How Ugly Betty has helped me swim

Swimming is not my strongest discipline by any means, no surprises there. But, who knew that I'd find motivation from Ugly Betty star America Ferrera? Not me.

When I had my first club swimming session, I knew I was going to be slow. And my technique needed a lot of work. As a member of Manchester Triathlon Club, I come under their 'developer' category for swimming (able to complete 1 hour session in a pool, willing to learn and generally the slowest swimmers). Don't get me wrong, I am a confident swimmer, but the thought of a 90 minute workout had me nervous.

The session comprised of:

- front crawl warm up

- front crawl sprints

- bilateral breathing practice

- techniques to improve overall front crawl technique

- using flippers or floats for kick and pull exercises

- more sprints

To an advanced swimmer or athlete, these are all pretty standard. But as I continued through more swimming sessions, as the slowest person in my lane (and indeed the pool), it took a mountain of effort to keep myself from getting out of the pool and giving up. I worried about being too slow and couldn't keep up with the other swimmers and started to choke up as I was lapped by the fastest person in the lane. It was a struggle to stay positive when my doubts and worries were swirling around in my head.

When that first swimming session was finally over, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed from the physical exertion and the emotional hit I'd taken. It was a lot tougher than I realised it would be- and not just physically. It turned out to be an internal battle between my willpower pushing me forwards, and the voice of self doubt holding me back, telling me "you're not good enough for this, why are you even here?".

Now I know, it takes time to build up your strength and stamina with swimming. I get that. But if I kept letting this voice in my head hold me back, then I knew I'd be limiting myself.

One day I came across an article where the actress, America Ferrera (AKA Ugly Betty) revealed how triathlons helped her to 'defy her inner critic'. Here she described how she too had that voice in her head, telling her she wasn't good enough. Her body would start to flare up old injuries at the first sign of hard work. What really got me though, was that she soon learnt to change her inner monologue and encourage herself rather than give into the negative voice.

At first, I remember praising her for facing her demons when she trained, turning it into a mental challenge to keep the negative thoughts at bay for as long as possible. Little did I realise that I would be experiencing the exact same lack of confidence and in need of her advice.

So, I decided to take a leaf out of Ugly Betty's book. The last time I got in the pool, I kept a cool head, took each new set of exercises as they came and tried not to freak out when someone overtook me. So what if I'm the slowest person? I have the most to gain. I love exercise, so I needed to find a way to break down those mental barriers of worry and learn to enjoy it. I even found myself overtaking someone in pull exercises; I wholeheartedly took this as a win.

Here's a snippet from the article, which I think we could all learn from:

With every step, stroke and pedal, I turned “No, I can’t” into “Yes, I can,” “I’m limited” into “Look what I’m capable of,” and “I’m weak” into “I am whole, healthy and strong.”

I finally got my answer to that question: Who do you think you are?

I am whoever I say I am. And I am a triathlete.

I've learnt a valuable lesson from America Ferrera's article; don't give into the negative voice in your head and instead tell yourself that, actually, with a bit of practice, effort and consistent training, you CAN do it.

#swimming #triathlon #triathlontraining #femaletriathlete