Sunday, October 23, 2011

All Season Long

It's that time of year again! The final two weeks of high school swim season. On average we have worked 250 hours over the past two and a half months just for these two weeks. Its a time of excitement, stress, team bonding, and swimming fast!

Last week most of my team started our "taper." This is the term used for less yardage, more rest, more sleep e.t.c. Its an exciting thing after all of our hardwork from the season. We all get decked out in our crazy tights to see who can look the most ridiculous. The point of wearing the tights is to increase drag so then once we shave for our championship meet we are so much "smoother" in the water. Were also starting to have less practice, so we can be building up our energy and catch up on sleep. This week I don't have any early morning practices!

In the next few days, as a team, we will start to make goals for the rest of the season. This is so exciting to talk about the possibilities, and you get closer to your teammates throughout the process. With only two more meets left (Regionals and State) there is a lot of pressure to swim fast. One really important aspect of this part of the season is to have positive thinking. This is incorporated into any competitive activity such as football, show choir, orchestra, academic decathalon e.t.c. If you really want to do something you have to believe that you can do it. So as this week continues as I try not to get stressed out about schoolwork and swimming I just have to stay relaxed and think about the positives.

There are so many things to look forward to in the next two weeks that I can hardly wait. I want it to get here quickly but at the same time I don't want it to end! Like a lot of sports we have our team dinner on Friday night, the day before our Regional swim meet (the meet to qualify for state). After we shave (which is also really disguisting, you could basically confuse me with a boy) we all eat Zio Johnos to load up on carbs. It's delicious! Then on Saturday, the real fun begins, and the nerves, and the pressure, and the excitement. Putting on our LZR suits is always a great experience haha. These are the suits that are really, really tight and engineered to "create buoyancy", its exciting to think about that you have on the "fastest" suit in the world! (I will blog more about these at a later date). On average it takes between 10-15 minutes to even get them on.

After were rested up and suited up its the moment swimmers' wait for ALL SEASON LONG!

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