Hi All
My name is Darian Townsend, I am an Olympic Gold Medalist from South Africa
( ). I am a 3 time Olympian (2004, 2008 and 2012). I held the SCM 200 IM world record in 2009/2010
and I currently hold 24 Masters world records.
Just thought I would introduce myself before I got into what I wanted to say today :)
I am going to be blogging about once a week or so on various swimming topics I am interested in or if any of you have topics you would like my opinion on, please feel free to message me and I will respond with a blog.
With the Championship season fast approaching (I assume you all are tapering for a meet last November/early December) I wanted to hear from you on what your expectations are and where you feel you are in your training? Do you feel confident that best times are coming? What makes this season different from last year, what have you done differently? Has a new piece of equipment you bought really made a big difference to your training?
From me personally, this season has been great so far. Firstly I am now American, and able to represent the US internationally. This is a huge deal for me and I feel very proud to call myself an American. After living here for over 10 years now, it feels great to wear the Red, White and Blue on my cap!
After a summer of trying a new form a training called USRPT (Ultra Short Race Pace Training) I decided to go back to the more traditional way of training, and I am really enjoying it! There is nothing quite like doing a long kick set and getting out the water afterwards and having your legs feel like jelly! (Kick sets are one thing that USRPT doesn't involve). I enjoy swimming, fast and slow in practice, so to be able to vary my efforts again is really making me happy once again to be in the water working hard!
So how is your season going? What meets are you doing? I am always looking for a meet to swim in a new place I haven't visited before?
Cheers
Welcome, Darian! :welcome: We have a great group of Forumites here, and it's nice to have you join in!
To answer your question, degenerative hip problems forced me to dial back on my training intensity, and I will most likely be swimming my races at Dixie Zone SCM Championships rather than racing them. My husband and I had waaaay too much fun walking all over Montreal seeing the sights during and after World's, and ditto for Quebec City in between World's and Nationals. (Those hills killed me! :cane:) I recovered in time to get a personal best LC time in 200 breaststroke on the last day of Nationals; however, to celebrate, we spent 11 hours walking all over Baltimore playing tourist the following day.
Two weeks later, I competed in an Ironman Pentathlon (Rob Copeland's meet; I'm as sick he is when it comes to actually wanting to race in such a thing! :afraid:), and six days later I swam a full slate at the Georgia Senior Olympics.
My hip is now:toohurt: (thanks to being a breaststroker) and physical therapy hasn't helped. I am now awaiting results of an MRI that I finally agreed to have after too many years of this :censor: hip pain. :violin::blah:
Anyway, I miss race-pace training while I run on only 3 cylinders. Thankfully, I can still swim as long as I don't do ANY breaststroke kick and let my right leg drag along for the ride in the other strokes. Pushes off the wall have to be easy, too.
Ok, enough about me!
Congratulations on an awesome swimming career. I enjoyed watching you in the Olympics, and it's great to see you are actively involved in USMS. Congratulations on your American citizenship, too! :cheerleader:
Welcome, Darian! :welcome: We have a great group of Forumites here, and it's nice to have you join in!
To answer your question, degenerative hip problems forced me to dial back on my training intensity, and I will most likely be swimming my races at Dixie Zone SCM Championships rather than racing them. My husband and I had waaaay too much fun walking all over Montreal seeing the sights during and after World's, and ditto for Quebec City in between World's and Nationals. (Those hills killed me! :cane:) I recovered in time to get a personal best LC time in 200 breaststroke on the last day of Nationals; however, to celebrate, we spent 11 hours walking all over Baltimore playing tourist the following day.
Two weeks later, I competed in an Ironman Pentathlon (Rob Copeland's meet; I'm as sick he is when it comes to actually wanting to race in such a thing! :afraid:), and six days later I swam a full slate at the Georgia Senior Olympics.
My hip is now:toohurt: (thanks to being a breaststroker) and physical therapy hasn't helped. I am now awaiting results of an MRI that I finally agreed to have after too many years of this :censor: hip pain. :violin::blah:
Anyway, I miss race-pace training while I run on only 3 cylinders. Thankfully, I can still swim as long as I don't do ANY breaststroke kick and let my right leg drag along for the ride in the other strokes. Pushes off the wall have to be easy, too.
Ok, enough about me!
Congratulations on an awesome swimming career. I enjoyed watching you in the Olympics, and it's great to see you are actively involved in USMS. Congratulations on your American citizenship, too! :cheerleader:
