Mike's Mailbag: Forward Thinking

Mike's Mailbag: Forward Thinking
By Mike Gustafson//Correspondent
Each week, I answer questions from swimmers around the country. If you have a question, email me at swimmingstories@gmail.com. 
 
Hi Mike, 

This is my 8th year swimming and I'm finally a senior in high school! I have my two last high school championship meets coming up within the next month. Now that they're approaching, I'm beginning to second guess my effort levels in practice. I have worked hard in a lot of the practices, but, admittedly, not all of them. I want to do my best at these meets and finish off senior year well. How can I stop second guessing my training
 
Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
-Second Guesser 
 
Hey Second Guesser,
Imagine you climb a mountain. When you get to the top, would you waste your time at the top pondering if you could have climbed it differently? Or would you just sit and enjoy the view? 
 
Don't waste one second pondering the past. Not now. You'll have plenty of time when you're older and slower and your back hurts and you can hardly swim 2,000 yards to wonder what you could have done differently years and years ago. In the words of Voltaire, “Now is not the time for making new enemies." Championship season, taper, hard racing, the physical stresses of rebuilding muscles and honing and refining techniques and strategies and strokes: This is hard enough. Don’t make a new enemy with yourself and self-doubt. 
 
But how can you ignore these reflective self-doubt thoughts? When you're tapering and when every motion and movement is hyper-analyzed and after every taper set you're looking at the clock with determined anxiety and in the back of your mind you're hoping all your training will soon pay off and you will morph overnight into an aquatic superhero capable of taking down Michael Phelps (circa 2008) and ....