Any swimmers/former swimmers hanging 'round?

[darkstar]

I swam as a kid/high school, etc. 46 now. Just been getting back into it over the last year, and into it pretty hard in the last two months. About avg 3,400 meters x 5 days a week last 2-3 weeks.

I can't belive how much I love it (wasn't always the case). How good it makes me feel overall, how good it feels to get the "feel" of the water back, how it feels to get on top of the water and move. And in the "old dog/new trick" dept., getting the hang of a longer, lift-oriented stroke while going a pretty good clip.

And I'm doing it outside. Lafayette, LA. Perfectly heated (81 F or so) pool. Rainy and foggy tonight.

Swimmer's high, perhaps, but I am digging it pretty hard.

[stanwyck]

1. It's the only exercise I love

it's so zen like. It really gets rid of stress. When I get out of the pool, I'm totally at peace. Lucky you, swimming outside. I go to an indoor swim club frequented by lap swimmers, swim teams, and kids taking lessons. There are 3 pools. 2 25 meter and 1 50 meter. It's not a luxurious place. The locker rooms are frighteningly awful. But the competition pools aren't heated (it's easier to swim in colder water), the staff is diligent, and the swimmers follow pool etiquette. Glad you're happy. You're inspiring me to get that early morning swim in tomorrow.

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. I was on a swim team when i was a kid.....

Backstroke was my best. Mill Creek Towne (MD, outside Gaithersburg, 20 miles from D.C.) Municipal pool swimm team. We used to practice at 6:00 AM and i would walk the mile or so to the pool every morning during the summer. The memories that get provoked are curious...on the way home i would pass by a house that had Raspberry bushes in the backyard that grew through the chain link fence. I would carry a Baggie (Remember those? before Ziplocks?) and pick handful to put on my cereal when i got home.

A cold, brisk, 45 minute workout at 6:00 AM and fresh berries on my cereal by 7:15!


Ahhhhh, youth...

[darkstar]

3. Thanx for the replys....

Don't post much--I may be the slowest DUer ever to hit the 1000+ mark--but been wanting to talk to someone about swimming.

Yep. It's very zen. Both in the mental state it gives you and the approach: minimal effort/disruption of the water, in trade for speed-->work less to go faster, grasshopper; balanced stroke; sensitize to water beneath you for lift effect. On and on. Kind of sensory deprivation form of execise, too: limited field of view, hearing muted, rhythmic moving of self, even temperatured 3-D environs, no cars to look out for, no sweat in yr eyes....

And yes, it has been evoking memories for me as well. Chlorine smell. Both at pool, and on me later, in car, driving with oldies on orin bed. 30 yrs have come and gone, but so very evocative of friends and breakfast rituals such as berries on cereal. Or on cold days, grits or oatmeal.

[Skittles]

4. I used to swim across lakes

Lake Travis, Lake Lewisville, Canyon Lake. I'm acually a terrible swimmer but can float so easily I have acually fallen asleep in the water. I can float using only my lungs.

[darkstar]

5. Cool

I like lake swimming, esp. in summers with that warm layer at top. I've swum across a couple in my younger days. But I'm not good at the floating. Gotta keep something moving about at least a little bit or I sink. As a water lover, I'm envious of your ability, Skittles. I can never just let go completely. Must feel great.

PS (on edit): If you can swim across a lake, you can't be truly terrible, IMHO. I mean, you have to propel yourself somehow across the whole lake. That takes some skill. And stamina, to boot.

[Skittles]

7. I can breast stroke and side stroke OK

but I cannot do the arm over arm thing, straight swimming - I swallow water and go in a big circle. :O

Yes, when you can float you have no fear in the water whatsoever. For example, if I get a cramp I just stop - and float.

[Tredge]

6. The Sounds of Swimming

I was a competition swimmer from 6 all the way through to college. I didn't learn to appreciate swimming as a relaxing activity until after I got out of competing.

One of my favorite things about swimming now is the way all external noise is blocked out, and all you can hear is the sound of the water going by and your arms entering the water and your feet kicking. They ought to make an audiotape of just that sound...that'd rival whale songs and mountain streams I think.

To illustrate - one of the funniest/most embarassing things about swimming in races was the false start. Sometimes a swimmer would "jump the gun", literally. When somebody false starts the starter fires the gun again to make everyone stop and go back to the starting blocks. But sometimes the swimmer who did it can't hear the gun go off again and just keeps going, thinking "Nobody's in front of me. I'm winning!" and then they focus even more. Meanwhile the starter keeps firing the gun and finally empties the thing (and those things are loud). The crowd is yelling, "Stop, stop!" and waving frantically, but the swimmer can't hear them. Now the only way to stop the person is to have someone on the other side stick their hand into the water and hope to catch their attention. That usually does it, and then comes the Walk of Shame - the overeager swimmer has to climb out of the water, go to the edge of the pool and walk their sorry ass all the way back to the blocks.

Now I hear they have a loud horn and maybe even a light to blink underwater. Takes all the fun out of it.