21st Century: Square One Here I Come.

I'm still in the course of learning what it means to give 100%. Sometimes i feel like all my work is getting me nowhere, but quitting while i'm ahead would be the stupidest thing to do, to say the least. Swimming is unique. I feel like that thats something one would say to a wife of a fiancée, but thats what i feel swimming really is. Sure football practices are tough, but if your tired, it is possible to take a little slower on the football field. Water is not that forgiving. I'm sure more people have died within 100 meters of water than withing 100 yards of a football field. Swim practice has been pretty tough for the past week. Part of my mind wants to just stop, but a majority of my mind is in 6th gear right now. I wish my mind was more united, especially with my body. I working on it though. I choose to drown out the sounds of weakness by hitting a tighter flip-turn at every wall, streamlining into a powerful stroke until i hear nothing but the roar of the water beneath and behind me. I'm so thankful to be where i am in swimming right now. I know that most people i compete against have been swimming their whole lives, versus someone with just over 4 years of experience. Honestly though, theres no way i'm slowing down. I'm in this all the way, until i'm standing on that 1st Place box with a gold medal in my hand. Even then who's to say i'm going to slow down. London 2012. See You Soon.

P.S.: I find it helps to swim with a song in my head. Heres the latest

 This ones called Square One Here i Come:  

        

And one by my all time favorite group of people: 21st Century

Swimming

I'll admit, practice was tough today. For a while now i've been swimming with four other teammates in the same lane. I guess being the fastest one on the team, i'd always feel a sense of satisfaction when i create alot of distance during our lap workouts. I didn't see myself as showing off, i just wanted to get the most out of the current workout. Its easy to compare yourself to others, whether its just to make yourself feel better, or to make yourself better. I appreciate the fact that i am the fastest swimmer on the team, and i'm the one setting the bar, but honestly, i wish there was someone faster than me on my team. I'm a competitive person overall, and i feel like i need to be racing someone, constantly until i beat them, then its on to the next one. Im not sure whether thats a good thing or not, but i feel like having a goal like that will keep me motivated enough to the point where id swim the English Channel just to be 2 seconds faster. Then its on to the Pacific.
I'm currently working on breaking my high schools record for the 50meter freestyle set in 1990. Im only about less than 2 seconds off. For a while I've also wanted to swim in a lane by myself. I like the feeling, it helps me think a lot. I can really focus on what i need to improve, and what bad habits i need to break(Breathing too early off flipturns). Well i swam in my own lane today. It was pretty good, i liked the fact that i was able to notice all my weaknesses. The muscles in my arm started to hurt after the first 200meters i swam. For the next 300meters, my arms felt swollen and heavy. I'm not gonna lie, i liked that, but it was torture. I try to keep a focused mind when i swim, it helps me keep everything in proportion. Telling myself things like, "Pain is weakness leaving the body and by the looks of it, i got lots to get rid of. If your not dying at practice, your not trying hard enough. No limits, no problem.
Eventually, Coach gave me a Butterfly set to do. 3x100m, then 100m, 200m, 300m, 200m, 100m.
Yeah, i thought i was gonna die, i'm really comfortable doing a 50m fly, 100meters is pushing it, 200m?, yeah right. Getting through the set was exhausting to say the least. But in fact, i'm glad i did. I'm glad i get a chance explore my inner-most self when i swim. And now that i think of it, though i don't have someone faster than me on my team, theres a world of elites out there who i'm dying to race against. The road to the Olympic blocks start here, everyday, busting my body, so it can take more than it could. Pushing my limits, mentally and physically till i have none.
This is how i create myself, This is how i create my world.

Stress: The Good Side

A part of our everyday life. Stress can come in various ways, from the time we open our eyes to wake up and close them to go to sleep. Though the thoughts that plague our mind and keep us awake throughout the nights can be terrible and unbearable, Stress in its own way can also be very helpful. In a way we can never really notice things about a certain subject unless we spend time and stress over it. Lets say a student has a huge exam that he has to study for. Now the student has studied enough to pass, or at least he believes so. He then notices that other students who have taken this test have all performed pretty poorly. If the students doesn't wish to end up like the other students, he would stress over the subject and spend more time studying and making sure he/she knows everything there is to know about the subject. There is no comparison to the feeling of having accomplished a difficult task after investing your maximum effort to succeed. So the next time your stressing over something, try to figure out why your stressing so much, and how it could be beneficial to you.