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Craig Anderson, TRYM swimmer Craig swims with TRYM in New Bern, NC, and he faithfully keeps track of our team's progress in the USMS Go the Distance program. He posts our team's results each month and does a great job getting everyone on the team involved in this fun event. Here is what he has to say about the program: |  |
Why Go The Distance? Why NOT Go The Distance? There are so many ways for a swimmer to be
active in USMS, regardless of whether you are young or old, new or experienced,
fast or slow. This is one of the
beauties of USMS – there is something for each swimmer that fits the reasons
they got involved in the first place. As
one of those older guys, somewhere in between slow and fast, and only in my 3rd
year as a swimmer, GTD was really my first involvement. And although I now compete in meets, do postals, and am really proud to be a USMS swimmer, GTD
remains one of my favorite pieces of the whole puzzle.
I believe there are many benefits of
participating in Go The Distance. If you
enjoy setting goals and challenging yourself, this is perfect. The feedback provided from the GTD site each
time you enter some yardage tells you exactly where you are….how many miles
thus far, how many more to the next milestone, how far off the pace you are to
reach your goal, the percent of your goal reached, etc. I hate getting the message “You’d better pick
up the pace” to reach your goal, after missing a few workouts; and so, I push a
little harder to get caught up in order to receive the “Congratulations”
message instead and keep my goal in sight.
Knowing I have a mileage pace to maintain
in order to reach my goal helps motivate me to get up at 4:45AM and get to the
pool on time for practice. And because I
have a rather ambitious mileage goal, it also motivates me to get to the pool
on non-practice days to swim extra. For
those swimmers who are training for a specific meet or postal event, GTD helps
support the need to train and train regularly.
Go The Distance is not designed to be a
competitive event, so it is an ideal way to participate with many other
swimmers without the winning/losing aspect.
I do enjoy comparing my GTD
mileage with that of my teammates, other swimmers in my state, and those in my
age-group from all over the country.
There are swimmers around the country who don’t know me and also do not
know that I am trying to get past them on the mileage list! But that is simply a personal challenge and
nothing else. Whether you are ahead or behind anyone does not mean a thing,
because again, there are many different reasons why we all swim. It still helps ME to get to the pool and keep
swimming.
GTD can be a wonderful team activity as
well. Every swimmer on our team,
including our coach, participates in GTD.
We have a team goal for the year that we try to reach. At the end of each month, emails go to all
swimmers to remind them to update their yardage in their fitness logs for that
month. A member of the team then gets everyone’s new totals off the USMS site
and updates a list showing each person’s mileage, as well as a bar graph that
reflects the team’s month-by-month progress towards our goal. This information is posted on our team
bulletin board in the pool. GTD is
something we do together, every yard counts, and each swimmer makes a
contribution.
For me, and I suspect for many other
swimmers, Go The Distance is a positive, helpful, and enjoyable part of their
total swimming experience. I look
forward to entering my new yardage each day right after I get home from the
pool. I like to see my mileage increase;
my goal get closer; my “ranking” get higher.
I have a great appreciation for those warriors who already have
accumulated several hundred miles, as well as those individuals who may only
add a small piece of a mile when they swim.
Participating in Go The Distance
can only enhance your overall swimming.
So, if someone asks me “Why Go the Distance?”, my quick reply is “Why
NOT Go the Distance?”! Keep Swimming!