I posted this report on one of the fish thread, but wanted to share some thoughts with the general forum.
The short version:
The hard part of going from an adult onset triathlete swimmer to swimming with "REAL SWIMMERS" is that it is insanely frustrating how BAD we are at literally EVERYTHING. Everything down to where you left little toe is on right arm pull and what it is doing makes a difference. We flounder, but real swimmers, are easy to confuse with dolphins. Our motions are herky jerky, their are smooth, elegant and well timed. 12 year old girls with flutter boards outkick us while we are doing a full on 25m freestyle sprint....how is that even possible?
2.5 years ago from disc complications I initially lost my ability to walk and was on crutches to get around. I could not get a coffee without asking my wife or son for help. BUT I could crutch to the edge of the pool and get in the water and suddenly I went for a cripple to an athlete...so I swam every day every week, every month....pretty soon I was on the 100K per month program (its really not that hard when you doing nothing as it is only 60-90 min per day).
During this time, the ST swim community have been awesome virtual coaches. I was going through a lot of turmoil at the same time in work life and swimming was just an escape from all.
When you are swimming that much you finally break down the typical triathlete resistance towards other strokes to "I can only break up freestyle sets with bands, and buoys and toys so many ways....what the heck, I'll try the other strokes!!!!"
One thing lead to another and mainly from feedback and encouragement from guys like Jasoninhalifax, Monty, Erikmulk and others I broke down and did my first swim meet 6 weeks ago. Honestly I was scared and embarrassed to be around real swimmer at a real event. But universally I found that FOP swimmers have a mentality more like runners than cyclists. FOP cyclists, I don't know what it is, but they are not that inviting to new athletes, because part of cycling is chewing out the competition. In swimming, everyone has their own lane. It's not about the other guy, it's about yourself and by and large swimmers are less worried about the pecking order, and more concerned about beating their times. Sure, they are happy to take a medal.
In my first swim meet I did the 100 IM, 200IM, 400 IM, 50 fly, 100 fly, 200 fly and 4 relays. I proceeded to get DQ'd in 3 of my events due to illegal turns of stroke screw ups. You perform in racing what you do in practice. I was doing all kinds of illegal things in practice, so the next month, I did everything all the time, by the book to ingrain everything.
It's a long story, but we have two provincial swim championships in Ontario...kind of like ITU vs Ironman long course worlds....whatever, I am just an athlete who wants to compete, so this was my 2nd provincials in 6 weeks. This time
I drove on Friday from Ottawa to Barrie via Toronto....took the 401 route rather than backroads as I had several conf calls I needed to be on, so I wanted a straight up highway route...well, until I got caught in Toronto Friday afternoon traffic.....oooops, now I was barely going to make it there on time for my 400IM. So I get in and have 15 min of warming up from being cramped in on a 6 hour drive/traffic mess and now I have to launch into my day.
My left leg was feeling weaker than ever from the nerve being compressed in the car....so I took the opening 100 fly "easier" and just felt off....got through the back leg and then going into breast....bam my right calf and foot cramp probably from having foot on and off on the accelerator for 6 hours. I barely made it across for the next 25 and the cramp subsided on the next push off and I was good to go. I had wanted a time of 7:35 and was actually surprised to hit 7:33. 7:30 would be ideal!
2 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 7:30.00 7:33.87 25 50.54 1:47.01 (56.47) 2:46.47 (59.46) 3:44.95 (58.48) 4:53.43 (1:08.48) 5:56.72 (1:03.29) 6:45.59 (48.87) 7:33.87 (48.28)
Next up was the 100 fly, but there was only 1 heat of 400 IM after me and then 2-3 heats of women's 100 fly before me, and then I was on deck....not much there to give after the 400 IM...I really wanted to hit 1:35 went through 50m at 46 second and thought a 49 gets me into the goal and totally died....1:39....just not enough rest after the 400IM...plus the drive
1 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 1:35.00 1:39.43 30 46.70 1:39.43 (52.73)
Then I had 1.5 hours to recoup for the 1500m. Counters worked awesome...I just put down my head and swam. My left leg was kind of useless and creating a lot of drag, but I just sucked it up and went..below are my splits...I was surprised that I pretty well even split all of the 50's given that i have never done this race in a pool.
