Swimming offers a lot of time to think and reflect.
During warm-up.
In the quiet moments before the red top.
On the car ride home after practice.
Up and down the black line we go, with all sorts of thoughts bouncing around our nogginβ.
Dwelling
And for a lot of swimmers, those thoughts twist into a form of dwelling.
We fixate on:
A practice that didnβt go well.
A race where we underperformed.
A meet that was a blinding disappointment.
This type of dwelling leads to:
Fixating on negative aspects of our swimming.
Prolonging negative feelings.
Leading to inaction or withdrawal.
Reflection
Instead, use reflection, which uses a colder and more objective lens to assess a good or bad swim:
Consider the things that went well and things that didnβt.
Frame the things that didnβt go well as opportunities.
Chart a path forward with the experience of what happened.
Ultimately, reflecting focuses on learning from what happens in the water and applying those lessons to future workouts and races.
Feeling lousy about a bad race or workout is normal.
They happen to us all.
But to move forward, and swim faster, reflect and learn.
See you in the water,
Olivier
Source: Olivier Poirer-Leroy olivier@yourswimbook.com