One 100
My swimming woes are well known to people who know my triathlon history or those who read this blog. Last year it was learning how to swim and becoming comfortable in the water. This year it’s been setbacks with shoulder and endurance issues. It’s almost comical how last night I found myself in a familiar position of not wanting to go to the pool. The long weekend, the poor performance, an upset stomach and everything else all sounded like great excuses. Nonetheless I threw up my hands and said “fine I’ll go!”
I arrived at the pool “so thrilled” to be there. I changed and showered and jumped into the chilly water. Ya know as many times as I’ve jumped into the lap pool you would think I would get use to it. Nope. I started with a warmup and some stretching before doing some 100 repeats. As with most of my swims it was pretty mediocre. I didn’t feel real bad, well except for the stomach which cut things a bit short, but I wasn’t feeling great either with one exception. For one 100 repeat I felt like my old self in the water. I felt smooth and calm as I glided through the water while rotating my body just the right amount. For one 100 repeat I didn’t feel any bad pressure on my shoulder or elbow as churned out stroke after stroke. For one 100 I had a steady and relaxed breathing pattern. For one and only one repeat did I find myself enjoying my swim and smiling on the inside.
At times you have to take the very small rays of light and focus on them when you are in a rut. It’s to easy to just label it all as a bad workout, but that’s not the truth. For a portion, all be it a small portion, things were clicking and I’d be even worse off if I completely ignored that fact. Sometimes we have to take those small fractions like one set, ½ mile, or one hill where things worked and build upon them. As soon as we let things turn in a negative direction we’re screwed. So when things run in a direction you’d rather not be going, find those positives and rays of light no matter what the size. Focus on them and hang on to them until you’ve come through the clear and replaced them with even bigger and better things to focus on.
I arrived at the pool “so thrilled” to be there. I changed and showered and jumped into the chilly water. Ya know as many times as I’ve jumped into the lap pool you would think I would get use to it. Nope. I started with a warmup and some stretching before doing some 100 repeats. As with most of my swims it was pretty mediocre. I didn’t feel real bad, well except for the stomach which cut things a bit short, but I wasn’t feeling great either with one exception. For one 100 repeat I felt like my old self in the water. I felt smooth and calm as I glided through the water while rotating my body just the right amount. For one 100 repeat I didn’t feel any bad pressure on my shoulder or elbow as churned out stroke after stroke. For one 100 I had a steady and relaxed breathing pattern. For one and only one repeat did I find myself enjoying my swim and smiling on the inside.
At times you have to take the very small rays of light and focus on them when you are in a rut. It’s to easy to just label it all as a bad workout, but that’s not the truth. For a portion, all be it a small portion, things were clicking and I’d be even worse off if I completely ignored that fact. Sometimes we have to take those small fractions like one set, ½ mile, or one hill where things worked and build upon them. As soon as we let things turn in a negative direction we’re screwed. So when things run in a direction you’d rather not be going, find those positives and rays of light no matter what the size. Focus on them and hang on to them until you’ve come through the clear and replaced them with even bigger and better things to focus on.
posted by walchka at 2:14 PM
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