80/20 Rule to Not Looking Like a Rookie

this morning i had a difficult time at my swim lesson.  i thought about staying in bed and sleeping an extra hour this morning but since everything was packed and ready to go, i got myself out of bed and to the pool.  it was an exceptionally cold morning (only 30degrees!) and you could really see the steam coming off the pool more than ever before.  when i arrived i was directed to jump into the deep lanes...i think this one is about 7 feet or so. eep!!! once i got my goggles and cap on, i cannon balled into the pool.  that was fun!

bye bye mr. nose plug

after a 200 yard warm up, i started in on drills with fins. arms ahead, chest down. sword fish. shoulder shrug. catchup up with finger tip drill. zipper. snap. (OMG, i feel like a real swimmer.  all these things now have a meaning to me!) quickly i started to feel like i was swimming into a current, like i couldn't catch my breath, and was completely aware of my lack of coordination.  usually i can focus on one or two things to improve each lap, but today i just couldn't get there. it felt like there was so much going on & my body wasn't doing what my brain was telling it to do.  after drills there was 3x100 yards and 2x200 yards. at that point i had to take a moment to just float on my back to try to reset...to which my coach Lucas realized i was mentally and physically done.  i took the opportunity to ask him some questions about breathing as i felt like now that i sort of know, in theory, how my stroke should be, but the breathing things still seems illusive.  we talked through it & decided it was time to lose the nose plug (yes, it was my security blanket, but it was time to lose it and move on.)  surprisingly it wasn't so bad...all of a sudden i felt like i could pace my breathing better and the memory of all the water up my nose during my last attempt at learning to swim seemed to quickly fade.  sure, i did have a few times where i "neti-potted" myself with the a chlorine wash...but all in all today's big accomplishment was swimming without the nose plug.  even on the days we feel the worst working out, we can still make great strides.

i'm a big fan of learning about the sport you are in.  yeah, once upon a time i had my heart broken when a friend of mine got accepted to a cycling team who thought i was too aggressive (to which my guy cycling friends told me not to fret because "it is racing not a tea party, right?!?")...anyhow, one of the first team camps she had scheduled was learning to sprint from an amazing female pro on the team.  while my friend was telling me about her new team & their upcoming camp (and i swear, i was totally excited for her, seriously, even though i was a little bummed for me not getting the same opportunity, but i was so thrilled she was going to get to learn from a lot of really talented ladies) she said "yeah, we are going to learn from some girl, um, her name is XXXX something or other, i think she is a pro." i had to pick up my jaw and my first thought was "holy moly, how can she not know who XXXX XXXXX is?!?  she's just like one of the most talented female sprinters ever and she lives in our own backyard and is on your team" :-(

(and friend, if you are reading this and remember this happening i'm so sorry but i was really thinking OMG, are you serious? but then it was so cool to hear about all that you learned during the team camp & all the adventures you and the team had over the season!)

okay, so i think part of any plan to not look like a total rookie in your new found love of sport is done in doing your homework.  it's like the 80/20 rule that business applies to like, seriously, everything.  "It's 80% preparing for the meeting, 20% getting through the review"; "it's 80% planning and 20% execution"; "it's 80% due diligence, 20% negotiating".  have you ever googled 80/20 rule?  you'll get articles like "What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life", there is even a book about  Living The 80/20 Way, and the 80/20 Rule with Women...ummm, really, it's gender specific? there is an 80/20 rule for dating, marriage, why did i get married, for mortgage, and how many shoes you should own.  holy, moly.  so today  i will add my own 80/20 Rule.

Beth Lubov's 80/20 Rule to Not Looking Like a Rookie: 
It's 80% mentally doing your homework of learning about the sport, who's who, listening to your coaches, visualizing success and 20% apply and practicing all the stuff you've learned.  but don't get me wrong, that 20% of the physical application of your preparation is a killer workout and 1000x more sole & body crushing than the homework part.

while i was on a business trip the other week, i picked up triathlete magazine at the airport.  it was a great issue with lots of articles tailored toward the beginner triathlete.  there was even an article about the difference between pros and everybody else and displacing the myths. my favorite was that pros are just great because all they do is train; pro's response is that the biggest difference is pros take time to really recover/relax and get massages while the rest of us weekend warriors are off hunched over our laptops working away.  i promptly signed up for a subscription and added the website triathlete.com to my bookmarks.

for xmas my aunt gave me an incredible book 17 Hours to Glory: Extraordinary Stories from the Heart of Triathlon which i've been trying to read a story or two every week to get inspiration during my training.  the stories are just a few pages long and highlight the lives of everyday athletes doing something incredible, to those who are overcoming great feats to compete in the Ironman, to some of the renowned pros who have competed at Kona.  i think it's such a great book because the stories are engaging and you learn so much from hearing about other people's experiences.  i'd rather not read a "how to" but learn from other's tales.  plus the coaching aspect, i find that i'd rather work with someone 1:1 and them walk me through what i should be doing or join a team like Team in Training

the other day i was thinking about what other sorts of books are out there that could help me understand training and mastering swimming.  sure there were some interesting ones on the shelves about the bio mechanics of swimming and swimming for dummies and how to lose the swimmies, but i wanted to read about what it was like for other people who were passionate about excelling at swimming.  I figured what other story to check out other than Micheal Phelps.  okay, i know he got a lot of bad rap post his amazing Beijing Olympics...something to do with him smoking pot at a party and letting people video tape it and putting it out there on the Internet, but still...he's a talented swimmer and you can't argue that one. bad judgement at times, yes, but still a focused and talented athlete.  I remember seeing interviews with him right after the Olympics where he was talking about a book he had written that went through his dedication to training and everyone being shocked at just how much food he consumed in a day.  i think it was this one:  No Limits: The Will to Succeed.  I went to my local book store to pick it up and was surprised when they didn't have it on their shelves.  i mean really, the Olympics are just around the corner and subway is pushing Mr. Phelps pretty hard right now so how could barnes and nobles not have a full lineup of the books by him or about him? anyhow, B&N called me yesterday to say the book is in...i hope it's a good read!  now to just figure out when i'm going to have time to pick it up....