SWIMMING TRAINING IS HARD WORK
Swimming training is hard work, it's not easy! Is isn't easy to get up every morning, to come and work hard, in a sometimes cold, lonely environment. It is not easy to push yourself to your limits, to train hard and breath heavy.
What it is though, is rewarding! You will start to enjoy it, it does get easier. It is worthwhile and you get results out of it. You get faster, fitter and feel better about yourself.
You can't just be one of the crowd. The crowd doesn't go swim training, they stay in bed and get fat and lazy. You have to be willing to stand out and act differently. You have to value success more than others do. You have to want it more. You can't train like everyone else. You have to train more and better.
The things you do have a way of coming back at you. When you give of yourself and make a contribution you often get a return of your investment. By contributing towards your goals you gain control in producing an atmosphere that's easy to train well in and enjoy.
COMPLAINING IS CANCEROUS! It spreads like a malignant cancer, eating away at all that's healthy and productive. Complaints invite others and yourself to do the same. It's easy to say, "I don't want to do that today." Everyone of us doesn't like doing something. The training is set down to accomplish certain things at different times of the season. It is not set down to hurt you, because you don't like that type of training or to do you any harm. It is set down to help you achieve your goals, to make you a better, faster, fitter swimmer. Complaints label training as bad. They presume that training is something you have to do - A necessary evil. Complaining draws you away from the good feelings that come from training, the sense of accomplishment, control over your life and feeling of well being.
What would happen, if instead of complaining you talked about how much you liked training, accentuated the positive. Well, why not talk about the fun! Are you really afraid you will make others feel bad? Are you afraid to feel good about what you are doing and to enjoy yourself when others may not.
Encourage and support your teammates! Just as complaining is contagious, so are support and encouragement! Even if your support and encouragement don't get returned, your comments can help build the kind of environment in which it is easier for you to train well and sooner or later, the support and encouragement usually find their way back to you. Instead of put downs, how about a burst of encouragement, a come on you can do it!
What would happen if you came to training and instead of trying to get out of the work you find hard or that you don't like you trained hard and then asked for more? What would happen if you did all your training with enthusiasm and were happy to work hard? What would happen if you liked training or even pretended to?
Just as all bad things spread, so do the good. The others around you would feel better, ti would encourage then to train hard. The sets would seem easier, because everyone would be helping each other with positive comments and good attitudes. The coach would not be shouting or angry because you would be giving it your best.
The best kept secret of it all would be that you, yes you, believe it or not would actually start to like training! You would start to enjoy the hard sets, you would start to feel better about yourself, you would start to like your fellow swimmers better.
Why? Because everything would be positive, everything would be encouraging, everything and everyone would be happy. Because when everyone puts in their best effort you feel good about yourself.
If you want to stay in bed with the rest of the crowd, if you like easy options, if you don't mind being lazy or fat. Then don't come training. If you do come training, then make it worthwhile, make it happy.