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Dunedin Swim Team would like to
acknowledge the contribution made by Andrew Buchanan (Scottish Swimming) to the training advice given below.
Winning
Starts with Today
Everyone wants
to win on race day. Everyone stands behind the blocks wanting to win. Some
hope, some pray, some cross their fingers, some rub their lucky swim cap,
some, not many, enjoy the quiet confidence of knowing that winning is
possible because of the time and effort spent preparing for race day.
Everyone wants
to WIN THE RACE. How many want to WIN EVERY WORKOUT just as
badly?
"Winning tomorrow starts
by winning today"
To win tomorrows
race, first win today's training session. Will you be a better swimmer
tomorrow because of what you did in training today?
Here are a few
tips on how to win workouts:
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Arrive
earlier than everyone else. Loosen off and focus on the job in hand.
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Make sure
you have a drink bottle containing clean water or sports drink at every
session. Drink regularly throughout the workout.
-
Be the first
swimmer to get to the pool and start training. Start the first length
with a race quality dive or race start / push off. Ask the coach to
grade your dive out of ten for technical excellence.
-
Finish every
repeat (including drills) with a legal, race quality touch. In free and
fly this means no breathing inside the 5m flags. In fly and breast this
means an explosive, two-handed touch. In backstroke this means a
powerful touch on a full stroke without looking at the wall. If swimming
in a lane next to others swimmers doing the same stroke, make a
conscious effort to race them from the flags to the wall on every repeat
to practice your ability to win close race finishes.
-
Swim your
warm up (and swim down) with some attention to detail as you demand in
the main set. Quality, explosive starts, aggressive turns, no breathing
inside the flags, never breathing first or last stroke in Fly and Free,
full underwater pull with every length of Breaststroke, etc. Warm up and
swim down means GREAT SKILLS AND EXCELLENT TECHNIQUE DONE SLOWLY.
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Challenge
someone faster than you to a race every workout. It could be a kicking
race, it could be a challenge based on skills and speed (i.e. who can
swim the fastest length with the fewest breaths-time added to the number
of breaths="total" score and the lowest score wins). It could be a
technique challenge (i.e. ask the coach to rate your drill efforts out
of ten, then try to do it better and achieve a higher score). If you are
a strong Backstroker who is a weak Butterflyer, challenge a stronger
Butterflyer to a swimming (or kicking) race. Work on your weaknesses.
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When
swimming an effort in training, ask yourself four questions:
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Could I do this with fewer strokes?
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Could I do this with fewer breaths?
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Could I do this with better technique?
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Could I do this with better starts, turns and finishes?
Challenge yourself
to do it better every time
-
If you want
to be the best swimmer in the club, your district, Britain or the World,
you must be the best swimmer in your lane first. You must set yourself a
higher standard than anyone else in your lane is prepared to. You must
set a higher standard and more challenging goals than even your coach
thinks possible.
-
Aim to do it
faster, with better skills and excellent technique ESPECIALLY when you
are tired. Race day success will require you to swim fast when you are
tired, under pressure and hurting. Make training more demanding than
race day. Deliberately make training tougher than the toughest race. Ask
your coach if you can do a time trial at the end of training.
-
Believe that
anything is possible. You can do PBs in training. You can swim 25m at
maximum speed without taking a breath. You can kick 40m in your 50m PB
swim time. You can do it. The words, "I can't" usually mean, "I am not
prepared to try in case I fail".
There are no
guarantees to success. You can however, increase the likelihood of success
by making training more demanding than ever thought possible, attempting to
so the impossible everyday and aiming to win every workout.
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