Anyone love the swim?? (Page 2)

I love the water.  I enjoy the bike.  I hate the run.

That's my triathlon in a nutshell. 

Swimming is my strongest leg, so I guess that's reason enough to love it.

But as far as workouts go, I prefer a nice bike ride over swimming repeat 100's or 200's.

YES!!
I love the swim. I started swimming competitively at an early age; it was the only "sport" in my life that I've ever participated in.

I am smooth and strong in the water (not the fastest, don't let me give you that impression), and I'm more comfortable pushing myslef on the swim  than I am on the bike or on the run - probably because it doesn't hurt.

Something I tell myself during the swim is to use my arms as much as I can, be as strong as I can during the swim because I won't have to use them for the rest of the race.

I love gliding through the water. I love the moments just before the horn goes off, where every person is standing on the beach or in the water, poised to race, finger on their Timex...

When people ask me to teach them how to swim better, I honestly don't know what to tell them becuase it comes so natural to me. I can't explain it. And I am a Pisces...

 

Love the water, and love the swim.   Have learned to love the OWS.   Have learned to hate training in a 25 yard pool.  Taking more swim lessons over the winter, and looking forward to it.

I just love the water. I've been in pools since I was around 1, swim teams for 17 years, about the only thing I haven't done in the water is white water kayaking and scuba diving. I just feel comfortable in the water, and I love the environment. (Even though I hate practice, lol!)

John

I love the peace and quiet when my head is in the water. That muffled splashing, hearing myself breathe and my heart beating. Add the OWS challenge of staying on course (imagine doing the run in a wide open field and having to stay on line) and knowing that a slight meander won't kill me...awesome. Zenlike.

love the water. love the swim.  love to OWS (and wished i had known about OWS racing as a kid)

i spent more time at a pool growing up then i probably did in my own home and all by choice.  swimming was the first place that i found people who were like me (never really fit into the "school" environment).  i'm a quiet person by nature (well until you really get to know me), so it was great to find a place where i was accepted that i didn't have to talk all the time to fit in.  the pool, the water became my home and i grew up around the sport.  swimming holds wonderful (and not so wonderful) memories for me.  but its the great ones that i hold onto and its why i continue to love to swim.

in the water, im alone in my own head, no phone calls, no emails....its just nice and quiet (even with 100 other people splashing around me)

I am not sure why I like swimming so much.  I have always done it.  I grew up on Lake Erie, I was on the swim team growing up, I am a scuba diver and therefore just enjoy it.  My dive partners complain b/c I zip along in the water too fast looking at things.  They say it's hard to keep up with me.  My family says I was born in the water.

I love getting in the water and floating around.  I am not sure why I like it, but I have found, the more I do laps, the more bored I get.  I like being outside in the OWS mostly.  To me, it's just relaxing!

Love swimming, love the water. Growing up, every weekend my family would go to my Grandparents lake house.  Been on swim teams all through HS and college. Now I live in a lake community.  Best part of my day is every night going home I cross the dam, look across the lake, and think to myself "I could totally swim that!" Love the water.

Love the Swim, Love the feeling pushing off the walls in the pool and just gliding, love the OWS makes me feel like a kid again, playing in the lakes during summer vacation.  I lived at the pool and lakes growing up.  Love the swim leg of a tri because I get to pretend I am playing water polo and everyone in the water is going after the ball.  Love the murkey water, can't see a thing you can just be in your own zone (and hope the gators and snakes aren't hungry).  Love the crystal clear water where you can see the bottom of the ocean and see the fish swimming around.  Love SCUBA diving, being down there with the fish, sharks, rays, eels, lobsters , ship wrecks.  Love diving into the water, jumping off clifs, it is a giant playground and you dont have to worry about getting hot, sweaty, dusty...  It was always the sport of choice during the hot summer days racing your friends, diving for pennies, jumping and doing flips off the diving board (I didn't understand why a kid would choose baseball over swimming, they just looked hot and bored).

Sorry runners, running just hurts too much.

I love the swim. I'm not super speedy but I tend to come out between MOP and FOP. I would love to do a tri with a 2 mile swim 30 mile bike and 6 mile run to even things out.

I second the above in all aspects!

Same here.  I'm not fast at anything but I'm relaxed in the water and on the bike.  On the run.. I am blown away at how I have improved in terms of being able to run further than I thought possible but it's not pretty.  lol

Amen, brother.

I read the multitudes of threads on this board about being freaked out by the swim, particularly OWS.  That is simply alien to me.  Definitely enjoy the swim more than the other two (the bike being right behind - nothing like the feeling of speed).  Amonth ago I was swimming a mile or so in the gulf in really choppy, windy conditions.  I was crawling along due to the chop/wind and the waves were of a height that I would literally get thrown into the air between waves. Most fun I've had swimming in a long, long time.

I too love the swim. When I was in high school I had records for the distance swims because no one else would do it.
I have no fear of water.
I'm likely to be in the top 50% in the swim, bottom 1/3 on the bike and bottom 10% on the run.

I love the swim! Mostly, it is because I love swimming. Partly, it is the start of the race and that expectation that awaits. And, a lot of it is also because I'm a big girl and the swim part is the part where I excel and, being a big girl, the other parts make me hot - the cool water as I'm pushing through feels great!

I love to swim. Always have. Always will.

Been a water rat since I could walk. Swim, boat, ski (water), wakeboard, etc. Couldn't be happier. Worked at a scout camp teaching swimming, rowing, sailing, canoeing, and lifesaving. Again, couldn't be happier.

Boss man at said camp MADE us swim 1/2mi each morning to prove our worth and then 1mi at least once a week.

From there, it's been competition since.

I'm at home in the water, have a second gear in the water, and can recover quite quickly in the water.

Oh, and it's hard to get injured in the water!

I like peeing in a lake with total strangers...

When I swim I 1) don't worry about getting hit by cars 2) don't have the familiar aches in my legs I get when I run and 3) feel as close to flying as I might ever get. Oh, and 4) I see faster bikers and runners every time I go outside, but at my pool, I get a little bit of satisfaction out of seeing how many other swimmers I can pass.

Edited by gettingthere 2009-09-10 5:21 PM

LOVE THE SWIM!!! Always knew I loved swimming, just didn't know how much I would love swimming in open water! No flip turns! yea! It makes me feel very powerfull and free.

I love the swim. Its like flying. I love pulling the water and feeling my body glide through the water.

Funny cause I have been mostly a runner and I find it the hardest of all 3 events. I started Swimming due to running injuries. So I cross trained in the water and on the bike. I enjoy the swim first...bike 2nd and run last.

I really like getting back in the water! I began swimming when I was 3.  Then I got away from it in high school.  I have bad eyes (20/200) so never really enjoyed it since.

I've been a runner since '77.  Never even thought about going back in the pool - much less own a bike again.  After running the 50 states twice I set my goals on doing an Ironman some day.

So last summer ('08) I signed up for Augusta Ironman70.3 so I knew I needed to get back in the water.  I found out about Speedo Optical (with magnification).  Got a pair and can't swim enough!  I also got hooked on the Total Immersion technique.  Highly recommend it.

I can't wait to try out the wetsuit!

Nope, for me it is frantic breathing, flailing arms and fatigue. It sounds so loud under water with the blowing out. I don't love it, but i am learning to like it.