Thanks to Reid Carlson for contributing this story to our Shouts from the Stands series. SwimSwam welcomes reader submissions about all topics aquatic, and if it’s well-written and well-thought, we might just post it under our “Shouts from the Stands” series. We don’t necessarily endorse the content of the Shouts from the Stands posts, and the opinions remain those of their authors. If you have thoughts to share, please send them to [email protected].
Five Reasons to Look Forward to Dry Season
In anticipation of championship and mid-season competitions, many swim teams phase into a special time of year known as dry season. No, dry season does not mean less time in the water, even though taper may coincidentally leave swimmers with more terrestrial time on their hands. Dry season is a juncture when teams forsake guzzling alcohol in order to exaggerate the results of their restfulness.
Because we are nearing championship season with most collegiate conference meets taking place in mid-February, followed by NCAA National competitions in March, many teams have possibly just begun their dry seasons, or are down to their last weekend of permissible, responsible drinking. Michael Phelps got some headlines over the summer when he vowed not to drink until after the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next summer, “if ever” again. Phelps’ re-dedication and surrendering of the bottle is impressive, as this challenge to himself extends beyond the extent of his probation (potentially far beyond the 18 months he is not legally allowed to drink alcohol). Phelps has demonstrated again that he is an excellent example for both young swimmers as well as college swimmers, many of whom as freshmen are exposed to easily-accessible alcohol for the first times in their lives.
Though I was never opposed to dry season, I understand why many swimmers dislike it. For some it is simply that they are being told how to spend their personal time by their captains and their coaches. Others consider themselves “responsible drinkers” and only have one or two drinks at a time, never allowing themselves to get sloppy. And then others simply don’t think that alcohol has any negative affects on their athletic performances, so they believe that the whole premise is arbitrary.
I’m not here to argue the science of alcohol’s affects on athletes, so before we go down that road I want to turn our attention to my top five reasons why swimmers should look forward to dry season, and not dwell on how happy they’ll be once they can irrigate their palates with booze while celebrating (or possibly mourning) the passing of another swim season.
Reason 5: No alcohol, no hangover!
Let’s face it, even those responsible drinkers are acquainted with hangovers. You wake up and your head is pounding, you rub your eyes, but every particle of light that passes into your retina and back to your brain hurts. You feel nauseous and then—bleh! There goes your super-athletic body rejecting the poison that you threw down your gullet the evening before. How long will it be before you’re functional? How will you get your homework done and study? And then the worst-case scenario—will you be fit to make it to morning practice on Monday? Nobody wants to see their perfect attendance record go down the drain because they had one—or five—too many cocktails the night before.
While some people may think it’s boring to take a month off from drinking, you can rest assured that even if your neighbors down the hall had fun last night, you’re probably getting the last laugh this morning. And besides, as a poor college student, a few weeks of not drinking means you’ve got a little extra money in the bank. Can your neighbor down the hall who’s wrapped around the toilet holding up the line to the bathroom say the same? Doubt it!
Reason 4: Alcohol is Empty Calories
When you’re tapering, you need to make every calorie you intake count. Since you’re swimming less and backing off the intensity in and out of the pool—don’t try and hide, I know you took the elevator to get to the second floor of the library—you can’t count on your body to make full use of those 12,000 calories you can throw back in a day during regular season. What happens instead is all those non-essential calories get stored as fat. Swimmers have been known to gain weight on taper due to not minding their diets. If your diet continues to include alcohol, which shockingly will not come to your aid during the 400 IM, you’re consuming empty calories that will be stored as fat, slowing you down in the end.
Reason 3: Sober Parties are Not Boring!
While that entire postulation may seem foreign to many a college swimmer, attending a party sober is anything but boring. Now, don’t think that I’m talking about going to a campus party and making fun of all the drunk students there, in fact I advise against that. If you go to a party with rampant alcohol consumption, there is a high risk that you will also partake in such activities. However, if you’re sober, and your friends and teammates are sober, you can all have a sober bash together!
