Race Tips
Just as a bad stroke can get ingrained in your muscle memory if your technique is not corrected, in the same way, thought patterns also get ingrained in your brain, and either help you or hold you back.
When I run a workshop or a mentorship session with a top athlete today, a lot of what he or she shares is similar to my own experience of stress on race days. Issues range from feeling too much muscle stress just before a race, to fear of failure and sometimes even, fear of success. Swimmers often talk to me about how their focus shifts pre-race, to worrying more about what the person in the next lane is going to do, rather than on their own swim! And then of course, every once in a way, I come across an extremely talented individual, the hardest worker in the pool, who is expected to win, but ends up being the biggest let down, because he or she let a number of these negative factors overpower their natural ability.
Some of best timings even at world meets have been recorded at relay swims. Yes, you do get the advantage of a rolling start, but the biggest factor for swims that shock the world have been that the athlete’s mind is focused on just that one thought of swimming for his team with little or no attention to what others are doing in the pool, and less stress. On a more personal level, there have been times when I have looked at the touch pad display and been shocked with the timings I clocked on relay times. It felt so easy! And that was because my mind was excited enough to ignore pain and negative thoughts that otherwise cloud focus.
Developing race-day equilibrium needs you to recognise the patterns you’ve unconsciously allowed yourself to develop and perhaps even nurtured unknowingly.
Just as a bad stroke can get ingrained in your muscle memory if your technique is not corrected, in the same way, thought patterns also get ingrained in your brain, and either help you or hold you back.
When I run a workshop or a mentorship session with a top athlete today, a lot of what he or she shares is similar to my own experience of stress on race days. Issues range from feeling too much muscle stress just before a race, to fear of failure and sometimes even, fear of success. Swimmers often talk to me about how their focus shifts pre-race, to worrying more about what the person in the next lane is going to do, rather than on their own swim! And then of course, every once in a way, I come across an extremely talented individual, the hardest worker in the pool, who is expected to win, but ends up being the biggest let down, because he or she let a number of these negative factors overpower their natural ability.
Some of best timings even at world meets have been recorded at relay swims. Yes, you do get the advantage of a rolling start, but the biggest factor for swims that shock the world have been that the athlete’s mind is focused on just that one thought of swimming for his team with little or no attention to what others are doing in the pool, and less stress. On a more personal level, there have been times when I have looked at the touch pad display and been shocked with the timings I clocked on relay times. It felt so easy! And that was because my mind was excited enough to ignore pain and negative thoughts that otherwise cloud focus.
Developing race-day equilibrium needs you to recognise the patterns you’ve unconsciously allowed yourself to develop and perhaps even nurtured unknowingly.
