2011 Look Back ++ 2012: Look Ahead

Essay here! Can't help it, I'm a writer. I tried to make it so there's no big blocks, just easily digested bits. 2011 in Review I began the year with 27.53, 58.93, 2:18.98, and 6:08.85 times in the 50, 100, 200, and 500 freestyle events, respectively. Last January, I dropped over a second in the 50 to bring that time down to 26.35. That was the last swim of a terribly disappointing meet for me, personally, but where I didn't give up and I kept on going, fighting the battle, fighting for every inch of ground so I could find victory sooner another day. That day came sooner than I thought when I finished the meet with that awesome 50 free. It was all the more surprising because I had been sick the week before and just two weeks before I had been out of the water for a week because of Christmas. That same month, I brought my in-season time in the 500 down to 6:19. The October before, it had been at 6:30. In February, I dropped the time down to 6:11- passing my taper PB of 6:08.85 from April '10 seemed quite imminent. At the same meet in February, I took a chunk out of my 200 time by dropping over 6.5 seconds to go 2:12.44. I also took a small nibble out of my 100 free time, just thirty milliseconds faster than what I started the year with. After a great start to the year, the month of March heralded the beginning of what was to me, well, a long march. I would have no meets until May, and just tons and tons of training before then. That April, most of the team began a taper that I would not be sharing, but I did experience the first half of the taper and I swam like never before. The end result was that despite the fact that I was once again sick the week before my May LCM meet, I had huge expectations. Disaster struck, my wax wings melted, and I slouched away from the meet, clearly still on the tail-end of being ill. What followed was two entire weeks out of the water, with very little sleep, while I crammed for my finals. One Friday in the middle of May, after my finals were over, I returned to the pool for a long-course practice. We did a set of 10x100s from a dive. I will never forget that feeling like I was flailing in water. It was the worst I felt in the water since, well, my very first day swimming for exercise in November three years ago. My target taper meet was but two months away! Before July was a period in my swimming that I've come to refer as my own "Invasion of Russia in Winter." Have you ever tried to invade Russia in the winter? Napoleon tried. He wasn't very successful. On the all-time top ten list of the most futile endeavors ever, invading Russia in the winter just might be at the very top. But it was something I had to do anyway- get back in shape and be ready for peak performance within two months after three of the most mentally and physically debilitating weeks of my life. Sometimes you just gotta invade Russia in winter. Between May and July's meets, I went to three LCM meets, including a Masters meet, and I did successively worse in each of them. I did get meet a fellow forumite at the Santa Clara Grand Prix, however- Ahelee Sue Osborn. She got me to enter my first Masters meet, where I shared with her my desire to get under 2:00 in the 200 free SCY in July. I had absolutely no positive indicators heading into July's target taper meet. Even my taper, which started a week and a half out, felt like it was the opposite of the truncated taper I half-participated in the April before- instead of swimming faster than ever before, I felt horrible and sluggish all the time. The Friday before the weekend of the meet, I was shaved down and I finally got to take solace in some good signs, like how I did the last 25 from a dive faster than the fastest person on the team. I remember how nervous I felt before my first race at that July meet. What if things just didn't work out? Apparently, nerves are perfectly fine before a race. They even help. The event was a 100 yard butterfly. My PB was 1:10.67, set in February. At two LCM meets during my Invasion of Russia, my 100 fly swims had been absolutely dreadful, closer to a converted 1:20 scy time than 1:10. Finally, the buzzer rang, I dove in, and touched the wall in 1:04.2, 6.5 seconds under the old PB. My 100 fly was even faster than a 1:05 freestyle time from the last July! The rest of the meet was I had been waiting for all year, all season. I took my 100 back time down to 1:08.6, a 5.5 second drop from February. My 100 *** came down four seconds to 1:20.20, which would keep pace with my very first 100 free race ever three years ago where I went 1:19.92. I took off 16 seconds in the 200 back. And in the freestyle, my three goals at the beginning of the season as I presented them to my coach had been to go under 25 in the 50, under a minute in the 100, and a 5:30 something in the 500. I accomplished the 100 free goal in December, and had