Lisa Wolf is a current USMS Swimmer for District Of Columbia Aquatics Club.
I’ve had the pleasure of reading numerous articles such as “You Know Your A Swimmer If” or “You Know you are A Masters Swimmer” and have enjoyed a chuckle and nodding along as I read the lists.
I find that there are few missing items that needed to be brought up for those who are still swimming past their 20’s, 30’s or ahem, 40’s…..
• Are we still competitive- you bet! We may not be swimming in Masters meets or triathlons at the same rate but we can’t walk by a record board a at a pool and perusing the events and times. “Yeah, my PR is still comparable to that (circa 1979) If you are lucky enough to have an offspring that swims, it’s a sad day when your 14 year old smashes your PR in the 100 Free or 200 IM.
• Chlorine is still a “happy smell”. You walk into an aquatics facility and the glorious smell of chlorine (or other chemicals) creates a sense of well being and all is good in the world as we know it at least for the hour you spend splashing back and forth in the lane. This can also be accomplished by doing laundry to wash the dirty socks of said 14 year old with Clorox bleach if you are short on pool time.
• At each and every college tour with your children, you listen to all the garble about SAT scores, AP exams and dormitories but a large part of your impression of any school is searching out the Natatorium and figuring out if it is worthy, even if your child isn’t going to swim in college.
• Travel plans, even if there is absolutely no chance of a workout on your 36 hour business trip, includes a perusal of the hotel website to determine if there is a pool. You may sacrifice and choose one with no pool but you feel lost knowing there is not a large body of water available “just in case”.
• The curse of all swimmers, especially women, is trying to buy clothes. Your shoulders still remain about the same as when you were 19, even if your middle has moved on to your 40’s or 50s. That basically means NOTHING fits. Your suit jacket is roughly two sizes larger than your skirt or pants. Thank goodness, the shoulder pad epidemic of the 80’s is long gone.
• Summer Olympics revolve around swimming. Track and Field, Gymnastics and other events are admirable but if it’s not Dan Hicks and Rowdy, who cares?
The need for water is just a part of our makeup. We enjoy lake and beach vacations, spending time at our summer pool and showing up for practice or swim some laps as much as life permits. Our 10x 100 interval is “slightly” longer than in years past but we keep our goggles and suits ready handy. Swim on my friends!
-Lisa Wolf
Ha! All so true. Cracking up at the college visit/natatorium thing. I did that when I looked for colleges many years ago and now when I look at colleges online for my kids in a few years, I always look up the pool even though they may not even want to swim in college (but still need a nice lap pool “just in case” they want to do it for exercise!).
I also ONLY book hotels that have pools big enough to swim laps and always travel with the speedo as well as the leisure swimsuit.
Agree on all.
My go to source for biz travel is http://www.swimmersguide.com and I will always choose (within company budget constraints) a hotel near a pool whenever possible. Planning for every biz trip for me includes lining up at least 3 pools or masters workout options per day of travel. That usually means I can end up swimming maybe 60% of the amount I want to.