Coach Marty

I’m not a sprinter.  I coach for distance swims. 

I’m 74 years old and swim about 2500 metres three times a week.

I swam in High School.  We didn’t have a indoor pool in Ajax, Ontario.  A man named Cliff Gilbride came out to our summer pool scouting for kids.  He was building a swim team/club in Oshawa.  

Four kids in our family.  We all joined.  I was fifteen when I started serious swimming with the club.
So, I was a bit of a late starter.  I think my best time for 100 yards was 50.1 seconds.  Crazy.

Within a couple of years, our team, The Oshawa Aquatic Club, was third best in Ontario.

After High School, I didn’t swim for several years.  I thought I was in shape still, until I got ‘tested’ at a local gym.  Shortly thereafter I was living in Niagara Falls.  I got a membership at Brock University and started swimming.

I somehow got hold of a copy of James Counsilman’s ‘The Science  of Swimming’.  Likely from the library.
At the time I also read a couple of other swimming books.  Since that time,
I've read another dozen in part or whole.  Some 'drill' books for example, I use as reference.  

To start getting back in shape, I began with the ‘fartlek’ method as recommended in his book.

Since that time, I think I was about 31 years old then, I have more or less kept swimming and my general fitness up. 

I have had numerous different jobs.  Some lent themselves more to swimming than others.
I had a sales job for a while in Toronto.  I knew pretty much every pool in Toronto and the swim times.
Lunch would be half a mile as often as I could. 

If I couldn’t swim, I’d bike or hike.

Last few years, being mostly retired and with some other factors I am swimming quite regularly. 

I have half a dozen books that I’ve read on the subject. 

As I mentioned I coach for distance swims, not sprinting.  There is a difference. 

I’m all about efficiency.  A lot of swimmers that I help are triathletes.
They know they are not going to win the race in the water.
But the trick is to not be last and not be completely exhausted by the end of the swim. 

If you have questions ask away.  And please take a look at some of my blog posts and videos. 

You can find me swimming at the McBain Community Centre in Niagara Falls, Canada.