I have noticed that some (many?) of you swimmers have the opportunity to train with age-group swimmers. How did you manage to arrange that?
I typically train early mornings (5:30, as soon as the pool opens). The local Masters club only trains in the evenings while I am still at work, so the majority of my sessions are solo, trained in the "public lanes". This works out fairly well; I am a fast enough swimmer that I usually end up with my own lane or sharing with other like-minded people. The problem is that, left to my own devices, my work-outs are all about the same. Same times, same strokes, same distance. I always go about 4000 to 4500 meters, one half swim, one quarter kick, one quarter pull. I do some sprints and tons of traditional short-rest interval training. Ho hummmmm...
It would be nice to periodically (or routinelly) swim with the age-group swimmers of my speed calibre, but I just cannot see how to arrange that without coming across as just plain kooky (and not in a good kooky way either) Maybe it is just the very traditional, old fashioned culture in this area that makes this difficult.
As an example: I once asked why the masters swimmers do not share swim meets with the age group swimmers more often to defray the costs of pool rental and increase the number of paying competitors. The major answer was that many parents do not want a bunch of "dirty old men" warming up in the same pool as their young impressionable daughters. This took me aback: at the time my daughter was a competitive swimmer and I just could not fathom that anyone could have such a dirty mind that they could imagine anything sexual happening in a crowded warm-up pool.
For the swimmers that have the opportunity to swim with age group teams: was this opportunity offered-up voluntarily by the club, or did you have to campaign the club to allow you to join as a master swimmer?
Parents
Former Member
I've heard the "dirty old men" comment at our local club as well. Some of the swim moms have too much time on their hands.
Some of our adult swimmers will ask the head coach for permission to swim with the elite USAS group if they can make the sets. Generally they are not getting sufficient quality of training swimming the coached Masters workouts, or their schedule conflicts with the USMS practices. Some are fast enough to focus on higher-caliber USAS and FINA meets. Anybody doing these workouts is probably focused on survival. The swim moms so worried about their "impressionable young daughters" probably could use a reality check and stick to worrying about the other teenagers.
Slower adult swimmers do not swim with the age group kids. They stick to the Masters practices. If there is lanespace but no masters coach, they can swim uncoached in an empty lane but don't share a lane with the kids.
In our LSC any meet offering competion for 15-16 year olds must allow any older USAS-registered swimmer to compete as long as they have the qualifying time standards (unless it is a Junior meet for 18&Under). Typically timelines are a problem so it is not typical for slower USMS swimmers to dual-register and make the meets even longer.
I've heard the "dirty old men" comment at our local club as well. Some of the swim moms have too much time on their hands.
Some of our adult swimmers will ask the head coach for permission to swim with the elite USAS group if they can make the sets. Generally they are not getting sufficient quality of training swimming the coached Masters workouts, or their schedule conflicts with the USMS practices. Some are fast enough to focus on higher-caliber USAS and FINA meets. Anybody doing these workouts is probably focused on survival. The swim moms so worried about their "impressionable young daughters" probably could use a reality check and stick to worrying about the other teenagers.
Slower adult swimmers do not swim with the age group kids. They stick to the Masters practices. If there is lanespace but no masters coach, they can swim uncoached in an empty lane but don't share a lane with the kids.
In our LSC any meet offering competion for 15-16 year olds must allow any older USAS-registered swimmer to compete as long as they have the qualifying time standards (unless it is a Junior meet for 18&Under). Typically timelines are a problem so it is not typical for slower USMS swimmers to dual-register and make the meets even longer.
