I've been swimming competitively since the age of 8, and I've had the same issue for nearly as long. I swim pretty fast in workouts and while training, but when I go to swim meets, my performance is pretty lackluster.
I avoided swimming in a meet until just recently, where the coach guess entry times, and thought mine would be faster than they would. The people who swim in my lane during practice all swim 5-10 seconds faster (in sprints & mid-distance) than I do in a swim meet.
This happens regardless of how in shape I am. And happens less often in distance events than sprints, which makes me wonder if I just have a switch turned off in my brain that should make me really "work it" when I'm in competition.
Any advice? :confused:
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There was a girl on my college team who had the same problem. I can think of countless times where she was actually faster in practice than at meets. As That Guy suggested, what/how are things different in practice than meets? My guess is that it is your mental preparation, not your physical perparation. What goes through your mind before races?
There was a girl on my college team who had the same problem. I can think of countless times where she was actually faster in practice than at meets. As That Guy suggested, what/how are things different in practice than meets? My guess is that it is your mental preparation, not your physical perparation. What goes through your mind before races?
