Wednesday, March 25, 2009

defending the fin

This isn't a confession because I am not ashamed. I occasionally wear fins at Masters practice. There are a few reasons I do it, the first and foremost reason being..... I just feel like it.

Most of my life was spent in chlorine. I have spent many hours, years, decades swimming without fins. Swimming set after set of impossibility. Being punished for taking more than one breathe by another 500 fly.... and then another because Becca did it, then another because Kristen cracked and breathed twice during a 25.......

I declare that I just have the damn right.

Secondly I do it because.... sit down for this..... it makes it harder for me. I know.... to the outwards eye it seems to make it easier. But when you swim with a guy who has been to the 96 Olympic Trials and does a 400 when you do a 300.... and is in your lane....... you put on fins and you can hang onto him.

You try a pair and hang onto Mark and tell me you enjoy the taste of vomit in your mouth then the taste of acid when you swallow it back down.

Good thing I am a recovering bulimic.

Putting on a pair of fins during a set like today made everything hurt worse. But seeing Mark over in the lane next to me is like seeing a fish at the end of a fishing pole. I am going to chase him. The mistake my lane mates made however was stopping to let me pass. If I am going to swim like mark, I need to pass like Mark. And he hates when people stop to let him go by.

Stop stopping! I told them I will pass you, I will figure it out.... do not stop!

Truthfully if you grew up on a swim team chances are you learned to never stop to let someone pass. If someone was passing they had to earn it. They had to strategize and make the pass. A true swimmer knows where each person is in their lane at any given moment. It's an awareness not a memorization.

I have made plenty of passes, and have been passed plenty of times in a lane of 12 people with a third swimming up the middle. There is a certain strategery and if you are swimming with swimmers...... then you know it.

And then one of the girls said to me..... but I want to stop. Oh. I never thought of that one.

The third reason I will throw on a pair of fins is the reaction. Some people get really pissed. They get angry, they might even mock me out. So this third reason.... I am doing it for you.

Have you ever spent a whole set in your head pissed about what someone else was doing? I am challenged by this at times. One of my swim buds sat out of the final 1000 (which we were now pulling) until we were 400 in. Then they jumped on my feet, I did let them pass.... because it was just annoying..... then they stopped before the final 200. If you are going to begin a set late and then ride my feet..... I should not allow you to go by. In that case I should have caused my lane mate to earn it. For a moment it got me pissed. Come on! I thought. But then I stepped back. How will worrying about this person help me at all? Swim your swim Mary!

So...... when I throw on my fins it sometimes amazes me if someone gets pissed about it. Don't swim my swim....... swim your own. This morning when I threw on my "rescue" as some might call it, my specific objective was to catch Mark without disrupting my lane. My mistake was not making it clear that no one should stop for me in the beginning.

Am I still working hard? Hell yes. Am I cheating myself? I don't see how. I am working harder with them than without. Most importantly..... if you are not in my body...... how does that affect you at all?

So see..... I am doing it for you. I am trying to pull you out of your head, out of my swim, and back into your own.

That's what I see a lot of times. Do you read a blog and compare what you are doing to another's? Eeeks. Stop reading them then. I read them because I like to connect, I like to follow my friends, I like to see what's going on around the world.

If you get all hot and bothered because I throw fins on...... stop looking. Put your goggles on and don't wipe the fog. If you are not even in my pool and pissed about it...... go away.

My team is incredible. We know how to work together. We know how to push one another. When I saw Kim faltering this morning I reminded her how much she has done... and it's only Wednesday... and I am fresh from two days off..... plus I am beginning to taper and I woke up with this set in my teeth. I sent her vibes like.... stay on my feet..... and those turned into...... get some rest here sister!

We don't try to take one another down, we take care of each other. Mark knew full well what I was doing. Sometimes he's nice and he doesn't completely shatter me. Maybe even lets me pull ahead before that moment. But he knows that all I am doing is reaching beyond myself.

And to reach beyond him..... I need fins.

Don't always think of swim toys as rescue. Know they are props. Maybe you have spent as much time as I have without using the fun things of swimming to feel you have earned the right.

I retired my butterfly some years ago. I swim one armed fly. That can bug people. But they haven't swam a 2500 straight fly X 3. I have. I have the shoulder span to prove it and the muscle memory to have a flashback about it.

But why worry about what I swim and what I don't swim? Why worry about my use of fins and paddles and even a motorboat? Why not keep looking at the bottom of your own lane.

Because I thought of wearing my Blue Seventy Skinsuit when I saw what the practice was. Wonder how that'd go over!

4 comments:

Fish has Legs said...

Fins are wonderful. I used them when I had a shoulder injury. My coach told me to put them on, it will help alleviate the pain. He was right! Now I use them all the time. Especially during sprint workouts!

Laura said...

Love this Mary. Stay in your own workout - I could have used that advice a few swims ago!

allyson said...

I have been reading your blog for quite some time, first comment, I can relate to a lot of what you write about, was also a former HS and college swimmer. Thanks.

The comment about passing people and knowing where everyone in your lane gave me chills. I closed my eyes and could see my HS practices. Remembering the continous fly sets, UGH!!

Sara said...

This is the best post about swimming ever!! Being a swimmer growing up I totally understand what you are saying about passing!