Tuesday, August 12, 2008

400m free 1 month from today!

It's been awhile since I last wrote on this blog and I have to admit it's because I have been spending every spare minute watching the Olympics.  I am very happy with all the swimming coverage on CBC although it is being quite detrimental to my sleep.  It is exciting to see our Olympian swimmers doing so well and breaking so many Canadian records.  It gets me all jazzed up about getting there and seeing what I can do in that pool.  That is one reason that I am very happy that the Paralympics take place after the Olympics. I get a preview of the aquatics complex so I have some idea of what I will be experiencing once I get there.
As for my back, it is getting better every day.  My chiropractor has magic hands and says that my back should be pretty much 100% before I leave for staging camp on Aug 21st.  
Training has been up and down over the past week.  My backstroke is feeling awesome and my training times have been quite good.  Meanwhile freestyle has been a struggle, which makes me a little nervous as my best event the 400m freestyle takes place one month from today.  My coach Andrew Craven, isn't worried so I shouldn't be either.  I just need to trust my training and focus on the things I can control between now and Sept 12th.  

Before I sign off, I want to wish all competitors at the Ontario Summer Games the best of luck!!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Second Week of Training Camp and Since

The second week of training camp in Victoria went pretty well.  The majority of the practices were quite aerobic with a little bit of sprinting thrown in to add variety.  Overall I thought that the training camp went quite well.  I really enjoyed training with my team mates and getting to hang out with long time friends again.  I thought that my body was standing up pretty well until the last three days of camp when I began to feel my back muscles start to tighten up.  On the final day of training camp my back finally gave out and I ended up spending the day in bed and getting treatments from the massage therapist.  Since coming home last Monday I have seen my chiropractor three times and my massage therapist once.  I have been trying to ice it as often as possible and today it is finally starting to feel significantly better.  I am hoping to get back into the gym tomorrow and to begin doing flip turns again this week.  With less then three weeks to go before we leave for staging in Osaka Japan, I am mostly trying to get my body healed and ready to swim fast.  My back going out was not in the plans but it is just another example of being prepared for the unexpected and maintaining my focus on my goals.