Not sure if this belongs in swim-related or non-swim-related, but I'll try here first.
Anyone want to share swim meet dreams with me? Actual dreams about swim meets? I think it would make a funny article and might cull your dreams and write about them for our newsletter.
I'll start off with mine.
I'm swimming the 500 free, SCY. There is no water in the pool. I'm pulling myself along the bottom, which is a blue vinyl I can grab hold of. It's disconcerting, but I keep pulling. I am stymied by the wall, however. How on earth do I do a flip turn without any water? I lose time. I am aware I am losing time. I decide to do open turns.
I finish and win. My time: 5:13. (In real life, my best time is 7:07, I think.)
I ask my coach (from childhood) if this is a common experience, to swim a race and not feel that there is any water in the pool, even though there is. He says for women it is a common experience, but for men it is not.
OK. Any weird-o-la swim dreams from Forumland you'd like to share?
:bed:
* I am able to "breathe" underwater through very relaxed, slow, controlled respiration of water. Sometimes I don't even have to use the lungs, I get oxygen from the water molecules next to my skin.
I had a dream similar to this even before I was a swimmer (not too long ago). Probably linked to an accident I had as a kid, but it involves drowning then aspirating the water with just enough success to survive underwater long enough to... wake up
I have dreams about swim meets... but they don't involve me swimming. They involve me being in the timing booth, and something going wrong electronically.
-Rick
Yeah, and then you pinch yourself to see if it's real and find out that it wasn't a dream, you're already awake and it is really happening.
My swim dreams are usually variations on these themes:
* The pool is almost empty or totally dry; and instead of real swimming I'll get on my stomach and gator across on elbows/knees. Or a leapfrog. Sometimes I will set a new world's record, 9 seconds for a 50m free or similar.
* I have somehow perfected my kick so I can run across the water surface without sinking. More freestyle world records!
* I am able to fly through the air and propel myself using something similar to butterfly or breaststroke arms + dolphin kick. But it's just transient and I can't stay "in the zone" where I can do it for very long. It's not tiring, but it requires exceptional "feel" and finesse.
* I am able to "breathe" underwater through very relaxed, slow, controlled respiration of water. Sometimes I don't even have to use the lungs, I get oxygen from the water molecules next to my skin.
I have dreams about swim meets... but they don't involve me swimming. They involve me being in the timing booth, and something going wrong electronically.
-Rick
I have the same dream as Lump. Middle-aged and unprepared, and swimming at a huge meet with my old USA or college team. And then of course I forget to shave down or don't have my tech suit. Everything in the world goes wrong. Like my performance wasn't going to be bad enough already!
Only once I have I had a dream where I'm still this middle aged dude, but I swim GREAT at the meet, even best times, to my delighted surprise.
I haven't kept track of what's going on in my life at the time, but I'm sure these dreams reflect how we are feeling about our careers, home life, etc. at the time.
