As we mentioned in previous articles, one of the essential parts of being a winning athlete or simply satisfied with your results is to be mentally prepared. This includes the ability to create a proper daily training routine that fits perfectly into your life, just like sleeping and eating.
Routine can be a double-edged sword though. Just like every activity that becomes “automatic” by doing it time and again, we can end up making certain mistakes that would be best avoided. Let’s take a look:
1. Not planning your training.
Planning is the focal point of the training season. Knowing what to do, how to do it and why you are doing it is crucial. Having a long-distance swimming routine doesn’t mean improvising, rather planning your daily training sessions. So, you should know in advance what you will be doing any given day (for example aerobic or quality workout), how you will do it (i.e. when to take a break, the correct gaits and which support tools to use) and finally, why you are doing it (at what time in the season does it fit in, what is the short-term goal and how are you going to reach it).
2. Skipping the appropriate warm-up.
We often think that long-distance training requires less warm-up compared to other types of exercise. We…
