January Recap

So I now realize I never officially announced on this blog what I was training for in 2023, so it feels weird to be already writing a recap post. However, I wanted to do a better job documenting my training journey and having a place to look back on my progress. So, here we are.

To go backward before we go forwards, last year I felt very unfocused. I had a few ideas of races I wanted to do but didn’t commit to doing any of them until a few weeks beforehand. This was partly because I didn’t feel ready to commit and partly because I didn’t know my coaching schedule and didn’t want to sign up for something and then be unable to go. I decided last minute to drive down to Richmond to race the 1500m at Master’s Nationals in early August and had a pretty subpar race. I remember walking through the vendor area to get my award and seeing a sweatshirt I liked. I debated buying it but didn’t want to commemorate my lackluster swim. I remember trying to feel like I earned that overpriced sweatshirt. I looked up where nationals were next year and saw Spring Nationals were in Irvine. I thought it’d be cool to race in such an iconic pool and then put that thought on the back burner because I had to drive 3+ hours to get back to Maryland to coach.

I kept thinking about going to spring nationals but wasn’t training or committing. Then, in reflecting on how the last few years have gone, I realized that I almost always end up doing the races I initially say I want to do, but because I don’t commit to them up front, I’m never in great shape for them and am always disappointed. So I decided to commit from the beginning and go for it.

So, I’m officially telling the universe I’m going to Masters Nationals in Irvine in April. I’m still a little undecided on which events I’m swimming, but I have it narrowed down to 7. Unfortunately, I can only race 6, so I’ll have to drop one. Once I’ve done a few more meets, I’ll feel more comfortable deciding.

So, now that we’re all caught up let’s talk about January, shall we?

I started 2023 with food poisoning in Mexico City, so needless to say. It wasn’t an ideal start to the new year. Between the altitude (7200ft) and not having eaten any food, it took me a few days to get back in training. I’m also trying to be conservative with my training since I have a history of shoulder injuries. (I had rotator cuff surgery in high school and have some scar tissue buildup that causes discomfort from time to time).

During my first week back, I went way too hard both in the pool and the gym. I came home and could barely move. My back was locked up, and I was nearly in tears. I only ended up swimming twice because I was worried about hurting my back.

The following week, I swam three times with no back pain. I started introducing some butterfly into my workouts and was pleasantly surprised by how good it felt. I still have a long way to go before I am ready to swim a 200 fly, but this was a confidence boost.

Finally, I did a master’s meet in New Jersey. Something I noticed over the summer at nationals was that I get distracted by the other swimmers in my heat I noticed over the summer at nationals. I’m so used to swimming alone or doing open water races where I can’t see the other swimmers that it messes with my head. So, to work on this, I’m signing up for as many master’s meets as possible. This will also help me get experience racing these events again.

I’ll spare you the details of each race, but this was a solid meet. I dropped in every event and got a lot more comfortable racing. I still need to work on staying focused while racing and not worrying about where everyone else is, but racing is starting to feel less foreign.

Coming up in February

With no meets on my calendar in February, this month will be a big training block. I’m excited to see how much progress I make with regular swimming since I haven’t been in the water all that much. It feels like I’m getting better every day, and while I know that won’t last forever, it helps it feel more fun. I also want to work on lifting more and incorporating more yoga into my training.

If you want to follow more of my daily training and how I use mental skills training in my swimming, Instagram is the place for that.