I'm reading Dara Torres' book because I'm staging a comeback. Okay so I have nothing to come back to, but I'm reading the book anyway. While Dara seems to be an annoying person I would not want to be friends with (type A, obsessed with winning everything, self-centered, etc. etc.), I'm giving that to her as her right since she's such a bad ass. I figure most world-class athletes and performers have to be incredibly cocky and type-A and obsessed to get themselves to where they are, so there.
Long story short, lots of the book is unrelateable to me. But I love her descriptions of being in the water and of her relationship with the water. I am really feeling her in these passages, she seems to sum up my feelings exactly, and I wanted to share them:
"I also remembered the straightforward nature of life in the pool. You know exactly where you're going. It's easy to state your goals. Tasks and obligations are well-defined. Life outside the water is so maddeningly full of complexity and nuance. I liked being back in the pool. The lines are clear and straight."
"Swim practice has a reputation for being boring. I'm not going to tell you that's wrong, but swimming can be interesting, too. Working out in the water shows you the contents of your own mind. It teaches you to rein in your thoughts and come back to the present so you can focus on the small details in the pool--how you move your body, the shape of your hand as it moves under your torso, the position of your mouth when you take a breath. If your mind is in the right place in practice, you focus only on your body in the moment."
And THAT is what has gotten me through so many rough weeks!
So, on to today's main sets (can't remember the warm-up and other, was thinking of my body in the moment :):
add fins for:
*2 x 100 free; 50 fly
repeat 5 times
fin option for:
*2 x 50 free; 25 fly
repeat 5 times
Long story short, lots of the book is unrelateable to me. But I love her descriptions of being in the water and of her relationship with the water. I am really feeling her in these passages, she seems to sum up my feelings exactly, and I wanted to share them:
"I also remembered the straightforward nature of life in the pool. You know exactly where you're going. It's easy to state your goals. Tasks and obligations are well-defined. Life outside the water is so maddeningly full of complexity and nuance. I liked being back in the pool. The lines are clear and straight."
"Swim practice has a reputation for being boring. I'm not going to tell you that's wrong, but swimming can be interesting, too. Working out in the water shows you the contents of your own mind. It teaches you to rein in your thoughts and come back to the present so you can focus on the small details in the pool--how you move your body, the shape of your hand as it moves under your torso, the position of your mouth when you take a breath. If your mind is in the right place in practice, you focus only on your body in the moment."
And THAT is what has gotten me through so many rough weeks!
So, on to today's main sets (can't remember the warm-up and other, was thinking of my body in the moment :):
add fins for:
*2 x 100 free; 50 fly
repeat 5 times
fin option for:
*2 x 50 free; 25 fly
repeat 5 times
Comments