I Said the “F” Word in the Pool Today

Hilary Topper streamlining after the wall

I started training for the Cross Bay Swim in April. My coach has been gradually building up the swims and before the scheduled swim in July, I was up to nearly 20,000 yards a week! Later, the swim was rescheduled to August 12.

I was absolutely exhausted. Between not sleeping well and not hydrating enough, I constantly felt like I was going to crash.

At the pool

Lifetime has been wonderful. They’ve been letting me spend up to two hours in the pool and have been very encouraging.

One day before the swim, I had a 4400-yard workout. I set my Garmin Fenix and started to go. As I was doing my intervals, I was fine. Until I had a kick set. Then I went into drill mode and used that. Except, I noticed that the watch stayed in the same position. When I swam a 100-yard interval, nothing changed. It got me so frustrated!

“Oh F—,” I said out loud. I actually screamed it out. The lifeguard and some other people gave me looks. I was upset that my watch didn’t capture my swim.

Embarrassed, I tucked my head under my arm, put up the music on my headphones, and just started swimming again.

I swam so long that by the time I got out, everyone was out of the pool… I was so glad!

P.S. Sometimes we take these things so to heart. Are we having fun yet?