ANOTHER STEP ON YOUR JOURNEY

 

One of the first steps in your swimming journey this season is GOAL SETTING.  It is important for you to write these down in a journal as a way to hold yourself accountable to yourself.  When you write them down and look at them throughout the season you stand a better chance of attaining them.

SETTING SMART GOALS

When setting goals you will have that one goal that is always constant, never changing but all your other goals will be like moving targets, ever changing from practice to practice, meet to meet, and season to season.

S-Specific.  

M-Measurable

A-Attainable

R-Relevant

T-Time bound

Be as specific as you can when writing down your goals, avoid fluffy goals such as I want to be faster. Duh! We know that or you wouldn't be at workout.  Swimmers come up to me all the time at a swim meet and say I want to go a best time and I always try to respond with, that's great but how are you going to do that.

When setting goals try to change from I want to be faster and write down something like this, "My goal is to drop 3 seconds in the 200 IM by April 1st."  This goal now becomes very specific with both a time, distance and stroke, and it gives you a sense of urgency by setting a date.  But there is still something missing, How are you going to do it?  

The goal becomes just words on a piece of paper unless you choose to change something and this is the hard part when setting goals.Something has to change, so when you sit down, be honest with yourself and add the missing parts into your SMART GOALS.  

You know the missing parts and they might look like this:

• I know my turns are weak and slow.
• My underwater's are weak
• I am not aggressive in and out of the walls.
• I shy away from pushing myself past my comfort zone.
• I know I'm a butterfly, but backstroke is so much easier Chen given a choice.

These are all things that should be included when writing down your goals for the season.

MAKO TIP #1. YOUR SECRET WEAPON

Do you know what it is?  SLEEP

It is impossible to perform, recover or grow without proper rest.  While you sleep your body is working for you repairing your tissues and muscles from the days workout or competition.  This is the most important function of maintaining a regular sleep pattern, it allows your body to heal and maintains a strong immune system to fight off disease.  Outside of injuries, getting sick is one of the leading causes of missing school and workouts.

COACHES TIP-  Create a habit of going to bed at the same time each night (yes weekends too) and get up  at the same time.  We all have an internal clock and if you use it, you'll feel much better and get more accomplished.  Create a dark environment and put your devices away and you'll have a better chance of getting some deep meaningful sleep.

MIKE'S SET OF THE WEEK

This set is a long axis drill for freestyle and will help in three things; head position, rotation, and swimming tall.

20x25 done in rounds of 4. We used snorkels, fins and paddles.

25 superman kick (position 11)@30 

25 Right hand lead@30

25 Left Hand lead@30

25 swim free strong@30

EARN YOUR SUNSET

 

It was nice seeing all of our swimmers and parents this past Saturday.  We hope that we were able to answer any questions that you might have as we get ready for our first day at the pools.  We know that the first few weeks will look a little different as we are waiting on Mason to finish up their construction, but as we always say just focus on what you can control and give it your all and we will be okay.

As we get ready to embark upon our new season it’s time to start putting a plan together, because without a plan all your doing is planning to fail.  Any good plan has to start with some goals both long term and short term and this weekend is a good time to start thinking about them so that we can talk about them next week.

As you start to think and put some goals together let’s understand that perfectionism is not a destination because if it is you just may have a hard time getting there.  Perfectionism can be both an asset in your swimming….but on the other side of the coin it can also be a liability.

Why, number one and I believe this " If you look for perfection in this sport you will never be content", you will never be happy with your races no matter how well you do.  Perfectionist are always afraid of making a mistake or failing in their own eyes, they have a hard time of really swimming with freedom, letting everything go and really enjoying themselves when they race.

Some examples of why perfectionism might hold you back;

• the added pressure that you put on yourself.  It causes you to tighten up and doesn't allow you to relax.
• you start to believe you will Neve be good enough.
• it causes you not set unrealistic expectations.  It doesn't allow you to feel good about the little wins.

All of the above will rob you of the enjoyment for swimming which you have come to love.

"You're never chasing perfection.  You're learning how to form great habits." Swim Cash

As you Jump into the pool this week for your first workout lets learn to practice with a purpose and not just swim aimlessly down the pool practice after practice, make every set count, every streamline, every turn count.  This week is your sunrise 🌅 for the season.  Now let's earn that beautiful 🌅 for the end of the season.  Everything in between is the process, start enjoying it for this is where memories are created to last a lifetime. 

NEXT POST WE WILL JUMP INTO THE YOUR GOALS.