We wake up with a mixture of emotions, excitement, and sometimes even dread on the morning of the big race. (But ideally, most of the time, it’ll be exciting!) Now that we’ve put in all the hard work in swim practice—all those two-a-days, reps after reps of 400s pull, timed kick sets—the time it’s to discover what we’re made of. Although the training is over and the taper is accomplished, the race day aspect for many of us chlorine athletes is the most difficult: keeping our heads straight and our attitudes positive long enough to compete at our best.
Michael Phelps, the greatest swimmer of all time, relied on a pre-race regimen to help him feel in control, keep calm under extreme pressure, and remain laser-focused on his own performance.
Phelps’ race day regimen was documented in Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit (Amazon) during his incredible 8-gold medal performance in Beijing. Phelps began each day with the same race-day breakfast of eggs, oatmeal, and four energy shakes to fuel himself for the long days of competition.
He’d execute the same well-worn stretching routine when he got to the pool, which limbered him up and helped him feel ready while warming up. He’d go over his arms, back, chest, ankles, and hamstrings one by one, marking them off as he went. Every day, he did the same warm-up for his meet. (And it’s not that dissimilar to how most of us mortals warm-up for our own meets.) He’d start with an 800-meter swim to shake things up. To warm up his legs, he kicks 600 times. Pulling 400 lbs. Drill number 200. Then a set of 25s at race speed to wake up his nervous system and stimulate those fast-twitch muscles.
Source- swimswam
