#myswims

Hullo!

So you've probably noticed that I've been posting more regularly lately. It's been a hectic couple of weeks for me, to say the least. I've tried to make this post as short as possible explaining my absence and what's been going on in my life :-)

Two weeks ago I had my end of year exams, and the week after I had transition to year 11 (the second last year of school were I live). I was so extremely stressed and overwhelmed! Then, I found out on the monday of year 11 transition I had to have my first cortisone in injection in my shoulder for my injury. I had a super bad reaction to it. 9/10 people don't react, but I did - just my luck aha! I took medication which unbeknownst to me at the time, was 'drowsy'. I spent the next day completely out of it, I tried going to school, gave up after an hour came home and slept for five.

It's been a ridiculously stressful few weeks for me, hence why I chose to have a short break from this blog. But I'm mostly all good now! I had the injection for my other shoulder earlier this week and, luckily, have got new medication to prevent an allergic reaction. My physio thinks possibly by the end of January I will be able to swim again! Until then, though, I can only do 3 x 1 hr sessions a week on kick (wahhh)

Because of everything that's been going on, injections and whatnot, I haven't been to swimming in over three weeks! And godamn it I've been eating terribly and that, coupled with no exercise, has seen me gain around 5kg.

I've tried not to beat myself up about it, as I'm sure the weight will slide off once I get back into the pool, but this whole situation just sucks. However, it has made me even more determined to get back into swimming. This is the prime opportunity for me to spend time in the gym and seriously thinking about my nutrition, while I do my rehab.

I have SO MANY updates planned for my blog over the next few weeks. I'm on holidays now, so I have a tonne of extra time I can dedicate to this blog. I'm also super excited to announce something in the next few days. I received an email from an exciting new online sports and social networking website, and I've some awesome news + an article about this company I'm currently working on. I'm so excited because it's the first time I've ever been approached by a company like this to help share their work.

Get set for an exciting week!!

Hey everyone!

Firstly, I apologise for not posting very frequently this week. Life is a bit hectic at the moment! I haven't swum in over three weeks because after I came back from my trip I started showing symptoms of glandular fever. After several blood tests and whatnot, I've been diagnosed with fatigue however am still exhibiting symptoms of glandular fever :'( Which basically screws ip my attempts to get back into swimming!! I have to really limit what I do, for example cutting out long sessions and sitting out on certain sets :'(

On top of this, school has been absolutely insane. Like honestly how they expect ordainary students to complete the amount of homework they dish out is beyond me - but put hw on top of sickness and swimming? Lol, forget about your social life you are now a dedicated hermit.

So yes - just a quick msg to keep you updated and let you know why I haven't been posting lately - I've had a lot on my plate!!

I guess you could say I've hit a brick wall. I wish I was being literal, because I feel like it would be easier to deal with right now!

Yesterday I had my first short course comp in ages. Even though I got PBs in all races I entered, I still feel like crap. 

I am sick at the moment with a bad cold and my shoulder injury is still giving me hell. I decided to race anyway because what did I have too lose? The first race, 400 free, went pretty well and I ended up with a 31 second personal best. The reason for the massive drop of time is essentially because I haven't swum the race in a few months, and in my eyes not really because I've gotten faster. I felt like I was going to throw up during the race. And not in the good I've-worked-really-hard kind of way, the holy-shit-i-feel-awful-get-me-out-of-here kind of way. 

Despite that, I swam my next few races, 50 back, 100 free and 200 free. PBed in all. In the 200, I felt so so awful. My shoulder felt like it was on fire and I really did feel unwell. I walked back to where my team was sitting, choking back tears and told my coach I was pulling out of my last race (50 free). On reflection, I was just super overwhelmed. Being sick and injured was just too much. And truthfully, I had placed a lot of pressure on myself to get certain times that in most races, I didn't achieve. I guess I just felt like I had failed myself a little bit. I left the comp early and have ended up taking a whole day off school today because I still feel super sick.

I guess I just wanted to share this experience with you guys to show that no matter how hard you try, you will have setbacks when trying to reach your goal. Even if you aren't sick or injured at a meet, if it's just not your day and you're getting crappy times, it doesn't give you a reason to give up! I know yesterday was horrible. But I know the next meet will be better. And this one meet does not determine my self-worth, nor is it a reflection of the weight I've lost nor the extra training I've been doing. It shows that yeah, I've improved. But I still have a long way to go. As an athlete, it's a learning experience. And that's what every individual meet should be. I know now that I probably shouldn't have swum the meet because I ended up probably worsening my illness and injury. I dunno guys, just take a page from my book and don't put a tonne of pressure on yourself to get times -there will always be another meet. And definitely don't swim a meet if you are feeling genuinely sick/injured. 

I've been kind of unmotivated lately as I haven't been seeing too much difference on the scale weight-wise, and in the last few weeks I've actually gained a kilo or two. So I saw my nutritionist today and she has this scale that measures your body composition. Turns out the weight is actually close to 2kg of new muscle, and I haven't actually gained any fat!!  

I honestly cannot believe it! It's such great news and I have defiantly got my motivation back. I'm hoping to lose another 5kg in the next month or so in preparation for the open water season which starts in October. My aim is to be close to peak performance by then. (However the next OW swim isn't until december, so I've still got two months afterwards to get extra fit!)

Oh my Lord, I had the hardest training session this morning than I've had in a while!  An easy 400m warm up followed by 26 x 100m freestyle on a challenging cycle. I led the lane (a huge achievement for me!) and was understandably nervous as the cycle was pretty tough and I'm not a sprinter, I'm a distance swimmer, so the thought of swimming 2.6km in hundreds didn't sound exactly inviting!

I surprised myself, and even my coach I think, by making the cycle and having at least 15 seconds rest between each 100. By the mid-teens, the entire lane was off-time except for me.

What fascinated me was that nobody really noticed, or cared, that I'd done this. No-one in my lane said "good job" or "isn't that the first time you've made that set?". I'm starting to think some people are a bit jealous of the way I've been improving lately. If the roles were reversed and someone else had swam that set like I had, I would not hesitate to congratulate them on their efforts and how awesome they've been training lately! Oh well. Jealously is the way of the world I guess.

By this training session alone, I feel so inspired to continue getting fitter and stronger and losing those last couple of kilos. Bring on long course season!

The list of targeted meets for this season's short course just got sent through!

i am a long distance swimmer and my coach wants me to swim the 800 at the first comp

So a while go I posted that my coach got fired! The other day I met my new coach, Jay. (The third "permanent" coach to come to my club in a year.)

He seems amazing. Like I am really sorry that we didn't end up hiring him in the first place. He's super strict compared to any other coaches we've previously had, and he's got major plans for the club. Apparently, the club's pretty slow compared to others and is no-where near were it should be, in terms of squads and quantity/quality of the training sessions.

So, what does this mean? He's going to whoop our asses into shape, that's what. I'm guessing he will change the squads around majorly and add longer sessions to the training schedule. 

So, what does this mean for me? I have no fucking idea. Like seriously. I'm not fast enough for state just yet but (in my opinion) too fast for the squad underneath. I'm 15, which at my club makes me among the oldest swimmers. It's hard for me to deal with that he'll probably make me train with the 'kids' (11-13) until I'm good enough for state. Because I cannot handle most of them and it's extremely discouraging. 

Oh, but there's more. The pool we train at is closing down for a month so we have to train at another pool, the closest we can find is more than half an hour away from my house. (just think of the waking up times for morning sessions oh joy)