Swim Objective & Action Item to Reach It

Now in my 2nd year as a triathlete, I know my weaknesses. As with lots of you it is my swimming. Since the beginning of the year, my focus has been on improving my swim. Not too much about speed but more in swimming with ease, enjoy swimming and build swim fitness. These are my OBJECTIVES

1. Enjoy swimming
2. Swim with ease
3. Build swim fitness
4. Improve my speed

In order to achieve them, I set as my main ACTION ITEM getting ***consistent*** workouts. This translates for me by getting in the pool 3 times a week, including once with my tri club. While in the pool, all of my thoughts revolve around reducing drag by trying to achieve the best body position and develop a feel for the water. Every lap, at the wall, I quickly assess my form and try to fix just one thing in the upcoming lap. For instance, I end a lap and before pushing the wall I give myself a 75% note on my last lap since I felt my feet could have pointed more and then I dedicate my next lap in trying to improve it.

Workout after workout, my REWARD is feeling improvement; better sensations, better SWOLF scores and in the end, more speed. Achieving (slowly but surely) confirmed that my choice of swimming more often works and it makes it easier to got back to the pool for my next workout.

Train of Thoughts

1. What is one of your objectives?
2. What is the very next action which will get you a tiny bit closer toward achieving this objective?
3. Just do it.

My Last Workout

300m crawl w/snorkel

300 crawl

100 kick

300 crawl

200 pull

200 free

100m kick on back

400 crawl

200 CD crawl w/snorkel

/2100m

Swim Consistently in 2016

I want to swim more consistently. And after viewing coach Gerry Rodrigues giving a clinique on "How to become a better triathlete swimmer", it reinforced my beliefs in CONSISTENCY. I have not been perfect in 2015 but I surpassed my expectations. Starting 2015, I could not believe I would swim 1500m continuously without wetsuit. Which I did in Magog doing my first Olympic distance triathlon. Starting 2016, I am planning on swimming consistently day in day out, week in week out.

This year, I will become an open-water swimmer. I will be working out at the pool. Some sessions will be ugly but that is part of the process: it is not a straight line to improvement. I will have bad workouts. I can accept that. I will admit when they happen. BUT I will also be back at the pool trying again to become a better swimmer. I will not swim to accumulate mileage, I will swim to be better than the previous session.

If, like me, you struggle with your swimming (compared to biking and running), do yourself a favor ;

1. Get a pen and some paper
2. Sit comfortably without any distraction
3. Launch this video series
4. In the comments below, tell me what you got from it. Did it inspire you? What do you agree or disagree on? I am curious to read your comments...