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
Same for me. Give me an inch and I'll take a mile. I needed/ wanted/ craved a more boot camp type workout. There is always something that not only challenges me but often shocks me during USA-S practices. :)
Funny thing is that I am not terribly worried about keeping up with the kids training. I know which group I would fit into (not the National Quaifiers: they are slightly faster than I for the most part) but the Junior National Team I would keep up with and bury most of them. Swimming is a poor cousin sport around here: hockey is the real religion. This is Canada after all. Any kid that shows Olympic potential ends up either at the national training center in Vancouver or Calgary.
I am terrified of trying to keep up with the kids doing kick. They do tons of kick around here and that is something I just cannot do. My feet move, so do my legs. Really fast. Its my body that stays in place. All I can say is thank God I have tremendously powerful arms and bullet-proof shoulders. I can just see me getting the nick-name "road-kill" after the first kick session.
All the coaches know me around here; think small community, then get out the microscope so you can see my community. Swimming is tiny here: they cannot even hold a swim meet without every official from all the local cities and towns turning up. I am one of the perrenial "stroke and turn" guys that officiates at least one session at every meet. Furthermore, at 5:30 in the morning all the coaches notice the old grey fart doing 4500 meters of low rest reps over in the public lanes.
One of my issues is that my daughter's departure from competitive swimming was nothing short of incendiary. There was a boy on her team, he was offended when she dumped him, violent threats were made and things went downhill from there. Most of the local swim families followed the spectacular soap opera that ensued and now just about all the swim community takes a wide berth to avoid dealing with my daughter and I. The silence was deafening back when my daughter would come and train with me in the early mornings when she thought she might still take a run at competing.
Same for me. Give me an inch and I'll take a mile. I needed/ wanted/ craved a more boot camp type workout. There is always something that not only challenges me but often shocks me during USA-S practices. :)
Funny thing is that I am not terribly worried about keeping up with the kids training. I know which group I would fit into (not the National Quaifiers: they are slightly faster than I for the most part) but the Junior National Team I would keep up with and bury most of them. Swimming is a poor cousin sport around here: hockey is the real religion. This is Canada after all. Any kid that shows Olympic potential ends up either at the national training center in Vancouver or Calgary.
I am terrified of trying to keep up with the kids doing kick. They do tons of kick around here and that is something I just cannot do. My feet move, so do my legs. Really fast. Its my body that stays in place. All I can say is thank God I have tremendously powerful arms and bullet-proof shoulders. I can just see me getting the nick-name "road-kill" after the first kick session.
All the coaches know me around here; think small community, then get out the microscope so you can see my community. Swimming is tiny here: they cannot even hold a swim meet without every official from all the local cities and towns turning up. I am one of the perrenial "stroke and turn" guys that officiates at least one session at every meet. Furthermore, at 5:30 in the morning all the coaches notice the old grey fart doing 4500 meters of low rest reps over in the public lanes.
One of my issues is that my daughter's departure from competitive swimming was nothing short of incendiary. There was a boy on her team, he was offended when she dumped him, violent threats were made and things went downhill from there. Most of the local swim families followed the spectacular soap opera that ensued and now just about all the swim community takes a wide berth to avoid dealing with my daughter and I. The silence was deafening back when my daughter would come and train with me in the early mornings when she thought she might still take a run at competing.
