Swimming with the Masters

Recently I joined a Masters Swim program at UR. I’ve thought about doing this for years but never did because I didn’t think I could keep up with the other swimmers. The UR program, however, emphasized that all levels of ability were welcome, and I figured maybe my triathlon experience had improved my swimming, so I signed up. The class meets three times a week, but I only attend on Monday evenings and Wednesday mornings. I’m in the “baby lane,” of course, but I usually can keep up with my fellow swimmers there.

In other group swims I’ve done I’ve struggled with the drills. Remarkably, in this class, I can actually do at least some of them. On Monday, we did a drill where we kicked while on our back with our hands together in the air at a 90 degree angle from our body. To my surprise, I didn’t find this as difficult as some of the other, accomplished swimmers did. Today we tossed a small medicine ball back and forth for 30 seconds at a time while remaining vertical in the water and kicking our legs. It was challenging, but my partner and I did it.

The best thing we’ve done so far, though, is diving. At the end of today’s swim, we took our marks on the side of the pool and then dived in as though we were starting a race. It’s been years and years, and a few more years, since I’d done any diving, and I wasn’t sure I’d remember how. I had unpleasant visions of hitting the water with a gigantic plop. However, I sprang off the side, sliced into the water, and glided to the top. Then I did it twice more because it was so much fun.