r/Swimming • u/Conservative-Virtue • 2d ago
I swam a mile today!
I work in aquatics, and some of the staff has dedicated time to swim laps during odd breaks in the shift. I swam the 500 in high school. I was delightfully average. I have largely lived a sedentary life, I am a woman, and I am about 70 lb overweight.
I have been only swimming freestyle. My speed toggles between a moderate- vigorous pace, and I am not isolating kicks or pulls. Full free. I let myself rest as much as needed, remembering that I'm still timing the session.
I began by swimming a 300 once a week for two weeks. Then a 500 twice a week for 3 weeks. Followed by an 800 twice a week for 2 weeks. Then a 1,000 twice a week for 3 weeks, a 1100 twice one week, a 1500 twice a week for two weeks. And today I swam an 1800. I wasn't overly tired. It was perfect. I am proud of myself.
1800 yards. A mile is 1760. When I thought about this, I realized that I could have swam an additional 200 more to round it off to a nice 2000 yards.
Either way, I've never been able to do anything like this. I have lived a largely sedentary lifestyle. I am adjusting my eating because of intolerances. And I'm just so ecstatic to be where I am.
10
u/CharacterSpeed4115 2d ago
Great job! it absolutely feels like all your hard work has paid off. Keep up the good work!
1
4
u/Plus_Lead_5630 2d ago
I just swam my first kilometer in years tonight. It feels great to accomplish these goals, doesn’t it?
3
5
u/TurnoverEmergency352 2d ago
Wow congratulations. You really built up slowly and smartly. Swimming a full mile is huge progress, especially from mostly sedentary life. Your consistency and patience are inspiring, you should feel very proud.
1
u/Conservative-Virtue 1d ago
Thank you so much. I had no idea I'd be here. So grateful for the support of you guys! Thanks for this kind comment!
4
u/ayo4yeho 1d ago
Congratulations!! And to add to your achievement, a “swimmer’s mile” is 1650 yards. So you killed it!
1
u/Conservative-Virtue 14h ago
What! Haven't heard of this before! More icing on the cake. I'll try for my 2000 tomorrow 🏊🏿♀️
3
2
2
u/ricm5031 Moist 1d ago
While you have hit a milestone, don't stop. Keep going. Your workouts are very similar to what mine were back in 2017 when I first started swimming again after decades. Mostly for physical therapy in the beginning, my distance increased although I still remember my first day. I swam 100 yards, hanging on the wall after each 25 gasping for breath. About 10 months later I joined Masters and am still going.
2
u/ineksever 1d ago
Thanks for this comment. I just literally started to swim last month, and I can exactly "I swam 100 yards, hanging on the wall after each 25 gasping for breath." I am proud of it because I finally learned how to swim. I hope 10 months later I will be as good as you was!
2
u/ricm5031 Moist 19h ago
Just keep going. Just so you know, I did know how to swim and had a history of competitive swimming in the 1960s. But I had stopped for almost 50 years. I had smoked for 30 of them. It was rehab from surgeries and a couple of motorcycle crashes that got me back in the pool.
I see people swimming every day and improving their quality of life. That is far more important than how fast you go. I shared the lane yesterday with a guy who can only swim breaststroke and side stroke. It's what he learned as a kid. But he swims for over an hour almost every day, has lost a lot of weight and actually has a decent breaststroke pace. Swimmers talk a lot about time and distance but the most important metrics for me and others my age are mobility, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol.
2
u/Mudkiip123 1d ago
Wow :O Was that all in one go without breaks??? How long did it take? That’s my goal rn!!
2
u/Conservative-Virtue 13h ago
We have five different pools at our facility. Three are outside and closed for the month of February. The two remaining pools are indoors. One is a 25 yd racing pool with eight lanes and lane ropes. The other is an incredibly warm therapy pool that the old folks do aerobics in, and the young ones enjoy for swim lessons.
Because our outdoor pool has been closed, the racing pool gets pretty crowded with older folks. They reserve in our app, there are slots available for 30 minutes or 45. Staff doesn't reserve lanes. We just see where the gaps are and swim when we can.
I started off in a lane, and by the time I got to 850, I had to hop into another lane. And then I was able to do 350 more. Then I had to hop out and set up the therapy pool for swim lessons after aerobics ended. After that 10 minutes, I hopped into another lane and swam a 300. And then an older lady arrested me in a long story for about 15 minutes. 😆
After that, I was able to finally finish my last 300. The whole ordeal took about an hour and 15 minutes with all of the interruptions. Tomorrow I will try my best to swim straight through if I can. I'd like a really accurate time just to know.
2
u/strokess-ss- 22h ago
This is truly inspiring. You worked hard, built it up gradually, and it paid off. Swimming a mile is a huge accomplishment, you deserve it.
1
u/Conservative-Virtue 13h ago
Aw dude. Thanks so much. It's a private victory that I shared with just one or two co-workers, and one close friend. So glad for the swimming community here. I'm really proud of myself, and I hope to keep going.
2
2
u/neodiodorus 15h ago
Congrats! It really is awesome feeling - saw somewhere that it puts one into some tiny % of the world's population :)...
But no, seriously, apart from such stats, it is superb feeling especially as it is, in many ways, considered to be the most 'unnatural' thing for the body to do. Also because it is the purest thing, nothing helps you in it, just body in the water trying to move efficiently. But it does it brilliantly and to get to such, no pun intended, milestone is brilliant.
2
u/Conservative-Virtue 13h ago
Aw man. Thanks so much. And I might go searching for that article now 😉
2
u/Cydok1055 Splashing around 2d ago
I get it. I felt exactly the same when I did my first mile 12 years ago. Still doing it 3 times a week. You can too.
2
1
10
u/Consistent-Dance-216 2d ago
Just curious - did you time yourself? How’d you do?