Ande has done a great job of having all the various physical aspects of swimming covered but I need help with the mental aspects.
I'm really struggling with negative self-talk while I'm swimming. It feels like there's a huge jumbo-tron in my brain and messages are just running accross it non-stop while I'm swimming:
'Give up'
'ease up'
'quit'
'breaststroke's coming up, why not stop?'
'you suck'
I'm having trouble getting this stream of consciousness to stop. Not only that but I feel like such a fraud with my kids when I'm coaching. I stand there and tell them to get tough mentally but I seem to have the mental fortitude of a Krispy Kreme.
Not being able to 'get out of my head' seems to only happen when I swim.
Help?
I think negative self talk sometimes comes about because people who strive to achieve and do well can put pretty high expectations on themselves. I don't believe this is a bad thing, but when you hit a dry spell where you don't/can't see any progress, it gets frustrating. I've hit sets in the past where I've berated myself for "wussing out" or not pushing as hard as I think I could have as well, but it's not been an all-the-time thing.
On those days when I don't feel like swimming or lifting whatever, I'll try and go to the gym and at least go through the motions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Currently the thing that keeps me going is knowing that I can still improve technically, and if I can do that, perhaps I can go faster. I like this because I'm starting to see that engine building in my 40s is not as effective as it was in my teens.
Another thing that gets me going is knowing that it's good exercise and the benefits will hopefully help me to continue doing stuff when I'm in my 50s, 60s, 70s…
It's a tough issue and I'm sorry I don't have some good advice, but on some levels I can relate to what you're going through. Good luck.
:banana:
I think negative self talk sometimes comes about because people who strive to achieve and do well can put pretty high expectations on themselves. I don't believe this is a bad thing, but when you hit a dry spell where you don't/can't see any progress, it gets frustrating. I've hit sets in the past where I've berated myself for "wussing out" or not pushing as hard as I think I could have as well, but it's not been an all-the-time thing.
On those days when I don't feel like swimming or lifting whatever, I'll try and go to the gym and at least go through the motions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Currently the thing that keeps me going is knowing that I can still improve technically, and if I can do that, perhaps I can go faster. I like this because I'm starting to see that engine building in my 40s is not as effective as it was in my teens.
Another thing that gets me going is knowing that it's good exercise and the benefits will hopefully help me to continue doing stuff when I'm in my 50s, 60s, 70s…
It's a tough issue and I'm sorry I don't have some good advice, but on some levels I can relate to what you're going through. Good luck.
:banana:
