On Sunday evening I had tried to go for a swim, but the pool was busy, I was pretty wiped out from the trail run (and probably the adrenaline aspect of it), and in the end I just did 8 slow lengths (200m), with a pause at the end of most of them, and then hit the steam room and jacuzzi instead. It was probably the right thing to do on Sunday night, and I ended the evening feeling massively relaxed and proud of myself, as I used the time in the steam room and jacuzzi to think back on how the morning had gone, etc. However, it niggled at me that I'd not done much swimming, so last night I decided I would go for a 'proper' swim.
Had I been doing my usual focusing on the negatives or analysing potential problems, I would have given a lot more credence to the fact that yesterday morning I tried to go for a run before work, and although I covered a slow 1½ miles without any muscle soreness or pains etc, my legs had felt incredibly heavy, and I'd genuinely found it tough going. Maybe my body was still a bit tired from the weekend.... maybe swimming with tired limbs wasn't a good idea? Yeah, well, as I said, I'm not doing that any more. (Or trying, lol!) So, positive head on, away we go....
I got to the pool at about 8:45pm, and it was pretty quiet. I got a lane to myself, and decided that I would count lengths in my head using the 'alphabet' technique - swim each length focussing on positive words beginning with each letter of the alphabet. I started strong, and turned quickly at each end, without stopping. By the fifth length my inner monologue was going something like:
E. Energy. Excellence. Exercise. Effective. Elegant. Enjoyment! Energetic - wait, I already had Energy. Eh.... Er... Em.... Esteem. Ease. Encouraging. Enrichment. Exerise. ...
and so on! I took a short break at the end of the lane after about 8 laps, and carried on. I noticed I was tiring when I found myself thinking: "N. Natural. ....Natural. .....New. um... Natural. .....Nerve. ....Natural.... new, newness? .....No more negativity... errr, new?" - lmao! However, I was determined I would carry on, so instead of focussing on how I was tiring and slowing, I focussed more on the words in my head. I made it to Z - laughably, 'zoom', 'zest', and 'zeal' was about all I could think of, but I did remember back to some friends suggesting that swimming away from zombies or zulus would help speed me up, haha! - but I wanted to carry on. This was about as far as I'd ever gone before, and with a lot less pauses at the end of laps than I was used to, so I decided I would start again and try to get to 40 lengths, or 1km.
I figured I needed to get to N this time, to make up from 26 to 40, but it would be pointless trying the same trick as I'd already been struggling for new inspiration the first time round, so instead I distracted myself by playing a modified game of "I went to the shops..." (you know the one? Players take it in turn, starting 'I went to the shop and I bought an apple.' then the next one "I went to the shop and I bought an apple and a pair of trousers." then the next one "I went to the shop and I bought an apple, a pair of trousers, and a print of Whistler's Mother.", and so on...) - This one went: all the way up the next length, I focussed on the word 'awesome'. Then n the way back: 'awesome belief'. Then the next one: 'awesome belief can', and so on - all the way to "Awesome belief can definitely encourage feeling great, having inspirational joy, knowing loads more nutters." - hahahaha. I was going so well till I got to about l, m, when my brain started going funny, haha...
So, yeah, long story short - I finished all 40 laps, only pausing at the end of the lane THREE times. Incredible. I swam with breast stroke, trying to keep good form how my swimming teacher showed me, and keeping distracted from telling myself I was 'tired' by keeping positive words and images in my head. Granted, it took me 50 minutes, but it's the first time I've ever swam a kilometre, and in all honesty I am over the moon!!!
Awesome - that is all xx
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