Olivier Leroy on Failing

There’s a fundamental thing swimmers all experience in practice…

Fear.

Yup.

It’s not the crippling anxiety (or “choking”) and fear we experience behind the blocks at those big meets…

(Although that is plenty stinky on its own.)

It’s much more subtle.

It’s the kind that shows up daily in your swimming practices…

And keeping you from improving faster in the water.

It’s the fear of working hard and not swimming as fast as you’d like.

It’s the fear of “dying” during a hard set.

It’s the fear of being beaten by a teammate.

It’s the fear of going out too fast on the main set.

It’s… in the words of an Olympic coach I spoke to recently… the willingness to be vulnerable in practice.

Look…

It’s natural to not wanna risk it all in practice.

To lay it all on the line with no guarantee that you will see the results you want or hope for.

And admitting the fact that we aren’t maybe giving our all in practice is another issue.

Don’t be so scared to fail in practice.

I get it…

And I am just as guilty as anyone…

Admitting that maybe we aren’t trying as hard as we thought is a kick to the pride.

So is realizing that you have been actively avoiding the harder sets and workouts…even though deep down you know how beneficial they would be for you and your swimming.

Go to practice to fail.

Choose to fail.

Be willing to push yourself to failure more often.

Completely forget about pacing a few times and go out on the higher intensity reps with zero regard for “saving” something.

You’ll surprise yourself.

When you are actively seeking moments where you might fail a heap of awesome stuff is happening…

Your self-imposed limits get adjusted.

Repeatedly.

All sorts of progression begins to happen in a flurry.

And your confidence goes through the roof.

The next step…

Spend 10% of your practice failing today.

Doing one extra dolphin kick off each wall.

Burying your head into the wall.

Not holding anything back on the high intensity efforts.

See you in the water,

Olivier

P.S. Failing is a critical part of getting better in the water.

Unavoidable, actually.