Tag: swim

Ready, Set, Swim

elephantlover2035Leave a comment

Although I only started swimming in sixth grade, it has been my passion and hobby ever since. I looked forward to the daily practices and the long conditioning sessions. It was strenuous, but fulfilling.

The main reason that I joined swim was because I did not want to do any team sports, but I had to join at least one team sport per year. Swim came easy to me, especially the flip turns because of my previous gymnastics training. During sixth grade my strokes were breaststroke, back, and free. I was so happy when I got first place during my meets, and getting these results boosted my liking for the sport.

Photo credit: Olympics

I continued swim throughout my middle school years; going to meets, practices, and gym sessions. Middle school sports are really different than high school sports though, and so when high school came along I was scared for swim.

I did not know if I was going to make the team or even progress with my times. My coach did not release the team roster until our first meet… I got on Varsity! Holy Sh*t, I was so proud of myself. During the few meets we had due to Covid, I competed in back, free, and IMs. I was also the backstroke leg for the team medley.

Swim started out just being a scapegoat for me ot having to do a high intensive sport to a passion that I cannot live without.

My first triathlon

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

At 6:45 AM on Sunday, 4 of the members of Tri Ojai and I were at the poolside area of the Ojai Valley School getting ready for a practice triathlon. It was very cold outside; everyone was wearing warm jackets and pants. I couldn’t believe that I had to swim in the outside pool… The athletic director was laughing at me shivering with cold and being afraid of swimming in the pool. MEANIE.

Brief course description: 500 yard swim (outdoor OVS pool), 11 mile bike (into the town of Ojai and back up to campus), and 3 mile run (on Pi, which is our home cross country course, BACKWARDS).

The practice race started at 7 AM. I jumped into the pool. My body was freezing and when I started swimming I couldn’t breathe and was just desperately trying to get some air. But after I swam 50 yards, my body got used to the temperature of the water, and I felt warm again.

I got out of the pool and rushed to the transition area to start biking. My body was shivering and wobbling. I got on the bike and it was all down hill for the first 3 or 4 miles. It was a bumpy road; my hands were hurting the whole time, because I had to squeeze the break in order not to crash. The hill on the way back up was a killer, but I liked it anyways. My 11-mile bike ride was quite a journey, but I had a lot of fun.

I set my bike on the rack and started to run. I couldn’t feel my feet at all, my legs felt all weird. I ran down the hill and the worst part started when I hit the bear gate. I ran uphill for 2 miles until I hit the boy’s dorm. But it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected and I liked the feeling of running down hill afterward.


I completed triathlon in 1 hour 19 minutes and 50 seconds. I loved it so much. I think I will get myself into triathlon! I asked my dad if I could get a road bike for Christmas! I would love to bike all winter just to take a break from running and not to burn myself out.

Anyways, I had fun and it was the best way to start my Sunday!

I would like to thank my triathlon coach for letting me have this opportunity.