5 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 25:00.00 24:47.18 14 47.98 1:38.08 (50.10) 2:28.04 (49.96) 3:17.77 (49.73) 4:07.66 (49.89) 4:56.86 (49.20) 5:45.88 (49.02) 6:35.49 (49.61) 7:25.19 (49.70) 8:15.56 (50.37) 9:06.10 (50.54) 9:56.74 (50.64) 10:46.16 (49.42) 11:35.05 (48.89) 12:24.61 (49.56) 13:13.46 (48.85) 14:03.65 (50.19) 14:54.05 (50.40) 15:43.98 (49.93) 16:33.32 (49.34) 17:23.58 (50.26) 18:13.12 (49.54) 19:02.79 (49.67) 19:53.05 (50.26) 20:41.70 (48.65) 21:30.97 (49.27) 22:20.64 (49.67) 23:10.03 (49.39) 23:58.68 (48.65) 24:47.18 (48.50)
Honestly I had no clue what pace I was on, I just went with something that I could sustain from perceived exertion perspective of a 5K running race. I've done enough of those to know what level I can push at
Day 2 was 200 fly, 100 IM, then a long break of 5 hours and the 400 free. The 200 fly felt like a complete disaster. My body was in knots from the day before pushing the end of the 1500m and not warming down properly. I barely slept all night. My goal was to hold 50 second pace per 50 for the first 100m and then go to 53-54 after that. I had done 1:42-1:48 in practice!!! Well that did not happen. I started at 49 and then from there it was downhill, although on a plus note 150-200m was faster than 100-150m:
2 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 3:30.00 3:38.93 25 49.21 1:44.74 (55.53) 2:41.96 (57.22) 3:38.93 (56.97)
Right after this was 100m IM. Between the 200fly and the day before drive plus events, plus lack of sleep, I was done by partway into the breast leg. Normally in training when I do fly+ back and then breast+free 50's or 100's the times of both are pretty evenNot this day:
7 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 1:40.00 1:42.22 12 48.28 1:42.22 (53.94)
Finally the 400 free after a long break. I had time to recover, do a proper warmup for it and go. My target was 6:20 even though I put in a seed of 6:30
I was unsure how to pace this and I think I took the middle 200m too slack.
6 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 6:30.00 6:14.04 13 43.47 1:31.29 (47.82) 2:18.95 (47.66) 3:06.66 (47.71) 3:54.29 (47.63) 4:41.46 (47.17) 5:28.31 (46.85) 6:14.04 (45.73)
Well the field was not stacked at all, but you have to show up and race to get anything and I improved most of the events a bit and did not get any DQ's. First hardware in sport since Podium 3 years ago this weekend at Wildflower 2015, so I am taking it no matter how it comes, considering I still can't walk across a room like a normal human
In terms of the hardware, if I look at the medals on the left everyone who beat me in the 100IM could have entered the 100 fly, 400 IM and 200 fly. I was joking with my wife that I got that hardware, but I was last or second last in each event from the left to the right.....but all those guys who are faster than me, did not enter those events, some for the pain, some prioritizing other events. The guys on the fish thread know how hard I am working all the time to get to the technical level and fitness level to just complete these without a DQ, so I am taking these rather slow times in a swimmer context and the gold and silver.
Mainly the swimmers both on this board and in real life have been very inviting to this former runner/cyclists/skier. I'd be front of pack in all of those and drop the guys swimming circles around me, but they are much more helpful to me than I would have been to them (well, maybe on the XC ski side, I can say I have been helpful to countless cross training athletes becoming skiers).
Jason, Monty, Erikmulk, Tigerchik, RealAlberta, AnnaS (and many more on the fish threads), you made a swimming provincial medalist out of a stubborn triathlete!!!! And coming back to the thread title, you have to make it to the start line....there are around 3000 km of swimming on various ST threads before the start lines this weekend!
The short version:
- I was near the back of the pack in every race
- I improved all my times except one event
- I did well paced races
- I got my first hardware in sport since Wildflower 2015
- OK....where do I sign up for more....I'm hooked.
