Tony is a friend of mine and very involved in Train 4 Autism (why I got involved) and a great swimmer. He swam in college, had a layoff and then rediscovered his passion for the sport while winning a slew of gold medals at the Kansas City Corporate Challenge a few years ago.
He has great insight into swimming and in his "spare time" runs triathlons and has a great understanding of swimming and how it relates to triathlon.
So, adding a weekly or bi-weekly post dedicated to Tony's thoughts and ideas was an easy jump.
Here's the first Swim Meister Tony dedicated post (note that some of his perspective is based here in Kansas City but some ideas transcend geography).
- Swimming Through Breast Cancer; This hit close to home for me, as I lost an old friend Jennifer Baus-Finder, one of my high school teammates to breast cancer 4 years ago. Swimming was one thing that helped Jennifer keep her strength in her battle. But I found things I did not expect to see in this article. First of all, the author Liz Pittinger went from her first swimming lesson to practicing with one of the top masters teams in the country (which includes some lady named Dara Torres) in just a few short months. Secondly, she credits encouragement and support from her fellow swimmers as much as swimming itself. There’s another great reason to find a group of people you can swim with on a regular basis. I hope none of you have to face what Jennifer and Liz have, although chances are some of you will, or already have. If so, I promise that you will be thankful to have team mates like Liz does. Also, Liz did compete in her first swim meet, and she did not get DQ’d in the IM like she feared she would.
Liz S Pittinger 2010-12-04 - 39 GOLD 50 Free H2 / L4 - 36.20 - 2nd Place
Liz S Pittinger 2010-12-04 - 39 GOLD 100 IM H1 / L2 - 1:40.79 - 2nd Place
- Spring Nationals; I haven’t entered yet, but I have my non-refundable plane tickets! I still haven’t decided on my 5th and 6th event.
- Duffel Bag vs. Backpack; for what it’s worth, I’m a backpack guy.
- Here’s a link to a great story about a 59 yr old that lost 98 lbs in 1.5 years. http://www.dallasnews.com/health/weight-loss/headlines/20110207-swimming-discipline-helped-dallas-man-lose-nearly-100-pounds-.ece
- Triathlon Swim Clinic this Saturday: See attachment. I can assure you this group has people that know freestyle, and can help your triathlon!
- KC Blazers All-Relay Masters Meet: At this meet they swim 13 different relays (39 if you count men, women, and mixed). The meet organizers make every attempt to get every participant on at least one national Top Ten relay, and they almost always succeed at that. If you are a novice swimmer, they will match you up with some elite swimmers on at least one relay to get you that Top Ten status. Also, last year we saw what would have been a FINA Masters world record, but the relay had one member under 25, which FINA does not recognize as a masters swimmer. They will attempt again this year, should be fun to watch! And Christie is 25 now, so it should count! http://www.movymasters.org/events.html
- Gladstone Masters Annual April Fools Swim: April 2, 7:00 am at Gladstone Community Center. 100x100s on 100 seconds. That’s roughly 6 miles in a little over 2 hrs 45 min. If the interval is too fast for you to repeat 100 yds, you can choose 75s, or 50s, or less. Contact doughayden@sbcglobal.net.
Tony Rezek
Chapter President, Kansas City, MO
(913)424-7601
tonyrezek@train4autism.org
http://train4autism.org
No comments:
Post a Comment