Swimming today was amazing
Swimming today was amazing.
I was late (infuriating tram works causing bus stops to be almost a mile apart at short notice), and plunged into the pool, tearing away at the water. When I first started, I had a strict pattern I adhered to, but the last couple of times (including twice in Glasgow, at a pool mine has a 'reciprocal deal' with) I've just been swimming up and down, keeping going as much as I can without stopping. I don't know what I'll do next, I've just been taking it as it comes.
My limbs felt longer, my whole body easing into it so much more smoothly than before. My technique's always been good (my swimming coach, as a competitive swimmer in my childhood, used to say that I had the technique down, now if I could just get the speed up, I'd be, you know, *really* good) but it's been a long time since I even grazed, with my fingertips, that long-ago feeling of moving through the water like a bullet. Confident, self-powered, streamlined. A machine. My body parts working together - arms, legs, lungs, heart, eyes, stomach. I love that feeling.
Along the way, I haven't been monitoring myself too closely. Because I'm prone to that. Prone to massive amounts of self-watching and self-analysis, and like anything else, it's crippling in large amounts. I'll achieve a goal, and then move my bar higher, never really feeling a sense of achievement, or satisfaction. Always striving for *better*. I could write a whole separate (and long) post on how damaging I believe the 'always try for better' attitude (embodied so effortlessly in the American psyche) is, but you'll just have to trust me that, with my mental make-up, it's a Bad Path. So I don't do it.
But I do know that a couple of months ago, I was doing a length in about a minute, give or take a couple of seconds. I've no idea when it changed, but lately, as I say, I've been feeling the faster movement, coming in surprisingly swiftly to length ends, to the point that I've surprised myself on a few occasions and almost banged my head. Today, I did 30 lengths in 20 minutes. That's effectively a 50% increase on my speed. That, to me, is amazing. I did that. No-one else.
And another reason I don't monitor too much is because things change. I'm not going to think about how (you'll see why in a second), but they could, and that would be ok too. Maybe I'll be slower. Maybe I'll be faster. I don't know. I'm not big on looking back these days, or worrying too much about what's coming (see? There you go); I'm trying to just (*cringe* this is going to sound hippy-dippy no matter how I say it) hang out mostly in the Now.
So, see, it doesn't matter what happens. Because nothing can change that today? Today, swimming was amazing.
I was late (infuriating tram works causing bus stops to be almost a mile apart at short notice), and plunged into the pool, tearing away at the water. When I first started, I had a strict pattern I adhered to, but the last couple of times (including twice in Glasgow, at a pool mine has a 'reciprocal deal' with) I've just been swimming up and down, keeping going as much as I can without stopping. I don't know what I'll do next, I've just been taking it as it comes.
My limbs felt longer, my whole body easing into it so much more smoothly than before. My technique's always been good (my swimming coach, as a competitive swimmer in my childhood, used to say that I had the technique down, now if I could just get the speed up, I'd be, you know, *really* good) but it's been a long time since I even grazed, with my fingertips, that long-ago feeling of moving through the water like a bullet. Confident, self-powered, streamlined. A machine. My body parts working together - arms, legs, lungs, heart, eyes, stomach. I love that feeling.
Along the way, I haven't been monitoring myself too closely. Because I'm prone to that. Prone to massive amounts of self-watching and self-analysis, and like anything else, it's crippling in large amounts. I'll achieve a goal, and then move my bar higher, never really feeling a sense of achievement, or satisfaction. Always striving for *better*. I could write a whole separate (and long) post on how damaging I believe the 'always try for better' attitude (embodied so effortlessly in the American psyche) is, but you'll just have to trust me that, with my mental make-up, it's a Bad Path. So I don't do it.
But I do know that a couple of months ago, I was doing a length in about a minute, give or take a couple of seconds. I've no idea when it changed, but lately, as I say, I've been feeling the faster movement, coming in surprisingly swiftly to length ends, to the point that I've surprised myself on a few occasions and almost banged my head. Today, I did 30 lengths in 20 minutes. That's effectively a 50% increase on my speed. That, to me, is amazing. I did that. No-one else.
And another reason I don't monitor too much is because things change. I'm not going to think about how (you'll see why in a second), but they could, and that would be ok too. Maybe I'll be slower. Maybe I'll be faster. I don't know. I'm not big on looking back these days, or worrying too much about what's coming (see? There you go); I'm trying to just (*cringe* this is going to sound hippy-dippy no matter how I say it) hang out mostly in the Now.
So, see, it doesn't matter what happens. Because nothing can change that today? Today, swimming was amazing.