General racing tips for age groupers

How one swims a race matters, and there are many ways to race poorly and spoil good training. Physiologically, an even paced race takes best advantage of a swimmer's energy resources. This is true for elite swimmers who are driven, mentally tough, and used to hurting and who will use all the energy they have. Fos age group swimmers though, this might not be the best tactic. For age groupers, mental state is a key aspect in swimming a good race. Often if they see that they are far behind the other swimmers, they drop the race and stop trying . It doesn't matter how much energy they have in their bodies, if they feel that they cannot win the race they have no interest in using it. Alternatively, if they think that they have a chance to succeed, they will give all they have and surprise everyone with their toughness.

Young swimmers need to be competitive from the beginning and use intelligent aggression in their races. Some of them start racing passively, which results in falling too far behind early in the race. Others that have guts they start super fast from the moment the gun fires which drains their energy and doesn't let them finish fast. Adapting psychologist Jack Daniels suggest that swimmers (and runners) should swim the first quarter of their race with their brains, the middle half with their training, and the last quarter with their guts. 

Below there are a few tips that will help young swimmers be tactical prepared for their races.

• Be aggressive. Swimmers must give themselves a chance to do something special.
• Make a move in the third quarter. Almost everyone lets up during the third quarter of a race; if a swimmer speeds up when everyone else slows down, he can take over a race.
• Use the walls. Walls are a place for picking up speed, not taking a break.
• Manage breathing patterns. Swimmers should breathe more at the beginning and less at the end of the race. They should start with a breathing pattern they can maintain until close to the finish, when they put their heads down for the last meters of the race.
• Fight fatigue with focus. Almost everyone looks good at the first 25m of a race, but fewer do the last 25m. Fatigue compounds stroke problems and aggravates poor body position, so swimmers should focus on keeping the stroke long, smooth, and powerful at the end of the race.

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