Road to Redemption

Welcome back to another "Storytime." Well, it's not an official title. So, storytime. I'll be continuing a story I posted 2 months ago about my first open water swim. Link here. Just to recap, I injured my ankle a few months before the race. My race was compromised, and I had redemption in mind. I wanted to prove myself that I was capable of winning a race. 

After the race in May, I had three months to prepare for the next race in August 2018. The organizers have announced a race at Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, Taiping, Perak. The categories offered were the 1500m, and 3000m swim for adults. I have never swan 3000m in a go before, so I opted to choose the sensible 1500 meters. I invited my teammates to join me in the race, but none were available on the mentioned date. So, it was me, myself, and I to train and compete in the race. 

Competition Poster

I started training at my university's swimming pool. My teammates were kind enough to join me in my training to help me find my pace back. Here, I would like to thank the Captian of the team, Imran Luqman, for guiding me throughout the process. He planned out the drills and sets I had to do for the race. One month of training in my university and my semester break has started. The university pool was closed, which meant I had to continue my training in my hometown, Ipoh. 

I had to find myself an affordable gym and a decent swimming pool back home. Thanks to the former Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib, I had the chance to go to the 1Malaysia gym at Urban Transformation Center (UTC) Ipoh. This is funny when I thought about it now, but that gym only charged me RM2/entry for Uni students. However, there is a downside. The gym consistently shuts down for no reason, and it only operates until 5pm. So, I had to manage my time well to compensate for this dumbfound system. Knowing I was on a tight budget, I went along as most machines in the gym were actually helpful and enough to cover my workouts. 

Next was to find a decent swimming pool. My first option was to swim at the Perak Stadium swimming pool, which has now been renamed "Pusat Aquatik Tuanku Zara." To be honest, the name was not the only thing they should have changed. The pool was renovated fully to withhold a FINA-approved Olympic standard swimming pool and a diving platform. WOW, this is amazing. But, it is not available for the public's use. Only Perak athletes are allowed to use the pool. Booooooooooooooo. "Fair enough," I said. Let's go to the public pool. The public pool was the first pool I swan in. It was also where I learned to swim. 

Getting back nostalgic memories, I entered the pool. To my disappointment, many things were bugging me at the time. Let's start the rant!!! The pool was dirty. I saw greenish moss formed at the bottom; the new draining system doesn't seem to work properly. I was slightly worried because I had to come there every day. With this pool condition, I can bet you I will get sick soon for staying in that water for hours a day. Finally, the second and last reason was the lack of pool etiquette. There were many people in the pool, which was not the end of the world, but they were not following the pool etiquette. People were swimming horizontally, disturbing others' swims, and they were not aware of people swimming. The worst part was when everyone was standing at the shallow part of the pool. There was literally a crowd at the outer part of the pool, causing me to cut short my 50m sets to 30m sets. 

Swimming ethics

I NEEDED A NEW POOL!!!

Fortunately, I found a better one quickly. It was a club. "KINTA SOCIAL CLUB'. They had a 50m pool, and admission was by membership only. This sounds good as there won't be anyone to walk in easily. This pool was a life savior. Everyone there was professional. They followed the pool etiquette. I was happy. The water was clean too. Now, I can adequately start my training. 

Kinta Social Club (Kinta Swimming Club)

I will continue my story in my next post...