EMOTIONS and SWIMMING

 

It’s race day and as you step onto the block your starting to feel a little anxiety which is not a bad thing, after all you’ve put in all the hard work made the sacrifices and now it’s your time to shine.  How do your emotions play into this scenario?  If you don’t have your emotions in check they can sabotage all of your hard work.

"I am not going to allow myself not to perform well just because I don't feel well.  I am bulletproof to the extent that a lot of things can be thrown at me, but it's about how much I am prepared to let them affect me." Ian Thorpe

Emotions can run the gamut from the positive to the negative and includes everything that falls in between.  The positive emotions will serve you well giving you strength and that quite confidence whereas those negative emotions serve as a weakness in your chink of armor.  Swimmers have always and will continue to react in different ways emotionally.  You need to develop a strategy on how to control your emotions when your race or workout does not go according to the plan.  Positive emotions need to be controlled as much as the negative ones.  Lets say you have a 3 day meet with a lineup of 6 events and you win your first event dropping a substantial amount of time.  The next event you raise your expectations based on that result only to fall short but still dropping some time.  You have now jumped on that roller coaster, and this is why I have always encouraged you to stay somewhere near the middle because I truly believes that puts you in the best position to be successful over the long haul.

So what are some ways that might be of benefit when trying to control your engine and emotions:

1. Check your heart rate (HR) several times a day.  Take it as soon as you wake up as this will give you a resting rate.  Take it at school a few times when your stressed and also when your not stressed.  Take it during practice several times.  by doing so you will learn to manage different situations.
2. Music listen to music as I think all of you know the positive effects it has on you.  
3. Breathe. learn how to do it and I don't mean while swimming.  Learn how to take a deep breath and hold it for several seconds then exhale very slowly.  Put a hand on your core and the other on the small of your back and press when you do it.  You can feel yourself go into a state of relaxation. 
4. surround yourself with people who have positive energy.

Bottom line, is that being an athlete especially a swimmer comes with a lot of emotional baggage.  You

and I need to find a way to not let emotions overwhelm you when you step up onto that block.  Let's work on a way to channel that emotional energy into a positive way when you race.  Don't ever give up, swim in the moment with every thing you have at that moment, that will be your victory always.    No matter what the outcome is, it does not define you as a person. You are the same person you saw in the mirror when you left the house.