My TI coach training was very helpful with firming up the idea of clearly seeing and feeling. Since I wasn’t a swim kid (perhaps?) my ability to translate horizontal, in-water feelings to upright, on land feelings and vice versa was, and still is, a real challenge. Ten years ago I could not feel on land what a coach would try to show me. I stood there and felt it, of course, but as a coach would rotate my body or move my arms around I’d say "uh huh" and maybe get it for a minute and then it would disappear. I would be encouraged that my body would remember later, to just start and it would come back. Fortunately when I got into the pool it was somewhat true. I would remember what drills to do once I started. But clarity, able to see it in my head or be able to describe it? There was too much to process at that time. System temporarily down for maintenance.

Oh! But back to last night. Boy do I see a lot of coaches on deck not showing correct form. Now I understand that, in this case, we were talking to kids but…shouldn’t we illustrate a proper backstroke pull even if they aren’t fully integrating it yet? Shouldn’t I be showing a straight arm in front of my body and a hooked/bent arm for the catch when I would be in the water? Then when the kid does it you have to intelligently chose which dragon to go after first or which important point to clarify. All I saw on deck was a non-rotating, straight arm windmill. So I get what she was showing but shouldn’t we be more accurate so as to implant a complete picture? When we walk we aren’t showing kids the simplified version. OK. Stand. Move the right leg. Move the left. But we do that in swimming. Hmm. OK again. I get that we are land animals. But personally I think we should all be as crystal clear as Terry, Shinji and Shane when they make us practice our swinging recovery arm on land. And how many times have I had to stop myself from combining a stand up posture and swim posture? I’m standing up and trying to drag my arm across the horizontal water surface.Yikes! Stop. Face the swimmer. "I’m the line on the bottom of the pool," I announce, as much for me as for them. Then they are feeling the right muscles. 

I went to a presentation by Steve Haufler last fall and had the good fortune to be seated next to him when he wasn’t presenting. At one point I was illustrating backstroke to him. He grabbed my hand and said,  "No. This way." I thought I was doing pretty well but obviously there are still deeper levels of understanding of swimming and teaching that I want to bring to the water every time I show up.

All of you more deeply knowing of swimming and teaching coaches, what have you found? Students of swimming (that is probably everyone here), what have you experienced as your understanding has expanded? I had one coach years ago advise me not to watch videos as I would not understand what I was seeing and would translate incorrectly. But I think back to a child learning to walk or–wasn’t it the Inner Game of Tennis that described the value of watching someone who is very good at something? You get a clear vision. So, I think clarity in the coach’s mind and clarity in visualization and translation is more important than a lot of folk think. It’s that TI thing again.

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So–I am coming up with a practice triangle for my students. First thing is, when you warm up, you always go back to posture—how you sit, where are your feet, where is your head, how is your arm position–lots of feeling, lots of paying attention and focus on that most basic thing, your setup. This is the equivalent of TI focus on balance…hang the head and other basic focal points.

The other two areas will be: technical and musical. You can’t really separate them, but you can have the technical without much music coming out. So at lessons and at our next studio class we’ll talk through…technical focal points…what might be some? Right notes. Right rhythms. Which notes? What positions? Bow and left and technique like specific types of bowstrokes  and vibrato…fast technique vs. slow…passage work fixing. Then the musical focal points…tone, dynamics, phrasing. All of these are tied to technique. With technique you can’t control them. So maybe technique is streamline and music is propulsion. Not sure about that but these are new thoughts so I’ll let them percolate.

And of course there is lots for me to put into the cello for myself thanks to my swimming and coaching education. One big one is—we aren’t just mind, we are body and spirit, too. And if you want to do well with the whole unit you have to use the whole unit. As a kid I was approaching the cello only with my head. I was so busy analyzing, trying to keep from drowning—trying to float—that I couldn’t enjoy it. It was surviving recitals and auditions. Most concerts I like but for half of those I was busy thinking I was a fake. Balance.

I don’t know if Essential Tremor came to me on it’s own or if I helped create it. I taxed my nervous system, for sure, with all of this performance stuff. My practice was not streamlined. My playing wasn’t streamlined. Butter struggle. I had a lot of technical ability but didn’t trust it, probably didn’t know how to engage it and what to trust it to do. Engage your core…what is streamline for? What does it let you do? Now trust it. Sounds familiar. Streamline.

Then performance. Chosing a dang focal point. I was so scattered that my body felt, at times, like it was just flying apart. I’ve subbed with the National Symphony, played concerts at the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, the National Cathedral…I’ve played principal cello for lots of things…withstood, not usually enjoyed, recitals both solo and chamber, debuted new works…but absolutely failed at major auditions. I just couldn’t produce when I needed to. Now, as I’ve learned to love being in a body instead of mistrusting it, I can see what might have been possible. What was possible. And now, strangely, it doesn’t matter any more. Not for the cello. I’ve found where I like being, for the most part, in my body, mind and spirit…so now I guess I can add propulsion not just to the cello playing that I do, in situations I like, but to my whole life. There is movement ahead instead of trying to contain myself so that nothing bad happens. And yes, I attribute this in very large part to taking on swimming ten years ago. That’s when I "found" Terry. That’s when I went back to my childhood and always love of being in the water and decided to see where I could go. Propulsion.

