The beauty of team support
Once a coach always a coach
Mondays are the last day of my 6 day training schedule and I look forward to Tuesdays because I know it is a rest day or more appropriately my Physio/chiro day.
Mondays I ride to work and back and then swim in the evening. Last night I was exhausted - I am usually a little tired - mostly because my club meets at 9pm but once I am in the water I am usually fine. Last night I dove in the water and started my lengths and I just felt lethargic, even my arms felt heavy. After the 600m warm-up I still was not feeling it - so I moved over to the other lane so I would not hold up people.
I continued doing my laps, I figured I could work on my form - ever hopeful that I will discover the magic combination that will turn me into a sleek aerodynamic swimming machine. Anyways the beauty of team support - there is a lady who comes out and swims she uses flippers and basically does 50 m and then takes a break and I was in her lane now. I had just finished a 100m and was changing from paddles to pull buoy and overheard her talking with our coach. She was saying that it was impossible for her to do 200m - never going to happen and he was trying to coax her saying that she could and just go for it. She said again she could not and Coach was looking a little frustrated.
Being a running coach I know how frustrating it can be when someone just does not believe. So I looked at her and said of course you can do it. She looked at me and said oh no - I could never do that. I said to her - I know you can do it, coach knows and you know you can- youjust have to believe. I told her your mind is holding you back. She said "believe" and I said yes believe - you are completely capable the only thing holding you back right now is your mind. You are physically more than capable and you just need to believe cause I know you can do it. Really it is only 8 laps - you can do it. Go for it. I then turned and swam off for my next 100 m.
As I was swimming I noticed her leave the wall watched her get the first 50 turn and keep going... then the next 50, I called out to coach and pointed and he nodded and smiled. She kept going until she had done the full 200. When I finished my next set she was taking a breather and was so excited - it was great. She was like THANK YOU - and I said "you are welcome but you did the hard work so congratulations" - I knew she could do it, everyone in the lane told her what a great job she had done. She was so pleased that she went out and did another 200m two more times!
But in the end I won because her excitement helped me to dig deeper and do the workout. I had told her it was a state of mind and that she was totally able to do it and in the end while I still felt lethargic I picked up for the last 20 min and pushed through because of her energy. I told her thanks later that she helped me also get through the workout. So in the end we both helped each other.
Oh and Happy St. Patty's day everyone.
Peace out
Shaun
Mondays are the last day of my 6 day training schedule and I look forward to Tuesdays because I know it is a rest day or more appropriately my Physio/chiro day.
Mondays I ride to work and back and then swim in the evening. Last night I was exhausted - I am usually a little tired - mostly because my club meets at 9pm but once I am in the water I am usually fine. Last night I dove in the water and started my lengths and I just felt lethargic, even my arms felt heavy. After the 600m warm-up I still was not feeling it - so I moved over to the other lane so I would not hold up people.
I continued doing my laps, I figured I could work on my form - ever hopeful that I will discover the magic combination that will turn me into a sleek aerodynamic swimming machine. Anyways the beauty of team support - there is a lady who comes out and swims she uses flippers and basically does 50 m and then takes a break and I was in her lane now. I had just finished a 100m and was changing from paddles to pull buoy and overheard her talking with our coach. She was saying that it was impossible for her to do 200m - never going to happen and he was trying to coax her saying that she could and just go for it. She said again she could not and Coach was looking a little frustrated.
Being a running coach I know how frustrating it can be when someone just does not believe. So I looked at her and said of course you can do it. She looked at me and said oh no - I could never do that. I said to her - I know you can do it, coach knows and you know you can- youjust have to believe. I told her your mind is holding you back. She said "believe" and I said yes believe - you are completely capable the only thing holding you back right now is your mind. You are physically more than capable and you just need to believe cause I know you can do it. Really it is only 8 laps - you can do it. Go for it. I then turned and swam off for my next 100 m.
As I was swimming I noticed her leave the wall watched her get the first 50 turn and keep going... then the next 50, I called out to coach and pointed and he nodded and smiled. She kept going until she had done the full 200. When I finished my next set she was taking a breather and was so excited - it was great. She was like THANK YOU - and I said "you are welcome but you did the hard work so congratulations" - I knew she could do it, everyone in the lane told her what a great job she had done. She was so pleased that she went out and did another 200m two more times!
But in the end I won because her excitement helped me to dig deeper and do the workout. I had told her it was a state of mind and that she was totally able to do it and in the end while I still felt lethargic I picked up for the last 20 min and pushed through because of her energy. I told her thanks later that she helped me also get through the workout. So in the end we both helped each other.
Oh and Happy St. Patty's day everyone.
Peace out
Shaun
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