THREE's summer kickoff: Jumping back in the pool
Have you ever arranged to meet a friend who you hadn’t seen in a couple years? If so, were you excited for the opportunity to catch up but nervous that things wouldn’t be the “same” as you’d remembered? Pools across the country are currently reopening, and going back to the pool reminds me of meeting an old friend. After eight weeks away, the longest I’ve been away from a pool since I was seven years old, walking back onto the pool deck feels one part familiar, one part self-aware.
The physical setup at the pool (or the office, if that’s your thing) is likely unchanged from the way you left it two months ago. Your perception of that environment, however, is likely different. Zen Buddhists call this “seeing with a beginner’s mind,” and it’s essentially the idea that beginners (in anything) can develop rapidly because they are open-minded. You’re suddenly more aware of actions which you used to unconsciously automate, and that awareness creates an opportunity. This is true for both your swimming and your other daily processes.
As you get back into your swimming routine, there will be movements that feel different. Avoid the temptation to immediately judge your swimming technique or to condemn your lack of fitness. Instead, take advantage of your heightened awareness. You may have lost some of your good swimming habits during the lockdown. Odds are you lost some bad ones as well. Adopt that “beginner’s mindset” and see this moment as an opportunity to correct a bad habit which you had previously automated. There’s never been a better time to work on improving your body position or being smooth through the water. If you always kept your head too high (your eyes should be aimed at the bottom of the pool), then now’s your time to break that habit. Strive for progress, not perfection. Let’s capitalize on the awareness of this moment and work towards progress, both in and out of the pool.
THREE co-founder and USAT age group triathlete, Matt Connelly, had this to say about his first swim back:
"The first 300 yards felt like a 1650, but I was determined to power through...feeling like a brick. …Nonetheless, whenever I take time off from swimming I appreciate the meditation aspect it brings to your morning. I am happy to be back, never had so many kudos on Strava for a slow, barely over 2k yards swim!"
How was your first swim back?
Joe Maloy, 2016 U.S. Olympic Triathlete, Co-Founder and Editor-at-Large
• Taking that first plunge back into the pool is turning out to be a summer rite of passage for triathletes who have been under Stay at Home orders and shut out of gyms and pools for most of the spring. San Diego State University’s associate head swimming coach, Stephen Allnutt, shares advice for getting back into the pool in a special guest column for THREE: Getting back in the pool: A swim coach’s guide to the first 5 minutes, 5 days, and 5 weeks in the water. “Technique should be your #1 focus during this time," Allnutt says. "With no races on the horizon, this could be a once in a lifetime to develop new habits while your old habits have been temporarily suppressed.”
• If you’ve developed a preference for swim training on dry land or simply want to continue to develop strength and technique above ground, THREE’s resident swimmer turned Olympic triathlete, Joe Maloy, demonstrates ways to overcome resistance or put power to the water using a Vasa trainer in this YouTube video.
• The transformative events of the past few weeks have renewed movements for racial justice and raised awareness about diversity and representation in all aspects of our lives. This past weekend, the 2020 Endurance Conference was held virtually and featured a panel discussion about diversity in triathlon and endurance sports. Zafiri’s Will Ross wrote a post summarizing the diversity discussion, which included triathletes Angela Naeth and Chris Mosier, Dr. Tekemia Dorsey of the International Association of Black Triathletes, as well as USAT diversity and inclusion manager Megan Ritch.
• As you start to reboot and retool your training plans, one thing we can learn from Olympic athletes is that “some of the most successful athletes aren’t necessarily the strongest or fastest, but simply the ones who are best at staying motivated.” The Atlantic recently outlined “seven ways Olympians stay motivated through the training slog.” They write that “Mindfulness, self-talk, and an obscure chunk of the brain help elite athletes get through the training grind.”
• This analysis of how fish swim up to 70 miles per hour won’t really help you improve your swimming technique, but this article is worth bookmarking for when you have a moment to process how “fish demonstrate an effortless grace and power that humans can only dream of.” MIT Technology Review’s summary of research published by the Beijing Computational Science Research Center in China reveals, for the first time, “how fish generate thrust and even why certain anatomical structures, like tendons, are so important.”
• Lack of sleep has commonly been referenced as one of the side effects of the pandemic, but getting good sleep is also known to be a key part of training-recovery for athletes. Athletes like Lebron James and Roger Federer are known to sleep for 10 to 12 hours a day. Aside from physical health, The New Yorker describes how sleep is key to brain function in the article, The Work We Do While We Sleep.
