but thought I might die before touching the end of the pool, so I switched to *** about 60% of the way down! Did a another 50 *** to rest up a bit, then a couple of fairly slow 100 frees. Took the better part of about an hour to accomplish this.
I'll have a closer look at the workouts listed and will try to put something together that makes sense. I have some time to plan ... we learned today that the main lap pool is going to be closed for 4 weeks for installation of a new filtering system. From the general cloudiness of the water today, this is perhaps a wise investment on their part!!
Thanks for the comments ... look forward to more down the road.
Cheers!!
Ken
Thanks, folks!!
The local Y indicates they have a Master's program, but the time is not favorable at all. (It's 5:30 to 7:00 AM Tuesdays and Thursdays and my mornings at that time are filled with getting my son up & ready for school, and my wife up and out to catch her bus to go to work ). However, they do have an "open" time at 9 AM to 10 AM that looks likely as that's just about right for my trip back home after dropping my son at his school.
I suspect y'all are right that I'm trying too hard, too fast. I noticed today that I had a very difficult time slowing down and swimming "casually". I do not consider myself to be very "competitive" in general, but it seems I keep wanting to try to go faster and faster!!
For example, today I did a 50 warm up, 50 kick w/board, 50 pulls with floats, a 100 "sprint" (well, as much as I can sprint ...), all freestyle. After catching my breath, I did a 50 ***, followed by a 25 back. Tried a 25 fly, but thought I might die before touching the end of the pool, so I switched to *** about 60% of the way down! Did a another 50 *** to rest up a bit, then a couple of fairly slow 100 frees. Took the better part of about an hour to accomplish this.
I'll have a closer look at the workouts listed and will try to put something together that makes sense. I have some time to plan ... we learned today that the main lap pool is going to be closed for 4 weeks for installation of a new filtering system. From the general cloudiness of the water today, this is perhaps a wise investment on their part!!
Thanks for the comments ... look forward to more down the road.
Cheers!!
Ken
