I too was a high end swimmer and have felt like this about swimming progressively slower - that's why I do triathlon and not Master's swimming.

It's always good to learn new things, and to keep improving, simple as that.

Deke

Instead of lamenting over the past more people should find newer hobbies and challenges. There's a million exciting things on this planet left to try. No need to fret over something that you were once good at when there are new things to try.

I used to win everything. I won my age category in every triathlon in 1986 except Ironman and the USTS national championships and the really big races. But at the local events, I was the king of the 20-24 age category. I was time trial champion. I won the first ever Category IV road championships. Admittedly a dubious title (best of the worst?). But a victory nonetheless. So I was winning a lot. I took winning for granted.

I had a couple accidents and it took a while to comeback, but come back I did. Really I never left.

I'm not fast anymore. I show up and participate, and I take my participation very seriously. I always give it everrything I can, but seldom leave with even an age group award. Last year I was ranked third in my age category for our state's season long points series.

Personally, I'd rather do better, but that was as good as I could do and I try to improve every year. Age and business work against me but determination, experience and passion for the sport work in my favor.

I don't care if I am a has been, really, I am more of a "never was". I love this sport and competing in it is a huge source of happiness for me. I remeber clearly when I was coming back that I would have given anything to get back on a bike or go for a run. And I was right.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"it's better to be a has-been than a never-was"



at least thats what I say...

Dude, relax. Anyone who has a background in any sport (elite or somewhat lackluster) can relate to you. You're not alone in your self-disappointment. I also come from a strong swimming background, and, yes, it does hurt (more mentally than physically) to be gasping after a 1:10 100 free, let alone a set of 10x100 free on 1:35. Freshman year in college, I would have laughed myself right out of the pool. But, that's life. We don't swim 4-6 hours a day anymore - we have other pursuits, i.e., bringing home the bacon.

I'll never forget my high school biology teacher, a former All-American college basketball player, coming into class rather grumpy because he couldn't dunk any longer. He played pickup games during lunch and always put it down at least once until my Junior year. We spent the rest of the class period discussing how muscles atrophy as one ages. Quite enlightening, given the fact that it came from a 6'6" guy who could do a 360 slam just a few years earlier.

Where did you swim in college?

i was a decent h.s. swimmer who decided not to swim in college. it does frustrate me to not be able to hold 100s on 1:15 (or even 1:20 if i'm doing more than 7 or so). but i've fallen in love with cycling and so i see my swimming training as just keeping myself fast enough to come out of the water in the front 5 or so. triathlon de-emphasizes swimming so much that it really isn't worth the extra effort and time it would take to take a minute off of my swim time when i have a lot of time to cut from my running and cycling.

but i hear you. i hate how winded i am after a 50 fly. i feel like an idiot.

I get to make it through the day knowing that a Shimano STI lever ruined my cycling future....oh well. I ride Campy now.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Mine was in bike racing and I just can't accelerate with the kids anymore. Sprinting was my game so the only thing I can do is gone. OTOH I can finally time trial. I'm as fast this early in the season as I ever was, but my time is not that competitive. I can do a 59min 25 mile tt, which is a good time for 1981, when I couldn't break the hour, but could win most sprints. So I'm 20 years slow, but I see a 58 or faster in the cards this year. Still slow to the TTers but for me it's an achievement.

I have been a "has been" so long that I forgot what it was like to be an "is" :~)

My wife drives a Mercedes and her license plate is HAS BNZ

Aloha,

Larry

The secret here is be a "never was" and improve on that. I'm fitter now at 43 than I was at 17 when I ran my first marathon. And thanks to taking my training more seriously, I'm actually getting faster at triathlons. I know this won't last forever but man I'm in it for the long haul and will enjoy the ride as long as I can.

