Why I hate and love to swim

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!