Clearing off the Cobwebs

As the air warms and the lake water begins its ascent into swimmable temperatures, many athletes are contemplating their first open water training session of the year. Along with the excitement of beginning a new season may also be brief moments of hesitation and apprehension about transferring pool skills into open water swimming.

With many years of open water swimming experience I am fortunate to not have those moments BUT most certainly went through a brushing off of the cobwebs, mentally and physically, with my first paddleboard training session this past weekend. This is a fairly new sport for me and I recognized that how I processed the first SUP session could very well be similar to what a newcomer to open water swimming may go through.

Here are some of the thoughts that went through my mind before and during the first training session:

• How cold would the water feel if I fell in?
• Could I physically make my planned distance?
• Could I physically make my planned distance with the speed I wanted?
• How would I cope with the challenge of paddling into a headwind?
• Could I retrieve all of my paddling technique skills from the last time I paddled in the early fall?

So many questions!

These questions seemed to cycle through my mind for the first mile of my paddle. I then decided to approach the rest of the training session with the same priorities I would give an open water swim.

First, recover and build mental strength. I am fortunate to have worked closely with Dr Izzy Justice and have built a successful SwimEQ program that increases emotional intelligence to optimize performance. I drew on these skills to find mental harmony and calm.

Then, find open water skills. Navigation and pacing are top priorities in open water swimming, so I did the same with paddling. Focus on paddling directly, and find a pace I knew I could sustain for the duration of the session.

Finally, cycle through the technique focal points that would give my sustainable pace efficiency and ease.

It was a wonderful return to the water, I felt empowered and satisfied with the session. I will do the same when it is time for my first lake swim of the year.

Coach Dinah

I’m on an improvement carousel….

And I love it. In fact I think I am addicted. If I walk away from any training session having learned something new about my stroke I have this wonderful sense of achievement and complete satisfaction. My brain just got its fix.

I love being in the circle of conscious incompetence to unconscious competence. Finding any small improvement opportunity in my stroke and working towards change is extremely satisfying. This morning I swam a mile freestyle, deliberately fluctuating between a 6 beat kick and a 2 beat kick. I found this subtle timing flaw in the 6 beat kick – my right foot was too slow at times. The rhythm was off. As I swam I could feel a slight increase in tension on the top of my right foot. It was causing the right leg to get stuck and not able to completely align. Conscious incompetence. Check. Once I softened the foot, I could feel a more hydrodynamic body line and the rhythm was fluid and steady. Conscious competence. Check. Then I cycled back into conscious incompetence – where else did this flaw impact my stroke and if I still had the tension in the foot, where could I feel it elsewhere in the stroke? It definitely impacted my extension through the right obliques and hip flexor and I could feel a slight vertical shift in body position. Releasing the right foot tension, I could then fix the alignment and remove the vertical shift – conscious competence.

As I was enjoying this cycle, I switched into backstroke, curious to see if I held the same foot tension in the 6 beat kick. Well what do you know…conscious incompetence. Release the tension, better alignment and more fluid rotational transitions. Conscious competence.

I didn’t want to get off this carousel…..

Coach Dinah