Taking swimming lessons has been a revelation, but when it comes to practice sometimes no plan is better than an over-detailed training plan.
Last week I swam 30 lengths, nonstop. For some of you that may not seem a great achievement, but given my previous record was probably 4, it felt pretty epic. The funny thing is, until length number 20 something I had absolutely no intention, or expectation that I was going to swim 30 lengths, in fact, I'd have been delighted with 10!
“Sometimes over-planning the regime can get in the way of getting on with the next step. ”
The human desire to stretch targets
So what happened? I swam 6 lengths, and then set a new target of 10, and then of 14, and then of 20. Each time I didn't think about what happened after my mini target, I just swam. It's human nature to want to have targets, but it's also human nature to want to stretch them. Done 12, what next? Every time I completed a length (or a stroke even) I just took the next step. And somehow it was easier for me that way round than setting the target for 30 and then slogging your way to it. Partly because I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen. I'd have been delighted with 20 lengths, 30 amazing!
Obviously, it's good to have a plan, and a direction, and set your 'inner GPS'. Mine was to swim 2 or 3 times a week, just for fitness. Then you just need to get on the learning curve...
The tricky thing about that is that we have a tendency to over think things, and spend a lot of time planning and prepping which actually gets in the way of the doing. I knew I needed lessons but had got so involved in practicing my drills in the pool that I'd not spent a lot of time actually swimming...
Trying to control a future that hasn't yet arrived is futile, taking the next step in each moment, in the direction you're travelling in... a walk in the park!
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