Swim

Very productive swim today. Focused on doing 3 drills for 40 mins. In the past couple weeks I've done a bunch of different drills, never really focusing on any one thing. As I got in the pool today I figured it would be better to master one thing at a time. Today was all about working one side of the body at a time. First isolating my kick with fins, and then working on adding in the arms-again, one side at a time.

By the end of the swim I felt I had made some serious headway. I was beginning to get more and more streamlined, and felt overall more balanced in my stroke. I think I'm going to head back again for another session later this afternoon if I have the time. Doing it this way really gives each workout a specific goal, which, in the long run, I think will serve me better overall. Also, I'm going to do some band work to get those swimming muscles in shape!

Afternoon:
Did another swim, this time only for about 25 minutes. I just wanted to get back in the water and practice more.

When I was 12, I went to the Official Little League Baseball summer camp in Williamsport, PA. There I recieved one of the best piece of athletic advice I've ever heard-even better than any of my Division I college coaches. Simply put, in an assembly during the second week of camp, the camp director told us pre-teen campers, "Practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." Now I know that probably every other coach in the world has uttered these words at one point or another, but this has stuck with me from the time I was 12. I haven't always practiced perfectly, but I do remember these words.

With this new endevor of becoming a super swimmer, it's more important than ever for me to remember these words. As I mentioned earlier in this post from the morning, I practiced only 3 drills and focused in on them like my life depended on it. I must get these drills perfect, otherwise they're pretty much useless. Each one has to have attention to detail paid it, otherwise, there's really no sense in me continuing to stare at the black (or in the case of my pool, blue) line until I'm sick. Bad drills equal bad form, and that's what I want to stay clear of. Until I perfect them, the 3 drills I performed today will be all I do. In a funny way, it motivates me even more. I guess that's part of my OCD coming out.