Swim happy

A shout out to the lifeguard at the pool who took the time to tell me my swimming has much improved over the past few weeks. It's nice to hear from an impartial eye.

Yes, congratulations, swim_badger! Unsoclicited compliments are often the best. :) And what a great thread this is! I'm happy to have found it & look forward to reading back through all of the happiness & successes. I'm really understanding what a gift Masters Swimming is on many levels, especially how individual it is, even generally compared to the individual nature of swimming as a sport. For me, after my 30+ year "taper" I just completed my 21st workout. I've smiled my way through all of them. I had no idea how much of a fish out of water I've been all these years but I'm certainly glad to be back. More than I can really say. According the My Fitness Log here I've swum 34,500 yards so far. And I'm looking forward to going to a Masters SCM swim meet this November. It's all kind of overwhelming and I'm thankful for the team here, the coaches, and everyone on these boards for being a part of it. Thank you.

So last week I swam in an inaugural 10k in the St.John’s river in Jacksonville, FL. It was horrible. My body never “felt good in the water”. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I finished 10th overall, and first masters women! Learned something about myself that day, too. I’m not a quitter, I just don’t like open water swimming. Give me a clean pool with lane lines from now on!!forums.usms.org/.../fb367888-c7ba-4738-a13d-2aa7794fea2a 11703

Yes, congratulations, swim_badger! Unsoclicited compliments are often the best. :) And what a great thread this is! I'm happy to have found it & look forward to reading back through all of the happiness & successes. I'm really understanding what a gift Masters Swimming is on many levels, especially how individual it is, even generally compared to the individual nature of swimming as a sport. For me, after my 30+ year "taper" I just completed my 21st workout. I've smiled my way through all of them. I had no idea how much of a fish out of water I've been all these years but I'm certainly glad to be back. More than I can really say. According the My Fitness Log here I've swum 34,500 yards so far. And I'm looking forward to going to a Masters SCM swim meet this November. It's all kind of overwhelming and I'm thankful for the team here, the coaches, and everyone on these boards for being a part of it. Thank you. :welcome:, Zwemmer! I felt the same way as you when I joined USMS after 31 years away from the pool! I joined these Forums when I was a newbie, and I was very thankful for everybody who patiently answered my questions, critiqued my stroke videos, and offered support. Hang with us, and you will get a lot out of it. In the meantime, have FUN! So last week I swam in an inaugural 10k in the St.John’s river in Jacksonville, FL. It was horrible. My body never “felt good in the water”. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I finished 10th overall, and first masters women! Learned something about myself that day, too. I’m not a quitter, I just don’t like open water swimming. Give me a clean pool with lane lines from now on!!forums.usms.org/.../fb367888-c7ba-4738-a13d-2aa7794fea2a 11703 Hi there, Celestial! :wave: Congratulations on your accomplishment! That's awesome, especially for a 10K!

Congratulations! :applaud: That must have made your day. It was very kind to say! I have always felt comfortable in the water and at one time was even fast, and since restarting things have slowly improved. But I felt like (with the help of USMS training plans and trying pull buoys and fins) things had taken a sharp upward curve over the past month. It is nice to know it's noticeable to others!

Celestial, nice job on a 10th place finish! How was the race itself? Well run? Is it brackish water or fresh?

Celestial, nice job on a 10th place finish! How was the race itself? Well run? Is it brackish water or fresh? The race was LONG. It was an inaugural event, but pretty well run - the only thing that bugged me w.as that the local university was having crew practice right where we wanted to start & we had to wait almost 40 minutes to actually start. And you KNOW they were notified, the entire city was aware, there were police and coast guard type people everywhere, parking lost reserved. . . .I guess they just didn't care. But anyway, the water was like a lot of rivers - full of tannin, so brownish, but you could see your hand enter and pull through - just nothing else. I felt like I had my own personal kayaker - which I guess I sorta did, since I was out in front of people by a few minutes. Of course there were other 8 (younger & male) swimmers up ahead who also probably had their own personal escorts too! But it made me feel very safe & secure. It was definitely better than the Lido key swim which I did last March (7.1 miles around Lido Key in Sarasota) because there was no chop, and it was fresh water. I'll probably do it again next year!

Hi Elaine - thanks. It was a very long (almost) 2 hours.

Hello ElaineK: Thanks for the greetings and your story. I'm amazed at how many people i've already met on my team & online here who measure their "taper" in decades. :) I plan to hang around here & continue to have fun in the pool. So far I've smiled my way through each workout & it just seems to be getting better. :applaud: :cheerleader: That's great! Enjoy the journey!

:welcome:, Zwemmer! I felt the same way as you when I joined USMS after 31 years away from the pool! I joined these Forums when I was a newbie, and I was very thankful for everybody who patiently answered my questions, critiqued my stroke videos, and offered support. Hang with us, and you will get a lot out of it. In the meantime, have FUN! Hello ElaineK: Thanks for the greetings and your story. I'm amazed at how many people i've already met on my team & online here who measure their "taper" in decades. :) I plan to hang around here & continue to have fun in the pool. So far I've smiled my way through each workout & it just seems to be getting better.