I am 35 and in pretty decent shape. I ride 4-5000 miles a year and do endurance events (100 mile mt. bike races). Unfortunately, my Dr. just told me no more riding for 3 + months. I usually ride through the winter, well enough to stay in some sort of shape.
While I am not excited about droping $800 bucks to join the Y to use the pool I am kind of excited to try something new. My Dr. told me I can swim and I plan on using this to keep my cardio and tone up over the winter.
Problem is I have no idea where to start. From goggles, suit, to what to do in the pool other than swim. In cycling I always tell beginners any cycling is better than no cycling, I would guess this is true for swimming (at a beginner level).
I know how to swim and was on the swim team through grade school (yeah I know a long time ago but at least I know what its about). I have tried to read some of the posts here about training, but to be honest I just dont know the lingo.
Like most things I will probably get hooked on this and want to see what I can do with it. I would like to work up to doing 1-2 hours.
Thanks for the help.
Al
Parents
Former Member
Day 5:
Well this morning was a tough one for me even though I set some new marks for myself.
First the day started with waking at 4am, why? I have no idea, but I figured thats OK my GF was getting up at 5, so I watched a little tv turned the car on to warm it up (22 degrees this morning) and woke my GF at 5. She then told me she wasnt going to the gym...
That kind of demotivated me and I sat on the couch until 5:30 until i told myself I was a *** for the 50th time and I got up and went to the Y.
I am pretty sure I was laughed at this morning by all the fast kids. I came in sporting my new lap counter on my finger. Pretty sure I heard some snickering.
Wow the first 10 laps are really hard for me. 2 at a time is all i can manage. After some kicking with a board ( should i be using fins? I am not), I settled into 20 laps of pulls ( is it a lap or a length? I really need swimmers vocab for dummies).
Took a few minutes to play with my trusty dusty counter, reset it and off I went for 32 laps/lenghts without stopping. This is really intriguing me now. How in the world in 5 days in the pool can I get this far? My arms are not sore at night a little tired but I can swim the next day. Tomorrows goal? I dont know yet, my arms were definitely tired today and by the time I got to 30 I was mentally fighting the repetiveness of swimming. I thought biking was boring and repetitive, not even close to the swim.
So a few things from today:
1. Get your ass up and go. Being tired or pissed because your GF doesnt want to goto the gym is no reason not to go. (this really isnt a problem for me as I ride 4-5k miles a year so I know what it takes to get out the door, but sometimes you have to kick yourself in the ass)
2. F U fast guys, wait until i show up with my swimman, lap counter, goggles, swim cap, board and flippers, then you can laugh at me. Get on the bike and see how you do in 5 days. ( I am really joking about this, i dont think they were laughing but if they were thats ok too)
3. I like the lap counter, i think it was great to see that it took me 18+ minutes to do the 32 laps. I think the total time was 18:32 or something like that. My times during warm up were 28 seconds a lap so I was able to slow things down a bit to swim a longer distance but it was not by much.
Day 5:
Well this morning was a tough one for me even though I set some new marks for myself.
First the day started with waking at 4am, why? I have no idea, but I figured thats OK my GF was getting up at 5, so I watched a little tv turned the car on to warm it up (22 degrees this morning) and woke my GF at 5. She then told me she wasnt going to the gym...
That kind of demotivated me and I sat on the couch until 5:30 until i told myself I was a *** for the 50th time and I got up and went to the Y.
I am pretty sure I was laughed at this morning by all the fast kids. I came in sporting my new lap counter on my finger. Pretty sure I heard some snickering.
Wow the first 10 laps are really hard for me. 2 at a time is all i can manage. After some kicking with a board ( should i be using fins? I am not), I settled into 20 laps of pulls ( is it a lap or a length? I really need swimmers vocab for dummies).
Took a few minutes to play with my trusty dusty counter, reset it and off I went for 32 laps/lenghts without stopping. This is really intriguing me now. How in the world in 5 days in the pool can I get this far? My arms are not sore at night a little tired but I can swim the next day. Tomorrows goal? I dont know yet, my arms were definitely tired today and by the time I got to 30 I was mentally fighting the repetiveness of swimming. I thought biking was boring and repetitive, not even close to the swim.
So a few things from today:
1. Get your ass up and go. Being tired or pissed because your GF doesnt want to goto the gym is no reason not to go. (this really isnt a problem for me as I ride 4-5k miles a year so I know what it takes to get out the door, but sometimes you have to kick yourself in the ass)
2. F U fast guys, wait until i show up with my swimman, lap counter, goggles, swim cap, board and flippers, then you can laugh at me. Get on the bike and see how you do in 5 days. ( I am really joking about this, i dont think they were laughing but if they were thats ok too)
3. I like the lap counter, i think it was great to see that it took me 18+ minutes to do the 32 laps. I think the total time was 18:32 or something like that. My times during warm up were 28 seconds a lap so I was able to slow things down a bit to swim a longer distance but it was not by much.
