We ask Mary Carey how she prepared for her 3-day ultra-endurance event in the Ultra 520k in what was recently held in Canada. Mary Carey is a USA Triathlon Certified Coach at In Transition Coaching Services, LLC and a Level 2 Instructor at SwimLabs, Highlands Ranch. Laura Dravenstott is a Level 2 Instructor at SwimLabs, Highlands Ranch.
“It’s one thing to inspire all these little girls by winning a bunch of medals. That’s easy. But it’s another thing entirely to be an inspiration when things aren’t exactly going your way.”
- Missy Franklin, Relentless Spirit: The Unconventional Raising of a Champion
Few people describe winning a bunch of medals, especially gold medals, as Missy did at the 2012 London Olympics, as “easy.” It’s difficult to win a race at any meet, let alone in the most competitive swim meet in the world. Despite the difficulty and the rarity of winning or setting a record, the swimming world and American culture as a whole glorify winning, setting records, making PR’s, sustaining dominance. A definition of success based on fast times and victories can be seductive but also dangerous to a swimmer’s well-being, as Isabelle Robuck explains in “Defining Success Beyond Fast Times and Medals Just Might Save Your Swimming Career (and Life)”.
On the return to “desk -life” from the “deck-life” after a week in Irvine, CA, watching US Swimming Nationals, I reflected on five life-long and valued lessons that swimming has imparted to me.
The first video, with by Olympic Triathlete Susan Williams, discusses “swimming with fish” and other ways that an open water swim may be different than a pool swim. In the Chatfield reservoir, near Denver, we have small fish and birds that are not dangerous, but may startle a swimmer who isn’t used to swimming outdoors. Little fish and diving ducks may appear underneath the athlete, and moss or water plants may brush hands or feet, but there’s nothing to worry about. It’s helpful just to know that the possibility exists for a “wildlife encounter.”
SwimLabs Highlands Ranch is proud to be a sponsor of the inaugural Swim Across America, Denver, open water swim at Chatfield Reservoir. The swim, which offers Balloon Splash, 1/2-mile, 1-mile and 5k distances, will occur the morning of August 26, 2018. The 5k swim (first wave) begins at 9am. SwimLabs founder, Mike Mann, is on the organizing committee, chaired by longtime SwimLabs friend, Nicole Vanderpoel. Proceeds from the swim will benefit Children’s Hospital of Colorado in support of pediatric cancer research.
