The cool thing about working with lots of different folks is that I get to see each individual progression. If you take 20 athletes, all 20 of them will have a different way of going about their improvement process. I think that’s pretty darn awesome! It means that there is no one right way. Rather there are many options for progress! This is why I’m highlighting Stephanie Johnson. She has done an amazing job of optimizing her learning in a potentially challenging setting – group workouts. To learn well in group workouts, athletes need to be great listeners, be willing to try a bunch of different techniques & then be just as good at assessing how those techniques affect performance. It’s a big ask to maximize learning in group workouts, but Stephanie stepped up in a big way!! Congrats, Steph!
In Stephanie’s own words:
“When I was in high school, I set a goal to ‘train’ for a triathlon. I specifically used the word ‘train’ (rather than ‘complete’ or ‘compete’) because, at the time, I was a non-swimmer & I didn’t think ‘competing’ or ‘completing’ a tri was realistic!
Fast forward to college where I found myself enrolled in a beginning swimming class & signing up for various sprint distance triathlons. Fast forward a few more years & I successfully completed Ironman 70.3 Oceanside, my 1st 70.3. Since then, I have finished 2 more 70.3’s – Ironman 70.3 Muncie & Ironman 70.3 St. George.
Suffice to say I’ve come a long way from where I started! But learning to swim efficiently as an adult still remained quite challenging. Eventually I found that my kickboard drills & windmill arms weren’t helping me progress. I was still slow out of the water despite lots of time spent trying to swim faster. I decided that, if I was going to do another triathlon, I really wanted to learn to enjoy the swim…rather than just survive it.
Fast forward one more time & I found Coach Michelle’s Swim Training program. In this program (particularly in the Back-to-Basics part), I have learned little adjustments which have made my stroke more efficient & effortless. Now I swim faster & further with a lower heart rate AND less swim anxiety!
Next up is July’s Spudman Triathlon & I am looking forward to seeing the changes that a year of intentional swimming & purposeful drills has made on my race!”
For more info on Swim Training Workouts, click here.