Admitting One’s Limitations

Last night’s practice didn’t start out as well as I would have wished, and it progressively worsened over the course of the evening. I was tired after the warm up, but that isn’t unusual for me. Since day one in January when I started back at swimming I consistently misjudge my swimming speed and stamina for the first few laps. Then, as the reality I haven’t swum for the past thirty five years hits home, I slow down to a more reasonable pace, collect my breath, and continue on. Except I couldn’t collect my breath last night. I knew I was in trouble when the set following the warm up was in my favourite backstroke, and I still found myself struggling just to complete it within the given splits. The rest of the workout was a disaster as I finished neither the supplementary set nor the main set which followed and had to twice pull over to let Ian and Darcy pass me. Previously I could keep up by reaching into my reserves and just pushing myself harder to keep up, but after several days of working at 90+% there’s nothing left in the tank to call upon. It’s time to admit Lane 6 is simply too fast for me right now. Next practice I drop down a couple of lanes. I’ll work up from there.