I swim for pleasure how about you???

Really? Pleasure never really entered my mind. :canada:

I swim to help keep my weight down (from 200.4 on 12/17 to 178.4 this morning.) I swim to help keep my BP and cholesterol (240 to 160 in 1 year) down . I swim so that I can still kick it...when I'm 80 or 90. I swim to keep my sanity. Nothing like a good endorphin high:banana: But I really like to swim fast:D

For the pure joy of it; for the feeling of a smooth stroke (only in Free, I'm afraid); for trying to see if I can improve my times without hard training (but occasionally swimming hard); for the elation I feel when a fellow swimmer (even better when it's a swimeress) tells me, "Did I just see you do those 25m in 3strokes (cycles, on good days)? Incidentally (or co-incidentally) it also relaxes me; it improves my fitness (after 45+ years of heavy smoking. Quit in 2/2/02), it -along with medication- has controlled my blood pressure; from borderline diabetic I'm now normal (blood sugar-wise). I just love it (specially when the water's not -too- cold.) :cane: :canada::toohurt::canada: Are you swimming for pleasure when you are traning? I swim for relaxation. I swim for fitness. I swim to keep my blood pressure down. I swim to lower my blood sugar. Do I need to split my gut like so many of you are doing???

I think I work hard. (Paul Wolf apparently thinks I'm insane.) As I said earlier, I'm not a fan of the fat burning cycle. But I can't do everything 100% as a sprinter. I do a lot of quality race pace work. But I also do a lot of drilling and technique work. Swimming is different then running that way. It's much more of a technique sport. But I love to race. If I didn't compete in meets, I would swim much less and do other sports.

(Paul Wolf apparently thinks I'm insane.) But I love to race. If I didn't compete in meets, I would swim much less and do other sports. hey, Hey, HEY!!! I was hip deep in lactic acid when I made that comment. You know that I :bow: the water you swim in. I just get tired of looking at your........toes.....yeah, that's it. Paul

i swim to: have fun, swim faster faster, see my swimming friends, and avoid living large

As out of shape as I was when I started, it was all about pain. I couldn't swim 100 yards without fins or stopping on the walls. A year later, it's pain and pleasure all rolled into one! I kind of enjoy the pain of a good sprint set when it feels like you might yack in the gutter after each interval! Could be that I'm just strange, but I bet there are some others who like it too.

I swim for the challenge of learning (and improving) in a new sport--just over two years for me...so much to learn. I like the way I feel when I'm done. Fort: You really don't do a lot of hard workout? I'm in Kristina's camp. Almost all of ever work out is a near max to max effort. Am I doing it wrong?

Swim for pain, rest for pleasure. I'll second that.

Swim for pain, rest for pleasure. Reminds me of a quote Melvin Stewart once said "Pain is your friend. When you have met pain, then you have had a good day." I swim for both pleasure and racing. Right now, in more of the pleasure phase but that is starting to change back to a racing phase...