Apologies if that comes out as a tad arrogant as its most definitely not meant to be- but is a statement of fact.
The things that come easy to us are taken for granted and ultimately we at times discard as if it never meant anything to us- much to our chagrin later in life.
Even now in my out of shape Has-been version of myself I could still swim strongly. Nothing like when I was a youngster but still better than 99% of people who would rock up to a public Adults Lane session on a week night.
But it didn’t happen overnight and again the seeds of success are often sowed in the face of adversity.
As a 5 or 6 year old I developed Bronchialitis and was admitted to hospital and placed on a ventilator and nursed back to health. It left me with a legacy- Asthma! I was on inhalers for the next 15 years+ of various kinds. I generally needed to use them before exercise, before I went out in the cold and when I got a cold.
I had a number of Asthma attacks as a kid which were quite scary as my throat and longs convulsed and in Primary School it cramped my style as a young fella wanting to kick a football about and run about with his mates.
The local GP said to my Mum, “Fortunately you are Swimming Teacher so I suggest you get your son in the pool as much as possible. Swimming is proven to strengthen the lung function and will be key to his recovery from his bronchialitis and curing his asthma.”
Fate deals out even hands- good and bad. Yes I had been given a knock back, but I had the remedy and a head start versus others in the shape of my Mum. So I learned to swim and my Dad took me and my younger Sister every Saturday morning when we had to swim our medicinal 800m continuous before then titting about on the diving boards and swimming to the bottom of the deep end.
It was on one such Saturday morning that an old chap stopped us and pointed out we were both pretty good and would we like to come training with the local swimming club? Stick at it for a bit and you’ll get a shot at racing for the club in the Gala’s as we need kids in your age groups.
Hell, why not? So there was on the Monday night poolside and threw myself into it- it was tough at first but I caught up over the next few years.
I can remember swimming my first continuous mile, doing my first gala, it becoming evident to my school mates that I could do it easier than any of them including the real Sport-Billy’s- and them not liking it!
I remember the sessions working for hours on my strokes perfecting my free-style in particular. Keeping it long, smooth, and throwing in the “Mark Spitz Power-stroke” principle one of my coaches taught me.
I remember the 2 lads who were flyers when I started swimming with them, losing heart when I caught them up and started beating them a few years down the line. I was disappointed that they ditched it then and didn’t stick around.
I remember being head hunted from my local club to swim fro my City Age Group Squad…..the nerves of turning up for my first assessment sessions and then being allotted C-Squad to attend which was basically a load of kids my age.
There followed weeks and months of sessions in the gorgeous old Edwardian Baths that the squad was based in before moving up to B-Squad at a more modern corporation swimming baths under a Drill Sergeant of a Coach called Brenda. She took no $hit off anyone but was great with me and eventually promoted me up to A-Squad which contained some class Swimmers and a world class Coach who had coached an Olympic medalist.
Mrs.J as she will forever be known in my heart was a force of nature. Uplifting, self-made, a true entrepreneur in that she learned to be a great teacher of swimming and her mastery of coaching came from hours of self supported study, investigation and a drive to better herself and her son who ultimately won an Olympic medal in the sport. There is very much a parallel with Peter Coe coaching a young Seb to world records etc. on the roads around Sheffield.
I was never going to be a world beater but she had time for me because I gave her my full attention and was a committed member of the swim squad.
Mrs.J was one of the first to introduce me to pithy inspirational sayings that to this day I am a sucker for. “Aim for the stars,” was a favorite,” As if you miss you’ll probably hit the Moon!”
So 3 sessions per week soon became 5 sessions per week – 3 early mornings and 2 evenings. Distances per session ranged between 5000m and 7000m covering all strokes albeit Free-Style and Backstroke were my strengths.
I loved the training, I loved pushing myself. I actually hated competing at the swimming Galas mainly because it quite often entailed hanging around all day for your heat. Mentally you would be exhausted having raced your raced a dozen times plus in your head and your thirst for battle quite often had waned come the time to race.
As a result I came away from big race meets disappointed and disenfranchised more often than not. The down side of the meets was also having to immerse myself in a catty, cliquey culture that Age-Group sports can often create. I would often take myself away from the crowd in the corner of the pool our team had set up base on and sit by myself to read and listen to some music on my Walkman(Note to anyone under 30- a prehistoric device akin to an iPOD with only one “tape” in it that you played music from).
