Why I love & hate to swim? I will try to explain what happens when I swim and make you understand this strange love and hate relationship between me and water. And please give me some advice if you have some. All the do’s and dont’s are more than welcome
Panic
Panic is the first wordt that comes to my mind by thinking about swimming. But why? With a good mood I always enter the swimmingpool. Happy and ready for a new training. After I jump in the water I dubbel check my glasses, make sure not even one drop of water can go near my eyes. Than I start slowely; breath in air when I turn my head. I turn my head too much (my trainer told me). Than blow the air out under water. So far so good. Again and again. The reason why I turn my head that much is I want to be sure not even one drop of water can come close to my nose and mouth.
But very fast I loose the energie and I cannot controll my way of breathing anymore. Still not strange because I think a lot of people will have that same problem if they just started swimmtrainings. When I am tired that is the moment water enters my mouth and nose… and I panic. And I mean really panic. I need to stop swimming and make sure all the water is gone and I can breath easily. This makes it hard for me to move forward with my training. But I’ll get there! I don’t need to do this by myself. I will subscribe to a swimclass beginning next year.
Imagine; I am standing next to the water a few minutes before the start of a triathlon. Everytime it’s a big struggle for me. I know I will panic… again somewhere in that water. But I can’t just skip that part. I always start in the back of the wave because I know what happens in front. I need the space to try to find my own pace and I just need to keep swimming. Because I am “affraid”of water I still can not swim the bc properly in open water. Haha but like I said; I’ll get there.
Victory
Believe it or not; swimming is my favorite part of the three. haha and why? Because it feels like a real victory for me everytime I finish that part. I cycled more than 240k in one day, I did run a full marathon, so I know I can do that. But swimming… I love the trainings because I see and feel improvement, it just takes longer for me than for other people. Afterwards my muscles are sore like hell, but I love it.
During a race it even feels more like a victory. Long before I finish the swimmingpart I see other people cycling. But I know I can catch up with them on my bike. If I finally feel the ground under my feet and I walk towards my bike and take of my cap and glasses I already feel like a winner. Because I did it again, I survived the swimmingpart. A great feeling!
And like Dory says; “Just keep swimming just keep swimming swimming swimming”
That is what I will do, and I will get better. I have to get better if I want to swim properly during HD Challenge Almere-Amsterdam.
Do you want to follow me during my road to the HD? Instagram; San4Tryathlon
(Rosyta Andriana, Patrick de Looff, Sandra de Looff-Landkroon –> See my serious face)