Firstly, this is simply brought on by the pressure of the occasion, which forces a swimmer to over-try in an event they'd been training competently at for many months. Pressure is such a powerful thing it can make your thinking go 'foggy' and throw all 'rational thought' completely out the window. This is where a relaxation technique such as visualization can come in very handy before a race,. When it is used for up to 10 minutes, it has an automatic soothing effect on the mind. Imagining the 'perfect race' is normally the way to do this, however for some overly nervous swimmers, they may need to visualize 'a wonderful holiday' or being somewhere else that is totally relaxing - and keep all thoughts of swimming completely OUT of the visualization.
But stress is only one part of the problem. The other was that it stopped the swimmer from pacing himself correctly during the race. This is a point where I find many swimmers vary from each other. Some swimmers swim longer events to a very definite 'strategy' of pace and speed, whilst others seem to simply 'go with the flow' and swim the race completely instinctively. Either of these approaches are fine as long as the results turn out the way you want them.
Some swimmers find strategies simply 'get in the way' of their natural swimming technique and they prefer to use their intuition as to when to speed up or ease off - whilst others much prefer to have a pre-conceived game plan worked out, as they find it takes some pressure off having to decide 'when to make a move'.
If you are a swimmer who likes to swim instinctively, then you would simply prepare for the meet by visualizing the race going perfectly, smoothly and powerfully (a minimum of each day for several weeks) - but without visualizing any pre-worked-out race strategy. However if you prefer to race with a game-plan, then visualize this exact game-plan (each day for several weeks) before the event, and get this mental program working 'automatically' in mind and body before you even walk into the pool for your big meet. That way, even under stressful conditions, your subconscious mind will automatically pace your swim, using the program you have imprinted on your mind's 'floppy disk'.
Program your swims subconsciously, and very little will ever go wrong for you.
The Mind controls the body, and the mind is unlimited. The best of success,
Craig Townsend
