Hello Everyone,
B.J. Bedford says: For me, I never forget how it used to feel. And I know what it takes to get there, and I just don't have the time or the drive to get there. Anything less leaves me feeling a little dissatisfied, so I just don't do it much.
I think anyone who has started back from a prolonged absence can relate to this. What I remember is a Zen like loss of consciousness that felt transcendental kind of like being out of the body. Like being so automatic you didn't have to be there. I was asked once "how far can you swim?" I had to think about it because I was used to thinking how fast. I said "I don't know. It feels like forever."
I'd love to hear what others feel like in the water or what they remember.
Now I feel like a slow moving blob. Like I'm kind of stuck.
Is there a quick fix that anyone knows ?
Mary W
Parents
Former Member
Here is some first-hand experience:
I swam from when I was eight all the way thru college. My last meet was in the summer of 1986. As a grad student I splashed around a bit, but no serious training since then.
In May 2007 I got back in the water - really for the first time in over 20 years - prompted by the encouragement of a former agr-group teammate, and stimulated by the (premature) death in April of my freshman-year college roommate, who was also a swimmer.
The first few weeks back in the pool were brutal. Though it was a long time ago, I have very, very vivid memories of 20,000+ meters/day double workouts in college, of being too tired to go to class and just sleeping in the locker room, and of feeling as though I was in the best shape of my life. So being barely able to swim more than a few hundred yards continuously before my lat's and triceps gave out was shocking. :drown:
But I have stuck with it, and I have even swam a couple of meets over the past few weeks. I am now at the point where "feel for the water" is coming back, and where it actually feels GOOD to do a long pull set, or to swim a lactate set. I have set some ambitious goals for myself for the next couple of years.:wiggle:
So, my own sense is that the Zen feeling will come back, if you stick with it long enough, and are willing to really train to get (approximately) back to the level of fitness you once had.
There is a swim club in Holland whose name/motto is "Luctor et Emergo" - I struggle and emerge. I think that says it all...
Here is some first-hand experience:
I swam from when I was eight all the way thru college. My last meet was in the summer of 1986. As a grad student I splashed around a bit, but no serious training since then.
In May 2007 I got back in the water - really for the first time in over 20 years - prompted by the encouragement of a former agr-group teammate, and stimulated by the (premature) death in April of my freshman-year college roommate, who was also a swimmer.
The first few weeks back in the pool were brutal. Though it was a long time ago, I have very, very vivid memories of 20,000+ meters/day double workouts in college, of being too tired to go to class and just sleeping in the locker room, and of feeling as though I was in the best shape of my life. So being barely able to swim more than a few hundred yards continuously before my lat's and triceps gave out was shocking. :drown:
But I have stuck with it, and I have even swam a couple of meets over the past few weeks. I am now at the point where "feel for the water" is coming back, and where it actually feels GOOD to do a long pull set, or to swim a lactate set. I have set some ambitious goals for myself for the next couple of years.:wiggle:
So, my own sense is that the Zen feeling will come back, if you stick with it long enough, and are willing to really train to get (approximately) back to the level of fitness you once had.
There is a swim club in Holland whose name/motto is "Luctor et Emergo" - I struggle and emerge. I think that says it all...
