This morning began like every other in Florida; by waking every forty minutes or so in the hopes that my alarm would never go off. (Unfortunately it did.) At 6:50 I got up, gathered my things, headed down to breakfast, and ran to the beach just in time to take pictures of a cloudy sunrise. At 7:30 I ran to Coach Dunaway’s pimped out silver SUV and we made our way to pool number one.

Our first practice today was nothing short of agonizing. Coming off of yesterday’s horrendous doubles, what appeared easy on paper instead turned out to be two hours of struggling against the merciless pace clock. Every stroke inflamed my tightened triceps, making a full rotation of my arms a challenge within itself. Every breath I took was a fiery gasp to stay afloat. And worse yet, at times I would have rather sunk to the bottom of the pool in the vain hope that I would gain a few extra seconds of rest. But as soon I wanted to get out and yell, “Coach, I quit!” practice ended and we headed back to the hotel.

While resting up for today’s second practice I decided I would sit by the pool as opposed to walking the extra thirty seconds to beach. However, this time by the pool time proved to be extremely valuable: Not only did I finish my second 400 pager by my favorite author (Ted Dekker) in two weeks, but I also relaxed in the hot tub (teasing Coach Weitz along with the other swimmers) and chatted with the St. Mary’s girls in the main pool. But as I grew aware of my newly relaxed state, I looked at my cell phone and realized that I was wasting valuable napping time. So, as you can guess, I took a nap and prepared for practice number two.

Today’s second practice was one of the few in recent memory where I honestly wanted to proclaim, “Coach, I quit!” and collapse on deck. I didn’t feel as sore as the morning practice, but mentally I was dragging! Every time I looked to one of the coaches, the pace clock, or my water bottle, the setting sun (in all of it’s blazing glory) burned my retinas, giving me a headache in addition to making me extremely irritable. To make matters worse, I simply didn’t feel like swimming tonight. When it came to the second round of our main set, I loudly groaned in displeasure and actually made a mockery of myself by whining.

As you can guess, I survived. But after warming down, we headed straight into one of our infamously painful training trip dryland practices. How I survived that is entirely beyond me. When it came time for abdominal work, I kept letting my legs hit the ground. (I still attest that the size of my thighs makes leg lifts harder.) When it was time for medicine balls, I simply chickened out in the hopes that it would somehow make things easier. (And it didn’t.) But as usual, I endured the two-hour (and twenty minute) practice with a smile of relief on my face.

Looking back on another day of grueling work, I think it will all pay off in the end. One thing I continually tell myself is that the more pain I have now, the less pain I will have during the 200 Butterfly at Conferences. There is no secret to training trip except for hard work and determination. Let’s just hope there’s still some left in the tank! Tomorrow Wabash and St. Mary’s will face off against Bates College, against former Wally Coach Peter Casares, in what will be a battle of who truly wants to win the most.

From my room in Embassy Suites in Deerfield, Florida, this is Adam Current ’11. Over and out!