\u201cI\u2019m going to be honest \u2013 I\u2019m going to have to keep most of them secret.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry \u2013 I hate to do it to you but I took some great things back from ISL regarding how I approach certain races mentally (and) the physical side was huge for me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

$\"Caeleb$
Caeleb Dressel: Photo Courtesy: MIKE LEWIS \/ ISL<\/p><\/div>\n
Seconds later though, he said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll give you something. I\u2019ll give you a freebie here.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest things was I\u2019d always thought it was beneficial for me to just lay in bed leading up to meets or before races \u2013 just rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd those were the days that I just felt horrible \u2013 just laying in bed \u2013 so I would get up, I\u2019d stretch, I\u2019d figure it out pretty quick because you get instant feedback from meet to meet, from day to day, and race to race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe days I was just laying around in bed I\u2019d be hey I feel horrible and the days I would get up, move around, stretch, go to the hotel pool, go downstairs, talk to somebody, walk around the island \u2013 those are the days I felt better, my muscles felt more ready to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I had always had this pre-conceived idea that I\u2019ve got to lay in bed all day to rest my muscles when in reality they need a little something to keep the blood flowing. That was huge.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
$\"Caeleb$
Photo Courtesy: MIKE LEWIS\/ISL<\/p><\/div>\n
Dressel already has 13 world long-course titles in the bank and would reasonably have expected to come away from Tokyo with individual medals to add to his two relay golds from Rio 2016.<\/p>\n
Now pushed back until July 2021 due to COVID-19<\/a>, Dressel will have added even more to his armoury come the Olympics \u2013 trusting himself, not over-thinking and with the knowledge that trying something different also results in a positive outcome.<\/p>\n
He said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother good one for the mental side is that I do a lot better racing when I shut my brain off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest example of that is that every race I would count my kicks and stroke count in the 100 fly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen in the final I said forget this I\u2019m just going to go and not count kicks and not count strokes, I\u2019m just going to go and I\u2019m just going to go based on feel here.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I did and it worked out well and I learned a lot from that race in particular.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 50 free \u2013 I thought I could have been a little better but it doesn\u2019t mean it was a throwaway event because I thought too much in the 50 and I was like I did it again so here\u2019s what not to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as a bad race unless you don\u2019t learn anything from it but everywhere you looked there was something to learn from, somebody to learn from, somebody to ask a question \u2013 a swimmer, a coach, everywhere \u2013 it was awesome.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the best thing ever for the sport of swimming.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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Photo Courtesy: Mine Kasapoglu \/ ISL<\/p><\/div>\n
When Caeleb Dressel set the 100 fly WR of 47.78, he took 0.30 off the previous record set by Chad Le Clos<\/strong> at the World Short-Course Championships<\/strong> in December 2016.<\/p>\n
The South African was the first to embrace Dressel, a gesture he appreciated given he is \u2013 in his own words \u2013 a sore loser.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am. I\u2019ll admit to it. I\u2019ll never be disrespectful to my competitors but I\u2019m a sore loser. With anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate some board games \u2013 luck-based board games \u2013 because they are out of my control and I\u2019ll just go to bed grumpy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a sore loser and I\u2019m fine admitting to that: if I have a bad practice I\u2019ll go to bed thinking about what could I have done different, how could I have been better today?<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it did mean a lot for me for Chad to come up; I know he did it on camera but the one that meant the most to me was when we were in the warm-down pool and he came up to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo cameras, nobody around us \u2013 that\u2019s just good old-fashioned respect right there and I really appreciated it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat went a long way. I\u2019m one of the young guns in the sport, he has been in the sport (a long time), he\u2019s a veteran.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched him race as a kid and for it to come full circle and for him to genuinely mean that congrats, it meant a lot for me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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