By SwimSwam Contributors on SwimSwam
Courtesy: Cori Linder
Talk to a sprinter about long-distance swimming and you usually get the same reaction. They smile, shake their head, and say something like, “Yeah… no.”
It’s not because they can’t swim far. Most of them absolutely could. It’s because distance requires a totally different mindset. I know this because I grew up a competitive long-distance swimmer, and back then distance, at least for me, meant boredom. Endless laps. Too much quiet. Too much time alone with your thoughts. There are only so many times you can sing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall in your head before you start wanting an actual beer.
Some swimmers love the quiet. They love the rhythm, the sound of the water, the way their mind drifts. I don’t. I need a plan. Heck, I need some motivation. And probably some entertainment.
I’ve swum with just about every type of swimmer there is. Triathletes. Open-water athletes. Pool grinders. Long-distance freestylers. I’ve coached beginners who are terrified to swim 200 straight yards and seasoned swimmers training for serious races and open-water swims. And no matter who they are, the same moment always shows up. It happens somewhere after the warmup. After the part where everything feels easy. Your shoulders start complaining. Your brain gets loud. The wall or shoreline feels farther away than it should.
That’s when the negotiation starts.
I’m not gonna lie. It’s hard. Especially in a long race. Especially when you’re in something like a 1500M free and you lift your head to breathe and realize people are way ahead of you. You start wondering if you’ll ever catch them. Then your shoulder hurts. Then your brain says, Would it be embarrassing if I just stopped right now? Then you’re basically a small kid asking on repeat, Are we almost there yet?
This is the part nobody really prepares you for. Some swimmers use music in their heads. Some repeat mantras. Some try to escape mentally. I don’t do any of that. I try to create a strategy. I break the swim into pieces. I give myself something to execute. A 6-5-4-3-2 lap strategy in the 500-yard set, for example. A tempo to hold. A stroke to clean up. A wall to get to. Micro goals. Some creativity helps. Because eventually you have to stop fighting the distance and let your mind relax into it.
Swimming distance isn’t about pretending it’s easy. It’s about embracing that it’s hard. The mental side is a muscle. You actually have to train it. It’s probably the hardest part.
I tell swimmers all the time, especially if they’re heading into open water, that the physical part usually isn’t the problem. It’s the mental game. You don’t need to swim ten miles a day to complete a ten-mile swim. You need a mindset that knows how to stay when everything wants to quit.
Swimming a long way is a lot like a road trip. You can’t sleep the whole way. Eventually you need something to focus on. You count license plates. You play silly games. You break the drive into chunks instead of staring at the total mileage and panicking.
Same thing in the pool.
If you don’t have a plan, distance feels endless. If you do, it becomes manageable. You focus on the next repeat. The next turn. The next small win.
Swimming far isn’t about being tough. It’s about staying engaged. It’s about having something to work on when your body gets tired and your brain starts spiraling. Holding your stroke together when it would be easier to fall apart. Seeing if you can be just a little steadier than you were five minutes ago.
Swimming teaches you how to stay. Stay uncomfortable. Stay bored. Stay moving. Stay present. And that carries into everything else. Work. Life. Big goals.
Somewhere along the way, I switched from survival mode to swimming with intention. Infused variety. Added a dose of creativity. Threw in fun. It’s one of the main reasons I wrote “The Self-Coached Swimmer’s Guide.” I wrote it because I got tired of staring at the same black line, hoping motivation would magically show up. I put a fun twist on the routine. Mixed things up. Dared to get innovative.
Every long swim asks the same question: what keeps you moving? You don’t need to love every minute. You just need a reason to keep going.
So yeah, when a sprinter proudly announces they don’t need (or want) distance in their life, I don’t argue. Long distance isn’t for everyone. But if you’re willing to have the conversation, you just might surprise yourself.
ABOUT CORI LINDER
Cori Linder is a certified Masters swim coach and longtime Masters swimmer who works with athletes ranging from beginners to long-distance competitors. She’s the author of The Self-Coached Swimmer’s Guide, written for those who want more structure, creativity, and purpose in their swim training.
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