I'm a has been swimmer too. I don't get frustrated over my times now. Part of that may come from the fact that I took a really long break so I did not experience a gradual decline. Fun for me in the pool was working really hard and going fast. Once I couldn't do those 2 things, swimming was not something I was interested in pursuing casually. When I got back in the water, I was years away from peak condition and my goals were much different so I never do compare me now with me then. I can't complain about my speed since I have absolutely no interest in working hard in the pool. I am pretty confident I reached my physical potential, so the best case is I match my (very) old times. I'm old now so even that is not possible anymore. I had my shot, I took it and I gave it my all.

It doesn't matter how fast you go. It only matters how much fun you are having.

Been living it for a while. I hop up at a masters meet and crank out a 100 breast that was my pr when I was a freshman in high school, and about 3 seconds slower than my second 100 in the 200 when I was in college. I have recently gotten used to it. It is all a matter of perspective. I doubt very seriously that I could perform at anywhere near the level I did when I was 19 regardless of how much training I do. Physiologically (obviously) and mentally I am in a very different place. I just reset the standards of what is good for me, and move on.

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"Maybe you should just run faster..." TM

My last swim meet finished on March 1, 1986. I swam career best times in the 200, 500 (twice), 1000, 1650 and 400 IM in the last 50 or so hours of my 12 year swimming career. I remember walking out of the coach's office and down the hallway with my bag over my shoulder about 9 PM that evening. And, I didn't go to another organized swim practice until just a little over a year ago. In between I played rugby, ran marathons and then started to ride the bike for a little cross training between runs.

With the almost 20 year off from competitive swimming, I don't have too much trouble not swimming as fast as I did as a 12 and under. In fact, I really don't have any desire to swim that much faster because there is so much room for improvement on my bike. I nearly laughed out loud when one of the guys at my tri-club tried to recruit me to swim at the Michigan state meet this weekend. I really don't want confirmation that I can't swim freestyle as fast in a race now as I could swim butterfly, IM or backstroke (and maybe even breaststroke) in college.

I guess I had the luxury of being mainly an American Football player...so, you know right off your days are limited. I was a decent sprinter in track, as well as discus hurler. Both are considered to be limited in longevity. My point is, I never expected to do any of those things at a high level for a long period of time. I did other things, though. I raced bicycles in the 80's, and did well locally. Did my first duathlons and triathlons in the later 80's and did well locally. I am a 4 time Hoover Ball Champion...played it in the early-mid 90's at the championships in West Branch, Iowa, as well as the Capital Classic on the mall in DC. Somewhere along the way, I just keep finding something else to do that I'm fairly good at, and the older I get, I find I have to find I'm good at it for my age. (Although I was 2nd overall at my last local duathlon!) It's all good. It just gives me some focus for my training, and an outlet for a competitive nature....and it certainly keeps me from having to watch and talk sports with "the guys"....how boring to me! I'd rather go bird watching or play with a dog. As it is, I'm fortunate enough to have a 3 year old daughter that takes up much of my time...I'm certainly more concerned with being a good father than with being faster at some sporting event.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Can't just leave us with half a story like that, Chip. Share.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

Hasbeen,

I have been competing in sports for 50 years. I always took last as a kid. In high school I got a bit faster, I drank my way through college. By forty my star was shining brightly. I was a nationally ranked triathlete, eastcoast champion in swimming, sub 3:00 marathoner. The light has gone out of my star and each day now I set a goal for myself. Sometimes it is just to wake up and get out of the house.

The key is to always win. Now you set the game. Create a contest and what it will take to win based on how you feel. It is never based on anyone else. The game is totally internal. It is you against your perception of what you think you can do. I get to win everyday. Sometimes it is breaking 9:00 miles. Sometimes it going under an hour for three loops of Central Park. Sometimes it is just a good nap in the middle of the day.

I cannot even relate to who I was 20 years ago.

Enjoy each day as if it is your last. Yesterday is gone. There is only now.

DougStern

Well put.

Tim A. is that you? If not, this sounds just like a conversation I had with another 'hasbeenswimmer' last week. He was lamenting his inability to easily do 100's sub 1:00 from a push when in the past he would do repeats on 1:00. I was lamenting the fact that he was still kicking my butt!

