Ideas of perfection are running amok in my skull. I think of swimming sometimes and everything behind a single race. Hundreds, if not thousands of hours going back and forth, pushing your body through the motions, the feel of the water passing across my hands, lingering soreness. Going to school after a morning workout, and leaving to go to another. Having the headmaster ask me if I was on drugs, because I had constant circles under my eyes due to lack of sleep and tight fitting goggles. Calculating split times, planning out a race, doing visualization techniques, the smell of chlorine always in my nose.
And you finally get there, to the big swim meet. Waiting around, fighting boredom, having to do rediculously long warm ups, and getting your card to wait for your heat. Finally getting on the block, feeling the rough surface of the diving block, and you go. All that work and preperation, for that 5 minutes or less (I was a 400m freestyle or IM expert). It's crazy when everything just works right, your body performs better than you could imagine, you pull ahead, lungs burning, body screaming at you, and somehow you're still doing it. That final touch of the pad, looking up to see your time, and holy crap, you just did a personal best. Good job, do it all over again.
I was watching a clip from a documentary on Mike Tyson, which inspired my swimming thinking, and I think how sad it is. This man with so many gifts, and who worked so hard, and it's all been thrown away. Click here if you want to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPkn8VCpNmc&eurl=
I was listening to a Scottish fellow on the train talking to a guy my age who was getting his diploma/degree to become a chef. It was really interesting, because he was saying to get good at anything requires about 5 years or more. After about 2 years, you can become proficient, but there's almost something magical about 5 years. So don't be afraid of education people, it takes time, and it's worth it.
What else is new? Not much. I think I screwed up my rotator cuff working out, so won't be lifting for awhile. Le sigh.
I want to build something, with my hands. I don't know what though, because I'm terrible at building things. Something out of wood would be cool though. The only thing I can think of is a baseball bat, mostly due to the Simpsons, and I have no use for a bat.
Blah, anyways, my friends are harassing me to come out, I'm sure I'll update more later.
And you finally get there, to the big swim meet. Waiting around, fighting boredom, having to do rediculously long warm ups, and getting your card to wait for your heat. Finally getting on the block, feeling the rough surface of the diving block, and you go. All that work and preperation, for that 5 minutes or less (I was a 400m freestyle or IM expert). It's crazy when everything just works right, your body performs better than you could imagine, you pull ahead, lungs burning, body screaming at you, and somehow you're still doing it. That final touch of the pad, looking up to see your time, and holy crap, you just did a personal best. Good job, do it all over again.
I was watching a clip from a documentary on Mike Tyson, which inspired my swimming thinking, and I think how sad it is. This man with so many gifts, and who worked so hard, and it's all been thrown away. Click here if you want to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPkn8VCpNmc&eurl=
I was listening to a Scottish fellow on the train talking to a guy my age who was getting his diploma/degree to become a chef. It was really interesting, because he was saying to get good at anything requires about 5 years or more. After about 2 years, you can become proficient, but there's almost something magical about 5 years. So don't be afraid of education people, it takes time, and it's worth it.
What else is new? Not much. I think I screwed up my rotator cuff working out, so won't be lifting for awhile. Le sigh.
I want to build something, with my hands. I don't know what though, because I'm terrible at building things. Something out of wood would be cool though. The only thing I can think of is a baseball bat, mostly due to the Simpsons, and I have no use for a bat.
Blah, anyways, my friends are harassing me to come out, I'm sure I'll update more later.
posted by Poshy at 1:35 PM
1 Comments:
Oh my dear, don't build a bat if you have no use for it. I would suggest making something out of clay, personally. It's fun, kind of messy and very satisfying. Then again, access to clay paints and a kiln is sometimes difficult to find.
Post a Comment
<< Home