You want to have high-quality, focused practice sessions. You don't want to just be "going through the motions", lacking intensity and enthusiasm in practice. Every practice should be focused.
Here is an article about the issue of athletes just going through the motions in practice:
http://www.educ.msu.edu/ysi/articles/lauerpracticeintensity.pdf
The going through the motions syndrome has various causes. Sometimes the athlete is tired. Sometimes the athlete is uninterested. Sometimes there is something else going on in the athlete's life that is distracting and lowers the focus. Often, the athlete is over-trained and tired.
In order to avoid going through the motions syndrome, try to do practice races as often as possible. Also, vary the workouts- don't just do the same thing every time. Try to get feedback in your workouts, such as having a coach, getting timed and scored, and getting videoed.
And avoid over-training. Do active recovery training. Get a good night's rest.
It is better to skip a day of training than to do a low-focus, poor quality workout. Because your practices establish habits. You don't want to establish poor habits by having poor quality workouts. Practicing bad technique does so much harm that it is better to just skip the workout altogether and get a good night's rest and come back tomorrow with a better attitude towards training.
Sometimes coaches unwittingly foster conditions under which the athletes are more likely to be just going through the motions. Coaches should emphasize the focus of the workouts, rather than emphasizing telling the athletes about a particular energy system that is being developed during the workout. Coaches should hold frequent race simulations. And coaches should keep the workouts varied to keep the interest levels high.
If you keep moving from one type of training to another during the workout, it helps keep the athletes focused and interested. For example, do 10 minutes of stroke technique, followed by 10 minutes of gate technique, followed by a timed and scored short course for 15 minutes, followed by a timed and scored 60 second course for 20 minutes. This is more interesting than just doing one hour of all stroke drills or one hour of all sprints, for example.
Having a group to train with also helps avoid the going through the motions syndrome. It is much more interesting to train with a group than to train alone. The social support of the group helps keep people motivated and enthusiastic about training. And you learn from others- you watch their runs and figure out how to do your own run better.
The best athletes have the best practices. They bring a high focus to practice sessions. The practice sessions are well-planned to keep the interest high. Then, the best athletes simply use the good habits they have developed in practice on race day.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.educ.msu.edu/ysi/articles/lauerpracticeintensity.pdf
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