Fall Motivation  

Missy, One of my bloggy buddies recently posted about how she has done virtually nothing in the off-season, that she is enjoying it. In a nutshell, she is feeling guilty about feeling guilty.

I think this is a common occurrence for weekend warriors like us who spend a g good part of our free time balancing our training and our personal life. When the pressure is off, it’s such a relief.

For me, the offseason was dry and slow. No swimming or riding. I jumped into my P90X program, and saw an increase in strength and flexibility, as well as a decrease in body mass. But then came the start of our masters swim season, as well as our bike clubs winter spin sessions.

Going to the pool was getting to be a chore. I would sit at my desk in the morning and think about new excuses for blowing off my lunch session. The thought of more laps just made me want to burn my speedos.

Then our Masters Club scheduled a mini swim meet. I signed up for a couple of free events and a couple of breast stroke events. I got online and searched out drills and advice on beast. We did a few workout sets of breast stroke and drills, and all of a sudden, a fire was lit. I couldn’t wait to get to the pool and practice. The meet went ok, I managed to just break 50 seconds for a 50 breast, and I couldn’t wait for the next workout.

Then at our last workout, our coach decided to try and teach us how to swim butterfly. Some of my swim mates really weren’t impressed, and whined and made excuses like “I don’t swim Fly in a Triathlon.” As it turns out, I am not a bad butterflyer. I am no Michael Phelps, but I did garner a few looks from my lane mates.



So I am now in a situation where I look forward to every session. I don’t need to drag my ass to the pool. I eagerly look forward to practicing new skills, like breast stroke, and fly, and finally learning to do a flip turn. In doing so, I have found that my freestyle stroke count has dropped. Hopefully it means that my freestyle efficiency is increasing.

So here is the moral of the story. If you are starting to feel unmotivated this fall, sign up for a masters club swim meet. Try a new stroke, Perfect your flip turn. Before you know it, spring will be here, you will be 12 weeks out from your first race of the year, and stoked about the upcoming season. And if not, you can sell your bikes, and take up scuba diving, or knitting.