Under the Microscope

"Swimming will be done all the year round... This especially strengthens the will and builds resistance to quitting the task ahead."

 - Percy Cerutty

It is so incredible to see progress, if you look back where you were, to where you are now. Did things change? Are they the same, or did you work on making an improvement on what you set out to in the first place.

"It is belief that finds no support in the other fields of endeavour"

I go to sleep I wake up days, weeks, and sometimes months later. It seems my schedule I set always feels like the distant future, but it approaches so quickly. I look at a calendar and set a goal, I then look at a clock and say what's up next, before I know it now and then have converged. I work to keep myself on path and easily loose perspective on things happening around me. I cannot determine if this is good or bad, I don't think it is a polar circumstance that is easily defined. When setting a goal for the future what external factors must be accounted for as you inch towards the end?

Most of you know, I have been grinding away at my base volume through the winter and into the spring. Building up time in the water, on the bike and during the run. Most importantly I set out to tackle one of my greatest weaknesses in racing. A strong recommendation was to use BEST Swim Training with coach Kim Brackin in order to overcome this obvious inability that I had in the water. Starting in January I enrolled in a 12 week program to work on my mechanical deficiencies and improve my confidence in the water. The plan provided me with a weekly hour session in an endless pool(think treadmill) and focused on technique to improve my stroke concluded with video review and analysis. At first, I was completely intimidated at the concept that I will have such a decorated swim coach spend focused time on my swim stroke that was so poor. As the sessions came, so did my comfort and confidence in the process. I really found myself in a groove during this time train on my own five days in the water and have a midweek check up to bring it all together. The program fit my training mentality the session was great swim, review/correct, and analyze. I really enjoyed my 12 weeks and will continue working on what I have learned in order to improve during the year.

"Training is principally an act of faith, The athlete must believe in its efficacy: he must believe that through training he will become fitter and stronger... He must believe that through training his performance will improve and continue to improve indefinitely for as long as he continues to train to progressively stiff standards." 

- Franz Stampfl

Thank You:

Kim Brackin

Luke's Locker

Jack and Adams