Looking at one-hour results, and just finishing New England Masters SCY Championships at Harvard, how is it that older swimmers are getting faster and faster, and pretty much everyone is getting faster and faster compared to a few years ago when there seemed to be more mortal swimmers?
What are older (45+ women; at this point 65+ men) swimmers doing that keeps them at such elite levels? Weights? Extensive training? How much of both? How do they have jobs and families and train? The field of fast swimmers is getting deeper and deeper. Anyone have idea as to why?
I want to know the secrets. Are the people who race now self-selecting more and more as elite swimmers? Has everyone swum all their lives? I know to swim hard you have to train hard, but I am baffled by sudden increase in amazing fast times and so many records getting broken.
Well, I see clearer and clearer the difference here between me and the elites.
My "age group" swimming was in the summers. I quit when I had to race 50 yards (too far). I regularly jumped the gun. We swam in an outdoor pool that was two feet deep with no diving blocks (thankfully) but nonetheless dove off the edge of the pool. Invariably someone knocked themselves out by clonking their head on the bottom. Parents did not stop our diving; perhaps it was like watching some sort of boxing match for them: whose kid would clonk themselves this meet?
Our coach was the Duke varsity swim coach and our team always won for the vast region of Durham, NC. Our scores were posted in the local paper.
In the winter my father took us swimming twice a week and played with us in the water. Afterwards we put on our jammies at the pool and then he made us cocoa at home before bed. I never did laps until I was in my 30s. I started masters when I was 46. I am more than 50. I love swimming. I am an avid swimmer but obviously not a serious swimmer. I skipped practice last night because I was tired, for example. I do well if I swim four times a week, 3200 to 4300 yards. My shoulders are fragile strings; I do exercises to help them. My back is fragile too; I do exercises to help it.
I still love swimming. I aim to improve.
Well, I see clearer and clearer the difference here between me and the elites.
My "age group" swimming was in the summers. I quit when I had to race 50 yards (too far). I regularly jumped the gun. We swam in an outdoor pool that was two feet deep with no diving blocks (thankfully) but nonetheless dove off the edge of the pool. Invariably someone knocked themselves out by clonking their head on the bottom. Parents did not stop our diving; perhaps it was like watching some sort of boxing match for them: whose kid would clonk themselves this meet?
Our coach was the Duke varsity swim coach and our team always won for the vast region of Durham, NC. Our scores were posted in the local paper.
In the winter my father took us swimming twice a week and played with us in the water. Afterwards we put on our jammies at the pool and then he made us cocoa at home before bed. I never did laps until I was in my 30s. I started masters when I was 46. I am more than 50. I love swimming. I am an avid swimmer but obviously not a serious swimmer. I skipped practice last night because I was tired, for example. I do well if I swim four times a week, 3200 to 4300 yards. My shoulders are fragile strings; I do exercises to help them. My back is fragile too; I do exercises to help it.
I still love swimming. I aim to improve.
