MySwimPro Community Member Jennifer Hill is a visual designer who has created an incredible community of swimmers, triathletes and runners through her business, Run Ink. She’s a brand new swimmer who is training with the MySwimPro Get Fit Training Plan to help her reach her goal of swimming 1 mile continuously.
Learn how Jennifer uses social media and MySwimPro to connect with athletes and become more confident in the water.
Meet Jennifer
My name is Jennifer Hill and I live in Boston with my 7 yr old son and husband. I’m a visual designer with a few businesses. At Run Ink we make personalized course map posters for runners and triathletes, and we’ve even done some for a few open water swim races. Besides swimming and design I love the libraries, a great decaf espresso, and being in nature and working with mindfulness.
What is your background in swimming?
Growing up I always (poorly!) played basketball. Junior year in high school I switched to being on the dive team, though secretly I actually wanted to be a swimmer. I was intimidated because I didn’t know the strokes and I didn’t speak up. From there I would just swim for fun but I always had this urge to swim laps, but again was really intimidated by it.
My 7 year old has been taking swim lessons for 4 years, and in the last year has gotten pretty good. Good enough that I couldn’t keep up with him! So I pulled the trigger this spring and got a swim coach for a couple lessons and am now swimming 3-4 times a week with MySwimPro. And LOVING it.
How did you stay active before you found MySwimPro?
Running! But then I got a herniated disc in my back and I stopped doing that. My doctor actually brought up swimming as a way to stay active but not put a lot of pressure on my back.
“Before I started using MySwimPro I was just swimming laps, and I would lose count of how many I did, and honestly I’d get bored easily.”
How did you discover MySwimPro?
I found it when I was looking for a swim workout app and tried it out. I liked it so much I decided to get an Apple Watch this summer.
“It really took the workouts to a whole new level.”
How has MySwimPro helped you become a stronger swimmer?
I really love the personal swim workouts and training videos. I’m a real “form nerd” so I enjoy learning swimming technique with drills like the Fist Drill and the 3 strokes / 12 kicks drills.
“It’s like having a swim coach on your wrist.”
I’ll watch the technique videos before I head to the pool, open the Training Plan on my iPhone and load the next workout in my Training Plan on my Apple Watch. It’s so easy to do a structured workout.
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What are your goals?
Right now I am doing the 6-Week Get Fit Training Plan in MySwimPro to get to swimming a continuous mile. I also want to learn a flip turn and work on my breast stroke form.
What’s your advice for beginner swimmers?
I want to give a shout-out to my son, Charley, for inspiring me to up my swimming game. When I told him how I was nervous he just said:
“Mom, that’s crazy. You just swim!”
I’ve been posting my swimming journey in the stories section of Run Ink’s instagram. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how I started from people who are intimidated just like I was. My advice is to take a handful of private lessons at your local pool first. I think I took about 5 before I felt like I had an idea about what I was doing. I still take them occasionally because I like to have someone give me advice on my form.
Also another great thing about swimming, I don’t worry about what i look like in a bathing suit anymore 😉
What do you love about the triathlon, running & swimming community?
I love how supportive and vulnerable people are in this community.
“It’s so refreshing in this age of “perfectionism on social media” to see people being so vulnerable about tough training, a disappointing race etc… and then to see all the support and encouragement they get back.”
I’m so impressed with the honesty and it’s very inspiring.
Tell us more about Run Ink…
At Run Ink we create modern gifts that commemorate an athlete’s tenacity. Medals, swim caps and bibs are great, but there seemed to be a need for an artful way to celebrate all that training that could be displayed in one’s home (or office as the ultimate humble-brag!).
It actually all started with Map Ink (formerly JHill Design). We were making personalized travel posters and my friend Holly asked me to make a series of maps for marathons that her sister had run. After she took a photo of them and pinned it on Pinterest. It was repinned thousands of times. Because we started getting so many requests for maps from runners I started a whole new company – Run Ink.
From there we branched out to making maps for Triathletes and working directly with marathons like the Chicago Marathon and Charlotte Marathon. We can make a map for any race, not matter how short of long. they can be ordered here.
What do you love about your job?
I love seeing runners posting their maps and medals on Instagram, and reading their race / training story behind their map.
I’m always fascinated at how much athlete’s can endure, how hard they work, why the do it and totally humbled to help them commemorate all of it.
Thank you for sharing your inspiring story, Jennifer!
Looking for custom-tailored swim workouts and training plans? Start your free trial of MySwimPro ELITE COACH. Get 20% off with Jennifer’s code – RUNINK. Click here to get started.
