RECONNECTING PART 2

 You made a choice to be a swimmer, You made a choice to make your workouts.  You've made sacrifices.  Now maybe it is time for you to sit down and consider how powerful a process-focused mindset can be for you in the water instead of leaving all your goals and dreams to chance.

The process is like a checklist that includes everything from proper rest, proper nutrition, proper hydration, consistent dry land, proper technique, proper turns, proper finishes and of course that last thing on all of your checklists, the outcome.

A mouthful in that paragraph.  My question to you is; Are you a swimmer who trusts that process and has your own checklist, or are you the type that is all about the outcome and ignore everything else.  If your the latter your ignoring all the little steps that go into that GREAT swim.  When you obsess over the outcome and ignore everything else it adds anxiety and uncertainty that leads to crashing on race day.

The process is personal and is yours and it starts with building a process that you can control.  Life is full of uncertainties and so is swimming.  First off you can't control what other swimmers are doing so stop worrying about them.  STAY IN YOUR LANE.  You can't predict a slow start, slipping off a turn or even stubbing a finger on the lane line.  All uncertainties and out of your control.  Your process should only include things like effort, techniques, sleep, sleep habits nutrition, positive mindset and positive self talk.  

The more often that you practice it, and do it correctly, the more you can rely on it an d use it when you need it and the less stress and frustration you are going to deal with on RACE DAY.

RECONNECTING PART 1

 

Now that our short course season has ended and we have had our first day of Long Course practice along with our first meet this might be a good time to reconnect with your swimming mental

Even kids and swimmers can get dragged down by life and everyday occurrences ranging from school, swimming or other sports, friends, family issues and yes all the technology that is throw at you, especially from social media.

The question you need to ask yourself is this, When I get dragged down a little am I going to stay down or will I pick myself up breathe and move forward.  Wow hope the answer is YES.

I find it fascinating that the majority of swimmers, if not ALL what to have a GREAT RACE overtime off the block but yet they won't take the extra few minutes to do something that will help them achieve it.  For sure they show up for practice, hop in and start swimming, but is it with a purpose.

We have talked here in the past about the process, but what is the process?  

Part of the process involves the outcome, you know what I'm talking about here the time.  The outcome also involves what you want to accomplish during practice and it has a lot more to do besides going up and down that black line.  It involves things such as stroke counts, breathing pattern, the catch, the kick, the turn, the underwater kicks.

This and so much more is part of the process to help you get to your dreams; your training regimen, your daily practice habits.  The process is how you execute from day-to-day, practice-to-practice, lap-to-lap.

Go back, read the highlighted part again.  The take away here is that you can't do the things correctly during practice only when it is convenient for you, or only when you feel like it.  An example of this took place yesterday during both the morning and evening practices.  We were doing some backstroke drill/swim work and this is what I observed from a few swimmers, pushing off on their stomachs and rolling over before finishing.  Why would you practice things the wrong way or in ways that cause DQ's?  If this next statement offends you, GOOD it should.  The only reason a swimmer does these things are; one, they are lazy, two they have no discipline, or three they just don't care.  Saying you care are only words. ACTIONS speak louder than words.  Mastering the techniques involved with this sport will get you nearer to your goals.

Mastering the process is more than a catch phase.  It's an outlook. An attitude.  A mindset that ensures you train smarter, better, and ultimately and more importantly, faster.

NEXT UP TRUSTING THE PROCESS