Prose Poem: A Swimmer's Nightmare

Winter training is every swimmer’s nightmare.
It takes place during Winter break.

That’s supposed to be the time when everyone looks forward to the holidays, no school, and having fun with their friends and family. 

Everyone except for me and my team.

While everyone else was enjoying their time off, I was stuck at the pool, swimming my butt off.

Winter break turned into 2 long weeks of hell. 

It was a swimmer's nightmare.

Eat. Sleep. Swim. That was the daily routine for 2 very long weeks. 

I never wanted to do anything because I was always sore and tired after practice. That was not how I wanted to spend my break. I had no life.

Everytime friends would ask to hang out, I would answer with what is known as the "swimmer answer", I can't I have practice. That was the one thing every single swimmer hated saying.

It was a swimmer's nightmare.

There were 20 practices total, each 2-4 hours long, that added up to over 40 hours of swimming. I dreaded every single practice I went to. We would never know what our workouts would be like.

It was a swimmer's nightmare.

The coaches would write our workout on the white board and tell us what to do. We had turned into swimming robot. It was like everyone was programmed to do the same thing every day. That was our job. That was all everyone did, swim.

Tuesdays and Thursdays were my least favorite day of the week. Why you ask? Well, let me just tell you, those were the worst practices we could go to. Every time I went to one of the practices it was like experiencing death.

It was a swimmer's nightmare.

I have never felt so much pain in my life, until Tuesdays and Thursdays came.

Each day came a new surprise. Things were getting thrown at us from left and right.

800 for time. 6x100’s fast average. 1 mile for time, get as close to season best as you can.

When those words fly out of a coach’s mouth, the first thing that comes into mind, pain and suffering.

So much fatigue.

So much pain.

So much Suffering.

It was a swimmer's nightmare.

By the end of break, I hated swimming. I never wanted to swim ever again, but ended up swimming the next day.

As much as it tortures me, I love this sport, it is my passion. I know it will pay off in the long run, for example the training will help me get into a college that I want to go to.

Winter training.

I dreaded it so much. It's my least favorite time of the year.

It is the time when every swimmer hates swimming.