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Ultimately, we are training in order to enjoy the water, to enjoy our body, and to enjoy our body sliding through the water.
Never allow yourself to lose the basic love of swimming. And if you do, do whatever you must to get it back right away. It is the basis of all healthy training.
For this purpose, you may choose or be assigned to do a Pure Pleasure Swim.
A Pure Pleasure swim is where you take the skills you have already – setting aside the concern for the skills that still need a lot of work – and you use those to move through the water as pleasurably as possible.
Swim short distances or long.
Swim slowly, swim moderately, or swim briskly, as it pleases your body and mind.
Avoid doing actions or motions that cause stress or strain. If some parts of the breathing action are problematic, do short repeats without turning to breath. Stop, stand and breathe when you need to. Repeat again.
Swim with any of the stroke styles (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly) that allow you to feel your best in the water.
Keep your attention not so much on your skills, but on the feeling of your body moving, on the flow of water over the skin, on the sounds of water and air mixing around you.
Go for as long as you have time and the swimming is pleasing. Stop while you are still feeling good. You want to leave the pool on a good sensory note.
I find it pretty important to include a pure pleasure swim in my workouts each week. I really look forward to these swims and it helps me stay motivated to bring a strong focus to my remaining workouts during which I’ll be working hard on a variety of the aspects of my stroke that need more attention. I still find myself attending to some of my major focal points, but always in a much more relaxed manner that allows me to fall back into an appreciation of all the wonderful sensations that accompany swimming.
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