Swimspiration!

I haven't had the chance to blog much since the car accident as I've been focused on recovery and ensuring that my swim training was not disrupted so much by the injury. Well, it's also been quite busy on the job front with tons of interviews and the creation of various marketing presentations that accompany the follow-up rounds. Today gives me pause for reflection on the journey my swimming life has taken me, and the impact this sport has had on my life these past few months. 

Back in January, I blogged about my reasons for getting back into the pool and swimming: 
"So I went back to the pool and focused on what I could achieve, stroke by stroke perhaps getting a little better and maybe closer to 1:52:03... a new goal, a chance to recharge, enjoy and truly live life, and perhaps find the next challenge in my career."

Looking back on the past 6 months, I have made tremendous progress as a swimmer, and as I look at the above statement realize that my swimming journey has fulfilled everything I wished it would. 

This week alone marks several milestones in and out of the pool - personal bests, swimming and training with Olympians and my first day as a swim instructor with the adaptive swim program for veterans at Asphalt Green.

Last Wednesday, I had a great time boxing and doing my dry land training with my trainer Joe. Afterwards, I was prepared to walk into noon practice with Glenn Mills, the noon Masters Coach and himself a US Olympic Gold Medalist for breast stroke in 1982 and one of the most respected technicians in the sport. (I've written about Glenn before in this blog "The Road to AGUA Masters"). I know Glenn trains a ton of Olympic athletes, but I never expected to walk in to practice with 2004 Olympic Swimmer and two-time Ironman gold medalist Andy Potts in the pool joining us for practice. This was going to be a special practice, and as I found myself alone in the medium lane, Glenn challenged me to step-up and try to swim fast. I took his challenge and surprised myself by dropping a full 5 seconds in my 100 freestyle. Last week swimming 100-free in an interval of 1:50 meant touch and go, no rest. Today I was hitting the interval of 1:40-48 consistently, with plenty of time to rest and keep going. My kicking was also averaging 1 second per yard = as I did 0:50 seconds for 50 yards! These are all personal bests and fast times for me. I'm proud of the fact that I did the practice exactly as it was prescribed and achieved all these personal best times, and was able to prove that I am getting faster, stronger and better at every practice!

Olympian stories like Michael Phelps and Lia Neal are what inspired me to get back in the water. I never once imagined that in my journey to become a better swimmer would lead to the opportunity to train, meet and develop relationships with these Olympic-caliber athletes, that fully encourage and support me in my journey. 

The swim training has undoubtedly changed my body, and recently I decided to try a singing lesson only to shock myself with the strength of my lung capacity and the new strength of my body - that directly correlates to the power and support of my sound. I've grown tremendously as a singer, and I know this newly found strength and endurance is directly related to my athleticism as a swimmer. 

To cap off the week, I started today as one of the new instructors for the Adaptive Swim Program at Asphalt Green, which is a free program specifically for veterans. Here's the link to the article about this program:  Veterans' Swimming Program Helps With Physical, Mental Barriers. I had the pleasure of working with two of the veterans today - Dan and Steve. Dan has full mobility and Steve is in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waste down. I love how they started to get extremely comfortable in the water quickly and how they trusted me to help them for this hour - and at the end both of them were doing an elementary backstroke in the water and felt truly comfortable and confident. They both reminded me of my journey - my determination to be a better swimmer, to just want to master the technique. I can't wait to see both of them next week and to help them get better and achieve their goals of being accomplished freestyle and backstroke swimmers. It's such a blessing to be able to work with these two lovely gentlemen. 

Joining AGUA Masters and being part of the Asphalt Green community has truly brought so many blessings in my life. Considering the challenges that I have been going through in me personal life the past few months, I am blessed to have the support of great team mates, and meet people who truly give me inspiration to fully live life, balanced with a career I love, and great each day, moment and person in my life with genuine joy. 

It seems only appropriate to end this blog with a quote and picture from Michael Phelps, who inspired me so much that I got back in the pool last year. I hope this quote gives you inspiration to go after your dreams.