Hard Training and Why We Do it

Hard Training and Why We Do it

Great article from former Canadian swimmer, Olivier Poirier-Leroy

Training is meant to prepare you for competition. 

Physically.

Mentally.

To inure yourself to pressure, adversity, and the physical demands of swimming your best exactly when you need it most. 

The approach of making training hard so that competition is “easy” is not novel. It’s something high performers across a variety of fields use to build authentic, legitimate confidence.

Here’s an example.

Been reading an excellent book titled SAS: Rogue Heroes, by Ben Macintyre, that chronicles the formation of Britain’s Special Air Service, an elite commando unit, during the early days of World War 2. Selection and training for this new unit was brutal. Recruits worked their way up to completing 100-mile treks in the baking sand-blown desert in Egypt carrying a full load of water and stones (to simulate the weight of explosives they’d carry for nighttime raids). 

The goal?

"…to instill supreme physical stamina and self-confidence, to make the men so inured to hardship that the reality, when it came, would feel almost easy. 'The confident man will win,' said commanding officer, Lieutenant John Steel 'Jock' Lewes." Lewes, a born leader, didn’t just ask his prospective warriors to do these marches on his own…He first tested the marches himself in the hot desert, pockets full of rocks and stones.

The point?

Make practice so challenging and full of hardship that when it comes to stepping up on the block, you can look down the length of the lane and know that you’ve put in more work and conquered more challenges than the swimmer next to you and the PB in the psych sheet.

Crank up the pressure by racing your teammates, tracking performance, and aiming to beat metrics from distance-per-stroke to average pace.

Use test sets to challenge yourself mid-season and sharpen your competitive mindset.  Set audacious goals in training to expand your mindset of what is possible.  Swim with a mindset that embraces difficult challenges instead of shrinking away from them. 

Chase hardship in training and you will find excellence and an impossible-to-fake confidence on race day.

See you in the pool,

Olivier

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Blue Dolfins have been teaching swim lessons, conducting a year-round USA Swimming Club, and competing in national & international competitions for over 50 years in Winter Park and greater Orlando.

Blue Dolfins Winter Park Do Well at High School State Meet

Congrats to the Blue Dolfins swimmers on a great high school season! The Dolfins had swimmers competing for several different high schools, including Winter Park, Windermere, Oviedo, and Cornerstone Christian.

TEAM TITLES:

At the FHSAA 4A State Meet, the Winter Park High School girls claimed the second place team title. The Lady Wildcats have steadily improved, getting 4th just two years ago, third last year, and now second. Meanwhile Oviedo got third in both the boys and girls team titles, while Windermere got 4th in the girls team title.

INDIVIDUAL EVENT STATE CHAMPIONS:

The Dolfin swimmers helped the Wildcats claim two individual event state titles: 400 Free Relay and the 200 Free Relay. Lockett Bowley placed second in the 200 Free while Caroline Chasser was third in the 100 Back. Windermere’s Peyton Powell clinched second in the 100 Breast.

SCHOOL RECORDS:

Meanwhile, the Wildcats set three new school records with Caroline Chasser in the 100 Back (56.62), 400 Free Relay (B. Lojewski 50.92, C. Chasser 51.45, E. Hirschmann 50.57, and l. Bowley 50.97), 200 Medley Relay (E. Hirschmann 26.64, S. Hart 30.39, C. Semmen 24.77, and A Lojewski 24.07) and Cami Semmen tied her own school record in the 50 Free (23.38).

ALL AMERICANS

Both the winning relays were granted Automatic All American status and we anticipate several other All American honors to be forthcoming - stay tuned!

We’ll keep adding pics of all swimmers as we get them - congrats to all swimmers and to Coaches Joe and Charlie and their assistant coaching staff on an amazing high school season!