By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern
We talk a lot about time in swimming. The time it takes to finish your race. The amount of time you take off the event. The time you spend training.
But what about the off time? The time between intervals or the time spent in off season?
I plan my days around swim practice and my years around the season. The time in between is spent wondering what practice will be like, or finding excuses to take the elevator. While it seems like we never have a free second in our day, the majority of our time is, in fact, spent out of the pool. This is especially true in the off-season.
The more time I spend as an unofficial “NARP” (non-athletic regular person) the more I realize how much time there is in a day that can be occupied by non-swimming activities. For that reason, I’ve mapped out a 100 percent accurate transcript of my off-season schedule.
5:00 a.m. – Lol. What is this time of the day in the off-season?
6:00 a.m. – Ditto.
Let’s just skip to 8:00 a.m. – Depending on the day (also depending on the night of homework before), this is breakfast time. Also, breakfast is just not as satisfying when it starts your day as it is when it comes after a morning workout. Maybe because we’re not as #hangry. Maybe because we can’t stuff ourselves as much…at least without feeling a little guilty. What I’m getting at is that already in the day, this highly scientific study has found that a morning without swimming leads to a sadder start to the day. Swimming is most definitely part of a complete, healthy and nutritious breakfast.
9:00 a.m. – sitting in class actually able to stay awake. Class suddenly seems like a much more friendly place. The teacher isn’t giving me nasty glares! Or maybe those were just imagined in my sleep-deprived state. I also can make it through suddenly without a giant mug of coffee sustaining me. Also, who knew this class was actually interesting? The day’s starting to look up.
10:00 a.m. – Depending on the day I have another class. Or I have work. Or I could lift. Or I could go for a run. But there’s so much open time this afternoon, how could I forget about that? I could do any or all of the above things later…
11:00 a.m. – It’s so nice out (especially now) I’m going to go sit outside and enjoy the weather. I have some stuff I could work on…or I could just lie here…
1:00 p.m. – Well, I dozed through noon. Let me just brush the grass off before heading to class…
Photo Courtesy: Julia Wieczorek
2:00 p.m. – Usually I would start dreading practice right around now…now I dread going to the pool for a whole other reason. Will I make it to 2,000 yards today? Will today be the day I remember how to swim?
3:00 p.m. – The other day a prospie was visiting, so of course she visited the pool. And of course it was the day that I decided to put my suit on…to go tanning. And of course this was the time my coach and said prospie walked by. The worst part? 3 p.m. isn’t even a prime tanning hour.
3:45 p.m. – Well, I made it through 2,500 yards. I’m incorporating the up-and-down, dolphin-diving yards in that count.
4:00 p.m. – This is when I would usually be in the middle of practice. Since I’m not, I have so much free time! I’ll still have more free time later, though. I can keep watching Netflix for a little longer…
5:00 p.m. – Dinner!! Still just as excited for dinner even without practice…
6:00 p.m. – Dinner turned out to be a disappointment. When you’re not starving from practice it’s a lot harder to enjoy…well, tolerate…the food. Guess it’s time to do work now.
7:00 p.m. – I guess it’s not acceptable to go to bed at this hour now since I don’t have to be up super early tomorrow…
12:00 a.m. – WHAT WHEN DID IT GET TO THIS TIME I ONLY HIT THE “PLAY NEXT EPISODE” BUTTON ONE TIME…