Last Friday while doing sprinting and drills, a fellow yelled at me and asked me if I needed a doctor (I was huffing and puffing naturally), and I said No, just sprinting. He insisted on trying to have a conversation with me about his long distance swimming. I will point out I know this fellow and he is not athletic, he does the bar scene, very unfit.
He told me he swam 10 miles in an hour, and the instant he told me that I broke out in hilarious laughter. He was shocked. I told him it was humanly impossible without an attached motorized device and that our dive boats here don't even go 10 miles an hour.
So, he said we could meet and he would show me, I said how about tomorrow because Saturday is my distance day. He said, Oh, I can't because I got a tatoo and I have to stay out of the water for 2 months!!
Don't people realize we didn't just fall off the turnip truck? Anyone ever brag to you about some swim facts that could not be true? Maybe this is something a person can say to a non-swimming person, but I am in the water training 4 days a week; I am the last person to make such an outrageous statement to!!!
donna
Former Member
How about reverse ridiculous comments?
Has someone ever ridiculed or doubted what you said you could do and you then got to "cram it?"
When I used to do jujitsu a guy (who thought himself mr super-fit) heard me talking about push-ups.
He chimed in I bet you can't do 30.
I said I bet I can and will bet you 1 pound for each over 30 I do...for a max of $10.
I dropped laid on the floor pushed up, back down to touch nose and chin...at thirty I said there's your 30. At forty I said you owe me a tenner and at 50 I said I'm not looking to get my workshirts all sweaty.
The guy said "I'm actually impressed!"
I used to do easily a couple of hundred at jujitsu in the warm up drills.
The moral: Just cos I'm not skinny and ripped don't assume I am not atlhetic.
Who else has had "cram it" experiences.
Wow, Rich, that's pretty cool. It goes to show you a book shouldn't be judged by its cover. The same is somewhat similar of me; I don't physically appear to be a very good swimmer by looking at me. At 5'8 and almost 200, most people dismiss my capabilities until the gun goes off; then it's an entirely different story. And by breaking the "mold" so to speak, I am finding that many other people who are interested in swimming aren't as intimidated by what their body looks like. They can look at me and see themselves somewhat, and that all people can be fit at any size or any age if they want to be fit and work toward it.
Pretty good story you told.
donna
Not sure if this fits in here but I am still fuming so what the heck...
Was swimming in our designated Masters time this past weekend, and attemped a backstroke start off the blocks, when I got to the end of the lane a young gaurd stopped me to tell me that I couldnt use the blocks, because they were for the "swim team", I coolly looked him in the eye and said "I am on the swim team" - he looks at me like I am a nut and I know he is thinking little kid swim team, so I say "the masters swim team" then he says "oh well you can't use the blocks because you will loosen them" Now I have been rehab'ing a shoulder this winter and I did put on a few pounds but I didnt think it was that bad! Today I am told it is because of "insurance reasons", but we can use the blocks at "designated times"..... Argghhhhh....I love the support of our Y.....:frustrated:
Not sure if this fits in here but I am still fuming so what the heck...
Was swimming in our designated Masters time this past weekend, and attemped a backstroke start off the blocks, when I got to the end of the lane a young gaurd stopped me to tell me that I couldnt use the blocks, because they were for the "swim team", I coolly looked him in the eye and said "I am on the swim team" - he looks at me like I am a nut and I know he is thinking little kid swim team, so I say "the masters swim team" then he says "oh well you can't use the blocks because you will loosen them" Now I have been rehab'ing a shoulder this winter and I did put on a few pounds but I didnt think it was that bad! Today I am told it is because of "insurance reasons", but we can use the blocks at "designated times"..... Argghhhhh....I love the support of our Y.....:frustrated:
Donna and Chickadee:
I think you both need to read the "Starting Block Annoyance" thread where this topic was, er, discussed at length. Everyone is annoyed that starting blocks are just decorative pieces. And all pools seem to have guards with "loose screws" and policies galore. Ugh. Damn lawyers.
Ah Chickadee, we have sympathy for you, but how could you miss such a golden opportunity to tell the guard that whoever came up with the policy also had a few loose screws?
I remember my 3rd triathlon and I only (?) placed 3rd and some people asked me what happened? I replied with this: they were faster.:rofl:
donna
That's utterly ridiculous. Who was faster?!?! :rofl:
Don't worry, DB, I'm ready for that 350 fly challenge on Monday. I'll be swimming to that pull buoy in the OW even faster than Fly Man Dave Barra. No problemo. I'm sure SS joins me in this sentiment.
To help in this endeavor, I am going to eat fat free food all weekend.
Not sure if this fits in here but I am still fuming so what the heck...
