- SWIMMING PSYCHOLOGY TIPS
WHAT’S IN YOUR LANE AND CAN YOU CONTROL IT?
Swimming galas can be hot, stuffy, packed, unpredictable, and not to forget, quite boring! You spend the majority of your day waiting around, warming up, cooling down, stretching, and managing your food, all for a very brief (if you swim fast) splash up and down in the pool. Therefore, the timing of your race preparation on the gala day is incredibly important but also very challenging to get right.
Before you can start racing in the zone, you must first understand what obstacles are standing between you and that ideal performance. Rather than seeing this as one blazing forest fire, let us approach your race one bushfire at a time. This will allow us to create an appropriate plan of action to extinguish each fire, helping us manage the blaze.
What are the events, triggers, or obstacles that occur on race day that take you away from the way you want to swim? This can be a challenging reflective practice, so here are some prompts to help guide you:
How do my friends contribute to my swimming?
How do my heat and the people in it affect me?
Do I have enough time to prepare for my race? If not, why?
Do I feel pressure to perform? If yes, who from?
Do I feel prepared for today?
What are my expectations for my races?
Do certain pools have an effect? If yes, which ones and why?
Now that you have a list of triggers written down, rank them each on a scale of 1 – 3:
1 = This is within my control
2 = I have some influence over this
3 = This is completely out of my control
We now have the fires that we want to extinguish, and we also know whether these are within our control.
HOW TO CREATE A RACE DAY PLAN
Now that we know what the obstacles are between us and the PB swim, we can create a series of action plans that will tackle each of these fires and take us closer to swimming in the zone.
Run through each of the obstacles that rank either a 1 or a 2 on your controllability scale, which you completed above. For each of these create a realistic coping strategy that will counteract the triggers. This will mean that you have a collection of actionable plans to put in place when one of these fires begins to spark on race day.
These plans do not need to be overly complex, the simpler the better in fact. For some triggers, it may be as easy as removing yourself or a person from the environment, whilst, for others, it may be a little bit more challenging and require some creative thinking!
To ensure that you keep to your race day plan, write it down. Write the trigger and the accompanying coping strategy. I have found this to be most effective when athletes print these out (and of course laminate them!) and put them in their swim bags or stick them to their water bottles. You can also jot these down in the notes section of your phone, so it is easily accessible. This provides a gentle reminder of the plans you have created that will take you towards swimming the in the zone.
Finally, this will require practice. You cannot expect every fire to be extinguished at your first gala, however, practising this regularly whether that be at a mini-league, club gala, or lower-level meet, will ensure that you’re ready to perform in the zone when you attend the higher-level galas.
5 TIPS TO STAY IN YOUR LANE AND SWIM IN THE ZONE
Now that you have produced a race day plan, here 5 mental techniques that will compliment your plan and help you to stay in your lane and swim in the zone on race day:
Grounding – Swimming galas can be long and arduous days leaving you lots of time to sit with your own thoughts, which can take us away from our zone. Grounding is a simple technique that will give your brain a healthy distraction in those moments when your thoughts are running away with you. Go through your senses and name five things you can see, four things you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste.
Leaves on a stream - If a level 3 negative trigger is presenting itself on race day, then this technique can help you to let go and move on toward your zone. Sit somewhere quiet (the changing rooms), and imagine leaves floating on a stream, watch as the leaves enter your view and disappear down the stream (listening to water sounds can help create this image). Now assign the negative trigger to one of these leaves and watch it float down the stream and out of sight, as you let go of the stressor.
Visualisation – As you are preparing for the race in the whipping area, engaging in some race plan visualisation can help evoke the physiological state required for you to perform in the zone. Seeing yourself execute your race well before you have even swum it, will increase your confidence and arousal.
Refocus statements – If the triggers present themselves and start a spiral of negative thinking, then creating refocus statements will help you stay in the zone. Using the triggers, you have identified, create belief statements that will reframe the situation in a positive and constructive light.
Coach Support – Finally, share with your coach on poolside the obstacles that you normally face on the gala day and the coping strategies you have developed. This will help keep you accountable and allow your coach to support you from a more informed position.
I hope this helps you to start taking control of your race day! I would love to hear some of the race plan tactics you use, so please feel free to share them in the comments! If you would like help to develop a race day plan that will help you to perform in the zone and get PBs in the pool, then please get in contact with me at robin@autonomypsychology.com
Best Wishes
Robin Hughes
Mental Performance Coach and Sports Counsellor located near Chelmsford, Essex, UK supporting athletes, exercisers, and coaches worldwide with Online Sports Psychology Services. Specialising in working within the fitness industry.
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