The Buddy System

The first few weeks of training have been much harder than I anticipated; I have struggled to breathe properly and felt like quitting a hundred times already. Being part of a team is wonderful, but also an added stress because everyone else seems to be swimming faster, progressing farther and generally just being better than me.  As much as I know none of them are judging me as harshly as I judge myself, the fear of failing creeps in and makes me panic. Panic doesn’t help with breathing.

As children we are taught that when we are in the water we should have a buddy, someone to keep an eye out for us, to hold our hand as we jump waves, to alert the adults should something go terribly wrong.  As we grow up, most of us stop relying on the buddy system, trusting in our own skill or expecting that the lifeguards to keep us in their sights.  Perhaps we shouldn’t be so hasty to let go of the hands of those who are willing to be our buddies.

A few nights ago I had the pleasure of swimming with my friend who has agreed to be my unofficial training partner.  The term partner is used pretty loosely; because aside from my willingness to show up, I’m not sure I bring much to the relationship (I can picture her rolling her eyes as she reads this).  As a former competitive swimmer and swim teacher, she is a great source of knowledge and encouragement even when doing drills that make you look silly. 

We swam together and she kept pushing me to go a little further, swim a little faster and to stop whining, the latter being the hardest challenge of all. About midway through our workout, I realized that we were laughing, chatting and exchanging barbs (and the occasional hand gesture) all while doing kickboard laps and I wasn’t wheezing.  Somewhere along the line I had started to have fun.  Her willingness to stay with me, pushing, challenging and teasing made the struggle far less painful, even enjoyable.  It was good to have a buddy, someone who could help quell my fears, remind me to breathe, and still push me to do a little more than I thought I could.