My primary purpose for this post is to share a picture of the family taken at today’s swim meet. It’s been a while so I figured an update was appropriate.
by 
by
Category: Swim
by
Two swim meets in two weeks. On Sunday May 25 I swam the Lake Audubon 2-mile event and on Sunday June 8 I swam the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim 4.4-mile jaunt across the bay. The former event was tough only because I had little time to prepare having spent the prior month running around England and Paris. The latter event was just plain tough.
My times were competent but not extraordinary. I’m a middle-of-the-pack swimmer for competitive swimmers my age. I’m quite fine with that. Over time as the field narrows perhaps I’ll improve my standings! I swam the 2-mile in 53:17 and I came in 44 out of 213 swimmers in the wet suit division. I swam the 4.4-mile in 2:29:27 placing 360 out of 602 in the men’s division.
Here’s a brief photo summary of my longer swim:
by
Categories
Prepping for Distance
I will be competing in two long distance swim meets in coming months.
On May 25 I’m in my team’s two-mile swim on Lake Audubon. I’m really excited about the event this year because Courtney will swim it with me. Then two weeks later on June 8 I’m in a swim across the Chesapeake Bay. This swim is 4.4 miles as the crow flies but probably closer to 5.0 miles when you consider the zigzag path a swimmer takes in open water.
OK, so now you have the background for why I got in the pool at 1:55 this afternoon and swam continuously until 3:55. I must prepare now for these events since I’ll be traveling for six weeks between now and then. At my pace I covered 6,000 meters today and nothing broke. I could probably swim both events in my current condition but will I fall apart during my travels?
I hope not! We’ll see come May 25 and June 8.
by
Categories
A Steady Swim
I’ve become a moderately good swimmer, competing largely in longer distance events: 1-mile, 2-mile, 1650 yards. While I occasionally place in events, all you can really call me is a decent but actively-improving swimmer. The important thing is that I enjoy it, I’m healthier than I’ve ever been in my life, and I like the community of friends that come with being a part of a swim team.
Today I swam in a 1650 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Pictured above is the pool and diving area. How did I do? I don’t know because I didn’t stick around for the results but I’ll update this post when the results are published. The goal was to be consistent over the course of my 66 laps and on that I did well. I also beat my best time; my new best is 24:59.
by
Categories
My First Indoor Swim Meet
I’ve been swimming now for two years. The first year was spent getting healthy and learning the basics. The second year I started to increase my strength, began refining my strokes, and participated in a few outdoor long distance lake swims. Today, at age 47, I competed in my first indoor meet.
The event I swam was a 1,650 yard swim which I completed in 25:26. That isn’t a bad time for a beginner but not a terribly impressive. For the first time I started the race off the block (elevated diving stump), that was fun, but I didn’t pace myself well and therefore grew tired too early. My coach gave me lots of constructive feedback afterwards and I know I’ll do better next time.
“Next time.” I can hardly believe it. I’m actually considering a repeat.
by