I overlooked that point completely.

Change is hard.

For instance, I have not gotten my body, and especially my sleep systems, adjusted to the new schedule of evening swim practices. I enjoy not having to go to bed by 8:30 in order to get enough rest AND swim at 5:30 a.m., but I do not enjoy waking up at 3:00 because there is too much adrenaline left over in my system from swimming 6:30-8:00 p.m. How do those of you who swim or train at night do this?

And the new team is much more individual in its practices. It is great to have less downtime between sets, and to have a workout catered to my needs and abilities (which, frankly, are not up to where they should be, after my month away). But I miss racing with other swimmers, and shooting a bit of the breeze.

I am also getting used to doing less swimming with fins. In the old program we usually did 1000-1200 yards of kick or drill with fins. In the new program, there is much less of that, although I see that some people use fins for their kicking. In a way I know that the yardage I do is a truer indication of effort, or whole-body effort, but it is an adjustment nonetheless.

Also, the Masters of the new team only practice 1.5 hours on Saturdays, and I had gotten accustomed to having a super practice on Saturdays, 2-2.5 hours. And because this new team is bigger, there is less flexibility about just staying on and swimming with the kids than I had found at the old program. I do not know whether this is just because I am new, or because they really don't let adults swim with age-groupers.

Yesterday I swam with the morning group, though, which I had resisted since I have a very long work day on Tuesdays. I loved it! I remembered why I like swimming in the morning, and actually the 3200 yards left me energized for the day, not exhausted.

So the lesson for the day is: be flexible in new situations, and be open to trying new approaches.

I hate lessons.