Experiment With Other Swimmer's Routines

One of the secrets of success is to copy certain areas of successful people's training, but especially those parts which fit snugly into your own routine. Here are some great ideas for mental preparation which were sent to me this week by a first year pro triathlete, Gordon Byrn (whose articles can be read at www.xtri.com), and he seems to have covered most of the important areas of mental training. I will try and do justice to his explanation he sent me.

First of all, once he knows the venue where he will be competing, he goes there and scouts out the venue, so he can thoroughly visualize or mentally rehearse performing there. As we have said many times before, this is an absolute 'must' for any race. Then he sits down most days and writes down any thoughts, affirmations, words and ideas which come to him regarding the competition, and most often these following words usually figure prominently in his thoughts:

• Patience
• Power
• Endure
• Joy
• Control
• Calm

These embody the (excellent) qualities Gordon believes that are most important for him to perform well on the day. So what are yours? Think about this. The original reason Gordon contacted me was that last week's tip hinged on the word 'power', which struck a chord with him because this word was a 'constant' in his mental preparation. He uses power words like these on a regular daily basis, thinking about them and writing them down, which in turn ingrains them into his mind.

He also writes down how he feels about aspects of the approaching competition, including any fears that he may harbour in his mind about the race ahead. For example, to counteract a fear such as "my last performance was a fluke", he would firstly write down affirmations such as, "You belong. The strength is in your body. You have the power". Then, he would make them apply more personally to himself, such as, "I belong. The strength is in my body. I have the power". This is a great way of imprinting a thought into your mind - as most school students know who write out their notes to study for exams.

Another aspect of Gordon's preparation is something he calls his "Champion Collage", which is brilliant. He has a large piece of cardboard on which he's glued photos of Ironman champions and other people who inspire him, and included "inspirational quotes, key words, key strategies" on this collage. He placed it where he would see it frequently, and after a while this collage has became part of his 'support team' cheering him on to do well. Every time Gordon would see (or even walk past) this collage, his mind would be reminded of success - a very clever and powerful mental preparation.

Last of all, a major impression he noticed was that at any level of competition, there was normally very little physical difference between the top guys, which meant that the best way to excel is to improve the mental game. I certainly could not have said it any better. Thank you Gordon for sharing some of your mental training secrets, they reinforce the fact that the mind is a powerful weapon which must be thoroughly trained in preparation for a competition or meet. So the secret for you swimmers reading this is to now experiment with some of these approaches, and find out which ones you wish to make a part of YOUR preparation. These ideas may not all be for you, but even if you pick up ONE valuable tip, it will be worthwhile because it may help you for the rest of your career.

The Mind controls the body, and the mind is unlimited. The best of success,

Craig Townsend