Spend One Kind Of Energy For Another

Do you know what its like to spend energy of one kind in order to gain energy of another kind? 

That’s what it usually feels like for me when I go swim. It doesn’t have to be ‘easy’ swimming either. Most often I train quite strenuously, challenging select parts of my performance system. I just like it this way. I may leave the pool quite tired, but only in certain ways, because I leave refreshed in others. That’s the amazing trade off that has keeps going for years. Once I learned how to consistently make that kind of conversion, swimming quit being a chore I had to do to ‘stay in shape’ and became something that rewards me in the act of doing it, and provides a long lasting afterglow. 

This is not a reward that comes only after enduring a hard, unpleasant practice, feeling the pumped muscles and pride of voluntarily suffering what others won’t (which is rather fleeting and shallow anyway). I can feel the conversion of energy happening in the act of swimming. Physically, I feel cleaner. Mentally, I feel refreshed. Emotionally, I feel strengthened. Even on a rough day I may go in heavy, I feel it giving me something more than I had coming in. It doesn’t make my problem go away, but it does give me more energy to face it. 

It is wired into my implicit memory now. I have a strong positive association. Even when really down, if I can just get to the water for just 30 minutes this kind of practice will help me feel a bit stronger, it can help me keep going. 

I also feel the same eager anticipation when going out on my long training runs, and those leave me far more tired than swimming. A big part of my motivation for engaging in ultra-distance training is to take what I do in the water and work on applying it to what I do on the land, which is harder on the body. The conversion is a bit less efficient than in the water because the equivalent work in running imposes more pounding on the body, despite my great attention to stress-reducing technique. That wear on the body takes up additional resources for recovery and extend it. But nonetheless, mentally and emotionally, I feel so much better in the act of hard or long running and afterward. I look forward to improving my ‘energy conversion’ skill on longer and longer runs. 

This has a great deal to do with paying careful attention. It has a great deal to do with careful technique – making things work more smoothly, with better synchronization and consistency. It has a great deal to do with an attitude that assumes a cooperative relationship with the mind, the whole body, the water and the natural forces I work with.  

I hope you too are tapping into this wonderful conversion, where your practice allows you to spend energy of one kind to gain energy of another kind, for a more positive and pleasing trade off. 

© 2018, Mediterra International, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Mediterra International, LLC and Mediterraswim.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.