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Adjusting Your Practice Set in the Middle of It

by | Sep 28, 2020 | Practice Design

Making decisions on how to response to your results in the middle of a practice set is one of the most important skills for a self-coaching athlete. Knowing how to keep your practice activity in the sweet spot of challenge and effectiveness for its intended purpose is what will allow you to be most productive with your precious practice time. We would call this a feature of Following an Organic Training.

As you get into a practice set, you have three options:

1 – If the challenge level is just right, keep going with the assignment.

2 – If the challenge level is a little too low (too easy), then increase the complexity or challenge level in some slight way.

3 – If the challenge level is too high (too difficult), then either decrease the complexity or challenge level in some slight way. Or, it may be a sign that one of your performance systems has had enough for the day.

You can Increase Complexity by Using Challenge Modifiers.

 

When is it just right, too much or too little?

The answer is quite subjective to your personal situation. But here is a guideline:

Just Right

You are feeling challenged, and are experiencing failure maybe 20% to 40% of the time. This is the sweet spot of challenge, to provoke your brain and body to improve.

Too Little

You are not feeling very challenged and are experiencing failure maybe 10% of the time or less.

Too Much

You are feeling overwhelmed by the challenge and are experiencing failure more than 50% of the time. This could come at the beginning or end of the practice set – it was too difficult from the start, or later in the swim the challenge exceeded your resources.  You may consider your need for rest and stop that set.

Following an Organic Training Plan

by | Sep 28, 2020 | Practice Design

Something that is organic is something that grows, that changes and adapts as it learns and grows. 

An organic training plan is one that respects both the laws of physics and physiology, and your own unique person and conditions. It changes and grows with you as you change and grow. As you learn and gain new perspective the training plan changes to reflect that.

You may start with a fully designed and scheduled training plan. But then you would allow it to be flexible with changed in your body, changes in your perspective, changes in your life. The plan would serve your life as it unfolds rather than control it.

Having a well-designed and scheduled plan is easier to modify than having to create structure for yourself each day because there is no plan at all. Knowing the principles behind that plan allow you to modify it in a responsible way, as your needs and perspective change. 

If you have some solid principles to guide you, a specific skill goal in mind, and a thoughtful path to get there, then you don’t have to live by rigid training rules and oppressive daily discipline to keep progressing. When you internalize the training principles and have things organized in your mind then you are more free to follow an organic path to training.

Organic does not mean ‘no plan’ – it means, having principles in place so that you can be carefully flexible with your plan and still have a good chance of reaching your goal.

This is an art as much as a science and it takes time to get the hang of it.