There is nothing wrong with changing your nutrition.
There is nothing wrong with changing coaches.
There is nothing wrong with thinking something IS THE BEST THING EVER one month and not liking it the next month.
I've been blogging since 2003.
Can you imagine if I kept doing the same things that I did in 2003?
The fact is, you must change to improve.
I don't eat the same things I did last year.
I don't train the same way.
I have changed my mental outlook. (Oh good god. I can't tell you how many times I've changed this).
I recently changed my race day fueling....again.
I don't change for the sake of changing. I don't jump on bandwagons with new products.
I make changes when things stop working.
Making changes requires being honest with yourself. It's uncomfortable. Many people will continue to force issues rather than be honest with themselves.
Over the past few weeks, I've had a couple of situations that have caused me to assess and change.
The first was feedback that I got from my masters swim coach. I was telling him about some recent frustrations that I was having. He knelt down on and the edge of my lane and said, "Tea, these are the things I see you can work on". He then listed out 3 things for me to think about and work on.
I took the feedback to Coach Liz. She said, "That's outstanding feedback".
Keep in mind. Getting feedback doesn't mean you are a bad person. Your coach wants the best for you. It's up to YOU to ask for help. It's up to YOU to ask for feedback. If you don't, they think you aren't interested. The other side is that if you ask for feedback and don't get it, it's also time for a change.
The hard part? Knowing when it's time to ask for help.
I listened to what my swim coach said. He was absolutely right. I told him that I'd never even thought of it before. The things he pointed out......never even occurred to me.
The next thing, that caused me to stop and think, was a picture.
It was a race picture that Coach Liz posted. She recently raced back to back races (Sat and Sun).
The look on her face in the picture was sheer pain and effort.
That picture showed exactly what short course racing is all about.
I stared at the picture.
I don't get to that level.
Someone can tell you over and over (cough-Liz-cough) what short course racing is feels like, but an image is worth a thousand words.
Over the years, I've gone from being last to being middle of the pack to chasing the podium finishers to being a podium finisher to being in the lead.
My mental outlook has had to change as I've gone from being last to being a podium finisher.
Only in the last few weeks have I realized that my mindset has changed since I've gone from "chasing" to "being chased".
It hasn't been a good change.
If I want to continue becoming a better athlete, I need to change....yet again.
In masters, I've moved up a lane. I'm chasing much faster swimmers. I'm pushing my comfort level to learn to pace better and handle a higher effort level. When I show up on race day, my goal will be to think about chasing those masters swimmers. I'm not going to look back to see who's behind me. I'm not going to look for people ahead me. My goal will be to give my best effort. Not the effort I think is my best effort; my best effort.
During the run, my goal is to remember that picture of Liz. Years ago, I said, "You always have another gear".
I'm going to find that next gear.
Gone is my old comfort zone. It's time for me to take it up a notch.....again.
