The following article is a compilation of thought and ideas gleaned from experiences and associations with many fine coaches over the course of my career. I would like to thank Coach Dick Hannula for his influence in my career and life. Most of the ideas contained in this article I have borrowed and learn from him.
Peak Performance to Transition Period
Newsletter
Hidden Training
As we are 8 days
out from the first individual events at Conference here are a few things I want
to remind each of you about. Hopefully,
these things are not new ideas for you and so this will be a little
reminder. I call these things “hidden
training”. “Hidden Training” is those
things that you must take care of and do.
No coach can do them for you, you must do them. The first aspects of hidden
training I want to remind you about are the three R’s of Peak Performance. The three R’s are Rest, Relaxation and
Rehearsal.
Rest.
As you have been gradually reducing the amount of your total yardage it
is important that you get the appropriate amount rest so that your body can
recover quickly and replenish its energy reserves. You should try to go to bed
at an hour that will allow you to get a comfortable and restful nights
sleep-preferably eight hours. If you
have time during the day find a quiet place and take a brief nap-“power nap”. I
must caution you about excessive napping.
Taking a long nap can be detrimental to your normal nights rest so be
careful. Too much of a good thing can be
bad.
Relaxation.
During the peak performance period you should begin to feel more
energy. This is both a good and bad
thing. For some it means more energy and
thus more time to play. However, you should conserve your new found energy and
do those things that are less strenuous, like read a book, play a board game,
watch a DVD or go to a movie, attend the temple, instead of playing night
games, basketball, tennis and so on.
Make time during the day to just sit back and relax. Let your mind focus on your goals and what
you want to achieve at Conference. Just
kick back and take life a little easier.
Rehearsal, the final
“R”. This means that you should take the time,
perhaps during your relaxation to try and visualize how you want to swim your
races. I love the story of how Michael Phelps’s
coach, Bob Bowman wrote down the splits Michael needed to do in the 400 IM in
order to break the world record in Beijing.
Michael had the splits and he took the time to go over in his head
BEFORE the race as to how he was going to do those splits. We all know how it turned out. He won the gold medal, breaking the world
record and being right on every split and a little under one of them. You too can do this. Take some time to write down your goal splits
and then close your eyes and go through your race seeing yourself do everything
you must do in order to achieve your goals.
Rehearse and visualize your start, your first (and every) stroke, every
turn, your kick and your finish. See in
yourself in your mind’s eye looking up at the scoreboard to see your time, and
then your celebration at having hit your goal time.
Nutrition and hydration.
In this phase of the season it is very important that you maintain
proper nutrition and fluid intake. You
need to make sure that the nutrients you take in are balanced and of a high
quality. If you have questions you can
consult with the people in the Nutrition Center. I would also recommend that you begin to
carry some healthy snacks with you that can replace nutrients that you have
lost during our practice sessions. The
sooner you can replace lost nutrients the better. I would recommend chocolate milk after
practice to go with some type of energy bar.
Your energy bar should have protein in it, as well as the
carbohydrates. Then when you get home
eat a good meal that is balanced and will help you replenish and build energy
stores. Water is extremely important as
it is at all times. Make sure you are
carrying a water bottle with you. At the
meet make sure you do these same things.
You want your body to always be ready to compete at the highest levels,
and having the energy necessary is imperative to this preparation.
Focus-“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The
sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” Alexander Graham Bell
As we get ready
to compete your focus should be on doing everything just right. As Bell stated in his quote above, “concentrate
on the work at hand”. This means that you
need to put your energy into doing everything right. No coach can focus for you; you have to be
the one to place your focus on performing the right things all the time. Many times competitors worry about winning
and they fail to focus on the process.
The “process” is all those little things that become big things over the
course of a race. Things like head and
body position, hip and shoulder rotation, early vertical forearm (in
freestyle), building into each wall, knowing when to kick in the legs a little
more, the turns with streamline and dolphin kick off walls, finishes-no
breathing flags to walls. These are all
things that we have worked daily on over the course of the season and if you
will focus on working the process you will be successful if that focus is maintained. The process, when properly fulfilled will
lead to achievement. Stay focused on processes
of the task which you undertake to perform and you be successful.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand,
and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of
ourselves to the task at hand.” Coach Vince Lombardi
Warming up and Cooling down-for top
performances
As we get ready
to compete next week these two topics need to be addressed. The “pre-competition” warm-up is necessary
for the following six reasons:
1. To increase blood flow and
temperature in tissues and muscles.
2.
To help nerve impulses traveling more rapidly through tissues and
muscles
3. To improve the rate of muscle contraction and
reaction time
4. To prepare the muscles and joints to function
through their full range of motion
5. To decrease stiffness and assist with injury
prevention
6. Finally a well performed and completed
warm-up may serve to give the athlete
an increased sense of confidence prior to the first
event.
It is very
important to understand that the warm-up must be event specific and prepare you
for competition. If there is a long
period of time from your primary warm-up to your first event you should get in
and do a short warm-up prior to competing.
The best case scenario is that you have as little time as possible prior
to your event. You want to compete when
your tissues and muscles are at their optimum in warmth and readiness. If you are not able to go fairly soon to the
blocks it is wise to stretch between the secondary warm-up and the event. Stretching before, after and during your warm-up
routines may also be helpful if you are not able to get an appropriate warm-up.
A huge question
that is often asked is how much warm-up does a person need to be ready for
competition? Most research indicates
that the amount of warm-up, and even loosen down which an individual needs may
be based on several factors. One of
these factors is the events that they compete, yet another is the body size and
age. While at the 2008 Olympic Trials I
observed Dara Torres and other “elite” level athletes and what they did for
warm-up and loosen down. Dara Torres and
Michael Phelps were highly disciplined in their pre-event and post-event
swims. Both did a lot of easy swimming
and drilling before and after their events.
Dara Torres also added a massage and some yoga stretching in the middle
of her warm-up and loosen down routines.
Both of these great swimmers also would go back in the pool if they
didn’t feel right, or they wanted to focus on some part of their recovery
process. I also observed that swimmers
like Cullen Jones and other sprinters took a long time to get warm-up and
loosen down.
After each race
you should also loosen down. Loosening
down after and between events should be active recovery. The purpose of active recovery is to get the
body to begin the “filtering process”.
The filtering process helps the body to “filter” out waste byproducts
from the body. You can also help your
body recover quickly by stretching, like Dara Torres and Michael Phelps
do. The amount of time you spend in warming
up and loosening down will be reflected by your performances. A general rule is that if you are an older
athlete you need more than a younger athlete.
If you are a distance swimmer you typically need a little less than an
athlete who is a sprinter. Distance
athletes need to do some builds and pace work, whereas those who swim shorter
events need to do some push-bursts and dive bursts. All swimmers need to do stroke work during
their warm-up and even the loosen down.
Finally it is
important to re-hydrate and re-fuel after the warm-up and your event and then
during the loosen down. You do not need
to eat a three course meal, but some type of high quality energy bar, or
carbohydrate with water is always the best way to help maintain your energy
levels and to be ready for your next event.
If you want to compete at a high level in multiple events over the
course of a two, three, four or five day meet you must hydrate, fuel, and
warm-up and loosen down properly to give your body the best possible chance to
swim at high levels when needed. Good
luck as we finish our preparation for Conference and get ready to swim fast.
