Swimming with a whale

No, this is not like swimming with dolphins. Not even close.

I got to swim practice last night and jumped into a lane with some guy who was doing laps. Soon afterwards, my teammate Sammy, who often shares a lane with me, arrived. The three of us did well together --I was even surprised that the guy I'd jumped into the lane with knew how to circle. Anyway, he got out of the pool soon after and then my teammate Ronny showed up.

Ronny is this big guy (not really fat, but big) and although I really like him, I hate swimming with him. He has a tendency to take up the whole lane and he moves a lot of water around. In fact, I normally avoid him at all costs in the pool, but I was just kind of stuck last night.

The rest of the warm up went ok, but then we did a timed 750 meter swim (this is our standard sprint distance swim). Rather than staggered starts, the coach decided to start all of us together. We agreed that we'd start swimming in a circle as soon as we got spread out. So off we went.

Sammy pulled out ahead. Ronny did what is very typical of him. He went out as fast as he could. I went out at my regular pace, meaning the pace I can maintain for 750 meters. So Ronny and I were swimming side by side and no matter what I did, I couldn't get rid of him. It was awful -- kind of like swimming next to a whale. I was sure he was going to drown me or just smack me with one of his big arms. He had me pushed all the way over to the left going in one direction and then all the way to the right in the other direction. Every time I was pushed over to the left side of the lane, Sammy and I would have a head-on collision. This happened so many times that I stopped counting.

I probably could have pulled ahead of him, but I wanted to keep my pace steady. Actually, I wasn't even swimming at my best 750 meter pace, because I was having so much trouble swimming next to Ronny and I had to keep trying to avoid Sammy. Every time I thought I'd pulled past Ronny, he'd push really hard off the wall (he's big and strong and tall) and next thing I knew, he'd be next to me again.

After about 250 to 300 meters, he tired out. I knew it would happen eventually. I pulled ahead of him and finally we were able to swim normally in our lane. I actually ended up lapping him at around 650 meters or so.

The strangest part was that I did my best ever pool time for 750 meters (not a great time -- just good for me. It was 16:19). In fact, that's one of my best 750 meter times ever, including in open water. Just imagine how much better I could have done if I hadn't had to deal with Ronny and if I hadn't had all those head-on collisions.

Reminder to self: Next time, join a lane that already has several people in it, as long as none of them is Ronny.

And that said, in case he ever stumbles upon this post, I have to say, Ronny, I'm crazy about you -- you're funny and kind and a really nice guy (a smart one, too). I just don't particularly like swimming next to you!