Swim Brief Blogger Contest: Reed Shimberg

Earlier this week, we announced a contest to add another blogger to the Swim Brief. Applications have been pouring in. If you want to submit, write to us at SwimBrief@gmail.com. We've decided to give some of these bloggers a "tryout" by writing a guest blog. Here is a blog we received from Reed Shimberg:

"Rules of Off-Season Swimming"

As much as we love swimming, what do we love doing more? Not swimming. Here is a guidebook to help off-season swimmers navigate those treacherously lazy waters between seasons:


1. Find friends who don’t swim. This is vital. Get away from the same people you see every day, every hour, every minute. There's only so many times you can hang out with 30 other guys in Speedos. Call non-swimming friends and tell them you want to hang out. They are going to be initially confused. Assure them this is only a temporary thing. You have a lot of time on your hands in the immediate 3 weeks, no more, but no less. Maybe they do nothing different, nothing crazy, maybe they just watch TV or play video games. That's OK. Be around land people. Embrace the dry life.

2. Stay up late. You don’t have to get up extra early for morning practice tomorrow. So go out. Go to a club, a bar, a friends house, a sleep over, a late movie, watch all 7 Harry Potter movies in preparation for Deathly Hallows Part 2, have a late dinner. Explore the night. You have no 10 PM bedtime anymore. The world is your oyster. Other ideas include: watching infomercials that only come on at 3AM just because you've never seen informercials that only come on at 3AM, playing a game of Monopoly you know may never come to an end, or playing Xbox until you go half-blind.

3. Do not swim. At all. The most important rule. You are free to try other forms of exercise, preferably those on-land. If you only get one or two weeks off, take time to rest and recover. You will need to be at full strength when you go back into training. Just don’t swim. As tempting as it is, do not jump back into that giant, blue pool. Do you really want to get wet? Do you really want to exert any more energy? Think how easy it is to sit on the couch and watch mind-numbing, wonderful, friendly TV. Your body will thank you next season, when you're more refreshed, more energized. If you really need to exercise a bit, one of the best times to do strength training is in the off-season. So, that is always a valid option. But don't be one of those swimmers who never takes a day off. Find balance.

4. Watch what you eat. During the season most swimmers can eat whatever you want. But when that stops, when you’re not swimming seven, eight, nine practices a week, you can’t eat like you are still in training. It'll be hard to give up the 12,000 calories/day of food, but I promise you won’t like your appearance if you continue to eat like you’re in hard training. I have a buddy who eats a giant bag of Tostitos chips and salsa everyday. He has gained over 30 pounds. It’s been less than 2 months since he quit swimming. He can only wear drawstring shorts now.

5. Create a bucket list. Create a list of things you didn't do in the middle of the swim season -- things that you want to do. Call a girl on a date. Go skydiving. Learn to skateboard. Sleep in. Learn a language. Get a job (that isn’t lifeguarding). Actually do your homework. Read a book. Watch a new TV series (I recommend buying a Netflix subscripton). Take a road trip. Get a tattoo (you need time to heal outside the pool anyways). Volunteer. Just find something you can’t do any other time because of swimming and do it. Because once swimming comes around, it's back to the grind. No more fun. No more skateboarding, sky diving, girl dating (girls hate the smell of chlorine). Lock down a girlfriend now so she can't leave you in 3 months when your hair is white, your skin is pale, and you look like a raccoon. This is your time. Live like you're dying, because in 3 weeks when your coach says, "Welcome back," you are already dead.