Was swimming in our designated Masters time this past weekend, and attemped a backstroke start off the blocks, when I got to the end of the lane a young gaurd stopped me to tell me that I couldnt use the blocks, because they were for the "swim team", I coolly looked him in the eye and said "I am on the swim team" - he looks at me like I am a nut and I know he is thinking little kid swim team, so I say "the masters swim team" then he says "oh well you can't use the blocks because you will loosen them" Now I have been rehab'ing a shoulder this winter and I did put on a few pounds but I didnt think it was that bad! Today I am told it is because of "insurance reasons", but we can use the blocks at "designated times"..... Argghhhhh....I love the support of our Y.....:frustrated:
This is NUTS! Loosen the screws? Insurance reasons? How about this one: we just don't want you to use them and there's no rhyme nor reason for our statement!!! Geez, Louize !!! It scares me the kinds of people who are in charge of things.
Yep, this qualifies as ridiculous comments.
donna
donna
More tall tales:
Tonight I had the honor of sharing a lane with a guy who used to swim the Mile IM. Am I privileged or what?:rofl: :rofl: After telling me this he demonstrated his awesom freestyle form. I tried counting strokes but had to quit around 30 when it was my "go time" again (he was just a little past the middle of the 25y pool).
More tall tales:
Tonight I had the honor of sharing a lane with a guy who used to swim the Mile IM. Am I privileged or what?:rofl: :rofl: After telling me this he demonstrated his awesom freestyle form. I tried counting strokes but had to quit around 30 when it was my "go time" again (he was just a little past the middle of the 25y pool).
Pool:
I too new to disagree. BUT, I am a bad technical swimmer (and slow), but I did swim mile+ OW. While I will never say I can IM (any distance), but I did what I did. I probably worked harder than any other swimmer because of poor form...BUT I did what I did! Maybe he did too?
SwimStud;83309
How about reverse ridiculous comments?
Has someone ever ridiculed or doubted what you said you could do and you then got to "cram it?"
Actually, I had kind of a similar situation where somebody "doubted" what I had already done and then.......
OK. Let's go back in time.
The year is 1977 and I was with Olympic Airways, living in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I had organized and sponsored a swim (for fun) meet at one of the hotels there. Their pool was rectangular and had one shallow end and one deep end (and there the similarity with any official pools ends).
I was 34 at the time and had stopped "real" swimming for about 14 years but decided to participate in one race. (We called it the 100m. It was three lengths of the pool. The lifeguard and I had kind of paced it, then measured the length of a pool's-edge tile and multiplied it by the number of tiles and the pool was about 30-some meters.)
Lots of other races, relays, kids, swimming with balloons, drink-a-coke-dive-swim-get-out-dring-another-coke-dive-back-in, etc.....
I won the 100m and gave away the first prize to the 2nd place finisher whose prize went to the third, etc... (The "prizes" were Olympic Airways Flight Bags, Ashtrays, Pens, etc... plus a free dinner from the hotel).
The festivities over and everybody is just sitting by the pool having a nice chat, a young man of about 27-ish (in a Speedo, what else?) approaches me and tells me, "I hear you won the 100m. I was late getting to the hotel. I would have won that race. I'm challenging you."
So I tell him that the race was for fun and that I even gave "my prize" away. He replies by telling me that he's an ex-National level swimmer and an ex-Water Polo player and that he's a faster swimmer than me.
The thing is that I had never laid eyes on him before so I replied, "OK. If you say so. You are a faster swimmer." He comes back with, "Yes, but I am still challenging you to a race." My friends were urging me to accept his challenge and race him because his cockiness was rubbing them (and me) the wrong way. I didn't really feel like racing again. (That was also back when I used to smoke some 60-80 cigarettes a day and that 100m, without any kind of fitness readiness or preparation had left me hollow.)
So, I proposed to swim just two lengths. He accepted and went looking for the lifeguard and the Hotel owner to preside over the "Special Challenge Race" and have it announced over the loudspeakers.
I though to myself that I'd just go in, do my sprint and it wasn't as if the fate of a Nation's Olympic team rested on the result. So, he'll beat me; so what?
"On your marks!" "Get Set!" "Go!" (The hotel owner had seen that somewhere on TV probably.)
The guy stopped halfway through the first length, as I was already turning at the far end. He had at least the grace to say, "You're much too fast for me", before hurrying to the locker rooms.
Why challenge a complete stranger when you have no idea if he's slower or faster than you? It never ceases to amaze me how some people think, but I admit that it felt really good.:thhbbb: when I beat him.
I am absolutely convinced that after this Sunday's triathlon, I will have EVEN MORE stories to tell that are Ridiculous Comments; you know, all the excuses in the world.
I remember my 3rd triathlon and I only (?) placed 3rd and some people asked me what happened? I replied with this: they were faster.:rofl:
donna
