Saturday, October 6, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Travel Swim Meets
The first things that come to mind when thinking of a basic description of a travel swim meet is literally eat,sleep,swim. Yet, the only thing anyone really gets enough of is the swimming. A day at a travel meet normally consists of:
1. Breakfast
Most usually provided by whichever hotel we are staying at. Mostly consisting of juice, cereal, breakfast meat, with a side of a bad attempt of recreating scrambled eggs without actually cooking them.
2. Getting to the pool
A tired progression of swimmers, all of whom are just beginning to realize they are about to jump into a pool with another 100+ swimmers for warm-up.
3. Warm-up
With a little pushing and shoving, the coaches manage to get all the swimmers to put together a scene that looks like the penguins jumping off the iceberg.
4. Changing from a practice suit to your championship suit
Every swimmer wants to be their best at their travel meet so part of the routine to get ready normally includes a 2 sizes too small suit. There are many different brands and each swimmer has their preference to which one will make them swim faster. But the one constant is that it takes a good 5-20 minutes to squeeze it onto your body. The worst nightmare for a swimmer is the ripped swimsuit. If you tug a little too hard on a weak seam you can end up with a hole, big or small on your hip, your butt, or leg which makes for an overflow of skin. It even happens to the best of them.
5. The Race
Probably the most important part of the meet, you may have to wait hours on the bleachers waiting for your event or you may be the first heat of the first event, whichever is the case there is pressure. It is the reason you are there in the first place, you want to swim well because otherwise it feels like you have wasted time, energy, and money just to come and swim badly. Especially when you have to report it to your parents and coaches back home.
6. Lunch
Whether you eat with the team at the hotel or are allowed to go out with friends, you want to eat to ensure that your next performance, be it the next day or at finals, will be optimized. Its especially tempting to eat down the free desserts from the hotel or order those french fries, but its best to remember you are trying to keep your body well-fueled.
7.Finals
The first rule of travel meets is that the older kids almost ALWAYS go to finals. Whether you are there to swim or cheer on your teammates make sure you wear team gear and get excited. Finals is one of the most exciting parts of a travel meets, everyone has fun cheering on their teammates and watching the best swim it out for first place.
8. Dinner
Finals goes very late and by the time dinner happens you are starving. Waiting seems impossible so getting in line behind a bunch of other hungry swimmers is one of the most frustrating parts about dinner. Its surprising that there aren't fistfights over who gets food first. Yet, when the food comes out it goes down faster than you'd think it possible, all talking ceases and all to be heard is utensils to plates.
9. Bedtime
Finally back to the hotel room and everyone is rea.......
1. Breakfast
Most usually provided by whichever hotel we are staying at. Mostly consisting of juice, cereal, breakfast meat, with a side of a bad attempt of recreating scrambled eggs without actually cooking them.
2. Getting to the pool
A tired progression of swimmers, all of whom are just beginning to realize they are about to jump into a pool with another 100+ swimmers for warm-up.
3. Warm-up
With a little pushing and shoving, the coaches manage to get all the swimmers to put together a scene that looks like the penguins jumping off the iceberg.
Every swimmer wants to be their best at their travel meet so part of the routine to get ready normally includes a 2 sizes too small suit. There are many different brands and each swimmer has their preference to which one will make them swim faster. But the one constant is that it takes a good 5-20 minutes to squeeze it onto your body. The worst nightmare for a swimmer is the ripped swimsuit. If you tug a little too hard on a weak seam you can end up with a hole, big or small on your hip, your butt, or leg which makes for an overflow of skin. It even happens to the best of them.
 |
| Nathan Adrian split his suit before racing Michael Phelps. |
5. The Race
Probably the most important part of the meet, you may have to wait hours on the bleachers waiting for your event or you may be the first heat of the first event, whichever is the case there is pressure. It is the reason you are there in the first place, you want to swim well because otherwise it feels like you have wasted time, energy, and money just to come and swim badly. Especially when you have to report it to your parents and coaches back home.
6. Lunch
Whether you eat with the team at the hotel or are allowed to go out with friends, you want to eat to ensure that your next performance, be it the next day or at finals, will be optimized. Its especially tempting to eat down the free desserts from the hotel or order those french fries, but its best to remember you are trying to keep your body well-fueled.
7.Finals
The first rule of travel meets is that the older kids almost ALWAYS go to finals. Whether you are there to swim or cheer on your teammates make sure you wear team gear and get excited. Finals is one of the most exciting parts of a travel meets, everyone has fun cheering on their teammates and watching the best swim it out for first place.
8. Dinner
Finals goes very late and by the time dinner happens you are starving. Waiting seems impossible so getting in line behind a bunch of other hungry swimmers is one of the most frustrating parts about dinner. Its surprising that there aren't fistfights over who gets food first. Yet, when the food comes out it goes down faster than you'd think it possible, all talking ceases and all to be heard is utensils to plates.
