Swimming

I swam from May until September this year sometimes as much as three times a week. I dedicated myself to becoming a better open water swimmer, but I got so much more in return. When I started the season some time in May, the water was cold, and the beach was dirty with the flotsam and jetsam of a New England winter. There were blackened, dead leaves that created a barrier between me and the water. Great Blue Herons lined the shoreline fishing for herring that fluttered in the water laying and fertilizing eggs. I thought they all came just to see me, fish too. I had been looking forward to swimming in the lake since the winter, because I knew deep down that I was ready to make something good happen in the water. I might never be fast, but I knew I could be proficient and gain something I didn’t know I had. When I started open water swimming I was not prepared mentally or physically. My strengths on the ground were not those I needed for the water. Quick reactions, coordination, vision, balance, strength were not the skills I needed for this endeavor. I needed to make myself long and lean, patient, deliberate, relaxed, and a little Zen. There was no opponent except for my own brain. I needed to engender my own belief that I could work with the water instead of against it, use resistance to get where I needed to go. The water was cold, and I spent a good amount of time breathing heavily, stopping often to catch my breath. Add to this that I was carrying more weight than normal, and I was an inefficient disaster. I thought to myself, form, breathe, back to form , then more breath, stop, rest, look around, am I too cold…