My Own Worst Enemy

Today was my first Intermediate level swim class.  Apparently I was nervous about moving up to Intermediate because I had a bad dream about swim class last night.  I dreamed that I went to class and was completely unprepared...I had forgotten everything except my swimsuit...no goggles, swim fins or even a towel!  Then everyone in the class was going so fast and I couldn't keep up.  It was a very stressful dream.

So when I was getting ready to go to class, I double and triple checked my bag to make sure that I had everything.  I got to class with enough time to leisurely braid my hair and chat with Abby.  Then I took a deep breath and headed into the pool area.

Kind of like lunch on the first day of school, everyone was a little unsure about selecting a lane.  The lanes are typically divided slowest to fastest.  I was hoping to find a spot in the middle lanes, but by the time I got there, the middle lanes were filled.  So I took a spot in the 2nd slowest lane.  I was sure that I shouldn't go into the 2nd to fastest lane!

There were 3 of us in the lane.  When we do our drills, we go in groups.  So the first swimmer in each lane is group 1, the second swimmer in each lane is group 2, and the last swimmer in each lane is group 3.  When we started our drills, another woman in my lane asked to be in group 1.  I was fine with being in group 2 until I realized that on every drill, I was catching her.  Finally we realized that it would be better for both of us if we switched.

So being in group 1 was an interesting challenge for me.  I am definitely my own worst enemy when it comes to my competitive side.  So we would swim our drills and I would gauge my performance against the other group 1 swimmers.  I was not the fastest of the group 1s.  I wasn't even close to being the fastest.  So I started to feel badly about how I was doing.  I kept thinking "why can't I keep up with the other group 1s?" 

What I should have been focusing on was the fact that the critiques I was receiving were minor.  Overall, my breathing and my stroke were great.  The group 3 swimmer in my lane had an asthma attack and she sat out of the pool for awhile while she tried to get her breathing under control.  She commented to me that I made swimming look so easy and natural.  What a nice compliment!  Unfortunately the response in my head was "yeah but I wasn't as fast as the other group 1s". 

I talked a little bit with Abby about this after the class was over.  Abby was exactly right.  She basically told me that I'm focusing on the wrong thing.  It's not about being fast in this class.  It's about learning how to perfect the technique of swimming and that speed would come once that happens.  How true!  I am really going to try to keep away that competitive side of me when I'm training.  Let's worry about fast after I have some more experience!