ABC’s Of Mental Training: O is for Overtraining

By Dr. Aimee Kimball//Sport Psychologist

Physical exhaustion, sore muscles, mental fatigue, moodiness – what swimmer hasn’t experienced this before? While most swimmers are accustomed to wearing themselves out, too much exertion with not enough rest can lead to what’s often referred to as “overtraining.” This is a very common problem with swimmers and the physical and mental aspects need to be understood in order to prevent overtraining and ultimately to avoid burning out from your sport.

What is overtraining?
Basically, overtraining occurs when athletes train to their maximum without getting the physical and mental rest their body and mind need to recover. While athletes should be training to their utmost capacity, the importance of appropriate rest cannot be stressed enough. Overtraining is often more about the amount rest/recovery than about the training itself. If you’re going full speed ahead for weeks (or in some cases just days) and you don’t train at lower levels, eventually you are going to run out of energy. Overtraining can technically be both positive (when athletes are able to adapt and increase their training threshold) and negative. For the purposes of this article, I am going to focus more on the negative aspects.

How do I know if I’m overtraining?
There’s a fine line between working hard and pushing it too much. The symptoms of overtraining are similar to what you would experience after a long, exhausting practice. However, overtraining tends to occur after a period of time where you consistently have symptoms such as physical exhaustion, moodiness, apathy and trouble sleeping. If you start experiencing excessive weight loss, a higher than normal resting heart rate, consistent illness or injury, or chronically sore muscles, you may be experiencing what is called “overtraining syndrome.” If you hit this phase, it’s likely time to take a day off or have a very light training day because your body is telling you it’s time to slow down or it’s going to have to shut off. If you continue at the current training level and don’t give yourself adequate rest, you’re susceptible to burnout. Athletes who hit the burnout phase usually have to take more time off from their sport because they end up lacking motivation and just don’t want to be near a pool for awhile.

How is overtraining related to tapering?
Before big meets, many coaches will push their swimmers to their limits with the intention of giving them significant rest before the competition. In this case, “overloading” the athletes is intentional and is often a planned part of training so they can peak at the right time. Coaches who use periodization strategies often consider a variety of physiological factors to ensure their athletes are maxing out but also able to recover.

How is overtraining related to mental training?
Just like every athlete has a different capacity to endure physical challenges, individuals’ mentality can also impact their likelihood of experiencing overtraining or burnout. Your ability to cope with stress and to handle the pressure you place on yourself (or that others place on you) can affect how you interpret the difficult training you are going through. Constantly focusing on how hard training is, doubting the training is going to make a difference, worrying about what the coach will have you do in practice, and even experiencing stress unrelated to swimming can all increase the likelihood that you will burnout.

Mental Tips for Hard Training

• Have a positive attitude and take time to manage your sport and life stress.
• Ask the coaches for their rationale behind the training. This will allow you to be more confident in their plan and help you to trust that the fatigue will be worth it.
• If you have some life stressors going on outside of swimming, talk to your coaches. Individual stress is something they need to consider to make sure they are training you hard but not overtraining you.
• Do some relaxation exercises before practice. You’ll find that by starting out in a more relaxed state you’ll be able to endure higher levels of training.
• Set goals for training. It’s easy to focus on pain and just surviving tough practices, but if you focus more on what you’re working to accomplish you’ll find the training much less exhausting.

Make it Great!
Dr. Aimee

Dear Former Self

Pieces of advice, tidbits of knowledge, even just awkward running-dialogue

by: Mike Gustafson, Senior Analyst

Getty Images

Reflect back and write a letter to yourself. Who knows what you will learn!

07/15/10

On NPR last week, I heard a story that piqued my interest. Americans are writing themselves letters. They sit down at their computer, type in, "Dear Former Self," and begin to type. Pieces of advice, tidbits of knowledge, even just awkward running-dialogue:

Self: So...

Former Self: Yes?

Self: Um, so, um, how are you?

Former Self: (Pause). Don't talk to me.

The point of the exercise is cheap therapy. By bestowing advice and/or regret onto your imaginary (or not-so-imaginary) Former Self, you see your present situation perhaps a little differently.

For instance, if you write, "You shouldn't have left her," then the next time a beautiful woman comes your way, well, maybe you won't leave her.

When it comes to swimming advice, I can’t offer much to my Former Self. My experience was more a trial-and-error situation (similar to my life in general). But for the purposes of this column, here goes:

***

Dear Former Self:

-If you skip practice, blame your bowels. Yeah, it’s disgusting. But hurt shoulders, broken alarm clocks, looming midterms, and forgotten directions will only get you into more trouble. That is, unless you pull the food poisoning/gastric infection card. Crowded pools and M.S.L.’s (Mysterious Speedo Leakings) are veritable get-out-of-practice free cards.

-The above scenario does not work on training trips.

-Go to Northwestern. But on your application to Yale, when they ask you to write 500 words about something they don’t know about you, don’t write in as your entire response, “I’m lazy.”

-Also don’t write about M.S.L. theories for said application.

-Use conditioner. Ripping your hair on account of mismanagement is disgusting, and impresses no woman of respectable quality.

