Time to build more pools...

More evidence that football is not only a huge waste of money but of lives too...

See the full article by Malcom Gladwell of The New Yorker, OFFENSIVE PLAY, How different are dogfighting and football?

from the article...
McKee got up and walked across the corridor, back to her office. “There’s one last thing,” she said. She pulled out a large photographic blowup of a brain-tissue sample. “This is a kid. I’m not allowed to talk about how he died. He was a good student. This is his brain. He’s eighteen years old. He played football. He’d been playing football for a couple of years.” She pointed to a series of dark spots on the image, where the stain had marked the presence of something abnormal. “He’s got all this tau. This is frontal and this is insular. Very close to insular. Those same vulnerable regions.” This was a teen-ager, and already his brain showed the kind of decay that is usually associated with old age. “This is completely inappropriate,” she said. “You don’t see tau like this in an eighteen-year-old. You don’t see tau like this in a fifty-year-old.”

Warmer days

Speaking of warmer days... here is a picture just released of our Lighthouse Masters group on Peaks Island before the 28th Annual Peaks to Portland race this summer. We were 20 strong. Our finishers ranged from 31st place to 204th place, age 32 to age 62 with four age group winners. Way to go team!

USMS response to FINA speedsuit ruling

I have to agree with others that this letter was just baffling. Why would I want to buy a technical suit now, when I can only use it ostensibly for a few more months? Are sponsors breathing down the neck of USMS?


U.S. Masters Swimming Statement on Swimsuits
10/11/09
Contact: Rules Committee Chair, Kathy Casey, rules@usms.org

Dear Swimmer ,

The FINA Masters Committee has recommended that the FINA Bureau, meeting in mid-January, approve its recommendation that Masters swimmers be governed by the same swimsuit rules as the elite pool swimmers. If the Bureau approves the committee's recommendation, it is anticipated it would go into effect after the Bureau meeting. If this recommendation becomes policy with the FINA Bureau, USMS will implement it for our sanctioned swim meets.

For the time being and until the FINA Bureau issues its policy for Masters, the June 1, 2009 ruling that allowed technical suits in USMS swim meets is still in effect. If you choose to compete in a USA Swimming sanctioned meet, you must follow USA Swimming rules.

If you would like more information on purchasing technical suits, you may contact your swimsuit dealer or any of the following:

blueseventy; blueseventy.com
FINIS; finisinc.com
Speedo; speedo.com
TYR; tyr.com

Example ... Long term goals

Lois Kivi Nochman shows us how it is done at age 85-89 age group.

Will there be any records left to break by the time I get there?

Long term goals

What kind of goals are worthy?

I've been thinking about this lately.

My goals in the pool seem so much more urgent than those for open water. I mean, I just go out there and swim in open water races. Those goals are so much more dependent on the forces...weather, waves, temperature, number of swimmers. But in the pool. Oh yeah. If I set a goal and don't make it, I feel terrible. Even if I don't swim my fastest time. There is no cheating the clock.

So with all this in mind I am resetting my long term goals. I know the pool goals will still vex me. I'll just have to keep swimming different events and mixing it up.

My long term goal is to be doing what I do now at age 60....65... 70... older. I have role models. Take Roxy. She is 59 and has done Alcatraz three times. Wants to do it again. Yowza.

I am always inspired by the stories of older Masters swimmers doing amazing things. Just that they are still out there swimming. I hope I am.

More motivation to comeback...

Dara Torres says knee surgery, which could take her out of the pool for up to a year and a half, may give her more motivation to make a comeback for the 2012 London Olympics. Still my idol...