The Reason To Swim (A Free! Iwatobi Swim Club fanfiction)

Chapter 8- How Does He Do That!?

   

   "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." –Teddy Roosevelt

~~~~~5 days until prefecturals!~~~~~

    We were back at our lovely 25 yards-a-lap pool. Gou was taking Haruka and Nagisa's times. They were certainly faster, but of course Haruka beat Nagisa. But winning or losing doesn't matter here: It's to beat your time. "That was amazing, Haruka-senpai!" Gou says. "That's another personal best! I guess the training camp from hell really paid off!" Nagisa swam to Haruka's lane.

    "What about me?" He says. Gou looks at the timer.

    "You need to work a little harder, Nagisa-kun."

    "Still," Makoto says. "I think we've all come a long way in such a short time." He looks over to the farther lane of the pool. "And Rei's been improving bis butterfly time."

    "It helps that Rei-kun is pretty built from the pole vaulting he's done." Gou points to the sky. "But, that's not good enough! We must aim higher! Find a proper coach!"

    "Eh?" Nagisa asks. "Find a coach now?"

    "It's never too late to start. Even if someone can just help provide some last-minute conditioning, we'll be in better condition for the tournament!"

    "A coach would certainly help, but there's nobody available-" Makoto is cut off.

    "That's why we have to look harder!"

    Haruka had gotten out of the water. "Not necessary."

    "Yeah, Haru probably doesnt need a coach."

    He gets on the block once again and dived in.

    "That's enough with them!" I say. "I'm ready to set a personal best in my 50 free and 100IM!" I've been jumping and stretching around the whole entire time.

    "Alright, which one first?" Gou says and gets ready to mark the clipboard.

    "100." I say and make my way to the block.

    "Got it, get yourself ready!" I do a few more jumps and mount the block.

    "You got this, Amaya!" Makoto cheers. I take a few deep breaths to get the oxygen flowing, and my heart rate is already fast and steady.

    "Take your mark..." I bend down and grab the front of the block with my hands, curling the toes of my left foot onto it as well and put my right foot back for the suoporting kick. "Go!" I dive in, knowing it was another great start and manage to get in five dolphin kicks before I break out with my butterfly. I'm not exceptional, but a little better than average with this stroke but I know I make up any lost time with my kick off of the wall and my backstroke. I grab the wall and bring my feet to it, kicking off onto my back to being the second stroke in the IM order.

    It's much easier to breathe in Back than in Fly since I don't have to breathe every other stroke. I see the flags above my head and count four strokes before rolling over onto my front and flipping onto the wall and pushing off. One dolphin kick is allowed for breaststroke, then I break my streamline and bring my arms down to my side. I ready them for the first stroke and frog kick, breaking the surface of the water. Kick, drift, pull, repeat. I do the same steadily, keeping my head aligned with my back and breathing every other stroke. Personally I think it's difficult to breath during this and Fly since there is water dripping down your face the whole time.

    I finally make it to the wall and bring myself to it, kick off and dolphin kick three times in my streamline before breaking out into my fastest stroke. I keep yelling at my self not to breathe on the first stroke, which hurts to do but I do it and breath on my third stroke. I pull and kick furiously to the end breathing as little times as possible. Once I see that I'm at the flags, I stop breathing and made a break for the wall. I see myself pass over the T on the pool floor and reached for the wall with my hand.