{"id":118351,"date":"2014-12-24T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=118351"},"modified":"2014-12-24T07:02:01","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T14:02:01","slug":"7-ways-swimmers-celebrate-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/7-ways-swimmers-celebrate-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Ways Swimmers Celebrate the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Allison Peters, Swimming World College Intern<\/em><\/p>\n

The winter training season leads to plenty of ways swimmers celebrate the holidays. Here are a few of the best:<\/p>\n

7 Ways Swimmers Celebrate the Holidays<\/h2>\n

1.) Sleeping between holiday practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"sleeping-lion\"<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Rennett Stowe<\/p><\/div>\n

Many swimmers this holiday break are being slammed with not only early morning wake-up calls to jump in a cold pool, but afternoon ones as well. The only way a lot of these swimmers can have the energy to return to the pool for a second practice is by napping the rest of their mornings and early afternoons away!<\/p>\n

2.) Stuffing their faces<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"stuffing-your-face\"<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Grant Hutchins<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s lucky if there are enough Christmas cookies to be left out for Santa after a swimmer gets to them. Yes, eating is something swimmers don\u2019t need the holiday season as an excuse to do, but with all the holiday treats and food around, it\u2019s every swimmer\u2019s greatest dream.<\/p>\n

3.) Going on Training Trips<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"training-trip-albright\"<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Albright Athletics<\/p><\/div>\n

Some college swimmers will get the opportunity to go somewhere warm for their training trips sometime around Christmas. Although, it may be somewhere tropical, this isn\u2019t exactly a vacation. The athletes will most likely be asked asked to swim doubles with dryland and lifting, pretty much every day.<\/p>\n

4.) Binge watching Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"netflix\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With all the strenuous activity swimmers will be doing for multiple hours a day, when they finally have a minute off, chances are they don\u2019t want to do anything physical. What better way to pass time than to binge watch Breaking Bad or Christmas movies on Netflix?<\/p>\n

5.) Watching friends have real vacations<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"christmas-tree\"<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Tamara Dwyer<\/p><\/div>\n

While most swimmers are trapped home for break to complete holiday training, all their non-swimmer friends are still able to travel for vacations. Cue the million pictures swimmers will have to see via Facebook\/Instagram\/text message while they\u2019re on their way to practice.<\/p>\n

6.) Embracing Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve practices<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ice-swimming\"<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: CH. Baltes<\/p><\/div>\n

For my club team in high school, these two practices were the hardest of the entire year. We did sets like 10 x 1000s or 50 x 200s. The only way many swimmers get through these practices are to just embrace it and know it\u2019s going to help them cut that extra second at championships.<\/p>\n

7.) Writing Santa for Recovery Days<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"santa-clause\"<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Jonathan Meath<\/p><\/div>\n

If there\u2019s anything that a swimmer wants for Christmas, it\u2019s to walk in to practice and hear their coach say, \u201cToday is recovery!\u201d It\u2019s practically holiday music to their ears. With all the extra yardage they will be cramming in during holiday training, Santa would agree it\u2019s much deserved.<\/p>\n

Allison Peters is a junior distance specialist at Albright College. Previously, she trained at The Atlantic Club, and the New Jersey Race Club as well as swam for the Point Pleasant Borough High School team.<\/em><\/p>\n