Maya’s letter

Here's the picture of what you're building this season.

You've got the engine — the fitness and the feel for the water that a distance swimmer is built on, and that's the part that takes years to build. You already have it. So let's be clear about what this season is actually about: it's not more yardage or getting in better shape. It's learning to race the engine you've already got — pacing your races, winning the walls, and holding your stroke together when it's hard.

• Your engine is real. The aerobic base and the feel for the water are the foundation of everything in distance, and you've built it.
• You're tough. You'll grind through the sets distance swimming demands. That's not nothing — most kids can't.
• You're coachable, and you'll do the boring turn and technique work, which is why your walls are sharpening up.
• You're starting to pace your races and bring them home instead of dying at the end. That's the biggest thing.

Go out under control. This is the hard one, because when the race starts — or when you see someone ahead of you — everything in you wants to chase and blow out the first half. Don't. Distance races aren't won by who's ahead at the halfway wall; they're won by who slows down the least at the end. Go out so controlled it almost feels too easy, save something in the tank, and bring it home fast. The swimmer who paces it feels slower and is actually faster. Trust your engine to be there on the back half — it will be.

The turns, the underwater kicks, the pacing sets, the stroke work when you're already tired — none of it is glamorous, and a lot of it is invisible in the water. It doesn't feel like it's adding up. It is. The swimmer whose times drop next season is the one who did the boring race-craft work this year. You already have the engine. This season is about racing it right. Keep going.