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?
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).
I prefer to swim with speed appropriate. age doesn't matter. I'm 36 but the guys that push me most at practice are 24 and 45.
if I get permission from my boss to swim saturday mornings I love swimming with the 15-19yrs olds.
Not being the fastest in the pool has its advantages. you don't have to lead your lane, and if you do, usually the person in the lane next to you is faster.
if I had to practice alone i would most likely only swim half the distance and less often.
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).
I prefer to swim with speed appropriate. age doesn't matter. I'm 36 but the guys that push me most at practice are 24 and 45.
if I get permission from my boss to swim saturday mornings I love swimming with the 15-19yrs olds.
Not being the fastest in the pool has its advantages. you don't have to lead your lane, and if you do, usually the person in the lane next to you is faster.
if I had to practice alone i would most likely only swim half the distance and less often.