made demonstrable steps towards the other two. I dropped 5.5 seconds going 53.13 in the 100 free. For that race, I also wore my Speedo LZR Elite Jammer for the first time. I wore it for just my freestyle events. The 200 free was my first event on the morning of the second day of the meet. My nerves had returned in full force, but I swam it in 1:59.75, breaking under 2 minutes and fulfilling the desire I had expressed to Ahelee a month before. For the 500 free, I bullseyed my goal with a 5:32 time, a 36 second drop from the old PB. And in the 50, I accomplished my third and last standing goal by going 24.58 and snapping off two seconds. That weekend, I celebrated my 23rd birthday with my family, including my parents and my brother who had come to watch me swim. My mom even counted my 500, providing her with some great conversation material. Thanks, mom! I know I've only reviewed half of the year, but if I went on to December, the story would get anti-climactic so I'll stop now. Plus, I think this post has gone on long 'nuff! :D Some things I learned -Keep going, fight the battle! Keep your nerve (or regain your nerve)! Last January, I probably had high expectations for a meet that was coming off just a week and a half of training punctured by three days of the flu. But my two meets before that one had been my best ever and I was determined to keep the ball rolling. Even though all six of my swims before that 50 free felt horrible, I finally put up a great race and dropped a lot of time for how far I had come in such a short event. -Don't put yourself in situations where you have to Invade Russia in the Winter. Take it as advice from me: never be out of the pool for two weeks with very little sleep. Especially two months before your taper meet! -If you are in a situation, god forbid, where you have to Invade Russia in the Winter, don't quail away from it. Do what's necessary. -Grab opportunities. I went to a long-distance meet in January that I could've just ignored. There I chose to swim the mile without any guarantee that I'd go faster than my taper/shave PB from April of the year before. I ended up going faster in-season! Nice little surprise. -Make the Decision. When you're in the middle of an arduous set, you can choose whether it will be good or bad, whether it will be a breakthrough or a drag. You'll either step up to the challenge or back down. You'll be courageous or chicken****. That's all I can recall for now. I'll do 2012 later.

Essay here! Can't help it, I'm a writer. I tried to make it so there's no big blocks, just easily digested bits. 2011 in Review I began the year with 27.53, 58.93, 2:18.98, and 6:08.85 times in the 50, 100, 200, and 500 freestyle events, respectively. Last January, I dropped over a second in the 50 to bring that time down to 26.35. That was the last swim of a terribly disappointing meet for me, personally, but where I didn't give up and I kept on going, fighting the battle, fighting for every inch of ground so I could find victory sooner another day. That day came sooner than I thought when I finished the meet with that awesome 50 free. It was all the more surprising because I had been sick the week before and just two weeks before I had been out of the water for a week because of Christmas. That same month, I brought my in-season time in the 500 down to 6:19. The October before, it had been at 6:30. In February, I dropped the time down to 6:11- passing my taper PB of 6:08.85 from April '10 seemed quite imminent. At the same meet in February, I took a chunk out of my 200 time by dropping over 6.5 seconds to go 2:12.44. I also took a small nibble out of my 100 free time, just thirty milliseconds faster than what I started the year with. After a great start to the year, the month of March heralded the beginning of what was to me, well, a long march. I would have no meets until May, and just tons and tons of training before then. That April, most of the team began a taper that I would not be sharing, but I did experience the first half of the taper and I swam like never before. The end result was that despite the fact that I was once again sick the week before my May LCM meet, I had huge expectations. Disaster struck, my wax wings melted, and I slouched away from the meet, clearly still on the tail-end of being ill. What followed was two entire weeks out of the water, with very little sleep, while I crammed for my finals. One Friday in the middle of May, after my finals were over, I returned to the pool for a long-course practice. We did a set of 10x100s from a dive. I will never forget that feeling like I was flailing in water. It was the worst I felt in the water since, well, my very first day swimming for exercise in November three years ago. My target taper meet was but two months away! Before July was a period in my swimming that I've come to refer as my own "Invasion of Russia in Winter." Have you