The Swim

The Swim

            Yesterday, I attempted my first long distance swim without stopping, and made it to 3300meters (just over 2 miles). This was a feat for me, as my longest swim prior to this was 1.25 miles in a race. I actually could have swam longer, but my bladder was about to burst, and seeing as how I was in a community pool, I wasn’t about to pee in it. I had visions of a yellow stream following me, or even worse, a blue chemical reaction as heard of in the childhood horror stories. Lol

But this day was just an ordinary day, swimming in a lap pool that was 50 meters long. (For those who don’t know the difference, a regular lap pool in your standard gym or YMCA is usually 25 meters in length, and a 50 meter pool would be considered Olympic distance).  In a 25m pool, I usually get bored of flipping back and forth so much, and start feeling like a hamster on a wheel, but in the 50m pool, I could really get a rhythm going with my stroke. I assessed the lanes to look for people of similar speed as me, and jumped in to start my swim. Now for people who know me, they know I hate to practice swimming. So the idea of swimming this length without having anyone to force me allowed my brain to play tricks on me, and so the bargaining and rationalizing with myself to stop early started! Oh what a persistent thing the brain can be, I came up with elaborate ideas of how I could stop, and still somehow gain the strength and endurance needed to tackle the Ohio River and the thousands of people who will be swimming in it with me. These thoughts soon faded when I was faced with constantly having to swim around the slower swimmers in my lane, and got caught up in the process of not getting hit head on when overtaking them.

                        For those non swimmers out there, there are rules to lane sharing, which

                                must be understood and agreed upon before entering the pool;

1.      Swim with others that are your speed

2.      ALWAYS ask if you are to swim in a circle or stay to one side

3.      Don’t swim on top of someone, either pass or BACK OFF

So after the slower people left the pool, I was left with nothing but my thoughts, and they

were all good, UNTILL….. that fast guy joined me unannounced!!!!! I was about 1.25 miles into my swim, when I went to touch the wall and head back down the lane. I was minding my own business (which translates into not paying attention), and touched the wall and started to turn around, when all of a sudden, I came face to face (literally less than an inch) with a green Speedo wearing ASS. Yep I said it, I had this guys A#$ in my face, my nose almost hit him as he did his glorious flip turn, and then speed away. WTF!!!!!!!!  Well it looks like I have company now and he’s here to stay with his speedy swimming. So I carried on, but then there he was again, except this time he was right in front of me doing the back stroke. He was too fast to pass, and slowing down was hard since it was screwing up my rhythm, so there I stayed, hot on his heels, feeling like I was in a never ending current against me. It stayed this way for about 400 meters. WTF, who does that much back stroking? Maybe he was annoyed with me being all up in his business, but really, what could I do? Then during all this fun, another 2 guys joined the lane, and it seemed every time they passed by on the opposite side, that their splash was perfectly timed to coinside with my breathing. This caused me to choke and cough a few times in a never ending attempt to clear my lungs. UGH. Finally Mr. Backstroke started to do freestyle, but that wasn’t any better, because he was a lane hog, and I think we smashed hands at least 3 times. But I wasn’t about to go to a different lane.  I chalked it up to training for the IM, and now all I needed was for him to swim up on my back a few times and then kick me in the face, and my reality training would be all set. Humph!  A few times he would give me a look when he was resting and I kept going. I’m sure he was cursing the fact that he was going to have to pass me again, but he joined my group, so I was staying put. And anyways, I was moving pretty fast, I mean after all, I was going faster than the other people in the next few lanes. So I continued on my swim, and I found it humorous that I was finishing my swim without the mental torture that plagued me when I started. Eventually, my bladder got the best of me and I had no choice but to get out and go to the bathroom.

            I have spoke with a few people about my bladder ending swim, and I was surprised to hear, that many of these career swimmers, would have just peed in the pool. WHAT WHAT WHAT? These are adults telling me that they have always just peed during their long workouts because either they weren’t allowed to get out when in a team setting, or that they just had to stay the course on their workout. YUCK! This now brings up a whole new dilemma to swimming. I used to feel secure swimming in the adult portion of the pool, away from all those leaky swimmer diapers and kids who were devious, but now I have to worry about the guy in front of me peeing in my face!!!! This is just too much for me to comprehend! So for anyone who swims with me, you don’t have to worry, I will get out if I have to pee. And you can bet your sweet pitutty that I’ll be adding another question to my swimming etiquette, “Do you pee in the pool”?