Caeleb Dressel, the world's most electric swimmer today, discussed on his podcast the 5 ways to improve your 50 Free.
With his tongue in his cheek, Caeleb proceeds to rattle off 5 things that will help you improve any race, not just the 50 Free. He obviously gets this question a lot and understands there is no easy answer, no shortcuts. It is about the process. As he states later, "Keep putting those pennies in the bank."
Ben Kennedy, Caelebs co-host and BFF, even says, "Everything you've said so far is not specific to the 50 Free."
Caeleb replies: "Not at all, which is exactly my point.
5 Steps To Improve Your 50 Free (aka any event)
1. "Have a purpose for every practice you go into and stay focused. No matter what practice it is, come in there with a goal...have one goal, one purpose for that practice and make sure you hit that."
2. "Make your teammates better...that's why I hate having bad practices because I feel obligated...to make myself better and to make my teammates better."
3a. "Make yourself uncomfortable...every single practice. What is Troy's saying? 'Get comfortable being uncomfortable.' "
3b. "Do things in practice that have never been done before." This goes hand-in-hand with log books. Caeleb has always been known to log all of his practices no matter if they are good or bad. How do you know if you are improving if you aren't collecting any data?
4. "Communicate with your Coach...any insight will help him/her be a better coach and will help you become a better swimmer."
5. "I do a horrible job at this one...always see the light at the end of the tunnel...and I'm referring specifically maybe to the end of practice...Trials isn't for another 6 months."
"THERE IS NO MAGIC PILL. THAT'S THE WHOLE SECRET. THERE IS NOTHING I CAN TELL YOU IN A TEXT TO IMPROVE YOUR 50 FREE TIME. IF YOU WANT TO GET BETTER AT SWIMMING, YOU GOTTA SWIM, AND YOU GOTTA SWIM A LOT." - Caeleb Dressel
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