Sink or Swim

Today I started the day with the best intentions. I packed my knapsack with my swimming gear, and a plan to get 30 minutes of freestyle in the pool. I checked out the local pool schedule and created a plan. It sounded like a great idea.

When I arrived at the pool after work, I decided to ask the receptionist where the lane swimming section was. Much to my dismay, I somehow picked the only pool of the four choices that didn't offer lane swimming. It said so in the schedule, but my inexperience with the local pools proved otherwise.

I have lived in North Van for two years now. Admittedly, I have done almost all of my swimming in the City of Vancouver pools. Call me a creature of habit, or wanting to take advantage of 50m outdoor pools, but I have only swam in my local pool just a handful of times. It's a pity really, as I literally live 1km apart in either direction of two pools.

I left the pool feeling a little deflated. I will admit of the three disciplines involved in triathlon, swimming is the one I am the least enthusiastic about. I will shuffle, do the death march, stall and find a million excuses to get out of swimming. However, once I get into the pool, it's a whole other attitude, and I get totally into the zone and get solid workouts in.

It's really such a strange phenomenon, as this has been the case throughout my tri training over the years. And it doesn't help matters, that my enthusiasm for training is at its peak for the day right after work, when I would love to work out the stresses of the work day. However, my plans always collide with the kids competitive swimming lessons, so if I am able to secure a lane to swim in, I have these dolphins whipping by me in the next lane, with perfect strokes, doing something crazy like butterfly stroke. Um, intimidated? Perhaps. Overwhelmed? Yeah, maybe.

I came home feeling a little mopey, as I didn't want to drive around to the other pools to see what was available for lane swimming. It was absolutely pouring rain, so motivation for a run was even less. The swim spark was gone. And besides, I knew it would be something like 8:45-10pm for adult swim sessions. I don't know about you, but once I am parked on the couch with Piper the cat on the lap, there simply is no leaving the house for anything. Besides, how do you resist a face like this?


So the lesson that I take from this, is that sometimes there are somethings that you can control and others that you can't. Do the best you can to create a plan, and even a plan B if necessary. And if that doesn't work out, there's always cuddle time with the cat.