ever tried to invade Russia in the winter? Napoleon tried. He wasn't very successful. On the all-time top ten list of the most futile endeavors ever, invading Russia in the winter just might be at the very top. But it was something I had to do anyway- get back in shape and be ready for peak performance within two months after three of the most mentally and physically debilitating weeks of my life. Sometimes you just gotta invade Russia in winter. Between May and July's meets, I went to three LCM meets, including a Masters meet, and I did successively worse in each of them. I did get meet a fellow forumite at the Santa Clara Grand Prix, however- Ahelee Sue Osborn. She got me to enter my first Masters meet, where I shared with her my desire to get under 2:00 in the 200 free SCY in July. I had absolutely no positive indicators heading into July's target taper meet. Even my taper, which started a week and a half out, felt like it was the opposite of the truncated taper I half-participated in the April before- instead of swimming faster than ever before, I felt horrible and sluggish all the time. The Friday before the weekend of the meet, I was shaved down and I finally got to take solace in some good signs, like how I did the last 25 from a dive faster than the fastest person on the team. I remember how nervous I felt before my first race at that July meet. What if things just didn't work out? Apparently, nerves are perfectly fine before a race. They even help. The event was a 100 yard butterfly. My PB was 1:10.67, set in February. At two LCM meets during my Invasion of Russia, my 100 fly swims had been absolutely dreadful, closer to a converted 1:20 scy time than 1:10. Finally, the buzzer rang, I dove in, and touched the wall in 1:04.2, 6.5 seconds under the old PB. My 100 fly was even faster than a 1:05 freestyle time from the last July! The rest of the meet was I had been waiting for all year, all season. I took my 100 back time down to 1:08.6, a 5.5 second drop from February. My 100 *** came down four seconds to 1:20.20, which would keep pace with my very first 100 free race ever three years ago where I went 1:19.92. I took off 16 seconds in the 200 back. And in the freestyle, my three goals at the beginning of the season as I presented them to my coach had been to go under 25 in the 50, under a minute in the 100, and a 5:30 something in the 500. I accomplished the 100 free goal in December, and had made demonstrable steps towards the other two. I dropped 5.5 seconds going 53.13 in the 100 free. For that race, I also wore my Speedo LZR Elite Jammer for the first time. I wore it for just my freestyle events. The 200 free was my first event on the morning of the second day of the meet. My nerves had returned in full force, but I swam it in 1:59.75, breaking under 2 minutes and fulfilling the desire I had expressed to Ahelee a month before. For the 500 free, I bullseyed my goal with a 5:32 time, a 36 second drop from the old PB. And in the 50, I accomplished my third and last standing goal by going 24.58 and snapping off two seconds. That weekend, I celebrated my 23rd birthday with my family, including my parents and my brother who had come to watch me swim. My mom even counted my 500, providing her with some great conversation material. Thanks, mom! I know I've only reviewed half of the year, but if I went on to December, the story would get anti-climactic so I'll stop now. Plus, I think this post has gone on long 'nuff! :D Some things I learned -Keep going, fight the battle! Keep your nerve (or regain your nerve)! Last January, I probably had high expectations for a meet that was coming off just a week and a half of training punctured by three days of the flu. But my two meets before that one had been my best ever and I was determined to keep the ball rolling. Even though all six of my swims before that 50 free felt horrible, I finally put up a great race and dropped a lot of time for how far I had come in such a short event. -Don't put yourself in situations where you have to Invade Russia in the Winter. Take it as advice from me: never be out of the pool for two weeks with very little sleep. Especially two months before your taper meet! -If you are in a situation, god forbid, where you have to Invade Russia in the Winter, don't quail away from it. Do what's necessary. -Grab opportunities. I went to a long-distance meet in January that I could've just ignored. There I chose to swim the mile without any guarantee that I'd go faster than my taper/shave PB from April of the year before. I ended up going faster in-season! Nice little surprise. -Make the Decision. When you're in the middle of an arduous set, you can choose whether it will be good or bad, whether it will be a breakthrough or a drag. You'll either step up to the challenge or back down. You'll be courageous or chicken****. That's all I can recall for now. I'll do 2012 later.