It's that the beginning of winter again, and many of the Crimson athletes, including myself, will be living the good life off in some tropical paradise during their "training" trips.

Before I have to listen to dozens of students complain about how easy the athletes' lives are and how many advantages they get, let me clarify a few things.

Many of the teams here at Harvard go on a training trip over part of the winter recess and there are a lot of misconceptions about those trips by the public at large.

True, many of the teams will be going to exotic, or quasi-exotic, locations for their trip, but this does not make it a vacation by any stretch of the imagination.

Let's take the men's swimming training trip as an example. Here is a typical day from our trip to Hawaii a few years back:

5:30 a.m.: We wake up and drive over to the pool where we are training, change into suits and get ready to get in the water.

6 to 8:30 a.m.: We train, generally with more intensity and for over longer distances than throughout the rest of the season.

8:30 to 9 a.m.: The team showers and heads back to the hotel, where they will prepare breakfast for themselves from the food bought at the local grocery store--this usually consists of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a candy bar.