1. Trying to explain what being a swimmer is like to non-athletic people is difficult.
No, it isn’t called “front crawl” or “side stroke.” I also don’t know Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte, so please don’t ask me.
2. Getting up for morning practices.
Hearing your alarm go off at 5:30 is comparable to nails on a chalkboard. All you can think about is how you have to leave you comfy, cozy, warm bed that just wants to love you to just go jump into an ice-cold pool for two hours.
3. Coming back after morning practice.
Doing an I.M. set and a sprint set in the same practice is fair game for a 2-hour nap afterwards. No texts or calls, please.
4. Perpetually wet hair.
Wrapping your hair in a towel for 20 minutes won’t do the trick. Keeping in a bun all day just keeps it wet for longer, just in time for your second practice later on in the day.
5. Unlimited diet.
Our day goes as follows: breakfast 1, breakfast 2, mid-morning snack, pre lunch snack, actual lunch, post practice spoonful of peanut butter, dinner, dessert, snack. Some of these meals may or may not consist of several helpings of peanut butter.
6. Smelling like chlorine all the time.
It doesn’t matter what you do. Your sweat smells like it, your clothes smell like it, and even your bed. It doesn’t go away and it may truly never go away.
7. When lifting makes you sore in places you never thought you could be.
Lifting is always fun- at first. It’s working out without having to get into the pool *silent cheer* except it always leaves you with sore muscles for days in places. You didn’t even know it was possible to be sore there and you don’t know how it happened, but you can’t lift your arms at more than a 45 degree angle.
8. Having test sets really test you.
The first week of practice is no stranger to a set of 40x 100s. It’s also the time where you may or may not lose all feeling in your legs, possibly drop a lung, and contemplate things such as, “Should I have been a diver?”
9. Hearing other students complain about having to get up early for classes.
Please, tell us how hard it is to get up at nine in the morning for your classes. Did you as well stumble around in the dark trying to get your things together because you didn’t want to wake up your roommates?
10.Taper time = Best time of the year.
The main set is 25’s on a minute? Is it Christmas? Is this heaven?
11. Trying on a new tech suit for championships is like a fashion show.
“Beauty knows no pain” is relevant even in swimming. Getting a new tech suit on may mean spending a half hour of standing in the locker room, sweating, crying and even bleeding while your teammates try to help you squeeze into your size 25 without busting the seams, but it also means you’ll look slim, trim, and have the flat abs you’ve always wanted.
12. Saying “No” to going out cause you have swim practice… like all the time.
Most of the time, our days consist of eating, swimming, studying, and sleeping. There is hardly any room for real fun during the week. This means giving up the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games because you have practice only three hours later.
13. You still love the water in every way possible.
The early mornings, the sore muscles, and constant smell of chlorine doesn’t change the fact that you love what you do: being a part time student and a full time mermaid/merman.
