LEARNING

 As part of the learning process in this sport it is important to reflect on this past weekend and all of your races, the good, the bad and the ugly.  This is where a journal would be good.  A place to reflect on what went well, what did not go the way you had hoped and what you can take back to the pool and work on for the next time out.

Some thoughts that might be included are your physical feelings.  How did your body feel during warmups and the races.  How was your energy level.

How did you feel emotionally?  How did you deal with your nerves?  What was your mindset behind the blocks?  Acknowledge all your feelings good or bad so that you are in a better position next time out.

Did you execute your plan which includes warmups and warm downs, what you had to eat and drink.  It all matters. 

Write down any coaches feedback that you received.  This is important as we hear coaches give feedback after a race only to see the same swimmer Monday repeating the very same thing we discussed incorrectly.

Always finish by writing down what you did well, did not do well during the meet and the steps your going to take to fix it before the next time out.

SWIM and ROCK WRAP

We had a good weekend.  The areas that we have been working on in workouts is starting to manifest itself in your races and all of you should be very proud.   Everyone should have talked to a coach over the weekend.  Take those things with you and target them and focus on getting better in those areas.

Trust the process.  The plan is working and coming together like a puzzle.  Let’s keep putting the pieces together.

The end of every swim brings with it the opportunity to take a look at yourself and evaluate yourself, and where you are at this point of the season.  Competition is not only a chance to see where you are in your current training but also a chance to look to the future and make adjustments and tweak areas that will allow you down that road to success.

Determine what you need to tweak and work on so that you are able to move forward and improve future performances.  

SPLITS -  Why do coaches take them?  Why are they important?  First off we give them to you as a tool for your tool box.  A tool that will help you set up race strategies and pacing.  You’re looking for how you took the race out, how you paced the middle and how you finished the race.  You are not going to win many races off the start BUT you can definitely lose the race at the start.  Something to remember.

TURNS- a great area that regardless of your talent level you can make up speed to help your result.  On the other hand it’s an area where swimmers often take for granted, they slow down into the wall which slows your speed off the wall.  The result is a lot of stop and go which require you to use extra energy to get back up to speed.   How to correct it?  Take every wall in workout as if it’s the one that will get you to the result you’re looking for.  Hard? For sure.  That’s where your focus and discipline will start working for you.

OVERALL TIME-  Every little thing that you work on and can improve on like starts, breakouts, streamlines, underwater kicks, breathing patterns, pacing and finishes gives you a chance to improve your overall time.  They add up throughout your race.