An open letter...

Such eloquence!!  I thought that I was the only Dory in the pool... (Where am I going?  What was I doing here?)  You have a way with words Michael.

Great post.  I was just thinking along those lines this morning as I was doing a 3000 yard straight swim.  Back in July of 2004, I couldn't swim one length without becoming out of breath.  That was 10 months ago, and here I was this morning doing 60 laps (120 lengths) effortlessly.

This is one post all newbie's should, thanks for the reminder

Chris

Yup...you nailed me.  But don't post this at your pool.  Say it at your pool.

I've started swimming at noon because there are less SCUBA students standing around between laps and taking up space.  I've also noticed there's a definite noon-time crowd.  It was a little intimidating, but I'm not one to be intimidated easily, so I don't care.  At noon, there are certain familiar faces: tri-guy who swims in Pearl Izumi Tri-shorts every day, swimmer-girl with her UNLV swim cap and kick-board work that splashes everyone, guy whose face gets REALLY red, and the subject of this post, guy who wears Speedos...even though he really shouldn't.

Wednesday, I show up for a noon swim and Speedo is just getting started.  I jump into the empty lane next to his and get myself ready to swim.  He starts some small talk and I talk about my goals of improving swimming for triathlons.  He says, "You're getting a whole lot better.  Heck, we all are, even us old guys who are trying to lose weight."  After which he heads of on his 500 yd warm-up complete with flip-turns.

Now, the simple fact that he recognized who I was AND noticed improvements that I hadn't really felt or seen did wonders for my swim that day.  It was obvious that he was just reminding himself of skills long past; it's obvious that I'm in unfamiliar territory.  That being the case, the kind words that were shared in the span of 30 seconds did more for my swim that day than any drills or repeats could have.

Bottom line:  If you know these are fledgling triathletes, acknowledge them and encourage them.

Wonderful....just excellent!

Believe me, I would have been "that guy" (in female form) except for two things:

1) I started swimming on New Years Day, 2004.  I had called ahead to the contact person for my local Master's group listed on the USMS website, and he told me he would be there.  Turned out, he was the ONLY person besides me there that day, so he sat down with me and we had a very nice chat about what I could expect. That way when the group started growing day by day and week by week as people filtered back in after the holidays, I new what was coming and got acclimated slowly.   Plus, this being the Midwest, the group is filled with very nice, very friendly people who took time to talk to me, and made me feel welcome.  Very nice way to get started, and something most people aren't lucky enough to have. 

2) I refuse to give in to my fears.  But I earned that the hard way, and some people just aren't there yet  or sadly, never get there. 

And those are just the people your eloquent, thoughtful post are going to mean the most to....you could be a real influence on someone's life.  Well done.

possum - 2005-05-20 12:59 PM fabulous.now will you write one for us bike newbies???

Here ya go, possum:

Get off your a$$ and RIDE LOTS!

Simple, yet eloquent.

GREAT THREAD!!!

I loved reading that fantastic letter. 20 days ago I could barely make it across a 25m pool without my lungs bursting into flames in spite of the ubiquitous water around me and without stopping to feverishly ward off cardiac arrest. Seriously. About 10 days ago I swam 200m without stopping and was thrilled. 4 days later I swam 300m. 2 days after that, 400m... I am so pumped to see some results in only 3 weeks and hope they keep coming. I can't wait to get back into the pool and keeping working at it. Thanks for the support in your letter - and everyone starting in the pool, keep at it!!