Tricks of the Trade

Chris is right, Pre-race plans are a personal thing. You can take 100 swimmers, and find 100 different ways of preparing. The goal here; find what works best for you. As for sleeping at meets, I hear ya man. One trick that seems to work; try to downplay the previous events. Instead of "dwelling" on success, (or failure), focus on what still has to be done. When you think about the mundane routine, like what lunch you'll pack, what time you have to wake up, how many hours are left in the night; think of how tired you'll be if you don't "let go" of the past. I'm not sure if this will work for you, but I've found that when it comes to sleep and competition, focusing on the "routine" and even the next training cycle, somehow this helps to bring balance back to the current moment. Preparation/warmup is indeed personalized. What's more, many of us have been racing for quite some time and will have settled on a routine and approach that works for us. It is still fun to read what others do. Fortress posting about "getting hyped" brought to mind a difficulty I sometimes have: getting enough sleep at meets. Paradoxically, the problem is worse when I am swimming well: I get excited about upcoming races when I should be sleeping! I'll read a book or listen to music to calm down but it can be difficult. And, of course, it never fails that I start getting sleepy just when it is time to leave for warmups. Any tips? I suppose reading old forum threads might induce sleepiness... :)

Chris is right, Pre-race plans are a personal thing. You can take 100 swimmers, and find 100 different ways of preparing. The goal here; find what works best for you. As for sleeping at meets, I hear ya man. One trick that seems to work; try to downplay the previous events. Instead of "dwelling" on success, (or failure), focus on what still has to be done. When you think about the mundane routine, like what lunch you'll pack, what time you have to wake up, how many hours are left in the night; think of how tired you'll be if you don't "let go" of the past. I'm not sure if this will work for you, but I've found that when it comes to sleep and competition, focusing on the "routine" and even the next training cycle, somehow this helps to bring balance back to the current moment. Preparation/warmup is indeed personalized. What's more, many of us have been racing for quite some time and will have settled on a routine and approach that works for us. It is still fun to read what others do. Fortress posting about "getting hyped" brought to mind a difficulty I sometimes have: getting enough sleep at meets. Paradoxically, the problem is worse when I am swimming well: I get excited about upcoming races when I should be sleeping! I'll read a book or listen to music to calm down but it can be difficult. And, of course, it never fails that I start getting sleepy just when it is time to leave for warmups. Any tips? I suppose reading old forum threads might induce sleepiness... :)