sport psychology

here's a summary of your key points: you wrote: "I feel I lack self-confidence. The same applies for anxiety. The anxiety from failure, not performing good enough after strenuous training" you feel the more you invest in training, nutrition etc and the more you improve and come closer to the best in your category (europe, world) the more pressure you feel. You got a cold at your last meet. It totally negatively affected your psyche. you immediately started to worry about how it would affect your performance. Before start you were more nervous than usual and your legs were slightly shivered on the starting block. but you improved your PB. comments: Lacking self confidence is about your self image, your self talk and what you believe to be true about you. The ways to address this are: have S.M.A.R.T. goals, have workable plans and take action, execute your plans each day, each moment. The most important thing is to SWIM FAST IN PRACTICE know what your abilities are and Feel comforable with who you are and where you are and know where you're going. Know how your practice times relate to your meet times. The faster you swim in practice, the faster you'll swim in meets. Self image is about what you say to yourself and how you say it. What you believe to be true about you. Create a script of what is true about you and what you want to be true Actually write it down. then go over it, 1) right before you go to sleep, 2) right after you wake up, 3) right before you train and 4) while you're training. ACTING AS IF IS CRITICAL act as if you already are what you most want to be. if you want to be a confident person, act as if you already are. Train like a confident person. You don't need to go overboard and be a cocky jerk. just pretend you are a confident fierce humble person. the more you practice it the sooner you are likely to accept it. Do the best you can to prepare for your events and competitions. Your performance is totally related to your preparation. anxiety and nervousness are GREAT, normal and natural, Adrenaline improves your performance. some nervousness is fine. Some athletes shake, some barf, some are jittery, some injest caffiene to feel jittery. use them to your advantage. When you feel nervous before a race, when you feel pressure Welcome it and know you are going to get up and race your race to the best of your ability and let your time be whatever it will be. You might make mistakes in your race which will ding your time. Each swimmer has a performance range. Train to shift yours to be faster and tighter. You want to be in IPS before you race. (Ideal Performance State) don't worry about pressure, just focus on improving yourself, doing your best, the process of swimming fast. DON'T worry about anyone else. If you are close to breaking records. If you are in striking range, train for a few events and adjust your self image to get comfortable with being the record holder. Shift from striving and hoping to knowing. you do this by swimming FAST in practice, by knowing what your abilities are, get comfortable with it. Swimmers sometimes get sick or injured at meets, it happens. If you get sick or injured, what it is? You must decide if you can race or not. Mild cold YES The Flu NO If you're too sick, don't race, if you aren't too sick do. Maybe modify your schedule. Be flexible. You don't have to race every event you enter. Come up with sensible plan for your current situation. Also sometimes train when you have a slight cold and see how your performance compares. At 2007 LCM Nats I got a severe crick in my neck during warm up. It was terrible. Painful. I decided to get a massage and I felt a little better. It went from terrible to bearable. In my past I've been sick at meets or in practice, sometimes I felt like crap and swam like crap, other times I felt like crap and swam faster than I thought I could which shocked me Decide NO or GO. if you're sick and decide to race anyway, don't worry how you'll do just get up and do the best you can and let what ever the result is be OK. Also how critical is the meet? In the US Olympic trials, if swimmers get sick, they are going to race and do the best they can., no matter what. They trained all their lives for the chance and aren't going to let a little sickness mess them up. Aaron Peirsol said, "I train so I can win on a bad day." Eric Shanteau found out he had testicular cancer a week before the 2008 US Olympic Trials, he kept it a secret, made the team then announced his situation and plans. "I have testicular cancer. I'm going to train for the olympics and have a team of doctors to monitor it closely then hopefully deal with it after the 2008 Olympics." Train so hard and get so great you have a buffer. So you can get sick or make mistakes and still do OK. Lastly some people say "I'll believe it when I see it." the truth is "You may see it when you really believe it." The Road to Records is a journey with ups and downs, twists and turns. All you have is the chance. No certainty until you actually do it. Here's my blog from Sat June 7, 2008 (the day I broke my first masters WR.) Training and preparation is what got me there. It really started several years back. I suggest you follow each workout from the end of SCM 2007 which started Saturday, Dec 1, 2007 2004 was when I first decided to try to break a WR, but it didn't happen till almost 4 years later. When it did, it lasted 3 hours then got beaten. But those 3 hours were glorious and addictive. Also if you read the SFF Tip Build a Fortress of Speed & Strength it encourages you to follow Leslie's Journey in REVERSE, starting with her magic moment when she broke 3 world records. Decide what you want and create your own journey. Let your confidence come from what you've done and what you know you are capable of. Train hard, smart and fast. You can't expect to swim faster than someone if you aren't training as fast as far or as hard as they are. Especially if he is already better than you. It's a lot easier to maintain ability than to increase it. Sun Yang went 54 on the last 100 of his 1500, and 25.94 on his last 50. Swimmers who hope to beat him need to develop that ability. What abilities do you need to develop? Take control of your thoughts and actions. Shift your perspective. It takes effort, but if you want it bad enough, you might be able to make it happen. When you feel yourself drifting toward thoughts that weaken you, move your focus back to thoughts that empower you. You can swim faster faster. Good Luck, Enjoy your journey. Ande