9. Bedtime
Finally back to the hotel room and everyone is rea.......
Monday, August 6, 2012
A Taste of Gold
Au, gold, an element that sparkles in the light, in some cultures it is even eaten on chocolate. What I mostly associate it with is the ultimate show of how you are better than anyone in the world at your sport. Anyone who has accomplished anything in sports has a gold medal around their necks and the taste of victory on their lips. Memories of the moment their national anthem played and when they were bestowed with a reward for their struggles.
It takes 4 years of hard training to get to where you can get in your arena and perform to the audience to prove that you are better than anyone on the entire earth at what you do. For me it is swimming that I am working to achieve this aspirational goal in, and every practice i hit the pool with times, goals, and images of all the people i need to work to beat in the front of my head pushing me to do my best no matter how i feel. I guess what I really want to achieve is to push my body to the extent of what it can be and know i don't have anything left and i haven't anything to spare. I don't want to waste an ounce of my talent. I want to be all that i can be. I just hope all that i can be is better than all everyone else can be when it comes down to the ultimate race. The Olympics. If I can get there.
It takes 4 years of hard training to get to where you can get in your arena and perform to the audience to prove that you are better than anyone on the entire earth at what you do. For me it is swimming that I am working to achieve this aspirational goal in, and every practice i hit the pool with times, goals, and images of all the people i need to work to beat in the front of my head pushing me to do my best no matter how i feel. I guess what I really want to achieve is to push my body to the extent of what it can be and know i don't have anything left and i haven't anything to spare. I don't want to waste an ounce of my talent. I want to be all that i can be. I just hope all that i can be is better than all everyone else can be when it comes down to the ultimate race. The Olympics. If I can get there.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Summer Storms
Unfortunately my one-piece tan acquired from hours of swimming practices outside in the sun is still everything but faded. Fixing it seems to be impossible without logging those hours with a lawnchair beside my community pool! My resolution? Accept and wear my one-piece tan with pride! You're not a real swimmer without one anyway! So now I'm going to tell the world, I've got a one-piece tan I'm PROUD.
Comment with your interesting tan lines or the things that show how you're completely dedicated to your sport!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Summer Cherries!
My favorite fruit of the summer is cherries. In particular I truly love ranier cherries. They do not look like the normal red cherries that come to mind when you think of cherries instead they are red, orange, and yellow. When they come into season during late June and early July they are plump, firm, juicy, and sweet. When I get around to the grocery store and find these in the fresh fruit section, I buy about 4 bags and begin to devour them with almost every meal! A serving of these low fat, high fiber, and cholesterol free fruits is about a cup and only has a total of 90 calories. I love to pair them with a whole grain bagel for breakfast and put them on salads for lunch. Then if I'm not feeling completely indulged i have a glass of cran-raz juice and some cherries for desert. YUM!
Go visit your local grocery store and check the produce section for some delicious seasonal fruit!
Go visit your local grocery store and check the produce section for some delicious seasonal fruit!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
OLYMPIC TRIALS
Yes the time is here! Every 4 years there is an event where swimming goes to levels sometimes even more competitive than the olympics, the OLYMPIC TRIALS. No swimmer goes to the olympics without going to the olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska. Today I am watching some amazing swimmers I know there. However there are some amazing swimmers out there who I don't know, but the spirit of the sport has me face to the tv, cheering them on as I would for my best friend at the summer league meets. Swimming is not only a sport, but a lifestyle. When you become a part of the swimming community everyone's wins are your wins, because even if your archrival in your group does well it means that you have someone to compete against in practice, to push to you to be YOUR best as well. Well that is how I feel about it at least, other people feel differently, but I feel that if you lose at least you should know you put it all in the pool and you COULDN'T have done any better. Good Luck to Jack Conger, Sarah Haase, Katie Ledecky, and all the other swimmers at Trials!
Results are at Omega Timing:
http://www.omegatiming.com/Competition?id=00010C0102FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF&sport=AQ&year=2012
http://www.omegatiming.com/Competition?id=00010C0102FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF&sport=AQ&year=2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Sick Day :P
Yesterday I was feeling a bit under the weather, but when I woke up this morning it was 10x worse. You ever have those days where you feel awful and never want to get out of bed? Well today was one of those. Yet, I tried to go to practice at 5:30 a.m. this morning and well... it ended badly. I barely got through warm-up and had started the main set and had to stop. I wasn't making the interval and felt so sick, my stomach hurt and my nose was so runny which meant that swimming and breathing were not cooperating together. I called my dad and he picked me up, I went home and took a 3 hour nap. Then I made pillsbury reduced fat cinnamon rolls, which are my quick fix for breakfast. Then I got hungry for lunch and whipped up some kraft mac n' cheese, from the box. The creators of quick meals are my saviors on sick days!Comment with your favorite comfort foods!
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