SWIMMING NOT EASY

 

Who said swimming is easy?  They have never gotten up at the break of dawn, grabbed a little something to eat, head out into the dark only to arrive at your destination and jump into the cold water which will be your training arena for the next 60-90 minutes.

It does not matter what arena an athlete competes in because every athlete makes sacrifices in their daily lives whether they are physical, mental or social.  Every day we are faced with challenges and choices and as an athlete you are faced with a few more.  The first choice your faced with each day is to show up for practice. There will always be "something that tugs" at you and yes it takes great discipline to make the correct choice for your well being.  Commitment takes a lot of effort and involves sacrifices and making the right choices every day. Does it end there?  No.

The next choice you have to makes, Am I going to focus and walk away from this workout a better swimmer?  Take a piece of paper and write down 5 things that will make you a better swimmer/athlete.  They can range from things outside the pool such as eating properly, getting enough rest, hydrating, and dry land workouts.  They could be things during practice such as proper warmups and swim downs, leaving walls correctly every time. breathing patterns, good effort.  Think of these as a balance sheet with a credit side and a debit side.

 Check in with it often and see where you stand.  After a meet if a coach suggest that you need to work on a faster turn than you know your in the red and it requires a little more of your attention to move it into the black.

Now, if you make all the sacrifices and do the things right will you be successful.  Depends on what successful means to you.  If it means a best time every time you dive in, I feel pretty confident that you will be disappointed more often than not.  Swimming, like life is not easy, it owes you nothing.  Don't fall into the entitlement trap.  If you have a bad result don 't think of yourself as a victim, get over it and move on.  Most things are more rewarding when you have to work hard to get them.