Asking the Right “How” Questions: Being Your Own Swimmer

Photo Courtesy: SuSu Almousa

By SuSu Almousa, Swimming World College Intern

I think the main question swimmers—especially collegiate swimmers—tend to ask is a simple one. How?

How does Caeleb Dressel swim a 50 free in 18.20 seconds? How do the qualifying times keep decreasing? How does the world keep getting faster?

These questions can be answered story after story about a new training regimen, or studies that proved a certain workout as more beneficial than a traditional one. One can even go as far to argue that “natural selection” has bred a generation of some of the greatest swimmers. Yet, applying Darwin’s theories or accounting the influx of talent to nutrition and training do not answer any questions of importance.

Asking “how” about someone else’s success is only half the battle. Sure, you can gather information about training and nutrition that will most certainly make a difference; but what we seem to forget in focusing about the “hows” of others is that a race is won outside of the pool by us.

How can I eat better?
How can I train harder?
How can I become the best version of myself in and out of the water?

These questions will prove the only ones that can make a difference. Focus on yourself because when your marks are called the only person you should be worried about is you. Your time remains unlinked to Phelps’ gold medals, therefore you are doing a disservice to yourself if you allow your mind to be bound in chains to an expectation that isn’t your own. Your mind is your biggest enemy and your greatest ally—it is how you choose to use it that will determine the extent of your success.

Set yourself a goal and follow through—this is where those feature articles about Dressel’s training regimen kick in. Go into practice every day reminding yourself why you’re there. When you close your eyes you shouldn’t replay Lezak’s 2008 Olympic performance in your mind– you should have you in your mind.

The only way to improve is to focus on what needs to be done, and that starts with a recognition and assertion of ethic to the cause. In saying this, I do not suggest an abandonment of all training ideas because quite frankly, swimming requires work, but it is pertinent to realize that swimming is both physical and mental work.

Train hard and train with conviction. Learn to relish the knots in your shoulders, the soreness of your muscles, and the limp exhaustion that consumes your body after practices. Do not compromise any aspect of the workout, because that image in your head of you succeeding should provide the motivation to persevere. Lifting is as important as interval training, running is as important as start drills, physical training is as important as mental preparation—nothing should be shorthanded.

We often kick ourselves for picking a sport that demands so much of our body, time, and mind. But we picked it for a reason. Swimming offers us a chance to be great. But here is the thing, greatness is subjective. Sure, Mark Spitz was great—but that has no bearing on your personal achievement of greatness. Greatness isn’t measured in plaques and gold medals that will rust in the next century; greatness is a measure of improvement, self-discovery, fulfillment, and happiness.

Stop asking “how?” in regards to others. Stop undermining your greatness to succumb to the articles that endlessly admire professional swimmers because at the end of the race, the majority of the swimming community does not have Speedo endorsements. We swim in dingy pools at the break of dawn with one question in our heads: “how is today going to be better?”

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Shane Dickie

8 years ago

Rob I guess they are handles, odd.