How I Met My Serious Swimming

[Dooley67]

This is my true story of how I got started swimming seriously and how joining the forum supported my effort. I am using the term speedo in its generic sense.

I have been a speedo wearer since I was 16 or 17 when I began college. I needed to take swimming as a PE class and the school supplied us with speedo type suits that were a woolen blend (I already posted this part in another thread, but it bears repeating briefly to note the age when I began to think about wearing speedos), very uncomfortable, but they looked and felt really good when I wore them, especially because I weighed about 125 pounds with a completely flat stomach at the time and was in pretty decent shape from playing a lot of tennis and squash.

I decided that brief suits were for me and at the time, the mid 60's, lots of guys wore either briefs or spandex square cuts that were a little longer than today's square cuts. The first suit I bought was a green nylon Ocean brief with 4 or 5 inch sides. Then I bought a blue and red tight square cut and then a vertically blue and white striped lower cut nylon brief with about a 2 or 3" side seam. I spent a lot of time at the beach during the summers, wore those suits, and was very tan. I loved going to the beach because I could check out all the hot guys and the hot girls as well. Though I loved the beach and the pool, I was just an OK swimmer with very little endurance and probably poor technique.

Fast forward five years or so, I met my wife, we were married, and I was really happy to find out that she like the way I looked in speedos and encouraged me to wear them which I have continued to do over many years.

As what happens to most of us when we get older, I no longer weigh 125 pounds. About three years ago while vacationing in Hawaii, I bought several pairs of really colorful board shorts (I'm sorry but I really did), rationalizing that I was too old (64) to be wearing speedos. I never did like the board shorts because at 5'6", they were all too long for me and looked kind of dorky. It was about a year later when I decided that age was not the issue, my weight was, so I worked hard to lose the 15 pounds that I was overweight.

I had been a runner for about 25 years, then switched to walking which was easier on my knees. My wife had been after me to do more than just walk for exercise and to work on developing more strength in my upper body. When my sister joined in to double team me, I finally agreed and, along with my wife, joined our local Y in early June. I have begun a program of working the weight machines three times a week and have been slowly adding repetitions and weight.

After about a year of browsing the forum, I screwed up the courage to join as a member, never having been a member of any social media. I was really nervous about doing this, because if I was going to be honest in posting and responding to posts, although I am mostly straight, there is also a side to me that is attracted to men as well. My attraction has been pretty clear in some of my posts, and, interestingly, it has been very freeing for me.

So how does this relate to my starting to swim seriously? Well, I began swimming laps and the first time out could barely make a full lap without being exhausted. I was focused on the freestyle which has always been hard for me, and was very discouraged. The briefs that I was wearing didn't adapt well to lap swimming, mostly being too loose or producing too much drag. And here's how being a forum member helped; I sought advice about what suits would be good for lap swimming and guys like Turbofan, SwimTeamSpeedo, Byron, and shaulis suggested different brands - Nike and Turbo water polo suits, Sporti, Tyr. I've talked about the suits that I bought and liked, and in addition to the good performance of the suits, they make me feel so good when I wear them which is now six days a week. And I've developed a small collection of colorful suits. I feel that I have a real justifiable use for speedos now.

I've gotten some great advice and encouragement about how to approach the lap swimming from STS, a fellow Mainer, who we all know has been and still is a competitive swimmer and coach. My son, as a kid, a swimmer at the Y and then as a teen, at the high school level has also given me some good tips. I had tried lap swimming once about 3 years ago and gave up after one outing but I promised myself that I would stick with it this time. Because I've always been able to do the breast and back strokes pretty well, with some good advice, I decided to focus on these and work on the freestyle on alternate days with far less intensity so I was much less frustrated.

I set goals for myself - 1 lap without stopping, then 2 laps, then trying to do 10 laps total, resting when I needed to. Where am I now after 6 weeks? I've been able to do 18 laps (a half mile) without stopping; 25 laps with some rest, then 27, and once, 30 laps with multiple rests of 15 or 20 seconds. My long range goal is a mile which I really don't expect to do anytime soon. But I believe I will get there. Am I planning on doing Masters swimming? No, I just want to be a good solid endurance swimmer.

Lo and behold, I've lost a few more pounds, now 20 pounds lighter, and my 32 waist shorts and pants are too big for me and I've had to buy several pairs of size 30 waist shorts. I haven't been a size 30 waist for probably 25 years. I think I look good in a brief suit now and I truly feel that at almost 68, I've earned the right to wear speedos designed for lap swimming. So that's how I met my serious swimming; I know that without the guidance from some of the guys on the board, this would have been a much tougher task for me.

