The weakest link

So, I'm not a big fan of swimming. I think I've mentioned that before, and it's still true.
Despite many, many attempts to embrace the calm and zen-like nature of the act, I still can't say that the swim and I are on good terms. If not for triathlon, there's pretty much no way I would ever visit the pool (except on vacation, perhaps, and with a drink in my hand). I'm not good at it, which might be a chief contributor as to why I'm not a fan, but I'd like to think that it's more than just that. I can't quite put my finger on the reason(s), but I've never been able to move past the "just tolerating it" point of the swim.
The reason I mention this is because Tuesday morning is swim day, per the Plan, and I arrived at 6:30 a.m. to find a Masters class warming up in our outdoor pool. I've been out at this time a couple times before (the outdoor pool opened at the beginning of the month), and basically had the thing to myself (don't be jealous), so this was a bit of a shock. Luckily, they let me take a lane to myself along the wall, and we each did our own thing (me: 2500 = 4x500, 2x200, 1x100).
However, even clositered in my own little lane, let me just say that I have very rarely felt so inept and unskilled in my whole life. These kids were kicking my ass in eight different ways. And I mean all of them - underwater, I could see four or five lanes of swimmers all passing me. And the strangest thing is, I can't understand why they're so fast and I'm so slow - I swear I'm doing exactly what they're doing, just not moving as fast. Pfft.
So, yeah, good times. At least no one kicked sand in my face.
Needless to say, while I'm happy to have put in the yards, my confidence is a bit low and my feelings about swimming haven't changed.
It still sucks.