Welcome back. 2011 was a bit of a rough year, but I’m pleased to have a new schedule and some new opportunities coming in 2012. I have never been one for resolutions, mainly because I feel that if you want to change something, you should wait until a certain moment to change it. If you see the need, start the fix right away. A few weeks ago, I saw the need.
I made a promise to my swim team that I’d do a cold-turkey 10,000 yard swim. I have done little training since July’s English Channel relay, so I was expecting a brutal 3-hour endeavor. I prepped myself to start after finishing a workshop on December 18, but my daughter helped me out with the excuse of a ruptured appendix. Two weeks of hospital and cancelled travel plans later, I still had the swim to do. On Saturday, December 31, I started off without much of a plan besides assuring myself that I had the willpower to finish.
I broke the swim up into single swims of 500 yards, and short breaks of 10 seconds to a minute between them. The first three 500s were excrutiatingly boring. Time was going so slowly, and I hadn’t found my rhythm. I needed a different strategy.
By the third 500, my family wandered into the pool to swim, so I had to put on a good show of solid swimming. I was, after all, missing precious time with them. I moved my mental tempo up a bit and honed in my focus. Suddenly, the groove was there. I started knocking off 500s at paces I never expected to be going, and feeling better and better. I have literally done one swim of 1000 yards since the summer- this was shocking?
So what was I doing? I was coaching myself for the first time in years. I had come to a sudden realization in thinking through my stroke. I thought I’d be pushing through shoulder pain until I realized that if I tackled that challenge the way I told my swimmers to, pain became an option. It’s not a smart option, but it’s an option that many people choose by simply accepting that it is the only choice.
I only felt one little twinge early on in the swim in my left shoulder before I made adjustments. They were exaggerated enough that right away, there was no tension or pain. Without pain, I found a growing enjoyment of the swims, and a pace that continued to accelerate throughout. I never dropped to slower than 1:30 per 100, but without adding much effort, I was getting into flat 6:00 500s. And I was loving it.
I had my wife write up all the 500s I was doing on the board before she left, and I would go up and cross them off from time to time. Usually, I wanted to keep going so I would cross off 2-3 at a time after swimming straight through them. When I got to 10,000 yards, I felt a motivation and lack of pain that I have never felt at that distance. I was seriously considering continuing the swim until I realized that I had obligations back home. Next time, I’ll throw a couple more hours into the plan.
Starting off 2012, I encourage you to heighten your awareness in your swim for every yard you do. If you feel pain in your swimming, be willing to admit that it is a choice to have that pain there. Pushing through it does not eliminate it, and more importantly, it is absolutely not the only option. Choose to experiment with depth, angles, flow changes, and other changes until you find the stroke that eliminates the option of pain completely. You’ll be amazed with what you have left when your mind and body get to leave that baggage behind. Happy New Year, and check back later today for another blog posting!
Dave
