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Answers from John Shepherd:

Q.My son is 20 and is a swimmer in the USA. He swims very fast in the heats, makes finals, and cannot improve nor swim the same time in the evening. Can you advise as to what he can do as it always appears that the other athletes swim much faster in the evening?

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Answer:

This is an interesting question! Your son is experiencing something that many athletes of all sports go through, when their competitions involve heats and finals. Some seem to go through the prelims to the final getting better and better, whilst others explode through the prelims and crash out in the final. I’m going to assume that you son is well conditioned. Obviously if he does not have the background to sustain his physical performance over heats and finals – you have an immediate answer to his performance tail-off. Talk to your swim coach about this if you are in anyway concerned.

If his conditioning is up to scratch, then I think that his poor performance in finals could be more psychological. Perhaps, he is very nervous in the pre-lims. This would use up valuable energy and provide him with a powerful (but draining) adrenaline boost. He flies off the blocks and records a great performance. However, latter on in the day, he perhaps feels drained and is unable to lift himself for the final. I would seriously address his mental preparation and work through exercises to enhance his heat and final preparation. Mental training is just as important as physical training.

I have provided an example of a sports psychology strategy that your son should employ to get him racing in the finals:

Visualisation

Long before he lines up, he should have raced all his races in his mind - clocking the times he will need to qualify, getting a good lane and winning the final. This is best done in a quiet space and with a prepared race strategy. He should see himself in the first person completing the races. He must ‘feel’ the atmosphere and the physiological sensations. Specifically, in regard to the heat – he must see this as a means to an ends (not the end in itself). Yet, he must be ready to race to the final. He must visualise the whole of meet day, from warm up to qualification to finals and the rest and recovery in between. In lining up his efforts this way he will ‘imprint’ into his mind that the final is the pinnacle of his competition and not the after thought.