Just Keep Swimming
This weekend I got to participate in a mile ocean swim race as part of the Santa Barbara Triathlon. I did the exact same race one year ago and it’s been fun to reflect on the changes and improvements I felt this year compared to last.
The most notable improvement: I took 8 minutes off my time. 8 minutes!!! There are many factors that contributed, including:
Good swim coaching. My friend Dawn ran a 12 week training program through the local Masters Swim group and coached us weekly at the pool on technique and one day in the ocean to put it all into practice. With great feedback and proper progression, everyone in our group improved immensely over the 12 weeks! This is twice as long as we trained last year and it made a huge difference!
Quality and more consistent strength training. A lot of this training has been with quality programming. Last year I could only swim about 800-1000m before my shoulders or my neck would start hurting, but that wasn’t the case this year! I feel stronger and far more capable in so many ways.
Overcoming a fragility mindset full of fear of doing things. Part of feeling capable again includes a willingness to push myself more. For a while, I was so discouraged by all my aches and pains that I thought I should do less, instead of doing more. There are a lot of practitioners in the fitness and wellness world who preach caution and embed this fragility mindset deep into our worries. While I agree that safety should always be considered, it does not serve us to become scared to move, especially because movement is what our body needs most!
Good Physical Therapy. I have been fortunate to work with a very good physical therapist in Pasadena who has helped my post-concussion recovery the last few months. I have significantly less neck pain and hip pain, which also contributes to my confidence and feelings of capability.
Better mental health. I’m sure you can see how all of these factors contribute to my overall mental health being better. I have also taken steps to specifically support my mental health, including therapy, microdosing mushrooms, and changing the environments and situations that were most troublesome.
And last, but certainly not least: natural conditions. Mother Nature has a big say when swimming in the ocean! Last year was foggy and we had a bigger swell than usual for Santa Barbara. This year was sunny, warm, and clear, with just a small current and a little breeze. It was quite lovely!
It’s a lot of effort to do all those things. But for one day, I got to feel like I was on top of the world. I am so grateful that my day to day experience is also better, but when all those things come together for such a great day, it all feels extra worth it.
I know good training works. I know that health is the result of many choices and circumstances working together. It’s what I preach and practice day in and day out. But it’s always fun to be reminded that intellectually knowing something is not the same as KNOWING & FEELING something.
We intellectually know all kinds of things: that we should eat vegetables, exercise every day and not look at our phones before bed (as I’m writing this on my phone before bed…). BUT, until we FEEL the difference that it makes to actually do these things, we simply won’t do it. You have to feel that it’s worth it to put all the effort in.
So, it’s a bit of a catch 22- you have to put the effort in before you get to feel how it’s worth the effort.
But trust me, it is worth it.
Have fun out there!
Post-race with my favorite swim coach, Dawn!
