Establishing Goals

小臭贝

This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from Dan McCarthy, Sports Peformance Consultant at USA Swimming. McCarthy offers advice to swimmers when establishing goals for their next season.

McCarthy’s Tip:
Unfortunately, most athletes look at their next seasons as extensions of their last ones.  Perhaps, they have been following this pattern for years: their goals are not related to any particular time period or race but just exist as ideals disconnected from their actual training.  If this sounds like you, now, would be a great time to toss out old expectations and establish some new goals for the coming season.

·         Set a long-term goal.  Pick a race date at the end of the season and a goal time for that race that you can use as a basis for your training and motivation throughout the summer.  

·         Identify some short-term goals for training and competitions between now and your end-of-the-season competition.  You will need short-term goals throughout the season to provide feedback on your training and build self-confidence as you “knock them down” in pursuit of your long-term goal.