Back to the pool:

(here are more details on a portion of our June newsletter--due out ~June 20)

As an age-group and high school swimmer, getting into the water each summer for refreshing exercise has always been a regular part of my fitness plan. But in November, when I heard that a new pool in my hometown—less than mile from my mom’s house (where I grew up) —would be hosting a big national level masters competition in April, I just had to be part of it.

These national meets had qualifying standards that were far faster than I could attain, but fortunately they also welcome all levels—up to three events. To swim more than three events, I had to qualify. Since my past swimming heritage focused on sprints, I aimed for three short events (who wants to get lapped by a bunch of old guys—no matter how fast they are?).

The local Rose Bowl Aquatic Center gives discounted rates for “seniors” (!!)—over 55. I just had my 55^th late last summer; going five times/week, a 3-month pass actually made my cost/swim about $2. For most of Dec-Jan, I’d swum a few afternoons there during an affordable “rec swim” session, so easing into training just required that I begin to take the effort and duration up a couple of notches.

Waking early is fairly easy for me, so rising by 5:15am to get a lane in the cool winter morning became a habit. I kept a spreadsheet log of each workout, so that I could compare yardage, times, and chart improvement.  For several weeks, cool (outdoor) walks across 39 degree concrete before entering the warm 82 degree water became routine.  I also added two weight workouts each week to build strength.

Gradually increasing yardage, the pace of certain sets of intervals (e.g. 6 x 100 free, leaving every 2:30, initially averaging 1:29—later 1:19) always kept the fatigue level high. I normally took a banana, a piece of chocolate, coffee and some milk with me to begin replenishing tired muscles as I drove the 12 min. back home.  Still most days I felt sore and tired until about 10:30am when my breakfast was fully metabolized and able to replace glycogen in my muscles. Then I felt great!

Last fall I developed a sharp discomfort in my right hip, probably from too many hours in less-than-optimal positions sitting with my laptop. Ibuprofen helped, but it persisted from Oct-Feb.  But somehow without any other conscious changes, swimming helped the hip feel better—and in late March, the pain was gone! It was cheaper to swim than pay a chiropractor or physiotherapist, and my resting heart rate was now in the mid-50s (like my age!).  I also lost seven pounds from Jan-April, though I often ate more calories than I burned off during the morning swims. The speed work really cranked up my metabolism in Mar-Apr, and I was warm in unheated rooms when my colleagues were chilly.

After several weeks of increased effort, I began to swim 1200-1500 yards/day, five days/week.  I began to do more “speed work” --shorter efforts (25, 50 or 100 yard swims) of higher intensity with longer rest breaks, to try and recover the pace I’d need for the 50- and 100-yard swims I would enter. 

Going to UCLA for a “tune-up” meet, my first in ten years, would help me with starts off of racing blocks, with diving in wearing goggles, and full race pace efforts, which were hard to practice in normal workouts. The times were OK (30.67 for 50 free, compared to 29.03 in 2002. For comparison, my high school best was 24.9, and with two weeks training in college I did a 24.3 for an intramural meet), though I was really hoping to break 30 in the 50 free by the time I went to nationals.  I met some of the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center (ROSE) masters swimmers there. 

I checked the national website, and found that the Rose Bowl team was taking over a dozen swimmers to  the Greensboro meet, and there were several guys—fast guys!—in my age group that might be able to form a relay. I emailed the coach to see if affiliation with the ROSE team was viable, and he welcomed me to join two very fast relays. 

More speed work and less weights characterized my last three weeks before Nationals. It was nice to back off the yardage and pick up the pace on some short time trials.  I was getting psyched to race!

Having mom and other family to visit made it especially fun.  I also got to see Louis, a former college roommate and high school teammate, and his daughter—he’d had recent foot surgery but his daughter was competing!

The Rose Bowl relay guys were welcoming and encouraging, even though they didn’t meet me until the day of our competition, and they knew I was the slowest of the four.* The coach –last year’s national coach of the year–has a twisted sense of motivation, and likes the relays to swim fastest to slowest, so I got to go last and “anchor” both the  200 medley relay and 200 free relay! My first 50 free relay split was 28.71—roughly equiv. to a 29.21 (since you can be moving—but not leaving—before the previous swimmer touches the wall, relay starts are about 0.50 secs faster that a static start with a “starter’s pistol”).

My individual 50 free was 30.03—close but not quite breaking 30 secs. Still it was only about 3% slower than my time 10 years ago, so I was OK with it. My 100 free was my last of five swims including the two relays —and I was off about 5% from 2002 best. I was inordinately tired on that last, lactic acid-filled lap.

One takeaway for me is that any increase of your capacity to do something requires effort, discipline, and can be rather exhausting. Hanging out with fit, fast people can make you feel slow (of course, compared to the crowd at WalMart I am doing OK).  But the alternative: atrophy, getting softer and pudgier, was not appealing. And there’s another meet in Santa Barbara this July that looks like fun…. :-)

Lee

*note: two of them won some events in their age group in these Greensboro Nationals, and placed in the top three nationally in other events. One, Dan, just went to the FINA World Masters Championships in Italy and won the 100 freestyle! He swam for UCLA in the ‘70s.