Swimming Backwards

Somehow in the past month, maybe due to stress, maybe due to lots of biking and running, my swim stroke deteriorated. Like to worse than it was when I got here in early February. And somehow I knew that, since my swim times were increasing and I suddenly realized I wasn't actually going anywhere in the water. So instead of doing something productive about it, I took a week off from swimming. And in that week of course, my life fell apart. Work issues, training burn out, personal issues... it's always like an avalanche. One thing pops out and everything crashes down. Luckily I was able to resolve my personal issue and I ran a lot, and I think I'm back on track there. Work still sucks, but at least the manager who hired me is siding with me. So I think I'm feeling a little better overall, though unfortunately work plays such a large part in my life I haven't regained all my focus yet. And I think when I lost that focus (whenever it was) is when my swimming started to suck also. It takes a lot of energy and concentration to swim well! And it gets awfully boring, and it takes longer to get to the pool and start swimming, and excuses excuses. So I decided to try to solve my problem. How did I do this? I first took another swim lesson to figure out what is going wrong and to recognize that and then to try to fix it. Secondly, I went back to master's swim. I realized maybe the reason I liked swimming so much last year is because it was FUN to swim with other people. And chat too, of course. And chat in the locker room after. And I missed that this year. There is no entertainment swimming by myself. So to get into the pool today, I told myself I'd do my own set and then join the master's workout. And it worked! And I got to talk with the coach and the regulars in the group. Hopefully this momentum continues...