Don’t Stop—Redirect “It’s so hard to stop lifting my elbow” is something I hear from swimmers all the time. So I ask, “What do you tell yourself when you notice you’re doing it?” The answer is almost always the same: “I tell myself to stop.” And there it is. When my kids were little, I saw this play out daily. They’d be tapping, humming, banging—doing something that made me crazy—and I’d say, kindly, “Sweetie, please stop banging the table.” They’d pause… and then a minute later, the…

There’s more than meets the eye At our weekly Q&A on Tuesday, we explored a powerful truth: looks can be deceiving, especially in swimming. It’s easy to assume a long, graceful stroke means efficiency or that choppy movements signal struggle. But the water tells a different story. A swimmer who looks smooth might be leaking power in invisible ways, while someone with an unconventional stroke might be moving through the water with surprising ease. The real difference isn’t in how a stroke, a…

I’ve been noticing something lately. In my own head, the pieces of my work feel deeply connected — my own swimming, the coaching I do, the stories I’ve gathered through my podcast, and what I write about each week. But I’ve realized that from the outside, these can look scattered across different places, serving different purposes. So I’m making a small but meaningful shift in where my longer reflections live. Starting this week, I’m publishing on Substack — where my podcast, Stories from the…

Learn to Listen to the Water I worked with new swimmers this week—and others I’ve been guiding for years—ranging in age from 4 to 64 (give or take). Some were just learning to hear themselves hum underwater for the first time. Others were exploring how to release tension and let the water hold them. Different ages, different goals. But a common thread runs through them all. The thing that unlocks real progress isn’t found with a kickboard or pull buoy. It runs deeper than watching the clock…

It feels like a chore. I struggle to build and stick with daily habits. I resent that every app wants me to track streaks – even my meditation app! Nothing disrupts my effort it be mindful like a pop up asking if I meditated offline yesterday. And yet, I can’t figure out how to stay engaged without tracking. I signed up for a 30 day yoga challenge and actually completed it! When it was over, a sense of pride washed over me, also relief. I was so glad that I didn’t have to find time to do yoga…

Who’s in your corner? Do you stuff down your disappointment? Or talk it through? This week I have been reflecting and integrating what was not readily apparent after getting out of Lake Memphremagog. Immediately after the swim I debriefed with my crew and coach, but the lessons keep unfolding. This week I hosted a Q&A at The Water’s Edge where my community asked astute questions about how I kept going in the night despite the inconvenience of being cold, my decision making process before…