I know in the past I've posted how perfection is hard if not impossible to attain, but it does have a place in personal growth as long as you don't take it literally.
As we strive to be perfect, we as athletes must remember that true perfection is not the end all. The bigger picture that you as a swimmer should be looking at is that as your practice should be done at a level of respect for how you see yourself performing/racing in reality at all times. Instead of striving for perfect, strive for excellence during practice. After all excellence is perfection at it's core.
Perfection says I want to never mess up. Excellence says I'm going to work on this in the best possible way to the best of my ability and become very good at it.
Let's take Tom Brady for example. There is no dispute that he was born with some level of natural athleticism and that he has been blessed with some great athletes around him. To be able to play at a high level year after year into his 40's takes not only a lot of practice but practice with a purpose.
Last week we did a lot of breaststroke work and most of it involved getting a stroke count (minus 1) and swimming all our 25's, 50's and 100's committed to holding that count. Some of us were very focused during these set, others not so much. We started to understand how hard it was to maintain that count as we continued through the workout and fatigue started to set in. Not much different then what happens in your races.
Some of us put in a good effort and they were not dragging their feet, they were really doing it. They were pretending that it was the real thing all the way. They were practicing perfectly. Practice may not actually make you prefect, but without it you have no choice and at the best only a 50/50 chance which are terrible odds. Doing things correctly over and over again is what we your coaches call muscle memory. That's important because you can't think of every little detail while your trying to race. You have to trust the process and have confidence in your training, without it your lost. This may sound funny but you can't just start a race over because you missed a turn. You can’t have a do over because you think you could have gone faster.
So what can we offer to each of you to help with practice.
- Simulate real events. Practice as close to the real thing as possible, down to the smallest detail if you need to. You can't start a race late so why would you start practice late.
- Make training harder than the race. A big confidence builder. When you approach it like this, the next time you race you know you've been there already.
- Get over your fear. Stop making excuses and projecting the worst that could happen all the time. Prepare for the worst and the next time you step on the blocks you'll know your ready
The only way to swim to your maximum performance potential is to train your body and mind to do so over and over...and over. Before you jump in at the next practice go to a quite spot in the house and have a honest conversation with your self about how you view practice, after all this sport and the races are yours.
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