OWN YOUR TRAINING

 

Are you a passenger in your swimming or are you the driver of your own swimming?  Think about that question for a few minutes and then put your thoughts down on paper where you can actually see what you do during a week in your busy life.  Set up two columns with the headings passenger and driver and start penciling things that you do and which column they fall under.

The magic in your swimming truly occurs when YOU take responsibility for your preparation, attitude, effort and your goals and not because a coach or a parent tells you to, but because YOU choose to.

When you move from being a passenger to the driver you begin to tke charge of the things you control every day, your effort, your habits (in and out of the pool), and your mindset.  You flip that switch from "Coach told me to" to "I choose to."

We've talked about it before but here are five ways that you can take ownership of your swimming.  Here are five things to adjust as you move into that drivers seat to get ready.

*Setting personal goals--You will choose your goals.  They will probably center around times but should also be built around technique targets, race strategies, nutrition, sleep habits, hydration.  Setting goals will build your motivation far more than any pep talk or cheer will.

*Tracking progress--Writing down your goals will hold you accountable to yourself and will help you see improvement as your driving.

*Consistent effort-- The daily grind is where the ownership truly shows up.  Being on time, warmups with a purpose, sets done correctly and hard sets attacked with intention.

*Managing your emotions--Instead of making excuses or playing the blame game, learn to own the situation, reset, refocus, and respond like a true competitive athlete.

*Preparing like a pro--Pack your bags. Have all your equipment pool side. Have your water bottle and use it. Warmup and swim down correctly. Eat properly.  Get adequate sleep and recovery.

The three pillars of owning your swimming are:

1. Responsibility

"I control my choices."
This includes your effort, your attitude and how you respond to your workouts/races and challenges.

2. Curiosity
"What can I learn today?"
Seek feedback after you races and take the feedback back to workouts.  Step outside of your comfort zone during workouts and races and see what happens.

3. Resilience
"I bounce back."
You will encounter pitfalls in your swimming, bad sets, bad races, and bad days happen.  Don't hide from them, learn from them and grow as a swimmer.

Final message to all of you.  Owning your swimming means you decide the kind of swimmer you want to be.  You choose your effort.  You choose Your effort.  You choose how you respond to all the noise.  When you become the driver of your swimming you are deciding on your destination and how your going to arrive at that destination and ultimately the success you will have

Summer swim set we did this week (45 minutes)

4x4x4

4x100 free @2:00/1:50/1:40/2:30

4x25 kick @40 (all fast 10m to walls)

4x50 @1:00 free to back (minimum 3 dolphins off turns) lock in those streamlines

TIME TO FLY WITH FINS 4x4x25 fly @40 (rest extra 20 after each round)

#1 is chest press position 11 with arms

#2 R arm only (this is not free)

#3 L arm only

#4 full stroke fly

do not rush these drills feel the rhythm of your body and the stroke.

Speed set

2x25 kick fast @35

1x50 fast free @1:20 (no more than 3 breaths first 25)

dolphin bonding in shallow end

5:00 minutes streamline jumps (explode off the bottom and Lock in those streamlines)

(20 on/20 rest)

Last week's trivia answer---President Gerald Ford.

This Week's question--- What stroke used to be swum mostly underwater until the rules changed?