here's a summary of your key points: you wrote: "I feel I lack self-confidence. The same applies for anxiety. The anxiety from failure, not performing good enough after strenuous training" you feel the more you invest in training, nutrition etc and the more you improve and come closer to the best in your category (europe, world) the more pressure you feel. You got a cold at your last meet. It totally negatively affected your psyche. you immediately started to worry about how it would affect your performance. Before start you were more nervous than usual and your legs were slightly shivered on the starting block. but you improved your PB. comments: Lacking self confidence is about your self image, your self talk and what you believe to be true about you. The ways to address this are: have S.M.A.R.T. goals, have workable plans and take action, execute your plans each day, each moment. The most important thing is to SWIM FAST IN PRACTICE know what your abilities are and Feel comforable with who you are and where you are and know where you're going. Know how your practice times relate to your meet times. The faster you swim in practice, the faster you'll swim in meets. Self image is about what you say to yourself and how you say it. What you believe to be true about you. Create a script of what is true about you and what you want to be true Actually write it down. then go over it, 1) right before you go to sleep, 2) right after you wake up, 3) right before you train and 4) while you're training. ACTING AS IF IS CRITICAL act as if you already are what you most want to be. if you want to be a confident person, act as if you already are. Train like a confident person. You don't need to go overboard and be a cocky jerk. just pretend you are a confident fierce humble person. the more you practice it the sooner you are likely to accept it. Do the best you can to prepare for your events and competitions. Your performance is totally related to your preparation. anxiety and nervousness are GREAT, normal and natural, Adrenaline improves your performance. some nervousness is fine. Some athletes shake, some barf, some are jittery, some injest caffiene to feel jittery. use them to your advantage. When you feel nervous before a race, when you feel pressure Welcome it and know you are going to get up and race your race to the best of your ability and let your time be whatever it will be. You might make mistakes in your race which will ding your time. Each swimmer has a performance range. Train to shift yours to be faster and tighter. You want to be in IPS before you race. (Ideal Performance State) don't worry about pressure, just focus on improving yourself, doing your best, the process of swimming fast. DON'T worry about anyone else. If you are close to breaking records. If you are in striking range, train for a few events and adjust your self image to get comfortable with being the record holder. Shift from striving and hoping to knowing. you do this by swimming FAST in practice, by knowing what your abilities are, get comfortable with it. Swimmers sometimes get sick or injured at meets, it happens. If you get sick or injured, what it is? You must decide if you can race or not. Mild cold YES The Flu NO If you're too sick, don't race, if you aren't too sick do. Maybe modify your schedule. Be flexible. You don't have to race every event you enter. Come up with sensible plan for your current situation. Also sometimes train when you have a slight cold and see how your performance compares. At 2007 LCM Nats I got a severe crick in my neck during warm up. It was terrible. Painful. I decided to get a massage and I felt a little better. It went from terrible to bearable. In my past I've been sick at meets or in practice, sometimes I felt like crap and swam like crap, other times I felt like crap and swam faster than I thought I could which shocked me Decide NO or GO. if you're sick and decide to race anyway, don't worry how you'll do just get up and do the best you can and let what ever the result is be OK. Also how critical is the meet? In the US Olympic trials, if swimmers get sick, they are going to race and do the best they can., no matter what. They trained all their lives for the chance and aren't going to let a little sickness mess them up. Aaron Peirsol said, "I train so I can win on a bad day." Eric Shanteau found out he had testicular cancer a week before the 2008 US Olympic Trials, he kept it a secret, made the team then announced his situation and plans. "I have testicular cancer. I'm going to train for the olympics and have a team of doctors to monitor it closely then hopefully deal with it after the 2008 Olympics." Train so hard and get so great you have a buffer. So you can get sick or make mistakes and still do OK. Lastly some people say "I'll believe it when I see it." the truth is "You may see it when you really believe it." The Road to Records is a journey with ups and downs, twists and turns. All you have is the chance. No certainty until you actually do it. Here's my blog from Sat June 7, 2008 (the day I broke my first masters WR.) Training and preparation is what got me there. It really started several years back. I suggest you follow each workout from the end of SCM 2007 which started Saturday, Dec 1, 2007 2004 was when I first decided to try to break a WR, but it didn't happen till almost 4 years later. When it did, it lasted 3 hours then got beaten. But those 3 hours were glorious and addictive. Also if you read the SFF Tip Build a Fortress of Speed & Strength it encourages you to follow Leslie's Journey in REVERSE, starting with her magic moment when she broke 3 world records. Decide what you want and create your own journey. Let your confidence come from what you've done and what you know you are capable of. Train hard, smart and fast. You can't expect to swim faster than someone if you aren't training as fast as far or as hard as they are. Especially if he is already better than you. It's a lot easier to maintain ability than to increase it. Sun Yang went 54 on the last 100 of his 1500, and 25.94 on his last 50. Swimmers who hope to beat him need to develop that ability. What abilities do you need to develop? Take control of your thoughts and actions. Shift your perspective. It takes effort, but if you want it bad enough, you might be able to make it happen. When you feel yourself drifting toward thoughts that weaken you, move your focus back to thoughts that empower you. You can swim faster faster. Good Luck, Enjoy your journey. Ande