[nfb-talk] swimming (was: Bard(

Thu Jul 15 20:34:32 UTC 2010

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.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>>>
>>>
>
>
>>_______________________________________________
>>nfb-talk mailing list
>>nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfb-talk mailing list
> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>
> 