Repeatable
On finding the edge between pushing and easing
I’ve been warring with wearables and streaks for years and recently invited a small group of swimmers into the conversation. Instead of what do you like to measure, I asked a different question: What feels sustainable right now?
Not what would impress someone.
Not what worked ten years ago.
Not what the training plan says.
Just right now.
One swimmer is training to swim a mile without stopping. Another trying to find a swimming rhythm in preparation for a big event. Another is rebuilding after time away. Another is focused on swimming without pain.
Four people, each carrying a completely different weight. Different goals, same underlying question: how do I stay engaged in my practice without tipping into burnout, injury, or resentment?
This edge isn’t just in swimming. It’s in business, parenting, fitness, ambition — in the way we approach almost everything. We push until something hurts, or we ease until we drift. Rarely do we pause and ask: what is actually repeatable?
Sustainability isn’t soft. It’s intelligent.
It asks for attention, restraint, and honesty.
Start with your swimming practice:
What would make it repeatable?
What would allow you to show up three times a week without dread?
What would let you finish feeling steadier instead of depleted?
Then notice where else that question applies.
For now: what’s sustainable?
I find that it changes each visit. One time I’ll go to the pool with challenging intentions. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.
On the occasions that they don’t work out so well and I begin to feel the hesitation to get back in or an invisible pressure on me, I tell myself “the next visit you have no agenda, no challenges, you can simply play and relax and just spend time in the water”.
After this “let yourself off the hook session” I’m raring to get back in!
I find this effort/play cycle works well with my running too.