FOCUS versus DISTRACTIONS

“STARVE YOUR DISTRACTIONS, FEED YOUR FOCUS.”

 

Are you a swimmer who has trouble staying focused during swim practice or during a swim meet?  Think about that before you answer.

Do you have the ability to cut out distractions and ignore all the noise around you or do you allow those distractions affect your performance?

When you have tools (positive affirmations) in your tool box you can genuinely focus on the task right in front of you because your mind is free of clutter and distractions.

Those distractions are actions that move you away from your goals and to stay really focused is hard and takes a lot of practice just like your swimming.

When you are practicing during workout or racing in competition, it has to be the most important thing in the world at that moment.  Your mindset is crucial at that moment, it frees your mind so that you can move through the process to the next step.  Some may say this is “ being in the zone.”

Distractions can either be internal or external but both can affect your performance in workouts or

competitions.   Take a piece of paper and write down any distractions that you have experienced and whether they are internal or external.   Include mental cues that have helped you through those times. 

A good way to keep distractions at a distance is to have a reset word or routine to bring your focus back to the task at hand.

Here are a few:

PHYSICAL 

• The goggle snap
• The water splash
• The towel wipe
• The block grip
• The cap adjustment

MENTAL/VERBAL

• Next one/next lap
• My lane
• Head down
• Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth
• Why not me today

Do any of these sound familiar to you, maybe you have used them.  You may have others that I would be interested in knowing as I’m sure your teammates would tool.  Start working on the mental side of  swimming because it is as important as the work you do in the pool.

LAST WEEK BIG SET

This was a set we did with the gold group on Friday towards the end of our workout.  The focus was to hold your speed throughout the entire set.  Focus on stacking your hands off the ready position and work a tight streamline off the push.  We split the lanes and started off both sides so everyone could have a strong finish into the wall.  The other focus was to not breathe until you got to the 12.5 mark on each repeat.   Hopefully this will set you up for strong breakouts and finishes during your upcoming races.

THE HAUNTED POOL

 Wind swirled around the starting blocks, whipping the pools surface into whitecaps as ten swimmers lined up for the final race of the day.   The four Mako swimmers—- Stella, Keagan, Evelina, and Maggie stood ready to race their first 1000 free, their hearts pounding and butterflies fluttering in their stomachs.  “1000 free,” the ghost starter announced.  “Swimmers, take your marks ….BEEEEP! “ The swimmers exploded from the blocks into the depths below.

The race was going smoothly until Keagan reached his 17th lap and heard a strange gurgling sound rising

from the depths below.  He remembered those stories from the older mako swimmers like Nick and Anna about the swimmer who disappeared years ago during this exact race and how he came back every Halloween looking for the next swimmer to snatch away.  At first Keagan had thought they were trying to make this race seem scarier than it was-–but then on that flip on the 17th lap he felt a sight tug on his feet as they met the wall as if it was pulling him through the wall. 

As Keagan pushed off the wall, Coach Mike’s. Warning flashed through his mind: never look back after a turn.  He looked anyway.  A dark figure hovered behind him, perfectly still, though its shadow stretched across the pool floor towards his feet.  Then the wall split open without a sound, and a kraken unfolded from the darkness, its long tentacles curling into his lane.  Keagan kicked harder than he ever had, but something cold tightened around his ankles and pulled him down.  His shout dissolved into bubbles.  Above him, the race continued—- but another Keagan was swimming in his lane, matching his stroke perfectly.  It turned to breathe, looked straight down at him, and smiled.

When the race ended, Maggie, Evelina, and Stella watched the swimmer in Keagan’s lane climb out without a word.  Then a hand broke the surface behind him—-the real Keagan was still trapped below.  

The three of them reached for him, but the kraken’s tentacles held tight.  Coach Heather seized a pole from the pool wall and thrust it towards the creature’s eye.  Its grip loosened, and together they pulled Keagan onto the deck.  Shivering and dazed, Keagan looked up at his teammates.  “What was that—-and what was my time?”   No one laughed.  Coach Mike closed the pool that night, but as the last light clicked off, the scoreboard flickered back on.  Beside Keagan’s name where his time should have been, two words glowed: NEXT HALLOWEEN.

