[nfb-talk] swimming (was: Bard(

Steve Jacobson steve.jacobson at visi.com
Thu Jul 15 21:33:09 UTC 2010 

One of our members here in Minnesota has run a number of Twin Cities marathons.  He ran with a sighted partner, I think with a tether but don't remember for certain.  
We also have a couple of members who do some fairly serious biking with sighted persons on tandem bicycles, undertaking some long rides.  As for me, reading your 
note leaves me out of breath.  <smile>

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:34:32 -0500, John G. Heim wrote:

>Yeah, I take it seriously but I am not very good. I won a silver medal in 
>the Badger State Games in 2007 in the 45-49 age group in the men's 800 meter 
>freestyle.  Even with all those caveots, its not as impressive as it sounds. 
>Yeah, I finished second by I was a rather distant second -- about 8 minutes. 
>The winner did it in about 13 minutes and I did about 21 minutes. So he 
>could have swam a race and a half and still beat me. But I did finish about 
>a minute ahead of the third place person. That was the only silver metal 
>I've ever won. But I won lots of bronze metals. The Badger State Games are 
>an olympic-style sports festival in Wisconsin. Every state has something 
>like them.

>I would really like to do a triathlon. Mostly I run for excersize. I 
>probably do better when competing at swimming than at running but that's 
>only because so few people swim. I run a 10K in about  50 minutes. I also 
>used to bike back when I could see. I haven't been on a bike since I went 
>seriously blind. But I continued to bike for about 20 years after I was 
>declared legally blind. I've heard rumors about totally blind bicyclists but 
>have never met one.  So there are 2 things holding me back from doing a 
>triathlon -- having to b tethered while swimming and the fact that I don't 
>really bike any more.

>PS: There is going to be a race with categories for blind runners here in 
>Madison in October. That is if they get enough blind competitors.

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
>To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 2:20 PM
>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] swimming (was: Bard(


>> While I certainly wouldn't claim that my blindness skills couldn't use 
>> improving in any way, I am a reasonably good traveler with a cane but have 
>> never been able to
>> swim straight.  John, I have generally had more success swimming in a 
>> straight line next to a wall, although I am not as serious a "lap" swimmer 
>> as it sounds like you
>> might be.  Swimming next to a wall gives me more opportunities to check my 
>> position including by sound, than does swimming next to a rope.  I know 
>> there are some
>> compettitive blind swimmers out there, though, and while they don't 
>> generally have multiple people in a lane, they have to aboid touching the 
>> rope and swimming
>> straight is necessary for the fastest times.  Maybe someone with that 
>> experience could comment.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Steve Jacobson
>>
>> On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:25:08 -0500, John G. Heim wrote:
>>
>>>If you swim laps and if you have a way to stay on your side of the lane, 
>>>I'd
>>>like to hear about it.  I believe most lap pools have the swimmers keep
>>>right like on a road. You swim up the right side of the lane and on the 
>>>way
>>>back you come down the other side. The best I've been able to do is to 
>>>swim
>>>with my right arm flailing out so that i can touch the lane divider on 
>>>every
>>>stroke.  That doesn't really work very well.
>>
>>>It isn't really very helpful to tell me my skills need to improve. After
>>>all, I already asked for tips on how to improve.
>>
>>>To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 9:14 AM
>>>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] swimming (was: Bard(
>>
>>
>>>>A lane for yourself alone?  Why?  Is it your swimming skills that vastly
>>>>need improvement; or, perhaps your blindness skills?
>>>> Sincerely,
>>>> The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!
>>>>
>>>> E-Mail:
>>>> rforetjr at comcast dot net
>>>> Skype Name:
>>>> barefootedray
>>>>
>>>> On Jul 15, 2010, at 9:04 AM, John G. Heim wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> So you're a swimmer, huh?  Do you ever have to share a lane? If so, how
>>>>> do you do it? I have never managed to do that successfully. Here at the
>>>>> pool at the University of Wisconsin, I call ahead and they set a lane
>>>>> aside for me so I can have it to myself. Its only a minor sacrifice
>>>>> because there are usually several lanes with only one person in them. 
>>>>> So
>>>>> when they reserve a lane for me, it only means one other person has to
>>>>> share a lane.
>>>>>
>>>>> Have you ever done any open water swimming? I would like to enter a
>>>>> triathlon but I don't like swimming tethered to someone else. I just
>>>>> can't get comfortable doing that. It effects my breathing and I just
>>>>> can't swim normally.
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wm. Ritchhart"
>>>>> <william.ritchhart at sbcglobal.net>
>>>>> To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 5:04 PM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Bard
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> I really like the new digital talking book player.  I do wish it was
>>>>>> still
>>>>>> smaller and lighter.  With all my swimming gear, lunch, back-up cane 
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> everything else I have in my gym bag; it is still too heavy.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>>>> On
>>>>>> Behalf Of Steve Johnson
>>>>>> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 8:22 PM
>>>>>> To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Bard
>>>>>>
>>>>>> John, I have not tried one myself yet, so this is good to know. 
>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>> Steve
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>>>> On
>>>>>> Behalf Of John G. Heim
>>>>>> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 3:26 PM
>>>>>> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>>>>>> Subject: [nfb-talk] Bard
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Man, I just got one of those new digital book players from the 
>>>>>> National
>>>>>> Library Service.  You might wonder why a computer nerd like myself 
>>>>>> took
>>>>>> so
>>>>>> long to ask for one of those things. Well, I guess mostly the reason 
>>>>>> is
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> I have 2 tape players that I bought myself plus the one from NLS. So 
>>>>>> now
>>>>>> I
>>>>>> have to use the player from the NLS all of the time.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But holy cow, is this thing nice. I downloaded a book and put it on a
>>>>>> USB
>>>>>> thumb drive and was listening to a book amybe 3 minutes after getting
>>>>>> started. And navigation within the book is very nice.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Your tax dollars at work.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>
>>
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>> 


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