Swimming anxiety

I know what you mean about getting so nervous. I dd it in high school and now as a Masters swimmer. For me, I have found I have to remind myself that I am out there competing against the clock and the heck with my place. I don't know if this helps other than knowing you aren't alone.

You have gotten into a self fulfilling prophesy where you expect to be anxious and you get anxious about that, etc.There are many ways out of that,but what doesn't work is to try not to be anxious.If you do that then what is on your mind is being anxious. One thing that you can do is put it into perspective.In the grand scheme of things how you do at a swim meet is only as important as you say it is.Before every dive Greg Louganis said to himself"whatever happens,my mother still loves me."That was his way of putting it in perspective. Getting everything into a routine helps.Do the same thing the same way for every swim. Change how you contextualize the feelings.There is no physiologic difference between excitement and anxiety,let yourself be excited.When you feel that rush of feelings tell yourself you are getting really,really excited. Visualize your race and when you have negative thoughts ,don't fight them, have them and then imagine yourself erasing them(that sounds hokie,but it really works.) Swim a bunch of meets and swim "off events."Swim some events where you are experimenting:go out easy,go out hard,SDK more,SDK less,count your number of strokes,try to swim one fewer stroke on each length than the previous one,etc.The idea is to have something to focus on rather than how you feel.You are focused on time,swim some events where you just focus on what you learn. Go find someone you like and talk to them until it is time to get on the blocks,tell some jokes,laugh,dance around a little(you need to keep loose anyway.) Good luck and have fun.

You have gotten into a self fulfilling prophesy where you expect to be anxious and you get anxious about that, etc.There are many ways out of that,but what doesn't work is to try not to be anxious.If you do that then what is on your mind is being anxious. One thing that you can do is put it into perspective.In the grand scheme of things how you do at a swim meet is only as important as you say it is.Before every dive Greg Louganis said to himself"whatever happens,my mother still loves me."That was his way of putting it in perspective. Getting everything into a routine helps.Do the same thing the same way for every swim. Change how you contextualize the feelings.There is no physiologic difference between excitement and anxiety,let yourself be excited.When you feel that rush of feelings tell yourself you are getting really,really excited. Visualize your race and when you have negative thoughts ,don't fight them, have them and then imagine yourself erasing them(that sounds hokie,but it really works.) Swim a bunch of meets and swim "off events."Swim some events where you are experimenting:go out easy,go out hard,SDK more,SDK less,count your number of strokes,try to swim one fewer stroke on each length than the previous one,etc.The idea is to have something to focus on rather than how you feel.You are focused on time,swim some events where you just focus on what you learn. Go find someone you like and talk to them until it is time to get on the blocks,tell some jokes,laugh,dance around a little(you need to keep loose anyway.) Good luck and have fun. Great advice! how to read those people are seeing who wrote it. Allen, you should be a psychiatrist! swimming a lot of meets really does help, btw. also, as unpleasant have anxiety feels, perhaps it is your way of getting up for meets. Dr. J., or some other famous basketball player would get so nervous before every game thatt he would throw up. he finally acknowledge that this was just the way he got up for games, and afterwards it no longer bother him, though he continued to vomit on a regular basis.

Nickel, thanks. I always swim against the clock. Places don't matter as much since in a lot of my events I'm the only one. :) Allen, thanks for the tips. I love the idea of thinking anxiety is energy instead. And you are so right about the cycle. I keep thinking "don't get anxious" and it makes it worse. I panic swim. Occasionally I do this during practice too but have learned to control it better. I need to learn that control in a meet. I have thought about doing "off" events but I have done them all now. As a distance person, I tried all sprints and still came out disappointed with my times which just lead to my anxiety as the meet went on. I have Zones in a month and so a month to get over this to start on the upward trend. I have an excellent coach and I think we're going to sit down for a talk and see if that helps. Maybe I can even get him to come to Zones (he's an age group coach). Last time he did, I dropped 2 sec in the 100 IM. Think calm, think calm...

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Allen is very insightful and provided you with some good guidance. Also use your swim club members who are also attending meets with you to help you re-direct your thoughts. Cheer on your swim club members while they swim. Socialize and relax your mind. It also helps to have someone like me around too. I am leaving shortly for a swim meet today on St. Patrick's Day. I will be in all green except for my gold sparkly sunglasses. Should be hilarious and get a good laugh from everyone. St. Patrick's Day with my green Jamaica swim briefs.

