Off the Deck

Ever play the “if you could, and why?” game with your family and friends? You know, “if you could you could be any animal, what would you choose, and why?”

I’m positive, without even checking to confirm, that every dedicated swimmer of any age has played the “if you could meet any famous swimmer, who would it be, and why?” game at least once.

As a life-long flyer and distance freestyler, most people assume I’d pick someone from one of those categories, such as Mary T. Meagher or Kieren Perkins. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of theirs; Janet Evans, Pablo Morales and Murray Rose are also high on my list. I also admire swimmers like Summer Sanders and Kaitlin Sandeno for their diversity.

So, it always suprises people when I choose a freestyle sprinter, Don Schollander, as the swimmer I’d most like to meet. Especially because I’m not old enough to have seen him swim or follow his career through the news.

It’s hard to articulate the “why” in this case. A big part of it is his book, Deep Water. It made a huge impression on me when I first read it at age 12. An AAU age-grouper at the time, I was already deeply enmeshed in year-round competitive swimming, complete with two daily practices and dry land training. I loved reading it, even though he railed against the AAU and Don was obviously beyond burned out from intense training and travel-competition when he co-wrote it.

After borrowing my sister’s book, my first quest concerning Don Schollander was to find my own copy of Deep Water. In the era before internet searches, I would always check in each second-hand book store I visited. Once my sister moved to Cooperstown, dropping in at Willis Monie’s to find an obscure swim book became a tradition.

Over the years I built a diverse collection of new and used books devoted to swimming, including “how to” manuals from the 1800s. With the rise of computer technology, I could of tracked down Deep Water and other cool out-of-print swim books on line, but it was more challenging (and thus more surprising and rewarding), to restrict my search to stores.

Then one summer, probably about 15 years after I first read it, Deep Water sat waiting for me on the shelf at Willis Monie’s. I’m not sure how rewarding it is to be a used-book dealer, but I’m sure I made Willis’ day, if not week, by jumping up and down while clutching the book yelling “I FOUND IT!” over and over again until my sister ran over to see what the commotion was.

Since adding my treasure to the swim section of my bookcase (I shelve my swim autobios and bios by who I think might have interesting conversations), I’ve wondered about where Don Schollander is and what’s he’s doing. Which leads me to the other explanations behind my desire to meet him in person.

First, it’s clear that he’s a thinking-man’s swimmer — I can’t imagine having a dull conversation about swimming with him. Second, the there’s the mystique factor. After he retired, Don Schollander pretty much dropped out of sight. His connection to swimming, despite leaving behind such a legacy, is severed.

Perhaps I should take his reticence as a sign to respect his privacy, that he does not want to talk about swimming, or even think about it, especially with some pesky masters swimmer-writer. But I can’t help think about step two in my quest: finding out where he is now and asking him about his life post-swimming.

During the recent USAS convention this fall, I inched a bit closer to meeting this goal. One of my LMC’s delegates competed against Don Schollander when they were in their late teens. He thinks Don might live in California now…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

This past Tuesday I woke up with a bad knot on my left shoulder blade — the kind that makes you nauseous whenever you move. Unfortunately, I tend to get knots there more often than the average person because 1) I swim a lot, 2) I lift weights regularly, 3) I sit and type all day, 4) I have a bad habit of holding the phone between my neck and shoulder when I talk on the phone while typing, and 5) I “store my stress” there.

Since even non-typing swimmers tend to have shoulder/upper back over-use issues, I thought I’d share my un-knoting protocol today:

1) If possible, I get a massage. But time and money always rule, so this week I had to start at #2.

2) I gently tackle the worst of it on my foam roller (Totally worth the $20 investment by the way — I use it every morning to loosen up my back and lats. I would travel with it if I could figure out how to pack it or treat it as a “carry on.”)

3) I gently go through stretches that target the area. (Again, I am prone to thorastic-area muscle issues which my PT guy chips away at in part via an ever-evolving daily stretch routine)

4) If I can reach the spot with one of my hands, I will do trigger-point work (press the spot and hold 15-30 seconds, rest, repeat).

5) I swim on my own versus going to practice until the knot has resolved. I’ve learned the hard way that interval-intensive swimming does not release clenched tightness. But swimming long, stretched out, easy continous laps of free or back will.

5) Again, if I can reach the area, I’ll slap some Tiger Balm on it after swimming.

