My new life.
For over 15 years, I have been mountain biking. Training every Sunday morning, rain, wind, snow, nothing stopped me. I did rallies or very long hikes like Orléans-Chambord. Long distances did not scare me, on the contrary, I fed on them.
A herniated disc was the turning point in my new sporting life.
After the doctor's diagnosis, the sport as I understood it was over! My vertebrae would no longer support the shock of my excess. Morally it was the descent into hell. I had to get used to the idea that mountain biking and other sports that were a little too intensive were no longer for me!
During the long, painful days of recovery that I slept and walked, the only thing that worked about well with me was my brain!
I had to see the future with objectivity. Work and sport lazily compromised me. In a moment of clairvoyance, (maybe a moment when I was not feeling sorry for myself) I remembered that when I was young I was swimming in a club. It gave me an idea! During the physiotherapy session that followed, I asked my therapist (putting the shapes in it, which was not my forte, I was a bit ..... hot boiling at the time), if I could go at the pool swim. I didn't want to train but just swim, be able to move in a place where the body is not subject to the effects of weightlessness. I received, with pleasure, its green light but with strict recommendations.
now i fly
French Vichy Championship
It had been 30 years since I had swam. I had just returned there with my children to teach them how to move in the water. Teaching my children to swim seemed normal to me (little personal message). I had quit swimming in a club at 15, to do like my friends, soccer, tennis and any other land sport that involves more madness, more sensations than swimming.
But now I had no choice, it was that or nothing!
After a few sessions, I found myself enjoying it. The lengths were linked, week after week, and I was amazed to find the sensations I had had when I was young. What is true is that I had forgotten the instructions of my physiotherapist (the natural returns at a gallop!), The chronometer was once again a justice of the peace.
French Championship of Chalon sur Saône
French Championship of Millau
I'm not sure I can be precise about what really happened after, but one of the things I remember is that a good year later, a lifeguard who was doing a "freelance" at the pool , approached me and suggested that I sign up and go swimming in a club. She clarified that I had great potential.
After a short period of reflection, I took the plunge. Without saying anything to my physiotherapist, I took a license and started training in the masters section (swimmers over 25, some to continue competing, have a second life and others to learn swimming in spirit club). What a "foot"! To confront other swimmers who have, like me, the same spirit of performance. I saw with pleasure that I was among the best. No news of my herniated disc and, good news calling another, my trainer, who was female, offered me a competition. Wow !!! resume competition at 49, be on the edge of a swimming pool waiting for his series, hear his name, appear in front of the starting block, at the order of the starter, climb on it and ....... oddly , at that moment, you do not wait and you do not see anything! The heart is beating too much in the chest, your eyes are clouded and after a long silence, the starter puts you back in reality by shouting ..... on your marks .... close ... go ...... My first race: a 50-meter breaststroke. I unplug my brain and go for it, I'm ready! It was the start of a great story that took me to five French championships and one world championship in Budapest. I specify, in my age category! Unpretentious, I have never had a title in these different competitions but the satisfaction of having participated. I managed to have multiple regional titles in all disciplines (breaststroke, crawl, backstroke, butterfly and relay).
I left swimming for two years because I wanted to see something else, as you see on this site. The following year I entered two "open water" competitions, that is, swimming in a lake or a pond. It was a disaster from the point of view of results but not serious. I realized that swimming in a large body of water was magical, like a taste of freedom!
I think I started by saying in this little text, herniated disc, descent into hell, finished land sports and as you saw on one of the pages, I started triathlon and continuous training always with more pleasure but retaining the result in thought, always hoping to be the best in my age category.
Long live amateur sport!
Lake Annecy
Memac Lake
Pond of Grand Pont
Pond of the Well
