Mental imagery

When I swim, I think of my arms as appendages that I use to sweep water beneath me, propelling me forwards. I also think of my legs as being attached to my feet, which I use to flutter kick at a fast pace.

I tried the cookie jar method, but in my haste for cookies, I upended the jar, proceeded to scoop cookies (water) into my mouth, resulting in sucking down water. *choke choke choke*

I will continue with my mundane watery imagery. :D
 
If I may, not mental imagery, (paraphrasing Bob Monroe,)" consider that you are more than your physical body."

If not, okay; if so, "be."
 
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While swimming recently, I realized that my right arm entry was much smoother than my left (few bubbles). It dawned upon me, that my right arm felt like it was slipping into a sleeve smoothly, wheras the left felt like it was getting caught in the sleeve.

A few adjustments later, the left side is much better!


Yep, if you watch even really really good swimmers (college swim team champ types) closely, you can still see small imbalances in their stroke. One side is always smoother.


My mental image was always reaching for a cookie that was just out of reach. Maybe that wasn't the best for keeping it smooth.
You can imagine a delicate silk shirt that you don't want to snag.
 
When I want to run faster...I imagine energy coming into the front of my body and out of the back of my body...or sometimes a rope tied around my waste pulling me forward by the hips.


AS for being tired...I don't get tired mentally too much when I run....I'm pretty good at dis-associating from the body so-to-speak.....when I do find myself being 'drawn back into the body' I usually immerse myself into some really uplifting or rousing music...I just look up at the sky for a while and get lost in the spaciousness.

I usually don't get tired DURING a run for more than a few seconds at a time....the tiredness hits me after I am finished, and I'm often surprised at suddenly feeling tired after I stop running.


Music is a big thing for me...I put together a very uplifting music soundtrack that it easy for me to get 'lost' into. It was a tip I got from watching interviews with Yiannis Kouros .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiannis_Kouros

I try to use music that is emotionally engaging...the more the music emotionally engages me the more it works...sometime this means listening to the same song over and over until it does not emotionally uplift me anymore, then I find a new one.



Check out the 24th minute of that video....he is maybe the greatest ultra distance runner of the modern era, and rarely ran more than 7 miles in a training run....it is all mental for him....
 
Hmm... it's been a while since I've had a silk shirt. It didn't take too well to the washing machine! :D

Imagery is tough for swimming. I've been working on body roll, and it seems like a rather unique movement, not found in too many other sports.