6) After the balm has absorbed, I’ll ice it* (10 minutes on, 10 minutes off for an hour or so). At this point, it’s finally “helpful” that the affected area is scapular because I can use a chair back to hold the ice in the exact spot I need.

If I don’t feel improvement within a few days, it’s definitely time to head to the professionals and get a massage…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

*Trust me — Tiger Balm and ice DO NOT mix! Talk about your burning and stinging!

Many swimmers get stressed out at practice once they see their coach write certain sets (i.e. 400 IM, 10xanything fly, 5×500, etc.) on the board. As a distance swimmer who’s favorite stroke is fly, I fall into the “bring it on!” minority on those days.

Certainly, I suffer little aniexty twinges if I see a “descend to race pace” set posted. Most of the time though, those sets don’t seem that bad once I’ve swum the first round, and I end up getting into the challenge. Additionally, on the “there’s always a bright side” line of thinking, even if I have to play every mind game I know with myself to get through a set, the ensuing sense of accomplishment always redeems any hellacious set.

What stresses me out at practice then? Leading a lane through a set with complicated intervals! It’s no secret — one of my main life-long weaknesses is working with numbers (if you really want to know another: “sense of direction.”)

I’m solid with the “quarters” intevals — going on a minute, :45, 1:15, 1:30 an so on — those repeat times are automatic for me.

It’s the wacky ones like 1:25 or 2:35 that throw me. And thus the rest of the lane if I can’t factor the interval in my head as I swim each repeat before I hit the wall for the next send off…which stresses me out more. It’s a vicious cycle.

The sets that really freak me out (even though they are one of my favorites to swim) have odd intervals and constantly shift. For example:
3×100 free 1:50, 1:40, 1:35
3×100 free 1:45, 1:30, 1:25
and so on through more rounds…

Maybe I wouldn’t have so much trouble if I could see the clock. But I can’t see it that well. Yep, along with “terrible at math” I’m also “blind as a bat.” While the -10.0 prescription goggles help, something a tad stronger would be good. Yes, the recent trend among most companies to drop their
-10.0 google line has struck fear in my heart. (Can anyone say: “hording?”)

So, most of the time I have to pray that there is a good-sighted math savant in my lane that day, and a gentle soul at that since they’re going to have to tell me when to go, every repeat.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Before begin on today’s topic, I apologize for not posting in nearly two weeks — as I mentioned in my comment to Joel, I have been frantically trying to catch up on things since returning from the convention followed by a business trip. When I first started this site, I made a commitment to myself that I would post at least once a week because I hate out-dated sites. Hopefully, I will not have reason to break that promise again!

O.K., onto the convention…

While 2008 was number 29 for the USAS Convention, it was my first. Before I went to Atlanta, this year’s host city, I knew a little about what to expect. Some convention “vets” in my area were kind enough to offer me key information and advice in advance, and I wisely used my plane time to read the entire USMS packet, familiarizing myself on committee year-recaps and pending business, rules, the proposed budget, procedures, and even office candidate profiles.

Also, based on attending the convention as a USMS delegate, I expected to learn certain things, such as how USMS is organized, which I did. And to have certain experiences, like meeting tons of other adults passionate swimming, which I did in spades.

But the best part of any new experience, for me at least, are the things you learn and experience that you never saw coming. Such as how vast USMS is. In particular, I learned that my competition-centric masters world view needs to broaden to include fitness swimmers, who are actually the majority of members.

I also came away impressed by how hard working every volunteer is, and how much effort is applied to everything under the USMS umbrella, including establishing teams, registering all members, offering a fitness challenge, printing a rule book, running an open water event, and much, much more. Best of all, I was able to see how much support USMS provides now (and plans to additionally provide in the near future) via printed and on-line materials and experts as resources to allow all of us in love with swimming to continue to pursue our passion.

As a life-long competitive swimmer, of course my final “perspective change” thought has to return to meets. Now that I’ve seen the Rules, Officials, Coaches, Records & Tabulations committes in action (and this is just the tip of the iceberg — don’t forget how a rule book must go from from “thought to print” and then into officials hands, the work of host teams and volunteers to do everything from obtain a sanction number to cleaning up after a meet), I will never attend a meet thoughtlessly. Rather, along with focusing on my events and having fun, I will take time to thank anyone and everyone invovled in running the event!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist