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Join us in our 30th year, and swim to get fit! |
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Chlorine ChronicleNMSC Nov/04 NewsletterFirst Meet Experiences from one of the old guys!Newsletter Contents | Next Article by Frank S. Perks A little introduction, I joined NMSC September 82 and except for about a 5 year break when my son came along, have been a member since. Served on the MSO executive for a few years rising to President MSO. Now the baby of the 60-64 age group for competitions. When I first joined NMSC I was gung-ho to get started with competitions. My first one was a local one just over in Hull in October of 82. What an experience; after watching a few events and not really paying attention, it was suddenly my heat coming up. So up to the starting area, then carefully watching what the rest of the heat was doing, I got on the starting blocks and no kidding, my knees where shaking like I never dove off the blocks before. Then I heard something like 'A vos marcs', as I looked to my side everyone was getting set…then the gun…same in any language. This was a 100 free, I went like blazes - strategy what strategy - at about 75, I was wondering if masters were allowed to quit before the end of the race. Fortunately or unfortunately, I was in the outside lane and NMSC was right at the far end of the pool, cheering me on! Well I finished, and walked back to the rest of the gang and Cathy M. asked me how I did and I said 1:09 and she congratulated me (Cathy was probably doing 1:05 or so at that time!) Somehow later in the year a few guys persuaded me to go to the US Short Course (Yards) Nationals being held in Fort Lauderdale in May of 83. Well what a trip, 32 hours driving straight down there, stopping for donuts and coffee and change of drivers (there were five of us) every couple hours - not recommended for pre-meet nutrition. Was a memorable long weekend, outdoor facility, beautiful sandy beaches and oh ya, lots of competition. I was in awe half the time as each heat got up, there were announcements of swimmers who were former NCAA champions, or Olympic swimmers. On one of my swims I got to the starting area and they really start fast, last swimmer touches and the next heat is off. Well on this one, I got on the blocks, started with the gun, hit the water - and couldn't remember just what event this was, I knew is was a hundred. I started flutter kicking and due to my slightly slow dive I happen to notice that the other swimmers were doing dolphin - a ah! - 100 IM. Guess there was too much splash for officials to catch me. You see Dave, sometimes a slow start is very strategic. Next year, the 83-84 season I decided to really go for it, the 1st World Masters Swimming Championships - to be held in Christchurch, New Zealand. A few Toronto swimmers coordinated a 23-day trip for about 45 Ontario masters, including lots of sightseeing in NZ, Australia and a two-day stop in the Fijis. Since the entry forms & times had to be put in several months before, I used simple mathematics to calculate my expected times for that meet in April 84. As I said earlier, my first 100 free was a 1:09, since then I had swum a few other 100 frees and my time had gone down to about 1:06. Taking that large sample of about 4 swims, I figured I could do about :59! As we were lining up for this event a nice guy by the name of Tim Garton, says hey you're Frank Perks, we've been wondering who this fast guy from Canada was. Tim held the current world record, something like :56 and I was in the same heat, he was in the middle and I was on his right. Well we went off and I was bound and determined to go for it - like 110%….Tim out touched me by about 6 inches at the fifty then we turned and he started pulling ahead on each stroke. I started to experience the fun of lactate acid build up at about 70 meters, my arms hurt with every stroke. But I did finish 3rd in a 1:04, Tim was first in :57. The next time I met Tim was the following year in Toronto, August 85 at the Masters Games (Several sports), I watched him do some warm-up 50 meter kicking at about :31 sec per. In one of my events he was in the next heat in the same lane and gave me some good words of encouragement. One of my other memorable swims in NZ was the 1500 meters. It was my first time swimming two per lane with a staggered start, gee was I ever confused, always watching for the other guy so I didn't smack into him. There were a few humorous moments, I think three times the person holding the counters for me dropped them in the water and I saw them at the bottom of the pool each time! I ended up in 2nd place with a time of 21:30, the first guy was 21:08. I often wondered if we had been swimming side-by-side could I have kept up and shaved about .7 sec per 50. Overall this trip was one of those once in a lifetime ventures, my wife-to-be was with me and we were ready to stay in NZ, the people, food - who wouldn't like a bowl of whipped cream for your coffee in the morning. My wife (Françoise) was right at home the first night we went out to a local BYOB restaurant and our waiter turned out to be from Montreal. On the way back, about 15 days after the first week of swimming in NZ, we landed in Edmonton for our Nationals in 84. I can't remember what kind of times I put on my entry sheet, knowing I would be traveling and not training for almost 3 weeks, eating good food and in the air for about 20 hours before landing. But it was a good meet, my wife got to meet my brother for the first time and we actually swam in the same heat on two events. One of them we were side-by-side. He is 2 years younger so this happens every few years. If you're wondering, he beats me at 50's and I move ahead on 100's…at least for free and back. Well one thing that always amazes me is that after swimming hard in workouts for many months, it only takes about 30 seconds to feel wiped out. Oh ya if any of you new swimmers think that your non-swimming spouse will enjoy going to a meet with you, think again how great it is to sit in a hot, humid place with wet swimmers all around you and you only swim about 10 mins in total over a period of several hours. |