My sophomore year in college I lived in a suite, and in that particular dorm building there were five swimmer suites each containing five or six of my teammates. Living in such proximity we could easily enjoy dry season and stay in on Saturday nights together. Sometimes we would play Scrabble. Other times we played hide-and-seek—yes, immature, but still fun. Then one weekend we decided to have a dance party in one of the second-floor suites. The music was loud, the strobe lights were pulsing, and we were jumping and singing and taking our shirts off in typical swim party fashion. And the best part, what made the whole night hilarious, was that none of us had drank a single drop of alcohol! Our sober party was so loud that we were issued a noise complaint by campus security, at the behest of the RA’s. The guys who lived in the suite had to do community service to atone for their transgression against other students who had not gone out on this particular Saturday, and who were disrupted by our music.
While you shouldn’t expect to be issued community service for attending a sober party, I like to offer it up as an example of how much fun can be had without the aid of social lubricants. Your team is like your family, they’re your closest friends, and instead of feeling miserable together, why not throw a party in spite of what you’ve given up for the betterment of yourself as an athlete, and the advancement of your team’s final standing at the championship meet?
Reason 2: A Mental Edge Over the Competition
Many if not most college swim teams do a dry season. Some dry seasons only last for a number of weeks leading up to major competitions, while others last the entirety of that team’s season. However, you can be assured that some teams don’t practice dry season at all, and even on teams that do, somebody has broken the rules and wet their whistle when they weren’t supposed to. While it may be impossible to know who has and hasn’t remained faithful to their dry season vows, one thing is certain—you can know if you did.
For anyone who has ever had a hangover, you know what a haze you’re in until the hangover passes. Your actions are slow and deliberate; your thoughts disorganized; and you’re distracted because your body keeps telling you to make it better! If you haven’t drank in some time, and that feeling seems like another life, then you feel pure, like a perfect racing machine. You know that you’ve done all you can to perform at your best, and though you cannot control the competition, you know how deep your dedication goes. As swimmers we all know that any thought that allows us to feel better about ourselves and more confident going into our upcoming races is gold. And who knows, just having that little nugget in your brain might be the difference for you between gold and silver when the race is over. Can you really put a price on that amulet of swimming prowess around your neck, or that goal time you’ve been visualizing all season? I didn’t think so.
Reason 1: Remembering Why You Swim
Okay, this one may not be immediately apparent, so let me briefly explain why I swim. I bet most swimmers will agree with everything I’m about to say, plus have some input of their own.
I, Reid Carlson, swim because I love the sport. I love the water. When I’m having a good race or killing it in practice, I feel like I’m on top of the water; like I’m flying. Swimming brings me a kind of freedom that nothing else can. The peaceful surface of a still pool is calming and serene to me, but at some point I have to break the surface. I want to feel myself accelerate through the water, towards the far wall and away from all that weighs me down outside of the pool, much of which is inside my head—until I get in the water and I forget about my other responsibilities. It’s like being a kid again when I didn’t have to worry about grades, money, or time management. I could go on, but I have already gone a little beyond a “brief” explanation as to why I love this sport so darned much.
Now tell me: when do you feel most in-touch with yourself? Imagine the water rushing past you, feeling the momentum before a flip-turn, and then the velocity as you ricochet off the wall. The speed is addictive. The laps are therapeutic. The challenge and the feeling of accomplishment is what keeps you coming back. Of course there’s pressure at certain times, especially for student-athletes juggling classes and a sport, but competitors live off that pressure.
Many refer to alcohol as “liquid courage” or the “social lubricant,” but we’re swimmers—what other liquid could we possibly need to feel confident and at ease, other than the water in which we compete, condition, and bond with one another? Yes, partying with teammates is fun and can bring teams together. But teams truly bond at competition and in practice where athletes feed off of one another’s accomplishments. Completing a challenge set together will bring you and your teammates closer than any party ever could. The water is where a swimmer feels most at home, and no one should have to feel like they’re most at ease when they’re altering their consciousness.
In summation, this article is advocating moderation. It’s okay to enjoy some drinks with friends, but when the mandatory dry season rolls around, do yourself and your team a favor and welcome the sobriety with an open mind. In the end, you will be glad you did. Your teammates and coaches will too.
(This article is intended mainly for college swimmers—you high schoolers, this shouldn’t even be in your realm of possibilities! Okay, I’m not that naive, but c’mon.)