The 5 Phases to Becoming a Distance Swimmer

Photo Courtesy: Picasa

The 5 Phases to Becoming a Distance Swimmer

By Kelly Lennon (From the Swimming World Archive)

Potentially the worst part of being a distance swimmer, besides the unbelievable amount of yardage that comes with it, is finding out you’re a distance swimmer. It’s very similar to going through the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

1. Denial

“No.”

My firm response every time my high school coach told me “You’re going to be a distance swimmer,” and again when my club coach told me “Your first YMCA Nationals cut is going to be in the 500.”

“No.”

“Your sister was a distance swimmer, you’re good at the 500, you’re going to be a distance swimmer.”

I was in complete and utter shock. How could this be happening to me? What had I done to deserve this injustice? These men were clearly just confused. Until this point in my career, I’d considered the 500 to be survival instincts and nothing else. I don’t even think I had ever swum a 1500 at this point. Who were they kidding?

2. Anger

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

No, seriously. What had I possibly done in my short life to make the karmic swim gods so angry that this was the path I was being placed on? My coaches were wrong. I spent more time in practices arguing with my coaches that I wasn’t a distance swimmer than trying to work on other things to actually prove I wasn’t.

3. Bargaining

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

200 free? No.

100 fly? No.

Backstroke?

No.

……Diving?

Definitely not.

4&5. Depression and Acceptance

Photo Courtesy: Taylor Brien

The main problem with this whole ordeal was that deep, deep down, I knew they were right. I couldn’t sprint to save my life, I wasn’t a backstroker, I DEFINITELY wasn’t a breaststroker, and my butterfly was average at best. I had pretty much run out of options and had to face the reality of it: I was a distance swimmer.

At first, this seemed like the end of the world. Distance is incredibly tough. The yardage, the mental toughness, the long practices, and in case I haven’t emphasized it enough already – there’s a lot of yardage.

But there’s also a pride that comes along with swimming the longest events that this sport has to offer. Our shortest race lasts for longer than most non-distance swimmers races last combined together. And even that race – as I found out in college – is considered a sprint.

The mental capacity it takes to watch the counter turn from 1 to 3, to 5, lap by lap, slowly climbing to 63 then the beautiful double red blocks is something that a small percentage of swimmers can teach themselves. I’ve had teammates come up to me and say “I don’t know how you do it. I could literally never.” And that is a feeling that never gets old to me, and why I’m proud to be a distance swimmer.

I didn’t choose the distance life by any means. It chose me, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

51 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Dist-swimmer

8 years ago

Great article! I feel your pain 🙂

Rhea Sariego

8 years ago

Go go how it can be a great swimmer.

Armando Magallanes Marrufo

8 years ago

Haha. Agreed. Definitely not a sprinter.

Peter Clark

8 years ago

Learn to count? 🙂

Kristie Wisniewski

8 years ago

That will be my one son. He is only 7 but he has no idea how to sprint at anything. He could probably swim continually for two hours now at his mediocre pace. He never sprints so he never burns out. He is going to have to go through quite a few more years of getting blown out in sprints first though. His twin is a sprinter.

Megan Maloney

8 years ago

The mile all the way

Mahdy Asefy

8 years ago

Love you assuie dolphins

Mahdy Asefy

8 years ago

Love you assuie dolphins

Rhea Sariego

8 years ago

Why not a divers.?

Madison Carris

8 years ago

1. Read “swimming to Antarctica”
2. Told my coach I wanted to swim the 500
3. Loved distance and still do

Emma Adams

8 years ago

I can’t sprint

Lily Bellehumeur-b

8 years ago

Clara Gagné Marilie Bilodeau pour vous deux ??

Clara Gagné

8 years ago

Reply to Lily Bellehumeur-b

Mon dieu c’est trop vrai ?

Lauren Doughton

8 years ago

Kobie Markham Emily Mulqueeney

Patrick O'Doherty

8 years ago

Conor O’Doherty

Ana Luisa Maselli

8 years ago

Mira Giovanna Duran Maselli

Carolyn Walsh Wright

8 years ago

Benton Wright McKenna Bollinger ?

Donna Cornell

8 years ago

Sarah Cornell

Jennifer Meyer Winters

8 years ago

Jason Winters

Belinda Norris

8 years ago

Jovarn Broughton

Donna Kuna Wilkie

8 years ago

Danielle Wilkie

Andrew Archibald

8 years ago

Sophie Bekkers

Chiara Wahsono

8 years ago

Axel Johansson

8 years ago

Reply to Chiara Wahsono

“No” ?

Raymond Woods

8 years ago

1650-500 free are middle distance.

Nick T Hawkins

8 years ago

Daniel Beaver Benvenuti Jorden. Matt Wilson Matt Flaherty Jaewook Yoo Nick Derkatch Hayden Hinds-Sydenham

Nick T Hawkins

8 years ago

Jeremy Lagonilla

Nick T Hawkins

8 years ago

Rachel Adams

Kate Poxon

8 years ago

this was u Courtney Poxon!! haha!!

Susan Mackenzie

8 years ago

Ok Grant Wright, back to distance it is then!

Lisa Dean

8 years ago

Thomas Mackay

Fin Anderson

8 years ago

Ryan Murphy

Katarina Matić

8 years ago

Oliver Mohs

Jayesh A Patil

8 years ago

ur r8…

Kara Lennon

8 years ago

Stacey Donovan Smith thought of Delaney when I read this! Say hi for me

Stacey Donovan Smith

8 years ago

Reply to Kara Lennon

So true!! All is well. Love CAT. How are you?

Martina Chione

8 years ago

Thank you for sharing. I believe I am also being sucked into distance swimming… My coach has pushed me to sprint for the past year and I have never dropped below 30 in my 50 yard free. But I’ve been doing quite phenomenal in the 400 meter free. I think he is starting to see my potential in distance. It’s because I am able to build my way into a sprint and keep it for a long time. As long as I get my gears turning and a rhythm going, it doesn’t matter how fast I am going, I can hold it.