[solarguy]

Wow!! Thanks for sharing your story!!!

[Byron]

Yes, and quite inspiring to read.
I noted particularly your aptitude with back and breast stroke swimming but an early struggle with freestyle and was interested to realise that an opposite situation existed for me many years ago.
I was under instruction for the breast stroke at which I was not at all adept but which was de rigeur for all beginners. I broke away in frustration and taught myself freestyle which I perfected with observation of those with good form in the pool.
I then increased my repetoire with breast and back strokes of a reasonable standard but never made progress in my efforts with the butterfly.
I still love to finish a session with freestyle as this is my reward for sticking with some backstroke and breaststroke laps.

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

D67,

Watching your progress virtually has been a great experience. You have shown that swimming is truly the universal sport, and no matter our age we can become "serious swimmers." A coach of mine many years ago used to say "There are no bad swimmers, just swimmers of different speeds." It is just a great sport, and that we get to do it in our favorite swimsuits is an added bonus.

Keep swimming!!

Ryan

[shaulis]

D67,

This is an inspiring story you wrote. I hope we all learned to set goals but to set mini goals as well so we don't give up on the main goal.

[Dooley67]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys; I really appreciate it.

[Swimmboy]

Thanks for sharing your story with us. It has similarities to mine - I did not know how to swim until college, where I took 'Beginners Swimming' - if you can imagine 20 or so adults learning how to blow bubbles under water, hold the side of the pool and learn to kick, etc. The college provided us with suits - made of a rough, coarse fabric, with maybe 5" sides? After a couple weeks of those itchy suits, I bought my first Speedo at a Herman's Sporting Goods store (if anyone remembers those) - it was just a plain Navy blue nylon suit (this around 1980). I was nervous buying it - but not really for any 'sexual' reason, I was afraid people would laugh at me for thinking myself a "real swimmer", since only real swimmers wore Speedos. Have been swimming ever since, in Speedos, TYR, The Finals, and Monsterpolo (favorite colors and very brief style, but they are low in the back and let too much water flow into the 'seat' area of the suit). Anyway, I joined a Masters team in the 90s and still swim with them - most members are very welcoming to swimmers of all abilities, so if you have a USMS team in your neighborhood, give them a try - you can swim as often or as little as you want, get out early if you get too tired, etc. It helps to have motivation from your lane mates!

[Dooley67]

Thanks for your supportive suggestion about a Masters team and thanks for sharing your story Swimmboy. I don't think I'm really interested in Masters swim right now because one of the things I like about the swimming I'm doing is that it is very solitary, a time I can do a lot of thinking, the same thing I've done with running many years ago and walking currently.

I do remember Herman's Sporting Goods. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY and there was, and maybe still is, a large Herman's in lower Manhattan.

Do you remember Davega Sporting Goods? There was one in a shopping area near where I lived and that's where I got the blue and white striped brief I mentioned in my story. I also got my first baseball glove there at the age of 9, about 58 years ago, a Mickey Mantle model which I still have.

D67

[Swimmboy]

No, never heard of Davega Sports store. I'm not from the NYC area - the Herman's I went to was in suburban DC. It closed many years ago - probably the mid or late 80s?

[Dooley67]

Originally Posted by Dooley67

This is my true story of how I got started swimming seriously and how joining the forum supported my effort. I am using the term speedo in its generic sense.

I have been a speedo wearer since I was 16 or 17 when I began college. I needed to take swimming as a PE class and the school supplied us with speedo type suits that were a woolen blend (I already posted this part in another thread, but it bears repeating briefly to note the age when I began to think about wearing speedos), very uncomfortable, but they looked and felt really good when I wore them, especially because I weighed about 125 pounds with a completely flat stomach at the time and was in pretty decent shape from playing a lot of tennis and squash.

I decided that brief suits were for me and at the time, the mid 60's, lots of guys wore either briefs or spandex square cuts that were a little longer than today's square cuts. The first suit I bought was a green nylon Ocean brief with 4 or 5 inch sides. Then I bought a blue and red tight square cut and then a vertically blue and white striped lower cut nylon brief with about a 2 or 3" side seam. I spent a lot of time at the beach during the summers, wore those suits, and was very tan. I loved going to the beach because I could check out all the hot guys and the hot girls as well. Though I loved the beach and the pool, I was just an OK swimmer with very little endurance and probably poor technique.

Fast forward five years or so, I met my wife, we were married, and I was really happy to find out that she like the way I looked in speedos and encouraged me to wear them which I have continued to do over many years.

As what happens to most of us when we get older, I no longer weigh 125 pounds. About three years ago while vacationing in Hawaii, I bought several pairs of really colorful board shorts (I'm sorry but I really did), rationalizing that I was too old (64) to be wearing speedos. I never did like the board shorts because at 5'6", they were all too long for me and looked kind of dorky. It was about a year later when I decided that age was not the issue, my weight was, so I worked hard to lose the 15 pounds that I was overweight.

I had been a runner for about 25 years, then switched to walking which was easier on my knees. My wife had been after me to do more than just walk for exercise and to work on developing more strength in my upper body. When my sister joined in to double team me, I finally agreed and, along with my wife, joined our local Y in early June. I have begun a program of working the weight machines three times a week and have been slowly adding repetitions and weight.

After about a year of browsing the forum, I screwed up the courage to join as a member, never having been a member of any social media. I was really nervous about doing this, because if I was going to be honest in posting and responding to posts, although I am mostly straight, there is also a side to me that is attracted to men as well. My attraction has been pretty clear in some of my posts, and, interestingly, it has been very freeing for me.

So how does this relate to my starting to swim seriously? Well, I began swimming laps and the first time out could barely make a full lap without being exhausted. I was focused on the freestyle which has always been hard for me, and was very discouraged. The briefs that I was wearing didn't adapt well to lap swimming, mostly being too loose or producing too much drag. And here's how being a forum member helped; I sought advice about what suits would be good for lap swimming and guys like Turbofan, SwimTeamSpeedo, Byron, and shaulis suggested different brands - Nike and Turbo water polo suits, Sporti, Tyr. I've talked about the suits that I bought and liked, and in addition to the good performance of the suits, they make me feel so good when I wear them which is now six days a week. And I've developed a small collection of colorful suits. I feel that I have a real justifiable use for speedos now.

I've gotten some great advice and encouragement about how to approach the lap swimming from STS, a fellow Mainer, who we all know has been and still is a competitive swimmer and coach. My son, as a kid, a swimmer at the Y and then as a teen, at the high school level has also given me some good tips. I had tried lap swimming once about 3 years ago and gave up after one outing but I promised myself that I would stick with it this time. Because I've always been able to do the breast and back strokes pretty well, with some good advice, I decided to focus on these and work on the freestyle on alternate days with far less intensity so I was much less frustrated.

I set goals for myself - 1 lap without stopping, then 2 laps, then trying to do 10 laps total, resting when I needed to. Where am I now after 6 weeks? I've been able to do 18 laps (a half mile) without stopping; 25 laps with some rest, then 27, and once, 30 laps with multiple rests of 15 or 20 seconds. My long range goal is a mile which I really don't expect to do anytime soon. But I believe I will get there. Am I planning on doing Masters swimming? No, I just want to be a good solid endurance swimmer.

Lo and behold, I've lost a few more pounds, now 20 pounds lighter, and my 32 waist shorts and pants are too big for me and I've had to buy several pairs of size 30 waist shorts. I haven't been a size 30 waist for probably 25 years. I think I look good in a brief suit now and I truly feel that at almost 68, I've earned the right to wear speedos designed for lap swimming. So that's how I met my serious swimming; I know that without the guidance from some of the guys on the board, this would have been a much tougher task for me.

Hi Guys,

I wrote of my journey to becoming a serious swimmer a while back and talked about how I set small, manageable goals for myself. I've been working steadily on these goals and today reached the one that I thought was a long way off - I swam a full mile today, 36 laps in about 70 minutes. While I had been increasing my endurance, I still wasn't at the point where I felt I could go the mile (not the extra mile), but this morning I just had a feeling when I got to the Y that this was going to be the day. I paced myself, varied the strokes, did more freestyle (STS and my son, a competitive swimmer at the local Y and up through high school, have been giving me tips on the free), and took very brief rests of at most 10-20 seconds at 18 and 27 laps to drink some water. My only goals now are to maintain my endurance and to get better at swimming the freestyle. Never in a million years would I have thought 3 months ago that this was possible. I'll be 68 next month and have proved to myself that I can still pursue a goal that is athletic in nature. And - the Nike, Sporti, and Turbo low cut, tight briefs sure helped me feel good as I pursued the goal!

D67