Holiday training can be brutal. It has the potential to make or break a season, and it often separates the dedicated from the....well...not so dedicated. 

If there's one thing that remains true whether you are fully invested in the sport or a part time participant, holiday training challenges your body AND your mind. It has been estimated that humans have between 35 and 48 thoughts per minute, which would mean for a two hour holiday workout an athlete would have between 4,200 and 5,760 thoughts. 

Here are just a few of the thoughts that run through a swimmer's mind during these tough workouts.

5:30 AM

- Is my alarm really going off already?

- Practice doesn't start until 6:00 so if it takes me five minutes to get ready to leave, ten minutes to get to the pool, five minutes to change, and two minutes to get my cap and goggles on, I can go back to sleep for five minutes. 

9:37 AM 

- WHAT?! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! 

- Oh I'm so dead

- I should check my phone

- Coach: "Where are you?"

- Coach: "Did you go back to sleep again?"

- Coach: "It's okay, we'll make up for the missed practice tomorrow morning."

- Great.

The Next Day...

5:30 AM

- I'm up! I'm up! 

- Not going back to sleep this time

- Off we go. 

5:50 AM

- Made it to pool! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

- Oh there's coach.

- Do I avoid him or just get it over with?

- Definitely going to avoid him, I'll just hide behind this...

- Coach: "Hey you made it to practice this time!" 

- Well, avoiding him didn't work.

- Coach: "You get to do a 200 fly for time at the end of practice today!"

- Can I even swim butterfly that far? Guess we'll find out. 

6:00 AM 

- Yes, warm up. The best time of them all. 

- Everyone swims nice and easy, and...

- Ah, really. Why does he always have to sprint warm-up? Guess there's a warm-up warrior on every team. 

- Oh well, I'll just go at my own pace.

6:35 AM

- Coach: "Why did everyone beat you by so much? Still sleeping?"

- REALLY?! IT'S JUST WARM UP!

- Keep it cool. Keep it cool. 

- Pick your battles.

6:40 AM 

- Okay just need to make it through the main set and then sneak out of here before coach remembers about that 200 fly he said I needed to do. 

- Wow really? We're going to have time for that long of a set? 

- Here goes nothing.

- Kicking, Kicking, Kicking...

- Pulling, Pulling, Pulling...

- Swimming, Swimming, Swimming...

- Tired, Tired, Tired...

- What song should I sing in my head today?

- That's a good one. 

- Wait was that a 200 or a 500? 

- Oh great. 

- Need to slow down and watch everyone else. 

- Perfect. 

- Done. 

8:00 AM

- Now I just need to make my escape. 

- Just going to sneak out of the pool. 

- Pack up my equipment bag. 

- Then Tip-Toe to the...

- Coach: "Time for your 200 butterfly!" 

- Busted. 

- Oh well. Here goes nothing!