I have a swim partner right now, a young girl from Scotland who is training for our triathlon here; she pushes me big time even tho I could be her mother (she is always on my feet, I can't get rid of her!!)
I was a natural backstroker for 40 plus years, turned distance freestyle and no more backstroke.
Here's our personal challenge and wanted to see if any of you would be interested. I have never been a butterflyer except when I was young and didn't know any better and did the 400 IM, and I never butterfrogged; only dolphin kick.
On March 19th to build a different kind of strength, we are going to add to our training with distance fly (yes, I must have dementia).
From shore to a buoy, it is 350 yards and our goal is to do the entire thing fly. When I come up with challenges for myself, I always say Why Not?
So, my friend Jo and I are going to start training for the 350 fly and we don't have any turns, it is straight, non-stop to the buoy. I remember trying this same challenge for myself several years ago, and only got to about 150 yards and DIED. But it is always good to challenge ourselves in something we don't normally swim.
So, for you flyers out there and non-flyers, I ask my standard question: Why Not? Are you game? And if not fly, why not another stroke that gives you grief? All that can happen is you may not succeed at a particular distance, but you are giving your body a rest from its norm and moving into areas of different training.
I hope to report more than enough hilarious stories along the way toward this goal.
Donna
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Former Member
Thanks, Peter for bringing this up. Well, I was wondering how long it would take someone to read that article from 3 years ago in the Bay Islands Voice Magazine where the editor quoted me totally inaccurately where it quoted me as saying I smoked so many cigs a day, ate cheeseburgers, and drank rum and coke, the last one being the only one that is true.
The editor/owner can't stand me competing in the triathlon down here, he says I do not fit the image of an athlete which I have never professed to being one, only a swimmer. He says I am an embarrassment to athletes worldwide and trying to live in the past, yada, yada, yada, because I am old and fat. But it is interesting I always place in the top 3 in the swim, or at least up until now I have. Because of that article, many companies down here pulled all their advertisements from his magazine for several months awaiting a retraction on me. He never did retract, but publicly apologized. But we do not speak to this day and he avoids me.
He heard about my 18 mile attempt swim from Roatan to Utila and stopped me and told me the only way I would be able to do it, would be to cheat; in other words, I will say I swam it when I fail. I did challenge him to a 6-mile swim and he wouldn't do it.
So, that's the true story, folks.
Back to the challenge: I don't thinking breathing will be my problem on my goal of 350 fly; it is going to be the fact that I am heavy and trying to move forward with some upward movement is going to create a pile of drag. This will be the time when I wished I weighed 130!!
I plan on starting with single arm fly first and build from there. But I do have a feeling this will take months, but I am patient. I love goals that seem unachievable; I guess I like the journey.
Donna
Thanks, Peter for bringing this up. Well, I was wondering how long it would take someone to read that article from 3 years ago in the Bay Islands Voice Magazine where the editor quoted me totally inaccurately where it quoted me as saying I smoked so many cigs a day, ate cheeseburgers, and drank rum and coke, the last one being the only one that is true.
The editor/owner can't stand me competing in the triathlon down here, he says I do not fit the image of an athlete which I have never professed to being one, only a swimmer. He says I am an embarrassment to athletes worldwide and trying to live in the past, yada, yada, yada, because I am old and fat. But it is interesting I always place in the top 3 in the swim, or at least up until now I have. Because of that article, many companies down here pulled all their advertisements from his magazine for several months awaiting a retraction on me. He never did retract, but publicly apologized. But we do not speak to this day and he avoids me.
He heard about my 18 mile attempt swim from Roatan to Utila and stopped me and told me the only way I would be able to do it, would be to cheat; in other words, I will say I swam it when I fail. I did challenge him to a 6-mile swim and he wouldn't do it.
So, that's the true story, folks.
Back to the challenge: I don't thinking breathing will be my problem on my goal of 350 fly; it is going to be the fact that I am heavy and trying to move forward with some upward movement is going to create a pile of drag. This will be the time when I wished I weighed 130!!
I plan on starting with single arm fly first and build from there. But I do have a feeling this will take months, but I am patient. I love goals that seem unachievable; I guess I like the journey.
Donna
