The challenge ofchallenges

When it comes to sport I like to think of myself as a bit of an all-rounder.  That is to say I am pretty rubbish at almost everything.  There’s virtually nothing that I can’t turn my hand at.

For example, our school cricket team was once dismissed for a grand total of six.  That’s one less than the number of goals I let in as a half time substitute goal-keeper when I was thirteen.  (The player I replaced had already conceded six of his own). 

When younger I have enjoyed some solo sports; I quite enjoy thwacking a tennis ball about and I have also been known to have quite a successful round of golf occasionally.  As long as I don’t hit the little windmill.

It’s true that I have had some moderate success gently leaning on a ruck or a maul whilst playing rugby in my youth, but generally team mates have come to realise that one of my best qualities tends to be simply the ability to turn up more or less on time with most of the vital parts of my kit in tow.  After that anything else tends to be a bit of a bonus.

As the years have gone past I have found it increasingly difficult to find players of the same low standards that I possess to play with or against and thus I have turned to those where I can compete against myself albeit not always successfully.

Rather late in life I have discovered endurance sports and can now regularly be found wearing inadequate amounts of tight-fitting clothing of lurid design attempting another ultimately pointless athletic challenge. 

Instead of attempting to score points or goals or runs I now complete against the clock.  Sometimes simply completing the course counts as a success.  I’m still as competitive as ever but I know I’m never going to win any of the events I enter.  (If you’ve ever found yourself re-sorting a results table into age grade order or even number of times entered to see if that improves your performance you’ll know what I’m talking about).  Which begs the question as to why do I do it?  What is the point?

I guess it would be nice if I could point to all the money I raise for charity.  But in reality it is very rare for me to ask for sponsorship.  Just because I am concerned about orphaned donkeys forced to dance in the night clubs of Bankok doesn’t mean that my friends and family are too.  It can even be a double-edged sword. I am told the British NHS spend far more patching up folks injured in charity parachute jumps than they ever receive in donations raised in this way. 

So perhaps I am trying to match or improve upon my previous results.  Who doesn’t like getting a PB after all?  I’m in that camp for sure.  However, my tent is firmly pitched on the outskirts of that particular field.  Realistically PBs achieved when I was younger are firmly out of my reach now.

So maybe it’s the social aspect which attracts me. Certainly the events in which I take part would not be the same if I were just doing them by myself the achievement would be just the same.  Being part of a larger group on the day, or at least knowing that other athletes have attempted and completed the same challenge previously seems to make all the difference.  To accomplish the same achievement in training (even if I do it faster) somehow doesn’t seem to count.

Alternatively, is it the bling I find attractive?  Am I really so shallow as to need a cheap medal to hang around my neck at the finish?  Well, yes.  Yes I think I am.

But even that isn’t everything.  To be honest often the attraction of endurance sport for me now comes down to whether I can actually push myself that far.  Has the training I’ve put in and the techniques I have practiced been good enough to get me to the finish line? To push the boundaries beyond the point I thought I could manage and to surmount obstacles which seemed previously to be beyond me…it’s all got to be good hasn’t it?

Well, yes, obviously. 

But also no.

When it comes to swimming, despite the kudos, the self-pride and the euphoria of finishing a gruelling event there can be a problem for the longer term;  there is no quicker way to expose the deficiencies in your technique.  If you haven’t ingrained the proper movements into your stroke, sure as eggs are eggs, your body will default to the actions it feels are most familiar. And those aren’t necessarily the ones which are best for you

And that may mean that you wipe out any gains you may have made recently.  This in turn may lead to inefficiencies in your swimming or, worse, habits returning which may result in stiffness of the joints or more serious long-term injuries.  And, of course, once you revert to these damaging habits, a long-distance swim is the ideal way to ingrain these movements into your stroke instead.

So should distance events only be tackled by elite athletes with a perfect stroke then?  I don’t think it is necessary to go to those extremes.  However, it is important to recognise the dangers and mitigate them as far as possible.  If you’re going to be swimming for several hours, take into account that you won’t be able to focus on your technique for the entire period and make sure you have some touchstones to allow you to return to good form to literally get you back on track.  Know your weaknesses and have strategies in place to constantly refocus on ensuring these will not sabotage your efforts.  Have images in mind or feelings you can recreate in your body which you know will steady your tiller.  (Your Swim Mastery coach will be able to help you in this area if you need ideas). Treat your body like an errant schoolboy who, given half a chance, will always take the laziest and easiest route.  Your brain needs to be the strict schoolmaster, constantly checking in, guiding and correcting until your body realises that perhaps his way wasn’t the best way after all.

And chose your events carefully as well.  Keeping constant vigilance on your stroke isn’t easy.  It’s a skill just as important, if not more so, than any physical movement which might be practiced and perfected.  If your mind wanders a bit during a 25m length of a pool that isn’t great, but overall you won’t do much harm to your technique.  But if you are not concentrating for a swim of several kilometres it could well be a different story.  And bear in mind that during an open water endurance swim you are going to encounter loads of factors I haven’t covered here, amongst them perhaps, the weather (sun, rain or wind), colder water, salt water, higher waves, the presence in close proximity of other swimmers, vegetation or other obstructions within the water, the need to sight regularly to ensure you are following the course etc etc.  The potential for distraction is virtually limitless and, if you aren’t used to it, can be virtually overwhelming.

So, given the dangers of causing regression in the fundamental building blocks of your stroke it is probably worth beginning your ventures into the world of endurance swimming with some shorter distance events first.  And if you’ve already progressed to longer distances but find them a struggle it may be worth taking a step down and adjusting your definition of success.  Instead of “I will complete this at all costs” maybe consider “I shall complete this feeling as good and as strong as I did when I started”. 

The top priority for any endurance swim should be to remain injury free and to have maintained the best possible form.  Sometimes this can be lost in the determination to complete the course at all costs.  It’s a trap I can easily fall into myself.

Maybe the real challenge of these events is to redefine what the challenge is in the first place.