The hard part of going from an adult onset triathlete swimmer to swimming with "REAL SWIMMERS" is that it is insanely frustrating how BAD we are at literally EVERYTHING. Everything down to where you left little toe is on right arm pull and what it is doing makes a difference. We flounder, but real swimmers, are easy to confuse with dolphins. Our motions are herky jerky, their are smooth, elegant and well timed. 12 year old girls with flutter boards outkick us while we are doing a full on 25m freestyle sprint....how is that even possible?
2.5 years ago from disc complications I initially lost my ability to walk and was on crutches to get around. I could not get a coffee without asking my wife or son for help. BUT I could crutch to the edge of the pool and get in the water and suddenly I went for a cripple to an athlete...so I swam every day every week, every month....pretty soon I was on the 100K per month program (its really not that hard when you doing nothing as it is only 60-90 min per day).
During this time, the ST swim community have been awesome virtual coaches. I was going through a lot of turmoil at the same time in work life and swimming was just an escape from all.
When you are swimming that much you finally break down the typical triathlete resistance towards other strokes to "I can only break up freestyle sets with bands, and buoys and toys so many ways....what the heck, I'll try the other strokes!!!!"
One thing lead to another and mainly from feedback and encouragement from guys like Jasoninhalifax, Monty, Erikmulk and others I broke down and did my first swim meet 6 weeks ago. Honestly I was scared and embarrassed to be around real swimmer at a real event. But universally I found that FOP swimmers have a mentality more like runners than cyclists. FOP cyclists, I don't know what it is, but they are not that inviting to new athletes, because part of cycling is chewing out the competition. In swimming, everyone has their own lane. It's not about the other guy, it's about yourself and by and large swimmers are less worried about the pecking order, and more concerned about beating their times. Sure, they are happy to take a medal.
In my first swim meet I did the 100 IM, 200IM, 400 IM, 50 fly, 100 fly, 200 fly and 4 relays. I proceeded to get DQ'd in 3 of my events due to illegal turns of stroke screw ups. You perform in racing what you do in practice. I was doing all kinds of illegal things in practice, so the next month, I did everything all the time, by the book to ingrain everything.
It's a long story, but we have two provincial swim championships in Ontario...kind of like ITU vs Ironman long course worlds....whatever, I am just an athlete who wants to compete, so this was my 2nd provincials in 6 weeks. This time
- Friday nite: 400 IM, 100 fly, 1500 free
- Sat: 200 fly, 100IM, 400 free
- No relays as I had no club team (bummer)
I drove on Friday from Ottawa to Barrie via Toronto....took the 401 route rather than backroads as I had several conf calls I needed to be on, so I wanted a straight up highway route...well, until I got caught in Toronto Friday afternoon traffic.....oooops, now I was barely going to make it there on time for my 400IM. So I get in and have 15 min of warming up from being cramped in on a 6 hour drive/traffic mess and now I have to launch into my day.
My left leg was feeling weaker than ever from the nerve being compressed in the car....so I took the opening 100 fly "easier" and just felt off....got through the back leg and then going into breast....bam my right calf and foot cramp probably from having foot on and off on the accelerator for 6 hours. I barely made it across for the next 25 and the cramp subsided on the next push off and I was good to go. I had wanted a time of 7:35 and was actually surprised to hit 7:33. 7:30 would be ideal!
2 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 7:30.00 7:33.87 25 50.54 1:47.01 (56.47) 2:46.47 (59.46) 3:44.95 (58.48) 4:53.43 (1:08.48) 5:56.72 (1:03.29) 6:45.59 (48.87) 7:33.87 (48.28)
Next up was the 100 fly, but there was only 1 heat of 400 IM after me and then 2-3 heats of women's 100 fly before me, and then I was on deck....not much there to give after the 400 IM...I really wanted to hit 1:35 went through 50m at 46 second and thought a 49 gets me into the goal and totally died....1:39....just not enough rest after the 400IM...plus the drive
1 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 1:35.00 1:39.43 30 46.70 1:39.43 (52.73)
Then I had 1.5 hours to recoup for the 1500m. Counters worked awesome...I just put down my head and swam. My left leg was kind of useless and creating a lot of drag, but I just sucked it up and went..below are my splits...I was surprised that I pretty well even split all of the 50's given that i have never done this race in a pool.