Eventually in training I gravitated to a lane with a number of Masters(40+) swimmers in who actually did Open Water swimming throughout the summer. Back then this was seriously “niche” and they seemed like lunatics. But they were more balanced, mature and took joy in their training and eschewed the childish Bull$h1t that was entered into elsewhere. I took a lot from training in their group. One of their number had swum the English Channel a number of times including a Double Crossing! He had attempted the St.Georges Channel between Ireland and Scotland only to be undone by Jellyfish stings!
But I walked away from it. Why? I’d plateau’d and I grew tired of the cliques and negativity alongside starting to play Rugby and study for my A-levels. Something had to give so I walked. My last gala was a sprint meet in the summer holidays and after 3 weeks of no training went to the meet got 4 PB’s and made a final. What a way to sign off. I was 17 years old.
I probably got back to doing a bit again 20 years later at a local pool in the Winter to try and stay active and keep the weight off and was doing that sporadically each year till I sent the fateful email to the Coach of the local Tri club.
I got the message back- come down, give it go, sounds like you’ll be better than most and you’ll enjoy the structured sessions.
So with butterflies in my stomach I headed to the mid-week evening session to see what I had in me.
There was a good turn out and I was made very welcome. Its a small world and recognised a few familiar faces through my kids schooling and it calmed my nerves straight away.
Which lane Coach? Lane 4- fast lane- lets see what you got?
After the warm up and some drills it was to be 20 x 100 metres off 2mins….gulp. “Do you want to lead?” someone asked. Sure I’ll have a go but I might die the death. I held on throughout the set despite losing my stroke a bit and being right at my threshold times starting at 1.14 and dropping rapidly throughout to around 1.30 in the last 10 reps.
I got into my cubicle after the session and almost collapsed. A shock to the system for sure but a welcome one indeed. But the sunlight in the pool, the movement, the social interaction, the act of swimming fast- rediscovering something I was good at had me buzzing.
When is the next session? Early morning later in the week. Couldn’t get there due to family commitments but the hunger was back.
Over the next few months and weeks I found my training group to be a great bunch to be around. Ego-less, enthusiastic, sociable, driven even, but very welcoming- having been around Sport for 30 years I had not come across a nicer collective of folk to spend time with each week.
I got ribbed because I did tumble turns and no one else could- not only was it an unfair advantage of sorts but I also caused a tidal wave which would stop the clock on the iPad that was used on our lane! It was a nice ice breaker and lapped up the banter.
I progressed but I won’t lie and say it came easy. As the distance sessions were built up there were some real “grin and bear it” sessions but I started to lose some timber and grow in confidence. It began to carry into my Golf as well as the additional core stability if was giving me helped my game no end.
After a year of training with the group someone asked me “Are you going do a Tri-athlon at some point?”
Until this point I hadn’t even considered it for all my preconceptions and insecurities but a few things came to me. Firstly I had found a group of amazingly positive people to surround myself with and I couldn’t get enough of it. To be fully embraced by the tribe I needed to pass the test of brotherhood and put my foot on the start line of a race.
Secondly I asked myself “Why the reticence?”
There shouldn’t be any reason. I will be a rank beginner- so what if I am a lump who isn’t Mo Farah when it comes to running or Brad WIggins on a bike. I am not afraid of the first thing that most people struggle with- the Swim!
So I entered 2 events in the space of an evening- a local Age Group Sprint Tri-athlon and a major Age Group Olympic Distance event which were 6 months and 8 months away respectively and submitted to the challenge and began to explore the sport, the science, the culture, the history, the thinking and the people of Tri-athlon.
I had new focus, new energy, new enthusiasm and I was running on the positive energy of the gang that surrounded me week in/ week out.
The lesson to be learned is that things we are good at and have a natural aptitude for give more to us than the activity itself. They give you confidence, they release stress, they make you happy. Life put circumstances in my way that meant I had to stop being a competitive swimmer, but in hindsight I wish I had devoted time in my Rugby career to Swim train to assist my fitness but also contribute to a better state of mind generally throughout that period.
Swimming and the water is in essence my happy place and well-being medication of choice. It only took twenty odd years to re-discover it, appreciate it and explore new boundaries within it.
To quote a favorite line from the book “Dune” …..the Sleeper had awoken!
The Secret Triathlete 