One of my swimmers is moving out of the area. He and I have been working together for over 2 years and he’s made incredible progress. Here were some suggestions to him on how to approach training without our regular interactions:
- Progress is rarely linear all the time. You should expect setbacks and reversals of skill. Remember that these are temporary *as long as you continue to try to improve.* Note that your body and mind are integrating new patterns and often during that integration process there can be apparent hiccups. Try not to be concerned or frustrated. Just trust the process and keep focused and working on it.
- Have patience and compassion for yourself and your progress. Every individual is different with their own unique gifts. Target steady improvement on yourself and attempt to make every day just a little bit better than the last. Try not to compare yourself to those who seem to be “better” than you.
- Note limitations and make a plan to address. Try not to get overwhelmed or despair at the list itself. Simply make a plan and address things one by one.
- Always come to the pool with a plan. Print it out and put it in a ziploc baggy. You can also get a waterproof notebook and pen from amazon and take notes.
- Along with 4, try to spend some length of time on some aspect, versus dancing around from workout to workout. This will yield better results. Random training yields random results!
- Use metrics whenever possible: stroke counting, tempo trainer. Maintaining consistency from workout to workout, so that data gathered on your performance is accurate and can be applied across workouts.
- Enjoy the ride! Above all else, enjoy what you do, find purpose in it if you can. It will more powerfully allow you to continue.
Hopefully good food for thought for all of you out there training!
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