Winter Training is Over, Now Where do we go?

Photo Courtesy: Annie Grevers

By Jacob Riley, Swimming World College Intern.

Winter training is mostly over across the country, and swimmers can officially rejoice that they no longer have to hear absurd sets that make them want to cry. Now that these couple of weeks is finally over, there is one question that is brought about: Now where do we go?

This question is one of the crucial question every swimmer needs to ask themselves in order to effectively use the rest of the waning weeks left in our sport’s winter season. This is the pivotal moment in season because we all just put in major work in these past couple of weeks. So, the question stands, where do we go?

Jun 18, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Michael Phelps (USA) answers questions during day one of the Arena Pro Series at Santa Clara, at the George F. Haines International Swim Center in Santa Clara, Calif. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Courtesy: Robert Stanton/USA Today Sports Images

The first thing we need to look at it how to maximize the rest of the weeks we have left for training. For me personally, I only have six weeks left until my conference meet. It is critical for me to figure out how to get the most out of these last couple of weeks to help myself get the most of myself at my conference meet. One important factor that will go into this is mental focus.

This mental focus is critical to boost me to the elite level of competition that I expect out of myself. The things we all need to think about to achieve this level of mental focus is a lazer focus on our taper meet. Every swimmer is most likely beat down right now. This is the time of year where everything hurts, and we all want to just lay in bed and sleep for the rest of our year.

We all need to remember that we are so close to feeling fantastic in the pool. We are so close to the majestic word that every swimmer loves to hear, that word being taper. We need to get the most out of ourselves these last couple of weeks of hard practices in order to hit those goals that we set at the beginning of the season.

The other factor that we need to remember is trust in the program. All of our coaches have been planning our season out, and we need to remember that the program is designed to take us where we want to be. If we lose faith this far into the season, all of which we have worked for could be lost. We all need to buckle down these last couple of weeks, and fight through whatever adversity we face.

My senior captain always likes to make the metaphor that each practice is a deposit in the bank of success. To continue with this metaphor, we need to not make any withdrawals from the deposits we’ve made all season these last couple of weeks. We can make some withdrawals at our taper meet to achieve our goals.

We all can make it through the end of this season. We can achieve the goals we set. We all just have to remember what to think about for these last couple of weeks, and we will succeed. I hope everyone keeps these ideas in mind, and everyone starts getting ready for taper!

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Jack Goff

7 years ago

Great advice! It will help me in my endeavors as I plan to tear up my championship meets! 10/10 you’re my favorite writer by far!

Bob Baker

7 years ago

Back home !