Great advice! how to read those people are seeing who wrote it. Allen, you should be a psychiatrist! swimming a lot of meets really does help, btw. also, as unpleasant have anxiety feels, perhaps it is your way of getting up for meets. Dr. J., or some other famous basketball player would get so nervous before every game thatt he would throw up. he finally acknowledge that this was just the way he got up for games, and afterwards it no longer bother him, though he continued to vomit on a regular basis. It was Bill Russell

Great advice! how to read those people are seeing who wrote it. Allen, you should be a psychiatrist! swimming a lot of meets really does help, btw. also, as unpleasant have anxiety feels, perhaps it is your way of getting up for meets. Dr. J., or some other famous basketball player would get so nervous before every game thatt he would throw up. he finally acknowledge that this was just the way he got up for games, and afterwards it no longer bother him, though he continued to vomit on a regular basis. That would be Bill Russell. www.pharmacytimes.com/.../2006-02-5217 One of my college teammates would vomit before big meets, like championship meets and rivalry dual meets. We actually took as a positive sign that he was psyched up and was about to have a big meet. So he'd puke on the pool deck and someone might yell, "Mazel tov!" :chug:

I have several different way off warding off pre-race anxiety: staying busy, having fun, talking to people, etc. And for me in particular, I get a lot of benefit from doing many meets. The more meets I swim the easier it is for me to relax in my swims and let my training come through. But the most important thing I've found is to completely let go of the result before I swim the race. Good or bad, I'll still want to swim again.

Hey 'shark; it's been awhile! :wave: I read your post yesterday and held off responding to give it some thought, because I have been through it myself. In the end, much of what I was going to post was said by King Frog! But, it is what worked for me. My leg muscle injuries really set me back in breaststroke and caused that same anxiety. And, my thoracic outlet syndrome makes breaststroke pull difficult to do in any quantity without fatigue. It was getting depressing watching times post up on the board at meets that were anywhere from 2-6 seconds (on 50's- 200's) off my usual times. But, there was nothing I could do; my legs just couldn't get the powerful kick that they used to be capable of getting and my arms can only do so much when constantly working in the forward position; even in recovery. :bitching: So, I decided to do exactly as King Frog suggested: Try different events. I can't train breaststroke on consecutive days, so I decided to work on my backstroke and fly; strokes I could train comfortably. And, I remembered back to Nats., in 2010, when it was you who encouraged me to try 400 IM. Not only am I now racing that regularly; I'm "racing" :lmao: 200 fly and all the backstroke events! And, with my focus on backstroke in training (a stroke that my coach taught me how to swim; it used to be my worst), I am now consistently beating my coach in sprints during training. (Well, he is a distance freestyler and breaststroker...). So, turn lemons into lemonade! You had surgery and it set you back. Is 400 IM the event that is causing you the most anxiety right now? Scratch it off your meet line-up the way I did with 200 breaststroke. Choose events that you haven't swum in the longest period of time. (Remember, you are in a different age group now, so your previous best times are in your past.) Bill is right; hang around with a goofball at your next swim meet! I used to be withdrawn at meets to concentrate on my events. But, that just made me more nervous. Now, I joke around and socialize, sometimes making it to the block just in time to adjust my cap and goggles. I have had some of my best times then, because I was relaxed from laughing and the endorphins were kicked in from having fun with my friends. In the end, this is MASTERS swimming, not college or the Olympics. It's for FUN! Hey, try this: Instead of going for best times, do what I did last year and enter a full slate of tough events and go for high points. Even when I swam the 200 fly and 400 IM in tortoise-like times, younger and much faster swimmers congratulated me and said they would NEVER enter those events! I ended up winning the Georgia Championship Series for high points in my age group, because of that strategy; not because I was the fastest swimmer. And, it was loads of fun not caring as much about the clock! Remember why you are swimming (for fun!) and just work on your technique during a race, challenging yourself to stay relaxed, rather than worrying about the clock. Then, when you reach the wall, ask yourself if you accomplished that goal before you look at the clock. 'shark, you are an awesome swimmer; somebody I have looked up to since I first came on the Forums, three years ago. :cheerleader: