At the beginning of the swim season, I’m completely into it. I go in one-hundred-percent. All my mind and energy and body are put towards doing the sport. I go every day that I can and don’t ask if I can skip a day. The thought of not making practice isn’t even considered in my brain.
A few weeks later in the season, my still pretty focused still. Maybe I’m not going in as hard, maybe I’m cutting a few corners by not bringing my legs to the wall as fast as I can in turns. But, overall, I’m still putting a whole lot into the sport. I still don’t want to miss any days; but if I have to, my complaints aren’t as loudly spoken.
The real problem comes about two months into the season. I’m still going and giving a lot to the work-out but my focus isn’t directly pointed at getting better.
I’m getting distracted by how others are improving, how much faster they are than me, by how much better their technic is, and by countless other little, useless things.
What I struggle to remember, is that how others are doing doesn’t define how I am doing in swim.
Whenever I feel the creeping sense of jealousy, self-deprecation, and doubt, I need to shake my head and bring myself back to what I am doing, not what others are. Unless my survival depends solely on what they are doing specifically at that moment, I shouldn’t bother keeping track of it all.
I don’t need to know exactly how much faster Jerry got over break. I don’t need to count how many kicks Lilly did in her underwater push-offs. I don’t need to compare my breaststroke to Ashely’s amazing-state-level-breaststroke.
I should pay attention to exactly how much faster I got over break. I should count how many kicks I did in my underwater push-offs. I should focus on making my breaststroke better.
Distractions won’t get me anywhere. Keeping my eye on the prize will. Working my hardest will.
How others improve does not define how I improve.