Does swimming ever get enjoyable?

As a runner returning to triathlon I’ve been asking myself this question recently. Does swimming ever get enjoyable?

This morning I went to my pool session and can’t say I enjoyed it at all. Firstly I thought of some excuses to get out of going but couldn’t find one. In the car on the way to the pool I thought about turning the car around and going home because I wasn’t looking forward to it. Lets face it, for a runner swimming is hard. It’s hard to because it’s a different muscle and skill set to running that currently feels a bit foreign. Hopefully once my fitness for swimming return so will some of the enjoyment.

Can’t say I’m expecting that to happen. This morning I swam 1500 metres, 30 laps of the Olympic pool. I didn’t enjoy any one of these lap, some were easier than others but all were boring and sometimes painful. There were plenty of other people at the pool and some even looked like they were enjoying it, so maybe there is some hope.

One of the things I love about running is the solitude, one of the things I hate about swimming is the solitude. Thats a weird thing to say but very true. I can run for hours by myself and don’t need to see, hear or talk to another person but half an hour in the pool is another story.

Even though I’d been off the bike for a long time I’ve enjoyed getting back on the bike. Obviously it’s a closer skill set and fitness to running which has made it easier to adjust. Returning to the pool has been a different experience.

Clearly if I want to train for triathlon I am going to have to go swimming. It’s a necessary requirement of the sport and one I hope I start to enjoy in the near future.

Do you swim and how do you find it enjoyable?