Hola, Comrades,
Sorry--Leslie et al--for my sabbatical from these postings, but the world of toil has ensnared me for the moment.
A quick update for those of you who responded so kindly in yestermonth regarding my inquiry about a swimming camp to attend (and write about for this New York Times magazine called Play, which comes out 4x a year.)
Anyhow, I am leaving next Friday for a couple days of instruction at the Race Club in Islamadora, FL. Should be fun and, I hope, illuminating.
They asked me what specifically I hoped to learn, and I listed a couple things:
--stroke analysis to become a bit more efficient and, especially, to make sure I am not doing anything to tweak my shoulder (which is often in a little bit of discomfort)
--starts, turns, breakouts, and any other easy ways to shave off some time in sprints
--and possibly some exercises/weight lifting/core training to again help swimming and reduce risk of shoulder problems
I am wondering if any of you can think of some better and/or different things to try to learn in such a setting? If so, let me know and I will do my best to vicariously learn these for you.
I will keep you posted on further developments.
PS please note that I have decided against taking a professional, or even semi-pro, masseuse with me, and indeed hope this entire experience will prove totally swimming related with no distracting hibiscus flowers of any sort to keep me from my goal of shaving at least .1 second off my age-adjusted 1650 time and .14 seconds off my hour swim (which, I just realized, would make it a 59:59.86 minute swim.)
Thanks, Ian et al! This was an extremely fun article to write. I went down there thinking that after my initial filming, the exceptionally affable Jon Olsen would review my footage and confess:
"Jim, this really is unprecedented at our camp. Usually, we can help swimmers improve their strokes, even if it is just tiny, micro changes. But your form is so flawless that I would feel like a complete fraud charging you anything to try to improve the unimprovably good! Here is a refund of your payment to the Race Club. And this other check? Well, Gary Jr. and I are hoping you might accept a nominal stipend of $100,000 in exchange for allowing us to show your underwater film to other students. Oh, and Gary was hoping you'd have a couple hours to help him personally."
It didn't turn out to be this way.
I can tell you guys more about the whole experience later, but let me just conclude for now that of all the Halls I have personally met, Bebe is by far the cutest. And probably the only one I can beat in swimming.
As for the 52.69, I did this at CZ meet where I should add that I came in 3rd in my 50-54 age group! If I can hold onto this time till the 80-84 age group, and these other guys give up, I might be able to win.
One very unrelated shameless self-promotion. The article I wrote last year that I thought was my best effort had nothing to do with swimming. If you are a hunter, outdoorsperson, or just like to look at deer from the window of your high speed motor vehicle, I do ask you to check out this story on CWD at fieldandstream.blogs.com/.../special_feature.html
Thanks, Ian et al! This was an extremely fun article to write. I went down there thinking that after my initial filming, the exceptionally affable Jon Olsen would review my footage and confess:
"Jim, this really is unprecedented at our camp. Usually, we can help swimmers improve their strokes, even if it is just tiny, micro changes. But your form is so flawless that I would feel like a complete fraud charging you anything to try to improve the unimprovably good! Here is a refund of your payment to the Race Club. And this other check? Well, Gary Jr. and I are hoping you might accept a nominal stipend of $100,000 in exchange for allowing us to show your underwater film to other students. Oh, and Gary was hoping you'd have a couple hours to help him personally."
It didn't turn out to be this way.
I can tell you guys more about the whole experience later, but let me just conclude for now that of all the Halls I have personally met, Bebe is by far the cutest. And probably the only one I can beat in swimming.
As for the 52.69, I did this at CZ meet where I should add that I came in 3rd in my 50-54 age group! If I can hold onto this time till the 80-84 age group, and these other guys give up, I might be able to win.
One very unrelated shameless self-promotion. The article I wrote last year that I thought was my best effort had nothing to do with swimming. If you are a hunter, outdoorsperson, or just like to look at deer from the window of your high speed motor vehicle, I do ask you to check out this story on CWD at fieldandstream.blogs.com/.../special_feature.html
