When I am training I wake up on Wednesday full of doubt and reluctance. I drag myself down to the pool and get myself in knowing that what is about to happen will be hard and painful, but in the long run beneficial. It nearly always works out that way.
Today couldn't have been more different. Today I skipped out the door and drove to the pool with a smile. Today I couldn't wait for the Redmist session. But then again I wasn't swimming it.
I love to swim and the fact that I haven't been able to do swim training for a few weeks is something that I am struggling with. However, at the same time I am loving being on the pool deck and watching these sessions from the outside. Watching and learning how the sessions are run and the dynamics of what is required. Watching Paul run like a headless chicken from lane to lane, somehow keeping up with how is up to what and how they are doing. It is great to see and experience.
I am also enjoying the challenge of watching people and trying to analyse their strokes. This is something that I am doing by way of my own development. I have always found that this sort of technical analysis is something that I have not been been great at. I know how to swim and over the years I have found that I have a decent feel for the water, so I can generally self analyse pretty well (within limits of course). However, I struggle to look at somebody and pinpoint what is slowing them down unless there is something really glaring.
Watching today it made me realise that my lack of skill in technical analysis isn't because I don't understand how to swim, but rather because I haven't done much of that sort of analysis before. Over the last week I have realised how little I have actually stopped and watched people swim before. I guess that is perhaps not that surprising, I am usually the one doing the swimming. But the more I watched today the more I was noticing little differences and characteristics. I have a pretty good technical understanding of what slows a person down, but where I have struggled before is to identify those things in people. What I was realising today is how subtle some of those issues can be. They may be there, but they can be hard to spot. Still a long way to go, but I feel like I made a small step in the right direction today.
Knowing what to do to fix those issues once you see them, well that is a whole different problem to tackle and one for another day.
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