Sandys Top Tips for Competition Preperation

My preparation for meets is dependent on the level of the meet. When it comes to the bigger competitions that I want to do well in, extensive preparation is required.

For the last World’s I swam at, I prepared myself 1 year out and focused on the areas below. These ideas are nothing new, but I had to become meticulous with these if I wanted to swim at my best. For me, I had to turn up knowing I had done everything possible to ensure I performed to my best and this gave me so much confidence for my races.

1. Event Specific Training 

Good quality and consistent training is required when preparing for your event. 

Focus on the events you are swimming and ensure that your training sessions are tailored to these.  My target events were 400m free, 800m free and 200 fly.  My coach made sure to concentrate my training on how to pace and race these events.

2. Prioritize Quality Sleep

While I was training at a high level and leading up to the meet, I made sure I went to bed early and got enough sleep. Quality sleep helps with recovery and improving your physical and mental readiness for the upcoming competition.

I made sure I was getting enough of all the food groups.  I never stopped anything but ate a lot of good foods and had the ‘tasty fun stuff’ in moderation.

With water I monitored how much water I was drinking.  I am not good at drinking water and to be honest always seem dehydrated.  In preparation for Worlds, I made sure I was drinking at least 2 litres per day.

Every athlete loves this time of the year. I started my taper 2 weeks out from the event and I was still doing the same number of sessions but less kms.  In taper my focus was on starts and turns and ensuring that I was ‘feeling’ the water with my strokes.

I knew I had done everything I could to swim my best so that gave me confidence and I enjoyed the meet.  As World’s went for 7 days, I made sure to continue to eat properly, drink plenty of fluids, and ensure I was getting a quality warm up and warm down so I was ready for my events in the following days.