Two months after starting with Coach Liz, back in Feb 2014, I had a 5k race. After the race, I was frustrated with myself.
I was mad. I wrote in my notes to Liz, "I should be faster than I am. What's wrong with me?"
She told me I was, "steady state Sally, afraid to bust out."
When she said that, I was mad. I took a few days to respond. Then, I realized that she was right. THAT feedback was what I wanted and needed. THAT is exactly why I hired her.
Over the next 2.5 years, I worked to get rid of steady state Sally.
I put everything into my bike and run.
I never did it with my swim. I work at my swim. I go to masters. My swim has improved dramatically since I started with my new coach.
But I always knew I could "get by" on my swim. Why swim hard if I'm going to be first or second out of the water? I didn't actually think that way. If I can swim at pretty fast pace without much effort and be first out of the water, why apply myself?
Liz and I have been talking about my swim lately. On several occasions, she has told me that I'm not swimming to my fitness and strength. In other news, my swim Coach has also been mentioning that I'm not really going all out at masters. I'll get a two body length lead on the other swimmers in my lane. Instead of expanding my lead....I just sort of sit back and hold it.
Blah blah blah....noise....noise...noise...noise.
I justified it in my head. "Oh. I'm going plenty fast. That's good enough."
But was it?
I did a swim TT in open water, without a wetsuit today.
Something finally clicked in me. Was I catching and passing people? Yes. Did I go hard? Absolutely not. Did I even feel it? No.
It came crashing down on me. I'm steady state Sally on the swim, and I've always been that way.
It's time to get rid of that bitch once and for all.