5 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 25:00.00 24:47.18 14 47.98 1:38.08 (50.10) 2:28.04 (49.96) 3:17.77 (49.73) 4:07.66 (49.89) 4:56.86 (49.20) 5:45.88 (49.02) 6:35.49 (49.61) 7:25.19 (49.70) 8:15.56 (50.37) 9:06.10 (50.54) 9:56.74 (50.64) 10:46.16 (49.42) 11:35.05 (48.89) 12:24.61 (49.56) 13:13.46 (48.85) 14:03.65 (50.19) 14:54.05 (50.40) 15:43.98 (49.93) 16:33.32 (49.34) 17:23.58 (50.26) 18:13.12 (49.54) 19:02.79 (49.67) 19:53.05 (50.26) 20:41.70 (48.65) 21:30.97 (49.27) 22:20.64 (49.67) 23:10.03 (49.39) 23:58.68 (48.65) 24:47.18 (48.50)
Honestly I had no clue what pace I was on, I just went with something that I could sustain from perceived exertion perspective of a 5K running race. I've done enough of those to know what level I can push at
Day 2 was 200 fly, 100 IM, then a long break of 5 hours and the 400 free. The 200 fly felt like a complete disaster. My body was in knots from the day before pushing the end of the 1500m and not warming down properly. I barely slept all night. My goal was to hold 50 second pace per 50 for the first 100m and then go to 53-54 after that. I had done 1:42-1:48 in practice!!! Well that did not happen. I started at 49 and then from there it was downhill, although on a plus note 150-200m was faster than 100-150m:
2 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 3:30.00 3:38.93 25 49.21 1:44.74 (55.53) 2:41.96 (57.22) 3:38.93 (56.97)
Right after this was 100m IM. Between the 200fly and the day before drive plus events, plus lack of sleep, I was done by partway into the breast leg. Normally in training when I do fly+ back and then breast+free 50's or 100's the times of both are pretty evenNot this day:
7 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 1:40.00 1:42.22 12 48.28 1:42.22 (53.94)
Finally the 400 free after a long break. I had time to recover, do a proper warmup for it and go. My target was 6:20 even though I put in a seed of 6:30
I was unsure how to pace this and I think I took the middle 200m too slack.
6 Paul, Devashish 53 SO-M 6:30.00 6:14.04 13 43.47 1:31.29 (47.82) 2:18.95 (47.66) 3:06.66 (47.71) 3:54.29 (47.63) 4:41.46 (47.17) 5:28.31 (46.85) 6:14.04 (45.73)
Well the field was not stacked at all, but you have to show up and race to get anything and I improved most of the events a bit and did not get any DQ's. First hardware in sport since Podium 3 years ago this weekend at Wildflower 2015, so I am taking it no matter how it comes, considering I still can't walk across a room like a normal human
In terms of the hardware, if I look at the medals on the left everyone who beat me in the 100IM could have entered the 100 fly, 400 IM and 200 fly. I was joking with my wife that I got that hardware, but I was last or second last in each event from the left to the right.....but all those guys who are faster than me, did not enter those events, some for the pain, some prioritizing other events. The guys on the fish thread know how hard I am working all the time to get to the technical level and fitness level to just complete these without a DQ, so I am taking these rather slow times in a swimmer context and the gold and silver.
Mainly the swimmers both on this board and in real life have been very inviting to this former runner/cyclists/skier. I'd be front of pack in all of those and drop the guys swimming circles around me, but they are much more helpful to me than I would have been to them (well, maybe on the XC ski side, I can say I have been helpful to countless cross training athletes becoming skiers).
Jason, Monty, Erikmulk, Tigerchik, RealAlberta, AnnaS (and many more on the fish threads), you made a swimming provincial medalist out of a stubborn triathlete!!!! And coming back to the thread title, you have to make it to the start line....there are around 3000 km of swimming on various ST threads before the start lines this weekend!
Last edited by:
devashish_paul: May 7, 18 6:16