If you’re like me, you may not have realized (but will be happy to learn!) that lifeguards have to recertify every two years. Their recertification tests require them to meet specific standards in a variety of water safety and rescue tasks so they are capable and ready to respond as needed when they are on duty.
Back in June, Mallory Brennan recertified for one of their Lifeguarding courses and in the process had a personal victory that we wanted to celebrate here on the blog.
I interviewed Mallory via Zoom a few weeks ago but it took me a while to get to it. Sorry for the delay, Mallory!
Mallory’s comments are in italics and I’ve added some context and information in ordinary text.
“So this recertification was for National Lifeguard Waterfront – recertifying basically amounts to kind of demonstrating that you can still do the skills, you still meet the physical standards, and you still have the judgment for making decisions.”
There are four different Lifeguard courses, each specializing in different areas/types of water, and Mallory is certified in three of them, something that comes in handy in their work in summer camps and before/after school programs.
“So the one that most people take is National Lifeguard or NL Pool, but the other ones are Waterfront, Waterpark, and Surf. I have three out of the four, I do not have surf, mainly because I’m in Ontario and we do not have surf here.
So I’ve taken, and have, current certifications in the other three.”
Mallory has been certified as a lifeguard in Canada for the past fifteen years but has always been frustrated by one element of the recertification process – the endurance swim.
“I’ve never been a fast swimmer even as a teenager, I was 16/17 years old during the first time. My fastest time ever as a teenager was like 9:15.
I also teach these courses, and I have seen some 16 year olds, like some super fit, like swim team, 16 year olds, do it in six or seven minutes.
I’ve never been one of those people and I never will be.”
The endurance swim can be a good measure of overall physical fitness but some people feel that it is not particularly applicable to someone’s actual abilities as a lifeguard.
“So, this is one of the things that gets debated because realistically, in most lifeguarding situations, you’re not going to have to swim nearly as far as the endurance swim.
So it’s, it’s a measure of physical fitness, basically – Are you physically fit enough to do a 400 meter swim. Your standard pool is 25 meters, so it’s 16 lengths or eight laps, depending on how you count it. Some people count there and back as one, some people count that as two.
And the time limit for that is 10 minutes.
For the past two years, I’ve consistently kind of been right around the 9:45 to 10 minute mark, kind of sitting on it, which meets the standard but barely. You know, there was a period of one year where I didn’t swim at all and I came back at like 10:30.”
This time, though, Mallory was determined to do the endurance test with more ease.
“The endurance was one part of, in this case, a 25 hour course. And I wanted to be able to do it with much faster recovery time. If you’re doing it as part of your one hour exercise program that’s all well and good. but if you’re doing it and then continuing to demonstrate skills and do rescues and stuff over the course of, you know, two days, you have to have a faster recovery time. I just wanted to make it easier.“
So, they decided to do some extra training, practicing the 400 meter swim and the more strength-based aspects of the test, on a regular basis.
“It was mostly just swimming to be honest, Getting in and doing the 400 meter regularly. I’ve done some weight training in the pool – we have the fun 20 pound bricks that we use for training.
I love the brick, it’s one of my favorites but most people hate it.
I am always better at the strength-based things – the brick, treading water, carrying people, all of that stuff. I’m stronger in that field than I am at the sprints, the endurance swims – the cardio type things.”
These strengths serve Mallory well in practical life-guarding situations, particularly at the pool.
“In a pool setting, you’re never gonna have to swim for 100 meters.
No, we’re gonna run around the pool and even in a 50 meter pool, the most you would have to swim would be like 10 or 15 meters to get someone. So, you know, from a practical standpoint, I would argue that the kind of strength-based stuff is more useful.”
The cardio aspects are more useful at a waterfront but Mallory still feels the 400 meter length isn’t even particularly applicable there.
“When you get to like waterfront settings, then there’s more of a use for the endurance, because you might be going 50 or 75 or 100 meters from shore. So we’re coming close to that.
But even then you’re not doing a full 400 meters, because most people can’t see 200 meters from shore to see that someone’s in trouble. And if you’re going that far, you’re taking a boat.”
Over the course of their extra training, Mallory’s times for the 400m endurance reached a consistent level – around 9m 30s or 9m 45s for the swim with a good recovery time afterwards – and they felt confident in their skills for the recertification.
She, along with two of her friends, both of whom have been lifeguarding for the past few years, took their Waterfront recertification in some less-than-ideal June weather.
“It was a two and a half day course in very cold water. That’s the other challenge with this course – we were in the lake for 10 hours on both Saturday and Sunday, the outside temperature was about 15 or 16 degrees, the water temperature was about 18 degrees, and it was raining.“
She knew that her training would pay off and she was definitely prepared for the endurance swim but, in the moment, she decided to add some extra challenge by pushing herself to keep up with one of her friends.
“Usually he beats me by about one length, so he finishes his 16th right as I’m kind of starting my 16th. That means he’s ahead by up to 25 or 30 meters.
This time, I was stubborn and made it my goal not to let him get ahead of me. I finished just about two seconds behind him at 9 minutes and 17 seconds.”
I just love the fact that Mallory’s hard work paid off by increasing their comfort with the endurance test in the recertification process and that her stubbornness helped her shave some time off her results.
Congratulations on your hard work and on your recertification, Mallory!
*****
Personally, I love that despite finding the endurance test frustrating, Mallory didn’t let it become a sticking point for their recertification and, in fact, turned it into inspiration for working harder in a way that was useful for them as a whole.
Lots of us (myself included!) might just endure the endurance test as a necessary evil in an otherwise good experience and just grit our teeth to get through it.
Mallory’s choice to view the test in the context of the whole weekend and train so the endurance part didn’t make everything else harder, is admirable and has inspired me to consider where some extra training might serve the same purpose for me.
The fact that they also choose to use their stubbornness to keep up with their friend is a relatable kind of fun for me and makes me wonder where I can put my own stubbornness to better use in my fitness plans.
