This is not a new realization...just something that gets rediscovered every once in a while.
I don't think I mind. Being stubborn actually helps me a lot, most of the time. It can be mistaken for perseverance (perhaps it's pretty similar?); it means I can gut it out through the toughest of rejections (whether it be not getting past the first round ['walking'] at an audition, or getting a stupid cramp in the 2nd mile of the run in a triathlon).
But yesterday, I had a recurrance of stubborness that isn't quite as helpful...harmful, even.
We had a 4 hour Total Immersion clinic...and let me be the first one to say...I am NOT a Total Immersion swimmer. My head is more up than down, and I reach all the way out before pulling water. I didn't know about these differences before I went to the clinic. I thought I was going to get help with getting faster. But, no. Basically, the lady (okay, chick...she was 23) was telling me I was going to have to re-learn to swim. Maybe I was overly emotional about this after the past 2 weeks of extreme-swimming, but I just couldn't take it. I don't want to re-learn to swim. I'm not the fastest in the group, in any group...but I'm kinda fast sometimes...and relearning? My goodness. I don't think so. I've worked for the past YEAR on perfecting these techniques that she says are all wrong. I was annoyed, and I'm ashamed to admit my frustration was probably obvious.
But here's my problem with just throwing out what she was saying:
When I was just a little girl learning to play the flute, the granddaddy of all flute playing told me a story. When he was a kid, taking lessons, he was instructed to do something that was contrary to what he had been previously taught. He couldn't do it. He hated it. He threw it out. He went to his next lesson and confronted his teacher...he didn't need that advice; he knew a different, better way to accomplish the same thing. His teacher looked at him, and very calmly asked him how he could know which way was better until he had successfully conquered both...and then excused him from his lesson until he had done so.
So, the granddaddy of flute went home, and practiced both methods until he felt equally comfortable with both of them...and I don't remember which one he picked, but of course...that isn't the point.
The obvious point is that I can't possibly know which method of swimming works better for me until I can do both.
So I guess that's why I'm frustrated. I have all this new imformation, and maybe I'm being lazy, but I don't want to re-evaluate everything.
But, I will. I'm stubborn.
10 comments:
I like your blog! I am a professional musician and runner and I agree that there are lessons to be leardned from both to help each discipline.
And I'm super impressed that you have your practice schedule online-you rock!
Gah! Total Immersion. I hate when people tell me I am doing it wrong.
i say if it ain't broke don't fix it ;) Does Kurt teach us total immersion or something else? I just do what comes naturally. Oh well.
I am not so sure how I would deal with that situation either. I cannot swim in the first place so I suppose I would not have the same problem, but if someone told me I needed to re-learn my running form I would probably tell them to take a hike. Good luck on making the right decision.
I felt the same way at Kurt's swim technique workshop. I have never taken a swim lesson, but am basically a self taught swimmer. I did not have a lot of comfort in the water - well none really, except for diving and playing around - until discovering the Total Immersion method through a mention of it in a triathlon training book I bought. I bought one of T. Laughlin's books, along with a DVD and tried some of the drills. I discovered I no longer have to fight and struggle with the water. I still have a long way to go, but my confidence has greatly improved.
I've been taking Leah's Thursday Liquid N-Durance classes. Kurt's workshop was the opposite of everything I was learning. At the next class, I thought I could incorporate the two - and I got totally messed up. So, now, I've thrown out the "traditional" swimming of laps and constant flutter kicking method from Kurt's swim workshop and am concentrating on reducing my stroke count and using less effort to swim for endurance. My hope is that by reducing my energy output during the swim I will have more than enough left for the bike and run - especially since I won't be kicking furiously to stay balanced. (I undertand the wetsuit helps with some of the same balance issues the TI method addresses.) I still put in the distance during my workouts, I just drill differently.
Whatever works for you. You are a few years younger then me - quite a few - so maybe you can count on a higher level of fitness to get you through. I can tell you this - for the first time in my 40+ years I am comfortable in the water and know that I will finish this race. I'll never be a better than average swimmer, but by improving my technique I can narrow the gap with "natural" swimmers and younger competitors.
One off-hand remark struck me. I'm a bit curious about your distinction between lady and chick. My generation connects respect to one and lack of such to the other.
I have a lot of respect for Leah. She makes a living teaching people swimming, so she is obviously doing something right. She's twenty years younger than me, but I'm wise enough to know that she has something worthwhile to teach me. I'm sure it was frustrating to be told you would get better results using a different method. If you can incorporate the ideas of balance, lengthening, and smoothness into your workouts, even that small lesson may be worth a few frustrating hours.
These concepts perhaps came easier to me because I was never taught a different way. All the best and hope it works out for you.
Thats a great lesson for today Sue.. Thanks..
Cheers.
Rice.
Wow! Relearn? That's harsh. Maybe she should have used words like "adjust" or "tweak". Maybe it would have gotten a better reception.
just wanted to say something quickly to rosie--
TOTALLY didn't mean any disrespect to leah...chick just meant younger...and lady seemed to insinuate she was older...i don't know; maybe i did have a problem with someone my age telling me what to do, but that isn't usually a problem i have (i know everyone is good at different things, and i would never pretend to be a competitive swimmer)...so really...i just meant that she was young. maybe young woman would have been better? :)
and yo, liz--kurt teaches us linear swimming, which is pretty different from total immersion in some fundamental ways... but... really all the same goals are there. balance, speed, quadrant swimming...it's all the same--just different methods of getting there, i think.
and in summary, probably the different methods work well for different people. in my humble opinion, TI would work excellently for someone who hasn't had much swimming background...it's a great way to learn to swim. BUT. if you already have some pretty ingrained ideas about how to swim...it can be hard to stomach. but we'll see.
My teen-aged son told me when I asked him later that "chick" just means girl. Interesting how language usage changes in so few years :)
I've found that you can usually use something from any new approach. I'm running totally different than when I ran the 440 (400 meters) in high school, and I would have scoffed at the idea that the jogging I do now would even be considered "running". Even when I was a "walker" I used to think, well I can walk almost as fast at that slow jog - why not just walk? Well, I'm finding that I can walk/jog a little faster than my fastest walk pace, so that's what I'm working on. My form is designed to create the least impact with the most forward motion with the least expenditure of energy. Doesn't even sound like excercise when described by that formula. But - It is my individual approach taken from my past experience and advice from a number of books, articles and Coach Kurt - he told me to slow down my run so I could sustain it for a longer time - and it works. I know I will never get to the sub-12 minute miles my sister WALKS without adding the running.
Try out a few approaches and go with what works for you.
Best - Rosie
I may try to find a IM clinic around here for the simple reason that so many talk about it. Being a completely self taught swimmer it cant be that bad for me.
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