Hi all,
I'm new here, and I've searched around the forums but haven't really found any other discussions similar to my situation. I hope you're willing to indulge a true (re)beginner. I'd appreciate if people are gentle with their redirects to other threads and please don't flame me. I may be explaining in over-detail, but I don't know what's important.
I'm 34, F, many pounds overweight. I swam summers and HS as a kid and have inconsistently swum in recent years for fitness. I am clearly out of shape, but this year kicked myself off with wii fit (things like short stints of running, push-ups) and free weights, and my CV health has improved dramatically.
This summer, I tried SCY on a whim (instead of the usual LCM I've tried occasionally in the past few years) and something just clicked. For years I struggled with short distances, rarely improving, but I decided to try to work myself up to distance (the 0-1650 plan). The very first day I swam a mile. This was a huge surprise to me.
I completely remembered why I loved swimming and started to think about how to plan some goals. OW suggested itself, I tried it and loved it. I swam my first open water mile last week with a friend following in a kayak, but with my poor sighting skills had to switch to *** most of the way back while against the current. I swam it in 51 min (very slow I know).
I'd like to try an open water mile race by the end of the summer. Here's what I have for times: 1:49 free/:52 split; my mile interval practice, mostly of 100ys :15 rest today took 42 min. I have no idea how any of this corresponds to distance, and I am trying to avoid too many "distance days" as I understand the intervals will build speed. I'm working on breathing on both sides and sighting.
I've been thinking about working out with the local Masters, but feel shy for a few reasons. I am just now working up a good free. I have always been terrible at back. I have not yet gotten the courage to try fly again, but am doing drills on the whole body dolphin. I love *** (always have) but feel like it's the "dummy" stroke, esp. in OW swimming. As I mentioned above, I'm overweight and out of shape (but believe me, better than 6 months ago).
Could anyone tell me what I might expect at Masters in a college town at an uncoached practice? Should I work on my own for a bit to get better so I won't screw anyone else up? What does everyone suggest for my mile OW goal? Also, is it normal for my shoulders to hurt after a lot of free? This didn't happen when I was a kid.:blush: Thanks for your help.
Parents
Former Member
Ditto to all of the above! I swam age group to 18 in the UK, then went back to masters after a 7 year gap with a large increase in weight that I finally got rid of. Only to get pregnant, have baby 1, come back again, lose some of the weight, do a couple of best EVER freestyles, have another baby, move to the USA, get back into swimming (alas not coached) lose some weight, swim some surprisingly good times in the last 2 weeks....see the pattern.....
Masters is very different from age-group, people are coming and going all the time, taking breaks due to personal circumstances, then coming back at a lower level and working up through the lanes again - its inspirational to watch! Also you CAN take things slower to concentrate on your stroke technique rather than thrashing out the yardage.
Also masters is a chance to reset those PBs, or as you are doing to try new distances, but you also know that once upon a time you did X for say 100 free. At 34 you're young enough to achieve that again (well that's what I'm telling myself and I'm almost 36) It may take a couple of years for you to build the fitness and lose the weight, but your body remembers the technique and feel for the water after a bit of practice. Its definitely possible :)
Ditto to all of the above! I swam age group to 18 in the UK, then went back to masters after a 7 year gap with a large increase in weight that I finally got rid of. Only to get pregnant, have baby 1, come back again, lose some of the weight, do a couple of best EVER freestyles, have another baby, move to the USA, get back into swimming (alas not coached) lose some weight, swim some surprisingly good times in the last 2 weeks....see the pattern.....
Masters is very different from age-group, people are coming and going all the time, taking breaks due to personal circumstances, then coming back at a lower level and working up through the lanes again - its inspirational to watch! Also you CAN take things slower to concentrate on your stroke technique rather than thrashing out the yardage.
Also masters is a chance to reset those PBs, or as you are doing to try new distances, but you also know that once upon a time you did X for say 100 free. At 34 you're young enough to achieve that again (well that's what I'm telling myself and I'm almost 36) It may take a couple of years for you to build the fitness and lose the weight, but your body remembers the technique and feel for the water after a bit of practice. Its definitely possible :)
