The old discussion format left dangling an interesting topic suggested by Paul Smith in the rather excellent Distance vs Sprint thread started by Jim Thornton. The topic being that of the mental side of training/competition.
My own selfish interest in this area would be on the mental preparation for 50yds/m competition. Obviously there is not much time to do a great amount of thinking during this event (one of the benefits of 50's) but you need to go into the race with some limited number of important thoughts to concentrate on while swimming. Kind of like 'swing thoughts' in golf (my cross over training sport). As in golf, muscle memory will play a large part in not having to think about everything involved.
I wonder if Paul or any others would care to share what those few key race thoughts might be, from the start, swim and turn through to the finish? And would there be any mental aspects to training for a 50 that might be different from distance training?
Need to revive this thread for one night, ok? Regarding the mental aspects of training - do you all feel that your training is maximized when you train alone, or with others? And if "others" is the answer, is it better to train with agemates - or will any age do? (including 12-13 yr olds). Seriously tempted to join USA Swimming to get a little more challenge than I'm able to give myself alone at 5:30am. Quick Quick - I might join the babies in the morning!
I have spent time training alone before and I currently train with 15-18 year-olds. I think any age will do, because I am typically more motivated by the competition of having others around. Regardless of my teammates ages, I always want to beat them. One of the few aspects that I enjoy about training solo is the ability to do whatever sets I want and change things around mid-practice. When with a team, I try to stick with what the coaches write, so as to not set a bad example for the kids. I've never been a big talker in the middle of practice, but it's nice to have people to say a word or two to from time to time.
Need to revive this thread for one night, ok? Regarding the mental aspects of training - do you all feel that your training is maximized when you train alone, or with others? And if "others" is the answer, is it better to train with agemates - or will any age do? (including 12-13 yr olds). Seriously tempted to join USA Swimming to get a little more challenge than I'm able to give myself alone at 5:30am. Quick Quick - I might join the babies in the morning!
I have spent time training alone before and I currently train with 15-18 year-olds. I think any age will do, because I am typically more motivated by the competition of having others around. Regardless of my teammates ages, I always want to beat them. One of the few aspects that I enjoy about training solo is the ability to do whatever sets I want and change things around mid-practice. When with a team, I try to stick with what the coaches write, so as to not set a bad example for the kids. I've never been a big talker in the middle of practice, but it's nice to have people to say a word or two to from time to time.
