5 Life Lessons From the Pool

Lesson #1 - Breathe 

One day I was chatting with a fellow coach about how difficult I found freestyle and how anxious I felt whenever I tried to swim fast when he casually responded, well, that’s because you don’t breathe. I protested at first. Obviously I breathe, otherwise I would be dead. When he clarified that I was sucking in a deep breath, holding it as long as possible, and then releasing it in a panic right before turning into a sloppily executed sidebreath, I had to concede. I was swimming like I was skimming the bottom of the ocean and not gliding along the water’s surface, a gulp of air immediately available at the turn of my head. 

Swimming teaches us that true control is not about restraint and deprivation, but about steady, intentional catch and release. Holding my breath made me feel like I was keeping all my oxygen safely inside my lungs, but it was actually causing carbon dioxide to build up, my oxygen levels to drop, and my body to go into fight or flight, where it was nearly impossible to swim as optimally as I could. I needed to slowly release my breath before taking another one, and moreover, I needed to take another one before my lungs were empty, not when I was starving for it. Taking the oxygen you need – much like food, water, rest, and time to do the things you love – is not weakness or lack of discipline, it is essential. Olympic champion Katie Ledecky is one of the best swimmers in the world, and she takes a breath every other stroke. 

Lesson #2 - Work with the water, not against it

I remember having this epiphany during swim practice in middle school: if I treat the water like my friend, and not my enemy, I think I actually go faster. I realized that I needed to swim with the water, not against it. At the time it was just a feeling, a sense that when I changed my attitude towards the water, it felt better; it rewarded me. Now I understand that while water doesn’t have any deep, spiritual relationship with me, the intuition I had back then is supported by both swim coaches and the laws of physics. 

I tell my upper level swimmers repeatedly that before they can swim fast, they need to master swimming slow. Moving your limbs as fast as possible when those movements are sloppy, splashy, and potentially dangerous does not generate speed. It often does the opposite. On the other hand, taking the easiest path through the water to avoid feeling tired won’t make you go faster, either. If you can’t feel the weight of the water as it tries to slow you down, you might barely be moving at all. Good form in swimming is about harnessing the water’s resistance to push you forward – that’s why we call our arm movements pulls – and reducing drag, the water’s resistance against forward motion. In other words, we need to choose our resistance wisely. Without focus, effort, and intention, our actions will generate friction, not momentum. 

Lesson #3 - Stay in your Lane 

I’m a little competitive. I push myself harder when I swim with others than when I do laps by myself. I’m motivated by keeping pace with those around me, and nothing quickens my kick like knowing someone is right on my heels. It’s a known phenomenon; whether struggling in solidarity with teammates or racing to beat competitors, working alongside other people often brings out the best in us. However, whether they are behind you, in front of you, or in another lane, there is no greater Achilles’ heel in swimming than lifting your head to check on other swimmers.

I’ve learned to scan for my competitors from my peripheral vision and feel someone creep up on me by the current around my toes. I keep my eyes where they should be: on the flags, the wall, or the big blue stripe on the bottom of the pool. As the cliches go, I keep my eye on the prize, I stay in my own lane. When you start looking around at everyone else, your legs sink, your form sags, you disrupt your rhythm and you lose your momentum. In the pool, it’s just physics. In life, it’s a lesson: if you want to meet your goals, focus on your own progress. The others will get to the finish line when they get there, whether or not you watch them on their way. 

Lesson #4 - Slow and Steady

When I bring out the pull buoys during a lesson, I am usually met with a loud, collective groan. Not these! They make me so slow! They’re not wrong. My swimmers think I’m especially cruel when I tell them they’re about to cross the pool, buoy between their legs, doing only the breast stroke pull. Since so much of the forward momentum in breast stroke is generated by a powerful kick, dragging your body along with nothing but a swift, narrow scoop is, I will not lie, very challenging. I do it regularly in my own practice so I know exactly what my kids mean when they say I’m not moving at all. Even when you are doing the pull correctly, and putting as much power and effort into the movement as you can, it feels like you are doing nothing but bobbing up and down to gasp for breath. And yet, we always end up on the other side of the pool. 

Soaring across the pool in a pair of long fins feels exhilarating and immediately rewarding, but the real growth happens, both in your muscles and in your mindset, when you are slogging to the other side with a pool buoy and a prayer. I think this makes a beautiful metaphor. Sometimes, when things feel impossibly hard, when you think you’re not making any progress at all, you’re not doing it wrong – you’re doing it exactly right. 

Lesson #5 - You Can Do Hard Things

I got through the warm-up of every swim practice I ever attended by repeating I hate this I hate this I hate this in my head for the whole 600 yards. At the end of every practice, I felt amazing. In a good practice, there will be sets that make you scared. When your coach tells you to do something that you don’t think is physically, humanly possible, you have three choices: throw up, pretend you have to go to the bathroom, or lock your goggles into place and do the scary thing. 

Every time I choose the third option, I learn the same lesson: I am stronger than I thought. Gasping for breath, raising our heart rate, making our muscles burn – our brains receive these signals as distress, and that makes us want to stop, even though our body can, and will, adapt. When we push through, we increase our tolerance for distress in the pool and in life. We become more resilient. We learn to believe in ourselves in the face of seemingly impossible demands. Swimming taught me that I could do hard things, and now I tell this to my swimmers every day. Yes, you can. You can do hard things.