Swimming is a repetitive sport; the only way one will improve and get faster is by swimming lap after lap after lap. While speed variation spices up the monotony of workouts, staring at the black line on the pool floor for four hours a day will eventually drive one to complete boredom. When I was younger, I loved staring at that black line while I trained. As I grew older, probably around the same time girls, guitars and movies started piquing my interest, the monotony of swimming slowly got to me. I no longer enjoyed the sound of rushing water through my swimming cap as I sprinted full clip. Nor did I look forward to the restless yet satisfying after-training feeling after a gruesomely long workout. I started hating the unmerciful and unattached black line which seemed to enjoy watching me tire up and miss my target times. Slowly, I made excuses not to attend training to do what I do not normally do when I did train for four hours. I played basketball, read, studied, hung out with my friends and everything else not associated with swimming. Then, I walked away, telling myself that swimming was no longer for me and that I had accomplished all that I can possibly accomplish. But I was in grade school then; in retrospect, all that I said back then were the ramblings and excuses of an immature and scared schoolboy suffering from an extreme bout of inferiority complex. I vowed never to return to looking at the black line but lo and behold, not even six months after, I am again swimming and competing like never before.
When I talk to swimmers these days, even those who picked up the sport three or four years ago, I always notice a sense of weariness in their tone whenever we discuss their swimming progress. Though their reasons are varied ranging from not making the UAAP team or being in disfavor with the coaches, the monotony of swimming is usually the most important reason they leave unsaid.
Young sirs and misses, it is understandable that after a while, your interest in swimming suddenly plateaus. What was once fun and exciting now becomes work, repetitive and ultimately, unappealing. While you stop and wonder aloud what has happened to your once unyielding motivation to swim, you also wonder how some of your teammates, particularly those in the elite team, still find the endurance to perform what you now deem as the most uninviting sport ever created. As you wrestle with that riddle, whatever motivation you have left plummets leading you to miss more trainings and eventually, quitting the sport altogether.
When you feel that your motivation is waning and are no longer too enthused to train twice a day, my advice is simple. Get some time away from the pool and everything else that goes with it. Skip training, watch a movie, go out with your girlfriend or boyfriend, play your Xbox of PS3; do anything and everything not related to swimming. Before you go to bed, do not think about swimming. Do not even look at your gym back or swimming gear for this might store something in your sub-conscious which might surface when you are dreaming. Do this for three to five days straights and I guarantee you that come the fifth day, you will find yourself in the pool deck once more.
When I talk to swimmers these days, even those who picked up the sport three or four years ago, I always notice a sense of weariness in their tone whenever we discuss their swimming progress. Though their reasons are varied ranging from not making the UAAP team or being in disfavor with the coaches, the monotony of swimming is usually the most important reason they leave unsaid.
Young sirs and misses, it is understandable that after a while, your interest in swimming suddenly plateaus. What was once fun and exciting now becomes work, repetitive and ultimately, unappealing. While you stop and wonder aloud what has happened to your once unyielding motivation to swim, you also wonder how some of your teammates, particularly those in the elite team, still find the endurance to perform what you now deem as the most uninviting sport ever created. As you wrestle with that riddle, whatever motivation you have left plummets leading you to miss more trainings and eventually, quitting the sport altogether.
When you feel that your motivation is waning and are no longer too enthused to train twice a day, my advice is simple. Get some time away from the pool and everything else that goes with it. Skip training, watch a movie, go out with your girlfriend or boyfriend, play your Xbox of PS3; do anything and everything not related to swimming. Before you go to bed, do not think about swimming. Do not even look at your gym back or swimming gear for this might store something in your sub-conscious which might surface when you are dreaming. Do this for three to five days straights and I guarantee you that come the fifth day, you will find yourself in the pool deck once more.
But of course, keep this time away within reason. Inform your coaches as much as possible. You do not have to tell them to truth but do not lie to them! That goes double with your teammates. It goes without saying that you do not do this in-season especially when you plan on taking five days off. In fact, taking time away should never cross your mind when you are preparing for the biggest and most important meet of the year. Do it during the off-season or right after said biggest meet. Take an extended rest holiday beyond the requisite rest period; prolong a week to two and spend the first resting and the second doing everything you have been deprived off during the season. Just do not get carried away. After all, you will be returning to the pool even if you tell yourself that you have no intention to. In my experience, what you say in front of people is totally different from what you say to yourself when you have lost all the motivation and reason to swim.
Every athlete needs a certain time away from his sport especially when the motivation is no longer there. If anything, time away puts things in perspective. Ultimately, this will allow you to re-ignite that burning passion to swim. In my case, before permanently retiring from competitive swimming last March, I walked away from the sport on two separate occasions. My reasons for quitting the first time are not the same as the second, to point a fact. However, what I can say is that the time I spent away from the pool--four months the first time, one year the second--made me realize just how much I loved the sport and how I was made to be swimmer. While it was difficult to swallow my pride and face the same crowd who I felt I betrayed when I hung my suits, not returning at all would have been a greater betrayal to myself. While the reintroduction was rough, I found that I was more passionate that time around. Like a long lost lover, I embraced swimming and fought hard not to let her go again. The result? Two years as an athletic scholar in high school and establishing new best times in college.
Young swimmers, everyone, even world-class swimmers go through the waning-of-motivation phase. They walk away but eventually, they find themselves returning more determined, inspired and motivated than ever. (Refer to my previous article if you want proof). So take some time off, by all means. Break out of your swimming-crazed schedule and try other things. Just remember to keep things within reason! As the ancient Greeks say, "everything in moderation."
Take Your Mark!
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