No, I don't think any of you know the struggles of swimming.
1. When your coach yells at you for BREATHING
2. When your coach pressures you to make state.
3. The pain when your coach misses your best race.
4. When you see your swim teammates more than your family.
5. The early morning wake ups for the swim meets.
6. The cramps.
7. Not hearing your time because of water in your ears.
8. The annoying people that grab onto the lane rope.
9. When you hit yourself on the lane rope.
10. The people that touch your feet.
Do you still think swimming is 'FUN'
Think about that the next time you ask can you go swimming.
AGFire2013, Now perhaps you can tell me about rowing?
My turn
1. Getting up early in the morning for rowing practice.
2. Making sure every single stroke is perfect.
3. Pulling your absolute hardest every. Single. Stroke.
4. Pulling even harder than that on a power 10.
5. The pain in my limbs as you finish a race or a stroke piece.
6. Erging (rowing machine).
7. Almost dislocating your shoulder everytime you catch a current the wrong way with your oar.
8. Getting cramps in your arms, legs, everywhere and still having to continue a race with 1000m left without falling out of rhythm with the other rowers.
9. Not being able to breathe, taste, smell or even see by the end of a race. Because of the strain, your brain eliminates your senses so it can pump more blood to your muscles.
10. Blisters and "Swiss cheese" hands.
11. Doing a 2000m erg piece, rowing as fast and hard as you can the whole way through and never stopping despite the pain.
12. Throwing up after a 2000m erg piece.
13. Having a coxswain yell at your face.
14. "Ohhhh you mean rowing like kayaking????"
15. Barely being able to stand after a rowing practice.
16. The pressure and stress of a race (though I find this is one of the best parts of rowing)
17. Adjusting to the unusual anatomy of breathing in rowing - rowers usually breathe 2 times in a stroke, and we breathe around 3 times the regular amount.
18. Getting attacked by an orca or sealions during rowing practice
Rhino1928
19. Going out in a single during low tide and literally beaching yourself (been there done that)
20. Having so, so many people underestimate your sport saying that "going out for a jog" or fishing is harder than rowing. I've seen that on online lists of hardest sports before and it drives me crazy
(Continued)
21. When you're rowing at 100%, you still have to be faster and stronger. It's never enough.
22. Your ankles hurt after practice because of how you slam your heels when pushing against the oar.
23. You're never satisfied with your work. Always improve.
24. When it's cold, you row. When's it's raining you row. The only time where you don't row is when the water's too rough, in which case you erg, run or work out. There's never a way out of practicing.
25. You can't wear gloves to protect the skin on your hands. You will literally be shunned for wearing gloves.
26. If you injure yourself in the middle of a race, you keep going. I have a friend who won a race with a torn Achilles and a torn ACL plus an injured shoulder. I know someone else who got a time that would have made him national champion had he been competing. He had a broken hand.
27. You can never stop, whether you're injured, tired, cramping, hurting or demotivated.
28. You never let your teammates down.
29. You have a distance of 2000m. You row as fast as you can the whole way through, and it's a distance where you have to sprint the whole way through.
30. You never give up.
