I feel like a lot of athletes know how it feels to be trying so hard and not getting anywhere. Even putting in more effort, time and dedication doesn’t make a difference.
How I Got Into Visualization
During the spring of 2021,I was stuck at one time for months in my 100 breaststroke. I thought the only way for me to see times and Improve was to workout more and swim faster in practice but after weeks of doing that, it still didn’t make a difference. I was getting 1:26s and 1:24s over and over again. This started to really take a tole on my enjoyment of the sport and I was really starting to struggle. But then I started to do more research about the mental side of swimming and I found our that the number 1 thing you can do to improve times was to visualize your race before swimming. And guess what! That race I got a 1:21 then a week later a 1:20!
(I am the one wearing a purple cap and I come in first)
My Visualization Routine
when I start to visualize, I always begin in a place called a sanctuary. A sanctuary can be any place. It 
could be a beach, a field, the woods, in the clouds, at the base of a giant tree, any place that makes you feel happy. The reason for having a sanctuary is so that you can calm down your mind and get into a place where your mind can focus.
After imagining yourself in the sanctuary for a couple of minutes, you want to transition your mind into the pool or wherever you want to use this technique. You want to imagine all of the little details of this place to make it as real as possible. Imagine your routine once getting to the meet. Imagine your activation and warm up.
When you feel like you are ready, start to imagine yourself getting ready to go up on the block. Imagine you warming up behind the block, imagine yourself feeling strong and powerful. Imagine the whistle blowing, the buzzer beeping, and you diving into the pool.
When visualizing your race, you want to do it twice. The first time is normal. Making sure your technique is flawless and that you are a many meters ahead. It doesn’t matter if it is accurate, you could be lapping them by 50s! After you finish the first race, start again with you on the blocks getting ready. You are going to imagine your race the same but this time you will imagine yourself as a dolphin or torpedo zooming through the water. When you do this, your race should be done in a couple of seconds depending how many meters you are racing.
After that imagine yourself celebrating and smiling. Then slowly come out of your visualization and your done. It is very important that you do this everyday for around 10-15 minutes for at least 3 weeks before you start to see results. It will take a while but it is worth it.
How Does This Help?
When it comes to racing, it is about 10% physical and 90% mental. You know you already trained a lot for this, now it is just a matter if your mind will let you succeed. If you have at least one doubt in your mind that you can’t succeed in your goal, it is very likely that that will come true and you will be disappointed once more. Visualizing your race helps block that negative energy and it can make you more confident in yourself and your ability.
Thank you for reading this post! I hope this was able to help you with swimming or any other one of your sports!
see you next time, bye!
January 21, 2022 at 9:18 pm
Hey Naomi,
This was such an interesting post. I didn’t actually know that you had to use so much mental visualization in swimming. I was thinking maybe you could add a link on this post to where you found your information on mental visualization. I love how much you explained everything, I learnt so much! -Ruby