How often have you heard someone say they are going to workout today? If you are like me, you have heard that phrase a bunch. Too bad! Those who “workout” are missing the opportunity to get better.

The best swimmers in the world practice their racing every day they are in the pool. They practice their stroke count, their breathing pattern, their pulling and kicking coordination. To them, there is no such thing as “junk yards.” Every yard of every lap counts towards improving their times.

The rest of the swimmers get in the pool every day and workout. They go hard. Their pulse count is high. They breathe a lot. They get tired. They do short rest intervals that hinder their ability to swim with good technique. Simply put, their workout does everything except help them learn to swim faster because they don’t always practice the right stuff.

So, if you want to get faster, practice the skills that make your races faster. If you want to breathe every 4 strokes in a 100 freestyle, breathe every 4 strokes in practice. If you want to kick throughout the 100 freestyle, kick through the 100 repeats in practice.

There is an old saying my young swimmers hate to hear me say: “ You will do in a race what you do in practice.” I win more bets this way. The question to ask yourself is: “Do I want to race like I practice or do I want to practice like I want to race?”

Paul Windrath is the Meet Director of the 1999 USMS Long Course Nationals, and was also Meet Director of the 1993 USMS Long Course Nationals. Paul is a member of the USMS Championship Committee. He is also a member of the USMS Planning Committee and coordinates the USMS Snooper program.