Masters of the Swim Universe

Back in August, while I was visiting my family, GymSis suggested I drop in on SwimmerBro's and SwimmerNephew's Masters Swim group.  She emailed the head coach and he graciously said TriGuy and I could give it a whirl.

While driving to practice, SwimmerNephew asked if I knew what IM was.  I sure did!

Oh no, that's not what he was talking about.

I may not have known what the letters stood for (still don't), but I did know what the terminology meant. It meant you had to do all 4 strokes.  Hey, I watched the Olympics!  He then asked me what order you do the strokes in.  Hmm, I might have fallen asleep during the Olympics IM races.

Once we got to the pool, I pulled TriGuy aside and conveyed to him my true feelings about this swim practice.

To start with, I did not understand what was written on the board.

I skipped anything that started in 'butter' and ended in 'fly'. (Just kidding. All the people in the know just say "fly".)

I immediately hopped into the super-slow lane while the coach went over the warm-up board. It consisted of roughly 1000 laps.  I was 1000% certain I would not be doing the 'main' drill work.

As she quickly reviewed the warm-up, here is what I heard:

I waited for her to come over and explain to me at a 4-year-old level in layman's terms what we were doing.  It was 100 metres breast stroke (which I prayed no one was watching me do), followed by 5x50 metres of 'free'...apparently not 'free choice' (floating, anyone?) but freestyle.

It was followed by 5x50 'fly'.

I just went ahead and skipped that one altogether.

Then we did arms only with a buoy between our legs.  This was a first for TriGuy, who was swimming in the lane next to me.  He took to it like a...well, like a fish to water.

And thus ended the WARM-UP.

The main workout started with butterfly kick on our backs for 25 metres, followed by vertical butterfly kicks, followed by 75 metres of long free stroke.  Repeat x4.

I patiently waited for my modifications.

The coach (bless her heart) did some quick calculations and devised my own personal workout: freestyle kick on my back for 25 metres, followed by 5 bobs, followed by 75 metres of freestyle.  Repeat x4.

We were swimming in an outdoor pool, so knowing how well I do with swimming in a straight line, I tried to lift my head--otter-like--while I swam on my back, to make sure I wasn't too off-track.

It didn't help much.  This may seem familiar to you.

I dutifully bobbed at the end of the pool, and somehow came up with a noseful of water, which then dripped into my throat and led to a coughing fit.

I totally fit right in.

It was shortly after this that TriGuy, SwimmerBro, and SwimmerNephew looked over from their Speedy McSpeedster lane and shouted:

I gave them a big ol' thumbs up.

After 3 (not 4) reps, the coach came back and offered more modifications, telling me to skip the reverse IM 200 altogether.  No problemo, I hadn't noticed it anyway.  Then she asked:

...of fury? No?  Then no.

She explained it and said it would give me a good sense of where I was in the water.

Apparently "all over the place" is where I am.

Then she had me do a one-arm-at-a-time-stroke-with-the-flutter-kick-board.

Nailed it!

The coach did suggest remembering to use my core to keep my feet from dragging, because I was basically swimming uphill and that created a lot more work.  And I was supposed to swim downhill this year. 

At the end of all this, I had a warm down of 50 free (50 metres of front crawl) at any pace I wanted.  The coach gave me some parting encouragement:

Bless her kind, teenage heart.

I have to say that despite my difficulties, I really did like the idea of this group.  I usually take a lot of breaks during my swim because I'm doing the same thing over and over.  Not only did I swim the furthest I ever have in the shortest amount of time, it showed me some different things to do that I am sure will only help build my triathlon swimming skills (once my PT helps me fix my shoulder).

Now, I just have to find out if my local group will be as understanding as the guys' group when I explain my situation.

UPCOMING POSTS:  HOW I TORTURE MYSELF, RACE RECAP, WHAT I'M DOING AT PT AGAIN, AND MUSIC WHILE RUNNING(a post about earphones that I promise will be fun!)

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