-Cheer your teammates. When you’re 45, you will only remember teammates jumping up and down for you. Cheering is like karma; it will come back. No one will ever -- ever -- cheer for you in the professional world. When you’re 45, your coworkers will never hover outside your cubicle screaming your name, “LET’S GO BILL! LET’S CRANK IT UP!” as you prepare your expense report. Embrace it while it lasts.

-Swim after college. Work out. Move around. Do this as soon as you retire. Don’t wait until you’re 25 and girls confuse you with Biggest Loser cliental. That 4ish-pack jiggle-less abdomen you have? It’s not from eating 5 pizzas a week. Soon it will be a one-pack.

-If you shadow box behind the blocks, learn how to box. You look mildly confused, at best. No one wants to watch an awkward, skinny white boy gyrate behind the blocks a la a Middle School Fun Night Dance. Gary Hall Jr. shadow boxed because he won an Olympic Gold Medal. You have not.

-Skip class during taper. Skip your lectures, your tests, your quizzes, your obligations. You won’t miss the lecture, and you can make up your quizzes. Come up with an excuse. Because if it’s your senior year in the last season of your life – and you have one week before your big meet -- take a vacation from work and school and other goings-on unrelated to swimming. Unless your future job involves the market economy in the early colonies, you’re not missing anything.

-Practice will be tough. You might cry. If your coach sees you crying, it will be tougher. So don’t cry.

-Never ask what a “blivet” is.

-Forget winning. Forget about being like Kobe or Jordan. Most of the legendary winners would slit a throat to get to the top. There’s more to life than winning, just as there’s more to swimming than the top podium.

-You should never let another man shave your back. There is no excuse for this, especially in a co-ed campus. (Unless you enjoy men shaving your back, then hey, more power to you (I’m looking at you, West Hollywood Aquatics.))

-Compliment people after good practices; encourage them after bad ones. Hit them with paddles if they don’t do the same for you.

-Swimming is like food. Only eating cookie dough (50 breast) might be great today, but you would get better with balance. Swim the mile (uncooked potatoes), sprint the 50 (Pop Rocks), swim the 200 fly (McRib) for a healthy, balanced swim experience.

-You’ll learn your heroes aren’t that heroic. Your enemies aren’t that evil. So just worry about yourself, and your misshaped head.

-That moment behind the blocks? In the big championship meet? After a full season’s hardship, after taper, after everything you’ve went through? In that moment, look around. Take it all in. Remember the damp smell, the electric atmosphere, the way the water forms glass beneath your toes. Remember the way you look at yourself in the mirror in the bathroom, nervous, shaking, that look in your eyes like you’re going to put it all on the line this time. Remember seeing your parents in the stands, smiling at you, cheering for you. Remember your coaches high-fiving you, your teammates slapping your back as you walk to the blocks with the invincible leap of youth in your step. Remember, remember, remember.

Swimmer-Parent-Coach Roles

SPEEDO TIP OF THE WEEK
BY Dr. Alan Goldberg, Phd, Sport Psychologist

“I'm so nervous. Oh my god, I can't wait for this event to be over! If I don't get a good time, I'm going to hear about it all the way home! Every time I swim slow, I have to go through the ringer with my dad (mom) and listen to everything I did wrong. According to them I don't work hard enough, my turns suck, and I fool around too much. They always make me feel awful after bad races, like they're disappointed in me. It makes me hate swimming.”

A lot of swimmers get a bad case of performance anxiety pre-race which saps their confidence, tightens their muscles and drains the fun right out of the sport. Oftentimes, underlying these pre-race jitters is the powerful worry that unless they produce, mom and dad will be very angry and disappointed.

When a parent responds to your bad swims with their anger, disapproval and criticism, we can assume that most of the time, their heart is in the right place. They're simply trying to be helpful and want you to do well. Unfortunately, this is not their role on the team, and they need to know that their trying to be helpful in this way may actually be causing you to swim slower.

Why?

In order to swim your best, you must be loose, relaxed, excited and having fun pre-race. If you're worried about disappointing your parents, then you'll be too nervous, distracted and physically tight to swim well. Your parents need to understand that if they really want you to go fast, then their role on the team must be to help you stay calm and have fun.

They can do this in two ways:

• First, by being your “best fan.” Parents need to be emotionally supportive and positive with you, to pick you up when you're down, to help you feel happier and better about yourself, especially after a bad swim.
  
• Second, by not coaching. Coaching is the one parent mistake that will cause serious unhappiness in your house and performance problems in the pool. Coaching involves critiquing your practices and races, pushing you to work harder, trying to motivate you, focusing you on beating other swimmers or achieving certain times, offering pre-race strategy and technique advice, etc.

Have a conversation with your parents today and tell them that when they act like your coach and get angry and frustrated when you go slowly, they aren't being supportive, and this will never help you relax, have fun and swim faster. Instead, coach them as to exactly what you need from them before and after your races. Help them understand what, if anything, they could say pre-meet that would help you relax and have fun. Tell them what you most need from them after a disappointing swim or meet. Remind them that they have to play the right role on the team for you to be successful.