AUTHORS: ARIAL, STELLA EVELINA MAGGIE.  Edits coach Mike

RACING WEEKEND

 

WHICH VOICE

 

“Your words have the power to lead you in any direction.”

Fear is a real thing in swimming.  It can be fear of a new event or distance, fear of a unfavorable outcome, fear of getting tired or any other thing that each individual swimmer might face.

There is nothing that you are going to face in a race that we have not faced down in practice, the trick is to face the fear with a plan.  If you have put in the effort and work in practice then you’re ready to face the ugly beast with confidence.   If you are always doubting yourself and not giving a honest effort in practice the beast will probably win most of the time.

Every swimmer can pretty much talk themselves into or out of, almost anything.  Your words have power.  What you repeatedly say to yourself will eventually lead to a strong mindset and eventually become your belief.

Good swimmers will not let negative thoughts hang around and that includes those races with unfavorable outcomes, that is why we do a swim down.  Go warm down after your race (positive or negative) and do on your own not with a group of friends.  Just you and that voice in your head.  Have an honest conversation and then move on to the next race.

Bottom line is that you spend more time with that voice that lives between your ears, so you may as well make it a voice that helps you in the long run, right?

You don’t have to pretend everything is easy.  Be honest with yourself, than than give yourself something that will end up being useful. Talk to yourself as you would to a teammate—-with patience, encouragement and a clear plan of attack.

MAKO GOBBLE GOBBLE MEET

You should only be swimming in this meet if we choose not to swim in the swim and rock meet at OAKMONT.   ALL OUR SENIOR PREP AND JUNIOR GOLD SWIMMERS SHOULD BE SWIMMING IN THE SWIM AND ROCK MEET.

If you have strong desire to swim my advice is that this meet offers a great opportunity to swim that 400IM and the 500. 

The beauty of this is that you could come in at the end of the meet, warmup, race and get out of there.

All of our JUNIOR GOLD AND SENIOR PREP groups should be planning to swim this meet.   Be prepared to swim your best events in a small championship type meet.

THE GHOST SWIMMER

 

WIN YOUR WALLS AND SHORTEN THAT NEXT 25

EFFORT

 

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

Success and a great swim is never an accident.  Your success is a direct affect of the process and your day to day attitude and effort in the pool and away from the pool.

If your attitude is positive and you’re giving your very best eventually your immediate problems will begin to disappear and you will be ready to face new challenges.

When you commit to focusing on the little things during workout souring each set it will eventually lead to long term success.  Keep taking positive steps,  no matter how big or small.  Each step you choose will lead you to your goals.  No matter who your coach is on deck, attitude and effort are on you.  No one should have to coach you in those areas.  Those two ingredients of your swimming require no special talent only a choice that only you can make.  Take ownership of your swimming and don’t make excuses, because an excuse only gives you an out and a reason to fail.  No matter how you feel, always show up and put in a honest effort. "

After a race I like to focus on these 2 questions; Did you give your best effort?  Do you really believe you tried your hardest?  Those are the things that you the swimmer can control every race.  The little things we can work on during workouts and everything else’s will take care of itself.

No one gets great by doing “just enough.”  Doing just enough might make you good but it’s not enough to become the best version of yourself.  Remember talk is cheap.  Effort isn’t in the words you speak, it is found in your behaviors and the actions you take.

In closing stop spending your time on outcomes and instead shift your focus on the things that you can control during workouts and in competitions.  Life and swimming are parallel; you will get out of it what you put into it.  Why would you expect anything else?

When you fall asleep at night, know that you put in an honest day’s work.

This week our focus for our senior prep and junior gold groups was on our IM with the emphasis on our breakouts and setting up our transitions to the next stroke.