A Day in the Life: Blythe Murray, Day 4

SEATTLE, Washington, November 17. NEARING the end of Blythe Murray's "A Day in the Life" series, the University of Washington senior blogged about the physical breakdown many swimmers across the country are also encountering right now in the training schedule. She also wrote about the importance of swimming in the job interview process, and what she does in her scant spare time.

Thursday, November 16, Day 4
It always seems that sickness hits our team right at the peak of training. This year is no exception. Lots of the girls are coming down with colds and other ailments. I think we're all starting to get really broken down from all the training. Thanksgiving will be a good break from our rigorous training schedule and a chance for everyone to fill up on turkey to prep for Christmas training.

We swam and lifted weights today. Because of all the sickness Whitney (our coach) gave us a lighter workout than normal, with more long continuous swimming. My favorite part of workout was:
300 free 50 best stroke other than free
250 free 100 IM
200 free 50 best stroke
150 free 100 IM
100 free 50 best stoke
50 free 100 IM

This was all swum with a tube around our ankles and a pull buoy. The set was supposed to be swum continuously, but our pulling abilities vary so much that the lane was constantly bunching up, and there where a lot of collisions as ladies passed each other.

I resigned from an accounting club today. Usually I attend meetings for this club Thursday afternoons. The club is set up for business majors to network and connect with potential employers. The club was actually very useful and set me up with a great internship for this coming summer. I resigned because as I said I already have an internship set up and school work, and swimming are taking up a great deal of my time. The opportunities the club provided me were great though, it helped provide me with work, and I was able to meet a lot of people in my major.

It might sound stupid, but while I was interviewing I found it amazing how much I talked about swimming. Even non-swimming related interviewers seemed interested in the details of my swimming. They wanted to know what events I swam, how much time I spent training and traveling, what the training was like, how much yardage I did a week, some pretty detailed stuff. This got me thinking that nearly every person I have met, whether in an interview, a networking dinner, or even just getting my hair done is impressed with swimming. Nine times out of 10, the person will say that they used to swim too, either in grade school or high school. When you mention you swim in college, people seem to get even more impressed. They may not know how fast you are, have any idea what your times mean or whether or not you even traveled. Just the fact that you are a college athlete participating in a very demanding sport is enough to impress them. I know that I probably would not have gotten my internship offer without my swimming. While swimming does take up a huge amount of time that could have been spent studying or doing important school projects, it also has taught me time management, team work, discipline, respect and how to work hard. Many of these skills, normal students (non-athletes) don't experience. Most employers and people in general find that to be a very appealing quality. Even though I won't be a competitive swimmer for the rest of my life, I will always know that swimming influenced my life in great ways. The things I learned and experienced while swimming will always be a part of me.

I don't have class on Fridays (one of the perks of being a senior in the business school) so I spend Thursdays catching up on school work and relaxing. My favorite show is Grey's Anatomy. My roommates; Rachel, Liya and I watch Grey's together every week on Thursday nights. Rachel is a junior sprint freestyler on the team, and Liya was a former teammate and captain last year. After the show it's off to bed. I have a feeling it's going to be a hard practice day tomorrow. Just another day to get better.

-Goodnight and go Dawgs!
Blythe

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x