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?
The swim moms so worried about their "impressionable young daughters" probably could use a reality check and stick to worrying about the other teenagers.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The teenaged boys in the workouts are just as "dirty" as any adult. The only difference is there's actually the possibility that the boys will date their daughters! If any adult swimming with age groupers did anything even remotely inappropriate I'm pretty sure the'd be tossed out on their butt very quickly.
Since my current masters team seems unlikely to continue past the summer I've been thinking about where I'll swim next. I've been looking at USA Swimming clubs as a possibility. One thing that concerns me, though, is they are much more expensive.
The swim moms so worried about their "impressionable young daughters" probably could use a reality check and stick to worrying about the other teenagers.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The teenaged boys in the workouts are just as "dirty" as any adult. The only difference is there's actually the possibility that the boys will date their daughters! If any adult swimming with age groupers did anything even remotely inappropriate I'm pretty sure the'd be tossed out on their butt very quickly.
Since my current masters team seems unlikely to continue past the summer I've been thinking about where I'll swim next. I've been looking at USA Swimming clubs as a possibility. One thing that concerns me, though, is they are much more expensive.
