Back in the swim

Woke this morning at 6:30 with no after effects from yesterday's run, not even a little stiffness. Because the clocks have gone forward, it's not yet sunrise but the weather looks promising, some ground frost and a little mist. Sunrise when it comes is beautiful, I have posted a shot from my garden below. Conditions have been excellent here recently, being Northern England we tend to get a fair amount of wind, cloud and rain, especially in March. I took the dogs out for an hour down the long distance path at Cherry Burton and then did some light gardening until lunchtime before heading to the pool. Local Schools swim during the week so I tend to go between 12:00 and 2:00.
18 years army service left me unconsciously afflicted by what I call "rushing roulette". In the army everything is done at the double and for years afterwards, I found myself always hurrying whenever I was getting changed and ready to swim. This impatience used to carry over into the water and was unhelpful. To exercise with quality and enjoyment it helps greatly to prepare in a relaxed, unhurried, and calm frame of mind. The governing principle should be to use the time available for exercise wisely, considering what can be done with quality, enjoyment and relaxation in an unhurried manner. The pool is quiet today, I find a free lane and swim butterfly and backstroke without having to worry about other swimmers.
When conditions allow I like to swim individual medleys, known as IM's to competitive swimmers. IM swimming presents the greatest technical and physical challenge and also the greatest variety and satisfaction, once mastered. The practice focusses on technique, trying to swim with the least possible effort and the maximum efficiency. This means swimming without a splash and completing each length in the fewest possible strokes.
The order of the medley is butterfly, backstroke, breast stroke and freestyle,(front crawl.) Today's swim is going to be about 1000 metres, (40 lengths), as I haven't swum for 2 weeks and want to see how I am before doing more. After 2 or 3, medleys, I am moving well and enjoying the swim. The sense of a personal self diminishes as concentration on technique and the sensory feedback of feeling my body glide smoothly through the water captures my whole attention.
Before each swim it helps to breathe in a relaxed manner for a minute or so in order to compose the mind and to rest the body. It is important to avoid swimming tired, "no pain, more gain"! After finishing the tenth IM, swim 100m backstroke and 100m front crawl, as slowly as possible to warm down.
Of course it isn't necessary to be able to do all the strokes, or be an expert swimmer in order to practice meditative swimming. Each stroke can be learned as a progression of simple drills, each of which can form the basis of a meditation.
Beyond forty years of age, exclusive focus on fitness and strength training show diminishing returns, and this can be dispiriting. Changing focus on to the quality of technique and skill can continue throughout life, and the positive feedback of continuously improving skill encourages further practice.
Swimming, in particular, rewards this approach as a ten percent improvement in stroke efficiency produces a twenty percent improvement in speed, (or a twenty percent reduction in effort for the same speed.) Using these practices it is possible to improve efficiency by large factors. This can be measured easily by counting the number of strokes taken to complete a length. From personal experience, stroke count can be almost halved and therefore efficiency nearly doubled. However this has taken place over a number of years.
The real "proof of the pudding", is how one feels after completing the meditation. It is not possible to comment for others but my feeling is nearly always of being more at ease and at home in the world.