This weekend on the way to a Masters swim meet, I stopped at a rest stop. (At my age, knowing when the next rest stop is coming has become viable information.) As I got back into my truck, I watched a couple who looked to be a few years younger than me climb out of their car. Hunched over a bit and overweight, they hobbled towards the entrance. I then reminded myself why I was headed towards a swimming pool for competition.

I’m 73 years old. I swim several times a week and consider myself to be in good shape. While I’m aware that my physical condition could change for various reasons, I plan my time as if I was still thirty years old. I coach and teach swimming, walking up and down the deck a few hours a day. I also lift weights once a week. But among my Masters peers, I’m no anomaly, In fact, many my age are in better shape than me.

My personal strategy is twofold: I swim to keep my body in tune. Unlike other sports activities, swimming is gentle on the body. There are some risks such as repetitive stress injuries or banging your head, but done well you can keep swimming for years and years while keeping yourself in good physical (and mental!) condition. At my pool, a daily flow of older people take to the water. Some just for movement against the gentle resistance of water, others to get in a few laps. There are some who pump out a few laps of butterfly. Because they can! 

I need goals to keep myself going. I admire the folks who just show up to swim for an hour or so to swim. It’s just too easy for me to get lazy and tell myself, “Naw, I’ll swim tomorrow.” That’s me. I’ve never once come home from a workout and said, “I regret doing that today.” Not once. So I put big swim meets on the calendar and plots times to hit. Sometimes I make them, other times I fall short. But falling short is part of the game. Motivation to keep trying, keep returning to the pool for another hour challenging myself. That’s why I swim.