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Recovering between Swimming Seasons
By Wayne Goldsmith | In Recovery
50 Things you can do to Recover, Regenerate and Re-energise between Swimming Seasons
‘Tis the Season to Recover, Fa La La La La, La, La, La La.
So, the swimming season has ended…or so you thought. Here are a few suggestions on how to use the break between swimming seasons to rest, recover, regenerate, re-energise, restore, replenish, refill and re-invigorate!
- Take up another healthy sport like jogging, mountain bike riding, hiking, snow skiing, field hockey or soccer – the choices are endless (as are the mental and physical benefits).
- Read a book about healthy nutrition for high performance athletes.
- Take a cooking course on how to cook healthy, nutritious foods for optimal athlete performance.
- Sleep in a few times each week –but not for too long – about an extra hour a day extra sleep is enough to get the benefits of some extra rest but not long enough to disturb your biorhythms.
- Take a course in yoga and improve your flexibility, strength, balance, co-ordination and posture.
- Talk to an athletic sprint coach about how to improve your starts – no one understands fast starts like these guys!
- Spend some quality time with your family.
- Spend some quality time with your friends.
- Spend quality time with yourself.
- Talk to your teacher about any assignments or projects that are due in the next swim season and get a head start. Takes the pressure off when swimming starts!
- Study some swimming history. For example buy or borrow a book about the Olympic Games and track the progress of your event since 1896, who won the events, what times they swam, what country they came from and other cool stuff.
- Buy an IPOD or MP3 player, load it full of your favourite tunes and spend some time just listening to great music.
- Create something. Build it. Paint it. Craft it. But create something.
- Help someone who really needs it – good Karma!
- Help your swim club clean and store swim equipment that will not be used during the winter break so that it is in tip top condition for next season.
- Get a blood test and check out your iron levels, ferritin, immune system functioning and body fats.
- See a physical therapist and get a complete musculo-skeletal screen, i.e. a total body screen which assesses your muscle strengths and weaknesses, flexibility and identifies potential problems before they occur.
- Get a massage.
- Get a massage – they feel so good I put it in twice!
- Write a letter of thanks to three people who have helped you in the past season.
- Take a public speaking course. Helps you develop self confidence and to deal with those occasions when you have to get up and speak in public.
- Read and review your training diary from the past season. Try to identify the things that worked, the things that didn’t and look for some ways to improve next season.
- Buy a new training diary for the coming season.
- Check out all your swim gear and replace anything old, broken or worn that needs replacing.
- Clean out your (stinky) swim bag – you know the one you haven’t cleaned out for six months.
- Put your name on all new swim gear you buy.
- Look up “motivational quotes” on the internet and write the best five in the front of your new training diary.
- Write the best “motivational quote” on your kick board so you see it every time you practice.
- Do something really really nice for your Mom (or Dad). All season……she (or he) drove you to the pool…. made you breakfast….. emptied out your swim bag…and about 100000 other things for you.
- Ask your coach what he / she believes you can do to improve next season in four areas: Physically, Mentally, Technically and Tactically. Write these down in the front of your new training diary.
- Talk to a retired former great swimmer about the lessons they learnt during their career.
- Watch a motivational and inspirational movie.
- Write down all your goals for the coming season including dates they will be achieved: a goal is a dream with a deadline.
- Some days do nothing at all. Just hang out in your sweat suit all day and be a couch potato.
- Go and watch a practice session in another sport and see what you can learn from the behaviours and actions of other athletes.
- Give up takeout food for two weeks.
- Eat more fresh fruit – at least two pieces each day.
- Eat more fresh vegetables – at least five different varieties each day.
- Eat more lean, fresh meat and fish.
- Drink more clean, fresh water.
- Start believing in you.
- Dare to dream about what’s possible.
- Have a heart to heart talk with a good friend about your dreams – sharing dreams often helps turn them into reality.
- Join a gym and get strong.
- Join a martial arts club and improve your balance, co-ordination, timing, strength, power, flexibility and self confidence.
- Join a gymnastics team for the same reasons.
- Do a research project on a successful athlete like Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong and discover how they think, how they train, what they believe, how they became great.
- Experiment with the latest sports drinks, sports bars, supplements and gels and see what works best for you.
- Learn how to use hydrotherapies (i.e. water therapies) effectively in your recovery program including spas, saunas, ice, showers and baths.
- Practice visualisation – i.e. lie down in a quiet, dark, warm room and relax. Imagine yourself swimming fast. Imagine how the water feels rushing past your body. Imagine how your body will move, how your arms will pull with power and strength, how your legs will kick with power and force. Imagine yourself feeling stronger and stronger as the race progresses. Recent research suggests visualising yourself performing a skill you know well helps you to retain the skill even though you are not physically doing it.
You may not be in the pool training but there are plenty of options to help you recover from one season and prepare you for the next one. Just be careful you don’t do so much in your off season that you need a rest from your recovery program!
Wayne Goldsmith
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