Going Fast in the Slow Lane

I don't often post about my swimming since there's not a lot to say.  Really you don't have as many "adventures" in the swimming arena as you do in biking and running...at least in my perspective.  However, today I am going to talk a little bit about my swimming.

I have been taking a swim class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6:15.  There are typically 3-5 swimmers per lane.  We split up into lanes based on how fast/slow we are...so depending on who shows up on a given day, I am either in the slow lane or the next to the slow lane.  My class has a lot of really fast swimmers.

Today I was in the slow lane.  I was definitely the fastest of the 3 women in that lane.  It was a good confidence booster since swimming is my weakest leg.  As a matter of fact, I was keeping pace with the fastest swimmer in the lane next to me.  As I would breathe on that side, I kept looking over to see where I was in relation to him. 

Because my class has so many fast swimmers, it can be a bit disheartening to be so slow in comparison.  However, I keep reminding myself of where I was a year ago.  When I did my first triathlon a year ago, I was so freaked out by the chop of the water that I did a glorified version of the doggie paddle the whole way.  I can guarantee that this year, regardless of the chop, I will not be doing the doggie paddle!

So while swimming intervals and drills doesn't provide much fodder for the blog, when I analyze my performance improvement, there is a lot to say.  I am a much more confident, stronger and faster swimmer than I was a year ago.  My class has a disproportionate amount of fast swimmers so it's hard to put things in perspective. Because even those of us in the slow lane are faster than a lot of other swimmers out there!