Mission Accomplished
By VIKRANT MALHOTRA


Posted at TI Discussion Forum
Friday, December 22, 2006 08:41 PM

I finally swam a continuous mile – all Freestyle – today.

I'm swimming about six days a week but had taken yesterday off. The day before I switched from breathing every 3 strokes to breathing every cycle and the extra air felt really good.

On Wednesday, I found a groove and did my opening 500 Free with ease. This was a new feeling. While breathing more frequently has the potential to make my stroke less symmetrical I felt a very satisfying sense of flow.

I had a feeling going into today's swim something big was around the corner. All of a sudden a straight 1000 yards seemed within reach. Mind you, I could have completed such distances months ago but I wanted my longer swims to have the same quality 100 yards might have or it wasn't worth it.

So I started out thinking I would go farther than 500 yards. By the time I completed 800 yards I was in new territory and wasn't even breaking a sweat. I finished my mile (1650 yards) feeling lightly warmed up and energized – I could easily have continued. I looked at the clock – 31 minutes (a time that, just weeks ago, I thought might take six to 12 months to achieve) – though I was swimming with no concern for time.

And there was so much learning going on – a sustained swim teaches you completely different lessons from short repeats.

About six weeks ago, I signed on with Gary Fahey – my very good buddy and Coach – for a package of 15 sessions. We had completed eight sessions and I’d made steady improvements under his expert and watchful tutelage. I just called Gary to thank him from the bottom of my heart – you can't put a value on the quality of instruction – it's not easy trying to improve my swimming!

I might be a half-decent Coach when it comes to coaching others... I have assisted Gary as a Coach at several Weekend Workshops – but God give you strength when you try and improve your own stroke. The words "natural athlete" don’t come to mind in my case.

My “secret” has been Persistence and Desire. I’ve never taken "No" for an answer if something really matters to me – and swimming is one of the greatest joys of my life.

So here I stand before y'all – a TI Coach who is a Student at heart.

I might want to swim an hour continuously as a milestone at some point... but for now I want to buff and polish what I have...

To conclude: Mission Accomplished – Swam 1 Mile Continuous Free, felt good about it… and have years ahead to improve on it. Oh Joy!

Terry and Gary, I thank you Sirs.

Vik

Vik’s last article: First Mile to Faster Mile

Discuss this article