Howdy 
,
The language you use with yourself in the water has a direct effect on your performance.
Tell yourself something is impossible, it simply feels harder.
Tell yourself to keep pushing a little longer, the courage to keep going “magically” arrives.
Language is important.
And the right language can improve focus, slow the brain down, and help you persevere when things get difficult.
One key linguistic distinction I encourage swimmers to make is between swimming hard and swimming fast.
The two terms look generally the same, but the connotations are strikingly different:
Hard = struggle, survive mode, grinding, suffering. Hard is focused primarily on effort, often at the expense of technique and execution. Hard is also not a guarantor of high-performance.
We’ve all seen that swimmer (and been that swimmers) who can flail through a calorie-busting workout that is “hard,” yet is ultimately counter-productive to technique, pacing, and other technical elements of our swimming.
Fast = execution, nailing the details, fundamentals first, focusing on the pursuit of speed and technical excellence.
Fast is focused on the process and execution. Unlike hard, fast is a guarantor of high-performance.
Put more simply…
Working hard is about your quantity of effort, while working fast is about the quality of your effort.
When you hit the pool today, and the main set starts to get tough…
- Focus on swimming fast.
- Fast streamlines.
- Fast technique.
- Fast effort.
See you in the water,
Olivier Leroy olivier@yourswimbook.com
More…
https://vineyardswimming.co.za/category/inspiration/