Music, art, swimming. I loved them all as a kid. Now I can love them all again. I guess we struggle for a reason, no matter what we chose in life. And then we learn that there was ways of being where we can not have to struggle so much. We still have to work. Balance, streamline, propulsion don’t happen without an effort (or two, of five hundred) on our part. But that’s okay. I like the reward of this effort. That’s what I hope my cello students learn. And it’s not just for cello. It’s for everything.

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20×100, starting TT at 1.3, then 1.4 and up to 2.00. On the way back down I did 1.95, 1.90, 1.85. etc. Working on balance more at the very slowest speeds as, indeed, my stroke counting starts going up at 1.8. Oh, well…you get the idea. Then I did a TI 4×25, 3×50, 2×75 and 1×100 at 1.3–just trying to hang on to 15 strokes. A 14 and 13, a few fall apart 16/17’s. That’s okay. BUT, the plan is to get my stroke count lower down in the 1.2, 1.1 , 1.0 range. I finally hit a 16 at 1.0 and .95 last week. But hanging on to it beyond the short distance, well, that’s the next thing. I can hang on to a 2 beat kick at 1.8 but things get a little silly at 1.75. My head says go but the rotation/catch just isn’t, mm, quite right at that speed. But I like to see where things are, especially as I tend to happily poke around comfortably and I don’t always want to do that.

My brain stayed together up through 1,700 and then it started to go "La, la, la." I had to grab my brain cells, shake ‘em around and say, whack, whack…wake up! It’s been awhile since I’ve done a longer set like this. I’ve been doing lots of short distances, pretty much paying attention to technique. But it’s time to bump up the stamina and test out the technique with some longer distances. Heck, I’d love to go back to Hains Point and not lose my form in a long workout. Or–have the guts to leave a practice early or change what I’m doing when I feel that happening. That used to feel like quitting. I guess I shouldn’t worry about it. I’ve never fit in perfectly anywhere with this swim stuff…although it does seem pretty close at TI.

Guess it’s time to hit the hay. I’ve sent in updates for my website…behind on that after the holidays. I have videos to get to the CUBU swim kids. I guess they can wait a week but I feel it calling. And then off to Maho Bay for awesome open water swimming. Hair cut, cats to vet…hubby and myself packed up by tomorrow night. WOW!! This is going to be a blast!

And you guys…get to the pool! Three cheers for you! For us! Swimming is the best.

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Fortunately it seems that anyone who actually sticks to TI as a way to approach swimming (and life, for those of us who find the corollary works) the "beating others/winning" thing really isn’t such a big deal. I think the personal best title sounds silly at first, but it really is about challenging yourself, finding your own greatness–finding your own happiness, too. Living as a mind and a spirit in this body. This body needs tending and does better being used. And for me, my mind works better if I’m taking care of my body.

 So–I only did 1,250 yesterday. To the summer Masters coach I’ve worked out with that would be pathetic. It’s barely a warmup. But I went straight into Tempo Trainer work, extending my range. I’ve been doing 1.6 and going down to .8 or, more recently, .75—just to see what happens. I fall apart, basically. I used to fall apart at .8 but at least now I still have an organized stroke at that rate. My kick starts to go kaflooey and it’s just totally new to my nervous system. Slow is pretty comfortable. But compared to last spring when I first started with a Tempo Trainer, I now like 1.1. There seems to be a little better sense of when to "pierce/pull" vs. when I’m slower. And then I have to remember to include my hips. How did they disappear from my screen? Weight shift. Kick my elbow high. Catch. Hold. But—don’t force. I feel slightly out of breath. That makes me work harder. Wait. Stop. Reboot. See if slower, feeling, getting that glide…lets you keep your pace, lets you keep your stroke count. Fascinating. It is utterly fascinating. Am I in a rush to get back home? Do I have to get to work? Wait. Stop. Just do what you can. Stay in YOUR spot, not in the guy’s spot in the lane over. Look at that ridiculous stroke, man, why don’t you ask me for some advice? STOP !! ACK!

Okay, there is some of the stuff that runs around in my head. So today was more dealing with sick kitties and prepping for leaving town for a week. At least the cat bite infection is going away. And our sick kitty is on merrem shots and looking good, at least at the moment. The neighbor is banging on his bathroom wall with a hammer, the New Hampshire primaries are en route…and I am ready to head south to Maho, no matter what. In fact I can’t wait. I love coaching. I love swimming and what I am learning. And I love the people. OK. Tomorrow AM I coach and then swim.  And cello….and…….

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I’ve done a version of Terry’s test set but, also as usual, with my own twist. I’m always a bit of a free spirit as far as swim workouts. It has been a challenge to learn how to write sets for the kids at Curl-Burke. And I will benefit again from a little more organized approach, for me, going forward. That measurable part as far as achievement. Feeling good is great. If you want to see improvement which is concrete you have to, oh…race? Keep records of timed sets? Compare how you feel over time? All of that. I would like to work with a team again. I’ve always done well with someone telling me what to do, even as I’ve felt I no doubt already know. Sometimes I am lazy. Other people don’t think so from what they see. Sometimes they just see frenetic. Swimming helps that a lot.

So I’ll see how this last week goes before heading south. I never feel prepared for anything swim-wise. But that’s okay. That’s kind of how I work. But the challenge is always good. I through down the gauntlet–to myself.

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