New Year, new start & new resolutions – well, for me it was a bit different, because there were some old resolutions that had to be worked out yet. Btw – no offence to those who wind up early on all current & next year’s resolutions but sometimes you have got to evaluate & re-assess. It’s not a race but the way stuff is accomplished by understanding the various factors playing in. Some people push through easily, well, if a resolution is on a physical level, if you’ve got a good strong body, no dependencies & determination, you’ll always push through, the challenge really comes into play when you don’t have one or more of the above, you are with family who pushes you on other activities and then you have to ‘find time’.
Well, for me, luckily, it wasn’t any of the above but more on re-accessing my performance with some combination of factors in play. I started my journey early morning to my gym with the goal of completing 45-50 laps of swim. This was purposely planned as covid restrictions had kept my swim levels to minimum for the whole last year. When I reached the gym pool, I was surprised to find few people in the pool. Usually it is a bit busy, so it was good for me (a +ve point). While I was approaching the swim lane, the lady said she was going to come out, which was another +ve point. While on her way out, she mentioned, water is a bit chilly, which I took casually because I had been to this pool a number of times and would have been able to comprehend the chill factor involved. Though, this changed very quickly as I got into the water.
It was cold, reminded me of the winter swim competition training, I pushed through and thought a couple of laps would warm up. 2 laps in – I was already feeling good, then on 3rd lap, I noticed, I started losing breath half-way. My body was trying to balance the energy used to generate heat and provide for the motion forward. I knew, if I continued like this, I might collapse unconscious. While this was going on, 2 people came in for the swim and left after doing a round or two, not an encouragement factor though. So, the whole experience got me thinking now.
I went to one side of the pool, and took a pause, starting to re-evaluate my goal criteria now, should I continue or call it quits and come back again? I had to reconsider. I knew – there was one factor which was concerning and 2 which were positive, so I started to shorten my goal criteria, initially – I set my goal to 10 laps max. At this point, I was probably not sure, whether I would be able to continue even 2 laps forward. Took a deep breath and swam to the end of the pool, the cold water wasn’t allowing me to keep my head under, so I strained to the point where I could just loose the breath but keep myself calm and then pushed through. Gladly, it worked. With a close to 6 feet deep-end, there was a choice of hanging on or continuing back.
Well, for one thing, I wasn’t feeling that tired with this simple routine that I did and felt when the water was warm, so I continued.
Few laps in and I look at the lap counter on my watch, it was 11 laps already. Now, I had to re-assess my goals again. Usually, my warms up focus on 20 laps cycle and then other ones come on the top of it. So, I decided, let’s not put a lot of risk in play and stick to 20 laps for now. Starting my lap count again, I continued with the swim, taking a short pause between 4 & 5 laps. To my surprise, I did see few more people come in and then leave the pool, but I wasn’t noticing enough as I was focusing on completing my warm-up lap journey.
Once, my warm-ups were done, I started feeling a bit more warmed up (as they say it) & energetic. Took a quick look around & could see 2 people on the treadmill, did notice the girl so was continuously running from sometime, at a fast pace. Well, some positive inspiration in place, I thought, let’s reduce the goal in half – maybe 25-30 laps. With that said, I had to factor in the mix, to cool myself down, so I gave another 5 laps and then did some backstrokes. Finally, this took me to 30 laps. Once, that was done, I was feeling good to go until 40, so I continued.
On completion of 40 laps, I recollected that my swim journey didn’t have any butterfly stokes in the mix, so I started with them and tried to complete 45. Once one 45, I was feeling a bit more confident and put my goal to 60 laps max. That said, I continued, needless to say, water was not warming up, and I could feel the cold current brushing up again my body, causing my heart rate to rise but I tried to slow it down and then speed up, which kind of worked. While I was nearing 60, I noticed another lady come up in the pool and start swimming which kind of caught my attention as she was kind of not affected by the cold water.
Well, that probably gave me some boost and I continued, but remembered, I had to clock it up so that I can continue with my next goal, so I continued until 71-72 and stopped there. Gladly, the lady too came out 2 laps before my finish, but the good thing was my goal of the day was completed.
So, the – take away here is – that we should always re-assess our goals and methods to accomplish them, taking risks which work out best and not overdoing it anytime. Ultimately, my goal was exceeded by 10 laps but then it was kind of a start target for next one so one must always keep that expectations matter.
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