My Messy Journey to Finally Nail This
Alright, so I only tried ONE of these so-called “easy methods” at first. Yeah, I know, bad idea. Saw that title promising first place like magic, thought “Eh, why not start simple?” Grabbed my trusty blue practice journal, flipped to a fresh page.
Method 1 was all about focusing on the first 3 seconds after the start signal. Sounded straightforward enough for my old brain. Next club race came up, my turn at the starting block. Gun goes BANG! I shoved off hard, only thinking “ARMS FORWARD! LEGS PUMP!” Honestly, felt pretty sharp. Got a decent launch for once. Jotted that down after: “Start felt cleaner. Less flailing.” Okay, promising!
Feeling cocky, decided to skip ahead next week. Totally ignored Methods 2 & 3, my dumb mistake. Went straight for Method 4: visualizing the finish line before the halfway point. Big. Mistake. Middle of the race, trying to picture that stupid ribbon while still needing to breathe and push? Legs turned to cement. Lost all my speed. Came in a distant 4th. Sweating bullets, gasping like a fish. Wrote in the journal: “Visualizing finish = forgot to RACE. Felt slow. Arms felt wobbly mess. Bad.”
Okay, lesson learned. Back to basics. Week after, tried Method 2 properly: rhythm breathing every 3 strokes. Sounds simple, right? Nope. Felt like patting my head and rubbing my belly. Focused so hard on “1-2-3-BREATH, 1-2-3-BREATH” I completely forgot to watch the turns. Almost swam into the lane rope! Breathing was okay, but overall time? Worse than usual. Scribbled furiously: “Breathing rhythm: ✅ Stopped thinking ✅. Coordination? Gone. Need better timing.”
Swallowed my pride. Next session, Method 3: nailing the turn push-off. Watched the wall like a hawk every lap. Focused just on hitting it right, snapping the legs tight, shoving off hard right at the moment my feet touched. Felt clumsy the first few tries. Kept at it. Wrote: “Turns felt powerful. Less dead space after flip. Push feels stronger.” Progress!
Finally put it all together yesterday. Local meet, small one, but hey, podium chance. Remembered the journal:
- Start: Arms Forward! Legs Pump! (Method 1)
- First Lap: Find that 1-2-3-BREATH groove. Don’t force it. (Method 2)
- Every Turn: WALL HIT! SNAP! PUSH! (Method 3)
- Last Lap ONLY: See that finish ribbon, drive HARD. (Method 4 – Used RIGHT this time!)
Didn’t feel perfect. Still gasped. Arms burned. But man, it clicked. Touched the wall. Glanced up. 1st Place. First time this season! Nearly choked on pool water. Grabbed my journal later, hands still shaky: “HOLY SMOKES. All 4. Actually WORKED together. 1st Place! Not magic. Just… did all the steps. Even the dumb breathing one.”
Maybe “easy” is a stretch. Took falls, flops, and feeling like an idiot. But sticking with it, writing it all down? Got me there. Weird how that works.