My Rocky Relationship with the Pool

In addition to training for the Nike Women's Half Marathon, I have been putting in some base mileage for this summer's triathlon season. I've been swimming and doing trainer rides about twice a week for over a month now. Originally I didn't like the idea of jumping beyond my upcoming half. I wanted to only run with a little yoga and core work thrown in there. I quickly came to my senses and realized that all I was doing was a little cross training. I still was nervous about starting swimming again so early in the year.

I came from a strong swimming background and left the sport in a pretty ugly way. I have since struggled to get in more than a few swims each month even during the triathlon season. In fact, I didn't swim at all between my first and second triathlons which were almost two months apart. The last time I had been in the pool was September and I was perfectly fine with not returning until necessary.

Much to my surprise I have actually been loving swimming lately. The first week or two were pretty brutal. I felt really out of shape and pretty defeated. But soon enough my body remembered what to do and got to work. My times are nothing impressive. In fact, I'm not even sure what they are. For the most part I've been focusing on my technique during all of my workouts as well as getting stronger.

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with competitively swimming for 10 years or not but between running, biking, and swimming I have the least amount of trouble getting out of bed when I'm headed to the pool. Lately swimming has been almost like meditation for me. Maybe it's because it's so early and my mind hasn't woken up yet but I kind of zone out in the pool. It's my time to not worry about my upcoming exams and unwritten papers.

I'm sure it won't stay like this but for now I'm going to soak it in. I must say, it's quite nice to be on good terms with the pool and swimming again. Non-swimmers might not understand this but the pool feels like home to me. It's where I'm the most comfortable despite all of my struggles with the sport and as much as I have fallen in love with running swimming will always be my number one.