- Now, swimming is a very challenging sport.
It requires great technique, strength,
endurance, and let's not forget, mental capacity
to be able to swim up an down all day long.
So what we can all agree, it's a very hard sport.
There are some problems only a swimmer will understand.
And here are some of them.
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Swimmers are secretly experts at mental maths.
Imagine having to do a set of
20 lots of 100 of a turnaround time of one minute 40.
Not only will you have to keep an eye on the clock
to see how fast you've done each rep,
you also need to be working out
how long you've got until you need to go for that next rep.
Also, counting the 20 lots of 100,
and not to mention, actually simply doing
the 20 lots of 100.
And then it gets even more complicated
when we start doing longer reps,
changing the turnaround time,
maybe even changing the distances
all within one set.
Swimmers really are mathematical geniuses.
And it's no wonder Archimedes
made his greatest discovery in the bath.
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Tumble turning or flip turning
is a skill that swimmers are rather proud of.
Nothing identifies a seasoned,
or a swimmer specialist, better than
a beautifully executed flip turn
into a lovely dolphin kick off.
But it doesn't always go perfectly or quite to plan.
Perhaps you're on holiday, you're on a training camp,
you're just training in a different pool,
whatever your excuse, nothing's more embarrassing
than going into that flip turn
and having nothing to push off of.
And actually just floating in a rather
embarrassing pencil shape off the wall.
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Swimming caps, I mean, who else
would really want to put a super tight rubber thing
onto their head?
Not only do they look ridiculous,
they also have a habit of slipping off
or breaking just at the wrong moment.
I mean, it's all in the name of speed, I guess,
and perhaps for keeping our heads warm at times,
but there's no getting away from quite how strange you look.
Also, what's with the face we pull,
when we're putting our goggles and our hats on?
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Getting up at 5:00 a.m. or whatever ridiculous hour
to go for a swim is bad enough.
You're going to look tired after whatever,
but those bags under your eyes
are not going to be helped by the big red
goggle marks around your eyes.
Turning up to school or to work
looking like you've had some fun with some face paints
is never a good look.
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If you're swimming fairly infrequently,
then you'll likely have plenty of time to
dry your kit out between sessions.
But if you're swimming most days
or every day or twice a day,
then this is very much a problem,
having wet kit.
You finish the swim, you chuck your kit into your bag,
off you go to work or to school,
and that kit just sits in your bag
tormenting you all day long,
knowing full well, you need to get it out and dry it out.
But perhaps you even forget and your next swim
is in that wet kit.
And who'd have thought your swimming equipment,
you inevitably have to carry too,
can also absorb so much water
and it has a habit of just dribbling down your back
as you walk out of the swimming pool.
Nothing makes you hungry like swimming.
It's no wonder that Michael Phelps
was renowned for having a huge daily calorie intake.
But not only does swimming make you hungry,
it's also really challenging
getting the time you'd be eating right
around swimming.
Eat too soon to a swim and you end up feeling
rather sick and horrible,
but equally don't eat enough before a swim
and you end up running out of energy mid-swim.
And it's not like you can just
stop for a coffee and cake like you might on the bike.
But that being said, there is nothing better than
finishing a swim and tucking into a good breakfast
or just raiding the fridge knowing full well
that you've earned it.
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Now, this is a rather strange one,
but we're used to recognizing our friends from their face,
the clothes they wear, et cetera, et cetera.
But when it comes to our swimming buddies,
it's completely different.
It's amazing how different people can look
when they're fully clothed,
not wearing a swimming hat, or goggles so much so,
you could end up walking straight past someone
who you spend two hours a day with in a swimming pool,
and not even recognize them.
It's one thing having to focus hard on your technique,
it's another thing having to focus on holding a hard pace.
But imagine having to do both of them with foggy goggles,
it's near impossible.
Yeah, struggling to see where you're going,
bumping into the lane rope,
or perhaps even not being able to see the clock
at the ends of the pool,
is enough to make even the saneness of swimmers crack.
And let's not even start on leaking goggles
or perhaps worse, both at once.
Now this phrase is something
you only ever hear a swimmer saying, land training.
And it's actually quite odd when I think about it,
and you may have had people ask you what it is, in the past.
Essentially, it is when a swimmer goes to the gym,
does some cardio, does some running,
on land and not in the water.
But how many of these problems have you faced in your time?
Perhaps you're a seasoned swimmer,
and you've experienced all of them.
Or maybe you've only just got into swimming
and you're not sure about this world
that you've just let yourselves into.
Drop them in the comment section below.
Let us know.
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