One Swim Changes Nothing

You can do a lot in three years.

Matt’s first swim session with us was three years ago – he sent me a screenshot this week – 500m at 2:37/100m pace.

This week, he completed a 5km session, hitting some of the stronger 100s at 1:20/100m pace.

It’s a remarkable improvement.

But that’s not actually what struck me. What struck me was how easy it is to forget where we started.

Today’s Swim

We all do it. We all look at today’s swim.

“The session felt hard”.
“The times weren’t where we wanted them to be”.
“Our technique didn’t feel great”.
“Someone else in the lane looked stronger”.

Today’s swim becomes the whole story.

But most of the time, swimming doesn’t really work like that.

Swimming is a skill sport. It develops slowly. Progress is rarely obvious from one session to the next. In fact, if you compare this Monday’s swim to last Monday’s swim, you might struggle to see any difference at all.

That’s where many swimmers get frustrated. They’re looking for evidence of improvement in almost every session.

But the real story isn’t found in today’s swim.

It’s found in the accumulation of hundreds of swims.
It’s found in the swimmer who can now hold a pace that once felt impossible.
It’s found in the swimmer who no longer panics in open water.
It’s found in the swimmer who can complete a set that would have destroyed them a year ago.
It’s found in the swimmer who barely notices how much easier everything has become.

I see this all the time.

Athletes become frustrated because they don’t feel they’re improving.

Looking Back

Then we look back six months. Or a year. Or three years. And suddenly the evidence is everywhere.

• The pace is quicker.
• The technique is smoother.
• The confidence is higher.
• The sessions are longer.
• The recovery is better.

The swimmer has changed completely – but the irony is that most of the improvement happened so gradually that they barely noticed it happening.

Patience. Trust. The ability to keep showing up even when progress isn’t obvious. Perhaps these are the lessons swimming teaches us.

Because one swim rarely changes anything. But hundreds of swims? Hundreds of swims can change everything.

Have a great week.

Bryan