Performance Issues
"I learnt from Armstrong on the early recordings that you never sang a song the same way twice."
- Van Morrison
"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character."
- John Wooden
I haven't written in awhile. Let's just say things have been busy. I have returned to work once again with legendary Sean Reeder. To get to work with Sean again meant that I had to end my working relationship with Nathan DeBacker, which was not exactly easy. In the end, to get something meaningful you have to give up something. We'll see where this takes me. In the meantime, it's good to be working with Sean again.
Over the past few weeks of working with Coach Kevin we have started to see what I call True Progress. We recognized that we had been putting a lot of technical Band-Aids on a few key technical elements of the freestyle, and went back to the fundamentals: high elbow recovery, leading with the shoulder and not the hand, carrying the elbows into the water, etc. I've had to concede that if I want to swim faster, then I will have to swim slower for an indefinite period--and I am okay with that. I told Kevin at the beginning of our working relationship that he had 3 years to build an effecient freestyle. One year is almost over, and I think the heavy lifting is over. We know what the issues are and now we just need to beat it into my bones.
My thoughts today on performance come from Van Morrison and John Wooden--two very different people concerned with the same thing. I like what the Belfast Cowboy is hitting on: each performance should be approached as if it is a brand new thing. He's probably going to sing "Brown-eyed Girl" at every concert, but if done properly, it's never going to be the same. He's always bringing something new either emotionally, or musically to the moment.
Dick Jochums is famous for having only ten workouts in his reportoire. I think part of his reasoning is that he wants his swimmers to steel themselves in workout for what they will be seeing in competition. A 100 free is always going to be a 100 free. Learning to treat a workout with intensity and focus, probably leads to a more focused performance.
I'm not on the peformance end of things yet, still in practice mode. Kevin gave me instructions at the beginning of our lesson, and walked the length of the pool as a I swam. The sequence of the remaining lesson went like this: push-off, swim with focus, touch the wall, Kevin says, "Do it again." That was my lesson. I found this experience extremely satisfying. We've spent a lot of time identifying isssues, and now we are actually resolving them.
When I first read the Wooden quote, I thought he meant that success takes character, which is why I selected the quote. Upon re-reading the quote I think he means that anyone who is talented can be successful for a short period of time, but to keep it going takes something else. I can see this fairly easily in my own life. I was a relatively successful tennis player, but those skills don't mean much in the water. Being able to show up someplace and work mindfully, even if you aren't making any perceived progress, is a different skill. I'm sure at some point I will change directions professionally, and my accounting or analytical skills that I have been honing probably won't count for that much. It's sort of nice to know that I have that in my bag of tricks.
Namaste
- Van Morrison
"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character."
- John Wooden
I haven't written in awhile. Let's just say things have been busy. I have returned to work once again with legendary Sean Reeder. To get to work with Sean again meant that I had to end my working relationship with Nathan DeBacker, which was not exactly easy. In the end, to get something meaningful you have to give up something. We'll see where this takes me. In the meantime, it's good to be working with Sean again.
Over the past few weeks of working with Coach Kevin we have started to see what I call True Progress. We recognized that we had been putting a lot of technical Band-Aids on a few key technical elements of the freestyle, and went back to the fundamentals: high elbow recovery, leading with the shoulder and not the hand, carrying the elbows into the water, etc. I've had to concede that if I want to swim faster, then I will have to swim slower for an indefinite period--and I am okay with that. I told Kevin at the beginning of our working relationship that he had 3 years to build an effecient freestyle. One year is almost over, and I think the heavy lifting is over. We know what the issues are and now we just need to beat it into my bones.
My thoughts today on performance come from Van Morrison and John Wooden--two very different people concerned with the same thing. I like what the Belfast Cowboy is hitting on: each performance should be approached as if it is a brand new thing. He's probably going to sing "Brown-eyed Girl" at every concert, but if done properly, it's never going to be the same. He's always bringing something new either emotionally, or musically to the moment.
Dick Jochums is famous for having only ten workouts in his reportoire. I think part of his reasoning is that he wants his swimmers to steel themselves in workout for what they will be seeing in competition. A 100 free is always going to be a 100 free. Learning to treat a workout with intensity and focus, probably leads to a more focused performance.
I'm not on the peformance end of things yet, still in practice mode. Kevin gave me instructions at the beginning of our lesson, and walked the length of the pool as a I swam. The sequence of the remaining lesson went like this: push-off, swim with focus, touch the wall, Kevin says, "Do it again." That was my lesson. I found this experience extremely satisfying. We've spent a lot of time identifying isssues, and now we are actually resolving them.
When I first read the Wooden quote, I thought he meant that success takes character, which is why I selected the quote. Upon re-reading the quote I think he means that anyone who is talented can be successful for a short period of time, but to keep it going takes something else. I can see this fairly easily in my own life. I was a relatively successful tennis player, but those skills don't mean much in the water. Being able to show up someplace and work mindfully, even if you aren't making any perceived progress, is a different skill. I'm sure at some point I will change directions professionally, and my accounting or analytical skills that I have been honing probably won't count for that much. It's sort of nice to know that I have that in my bag of tricks.
Namaste
posted by Zen_Accountant at 5:13 PM
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