My heart to swim competitively burned out when I was seventeen - though I swam another year (my senior year in high school). Then 33 years later I got back in the pool, and like many others, discovered that I had a renewed passion to compete. That seems in some ways strange to me, so I've been thinking about why I compete. I've reached the conclusion that I really wasn't done when I left the pool at eighteen - rather, I just needed a breather. (That was one huge oxygen debt!) I wonder if one day I'll be done competing, or if this passion is a lifelong one, like the passion for fitness and health that my swimming serves regardless of whether or not I compete.
Parents
Former Member
Some people can swim for fitness and don't feel the need to compete. My husband is like that - he has a nice stroke and swims 3/4 mile several times a week, but he has no desire to do intervals or (heavens forbid) compete in swimming (he competes at a high level in duplicate bridge). I, however, find that competition is a wonderful motivator to get out there at 6 AM and to put more effort into it. Fitness is very important to me, and I am sure I am more fit because I compete - but that's just me.
Some people can swim for fitness and don't feel the need to compete. My husband is like that - he has a nice stroke and swims 3/4 mile several times a week, but he has no desire to do intervals or (heavens forbid) compete in swimming (he competes at a high level in duplicate bridge). I, however, find that competition is a wonderful motivator to get out there at 6 AM and to put more effort into it. Fitness is very important to me, and I am sure I am more fit because I compete - but that's just me.
