Swim a Mile

Last month I did my first swim event in 10 years. I swam a mile in an organized charity event, 1600 meters in a 50 meter pool. The swim was 32 lengths, which I broke into 4 x 8 lengths, 400s. It was a “fun” event but I did some training, I worked on sprints and 400s to try to get my tempo up. My baseline was 31 minutes, that is what I could swim before I trained, and I got my final time to under 29 minutes. Swimming that mile was a great personal accomplishment.

I swim regularly and have for most of my adult life, starting with a Masters team in my 20s which is the first time I did any serious training and learned to swim the Butterfly stroke. Right now I swim a few times a week, but not with a team. It’s nice to swim just because I enjoy it. I do a bit of swim instruction too.

The main problem with swimming is just the ability to get to the pool and to have the time, as it’s also the time before and after you swim that you need to allow for. I see it myself that full time jobs and indeed mom or dad duties get in the way. In fact my biggest drought was the two years after my child was born, I just didn’t have the time or energy to swim.

Swimming is an incredible sport, it’s a full body workout and meditative too. There is also far less risk of injury than most other sports. I feel lucky that I have the time and energy to swim, and I can swim a mile in under 30 minutes!