I am also an ex-collegiate swimmer, not as accomplished but I remember many a set that used to be 'easy' that would now be impossible. When I first got back into the pool this year, I was really, really frustrated. I couldn't do sets that I could do when I was 12 years old. It was quite humbling. I started to get mad until I started thinking about how much time has passed since I swam competitively and how much time & effort it took to get to that level of swimming fitness. My memory tends to gloss over all the hours spent in the pool training and tends to highlight the accomplishments. It took years to develop as a swimmer. Swimming 3 days a week, I'm not going to be the swimmer I used to be (plus I'm 18 years older!).

If this is Tim A., you're still the first guy out of the water...run more!

Road racing - was out in Colorado Springs training at the Olympic Training Center. Was out on the mountains behind the Air force training academy – descending at 65mph + a guy in front blew a tire and went down. Before I knew anything the whole mess of us was a mess. I woke up in an Air force helicopter that flew us to an ambulance that was at the bottom of the mountain (rumor is they were training and just decided to help out, don’t know the whole story really though). The doctors in Springs thought that I had an in and out puncture wound on my right front calf. X-Rays showed nothing notable not even a fracture – the truth was a part of a Shimano STI lever was in my leg, and they sewed it in there. Infection started almost right away. I was put back in the hospital where they did test after test after test. Infection got into my blood and ate the bones in my right leg – I was flown to Denver where they did more tests and an Orthopod took me in to the OR to “look around” fully thinking that they may remove my leg. He found a small plastic piece in my leg and removed it – as well as a large portion of my leg muscles in the area. They put a tube in my leg to drain and closed the wound (6” long) loosely with steel stitches that left the wound open. Every couple days they would take pliers and tighten the stitches (they were steel thread – not staples). Took a long long time to learn to walk again – they even said that I would never walk with out a limp, or race bikes again. Well, all I have now is a scar (nasty one at that) and go out and play IronMan. See them tell me I won’t walk.



Another funny thing was the surgery was about 2 weeks after the initial accident. During that time I was inpatient in Colorado Springs. I had not walked at all (for obvious reasons) on top of the fact that the infection was so bad that I slept probably 22 hours a day. Well, when I was in Denver they tried to knock me out with the face mask Anesthesia you know the deal “count from 99 backwards” most people hit 97..I was like 74, 73,72 and looked up and knew something was wrong. The room started to spin, voices all had echo’s and the lights were flashing (I would liken this to what I think people on Acid see – but I have never done drugs so I don’t know)…well, I jumped off the table and ran to the door of the OR with the doctors and staff trying to stop me (as I was ripping IV’s from my arm by running from them). They calmed me down and knocked me out with IV Anesthesia and I was out for 3 full days. They were quite worried that I would never wake up I guess. All in all…not a good time. That was many years ago now – like 15 or so.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Gruesome. Well, at least now we know why you hate Shimano so much.

See now that's that's what I call a training story! Good job your body rejected the lever. I have asimpler reason for not liking ShimaNo, I am into aesthetics and not tractor engineering! You could say aesthetic reasons as opposed to you anesthetic reasons! But then again probably not!

Glad to hear it all turned out well after a lot of hard effort on your part.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

I too find myself comparing my swim times to what I did as a kid. Just yesterday at the end of swim workout, I did a 50 yd breastroke off the wall in 36 seconds. That matches my HS freshman time. Next year, If I can do it in 39 seconds, I'll be at my 12 YO time. See, I'm getting younger!

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

yes, but I'm used to it now, it doesn't bother me as much anymore. I figure I'm older and fatter, also I have a house, wife and children to keep up with - just flat don't have the training time in these days.

My problem is I used-ta-be semi-fast at both swimming and running, so I have two ways to beat myself up over underperforming. But as I say, I'm mostly over it.. took a few years, though.

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview