Swimming is Hard AF

[MTH]

I'm 45 glorious years old. My youngest son has been swimming for the past two years. It's wonderful and he's really good at it.

This year, the club he swims for offered 'masters' swim. I used to swim a little when I was a kid. I know the basics. I'm in reasonable shape. I'm in.

Brutal.

The masters group was only about 10 people. Some older than me, some younger. Some were swimmers, some, not. They have a nice guy who is the coach and was super great to have there. Helpful and encouraging as they come.

I almost died. The session was only an hour. We warmed up with a few freestyle 100s (4 laps). Did a few 100s with the kick board. Rested a bunch between runs, etc. Somewhere along the way my lungs decided swimming sucks and tapped out. I couldn't even get down the pool after a half hour.

I never felt so out of shape and embarrassed for physical inability in my life. Swimming is really really hard. I tapped out after a half hour. Thanked the coach for his time and apologized for being so bad. Told him I'll work on this on my own and try this again at a later date.

My wife almost made me walk home.

Next day - my body is beyond sore. I feel worse now that I bailed out like a jabroni.

Swimming is hard as fuck

Edited June 23, 2022 by MTH

[johncho]

Yes, but probably the best exercise out there, and easy on the joints.

Keep at it, I've never been a good swimmer, only enough to be able to sail. But now with my youngest showing big interest I think it might be time for me to take some lessons or do a few laps while he does his lessons.

Edited June 23, 2022 by johncho

[Naz]

My daughter was a competitive swimmer.  Her strokes were Freestyle, Breaststroke, and Backstroke.  Gold Medal provincially in 50Free and 100 Breast.
I used to marvel at the intensity of their practices.  No effing way I could do that.

 

[coopaloop1234]

Dude, swimming is brutal. I don't even touch the type of swimming you've listed, I just SCUBA Dive. 

At least when you're under water, you can rest by pretending to look at things. Nothing interesting at the bottom of a pool aside from old bandaids. 

[Chenner29]

On 6/23/2022 at 5:24 AM, MTH said:

I'm 45 glorious years old. My youngest son has been swimming for the past two years. It's wonderful and he's really good at it.

This year, the club he swims for offered 'masters' swim. I used to swim a little when I was a kid. I know the basics. I'm in reasonable shape. I'm in.

Brutal.

The masters group was only about 10 people. Some older than me, some younger. Some were swimmers, some, not. They have a nice guy who is the coach and was super great to have there. Helpful and encouraging as they come.

I almost died. The session was only an hour. We warmed up with a few freestyle 100s (4 laps). Did a few 100s with the kick board. Rested a bunch between runs, etc. Somewhere along the way my lungs decided swimming sucks and tapped out. I couldn't even get down the pool after a half hour.

I never felt so out of shape and embarrassed for physical inability in my life. Swimming is really really hard. I tapped out after a half hour. Thanked the coach for his time and apologized for being so bad. Told him I'll work on this on my own and try this again at a later date.

My wife almost made me walk home.

Next day - my body is beyond sore. I feel worse now that I bailed out like a jabroni.

Swimming is hard as fuck

You're a brave man

I'll take my kids to the pool and jump in every so often.  I don't swim but I'll chase them around and pick up their toys they toss in the deep end. I never really correlated soreness the next day with the water resistance.  Now I know lol

[ilyazhito]

18 minutes ago, Chenner29 said:

You're a brave man

I'll take my kids to the pool and jump in every so often.  I don't swim but I'll chase them around and pick up their toys they toss in the deep end. I never really correlated soreness the next day with the water resistance.  Now I know lol

You gotta give props to the water polo goalies for having the cojones to face shots unprotected and keep themselves afloat at the same time. 

[coopaloop1234]

9 minutes ago, ilyazhito said:

You gotta give props to the water polo goalies for having the cojones to face shots unprotected and keep themselves afloat at the same time. 

My buddy was a 3rd string water polo goalie for the junior national team in Canada back in the day. Big tall lanky fella. 

They put in a ton of work just treading water, let alone getting lift out quickly to make a save. It's a tough sport to play.

Doesn't mean we didn't rag on him constantly for his little speedo and stupid hat lol 

[MTH]

So I have been keeping at this. I watched some YouTube videos on stoke and breathing. My little dude goes with me back to the pool every other night from 8-845 (closing time). Place is mostly empty.

I can do laps now. My son taught me to breathe on the fourth stoke rather than every other one. His 12 year old advice shared with me helped. He said that when you breathe too much it actually slows you down and make it harder. He was right - as odd as that sounds.

I just try to increase the number of laps I swim every time. By the end of last week I was able to swim 8 laps. Nothing like what my kid's practice do (they swim non stop) but it was way better than what I started out earlier that week.

Your heart and lungs get working. It's odd to stand in the pool and sweat.

The swim team spandex shorts are corny. But swimming in baggy bathing suits puts a continuous fear of them getting loose and falling off when swimming. I have to figure out a better suit and not rock a speedo like you goofy French Canadians do at Wildwood.

Please come back to Wildwood. We do really miss you guys.

[MTH]

On 6/24/2022 at 10:33 AM, Naz said:

My daughter was a competitive swimmer.  Her strokes were Freestyle, Breaststroke, and Backstroke.  Gold Medal provincially in 50Free and 100 Breast.
I used to marvel at the intensity of their practices.  No effing way I could do that.

 

My little dude had his first outdoor meet of the season Saturday and won ribbons in every event he was in. Outdoor swim meets are a zoo. Swimmers and parents all cheering like crazy for every swimmer until they all finish. It's great to see.

Practices are nuts. Now that I gave it a go myself, I get why he comes home after swim practice and takes a nap some days.

[Naz]

8 hours ago, MTH said:

My little dude had his first outdoor meet of the season Saturday and won ribbons in every event he was in. Outdoor swim meets are a zoo. Swimmers and parents all cheering like crazy for every swimmer until they all finish. It's great to see.

Practices are nuts. Now that I gave it a go myself, I get why he comes home after swim practice and takes a nap some days.

I do the Announcing at Meets, and play by play of the Livestream Broadcast of Provincial Championships.  Trying to get all 8 names of swimmers and the club they are with in before the end of the 50m Freestyle with the older kids (27 seconds) can be a challenge.

Yeah, those outdoor meets can be crazy, Marshalling for the younger kids is like herding cats!!

 

[MTH]

My wife volunteers to help herd those cats. The little guys are a hoot. My son ripped a 31s 50 free this week. Last year he was almost double that.