I totally died during my seat race today. I usually am awesome at them but today was my worst in a LONG time. But I’m not sure if it was just a bad day or if I have somehow been getting worse at them over the course of the season because I think I might be getting overconfident.

I wouldn’t disagree with you that your seat races might be suffering a little bit from your (over)confidence. Your rowing itself is probably good but where you might be suffering is in the mental game. Confidence is a good thing to have but when you start getting overconfident to the point where you think you can’t lose, you start taking situations for granted.

The thing with seat races is that once they’re over, they’re over. If the outcome isn’t what you wanted, yea you should be pissed but be pissed in a positive way that motivates you to go out the next time and do better. Figure out why you didn’t do as well as you’d hoped – was it something in your control or out of your control? Were you overconfident? Why? How was your rowing? What was your technique like? Were you mentally/physically prepared? If you think that you’re getting overconfident, figure out why and then … tone it down. Be honest and realistic with your expectations, forget about past results, don’t compare yourself to other people (and/or assume you’re better than them based on the boat you/they are in or past results), be open to constructive criticism, and be disciplined but not overly aggressive (with your actions or attitude) towards yourself or your teammates.