The Big Event...

First of all thank you all for commenting, staying tuned and your general interest.

The last three Provinvials were held in:
1) Trail
2) Abbotsford
3) Kamloops

I cant tell you that I have a favorite because for me this is show time. To be here I paid a price. The main swim season was tough, hell week was a pain, tapering was developing THE NEED FOR SPEED.

My preperation is complete and I'm feeling really nervous. There are people from all over BC who compete in Provincials I think this is how they got the name. They are all great at swimming and are here looking for Provincial GOLD. There are around 800 athletes who compete in this event.

Time for the results:

1) 50m Freestyle I was runnin' to Dairy Queen. The event was really loud and they made us go up and down on the starting blocks 3 times. On the 3rd time i moved before the start (nerves i think). My time qualified first in the province but th DQ made it so i couldn't swim in the final. Bummer.
2) 50m Butterfly ( silver good race).
3) 50m Backstroke (6th bad race).
4) 100m Freestyle Stay tuned.
5) 200 IM relay, 200 Freestyle relay can't tell you the results but they call us the DREAM TEAM.

My main event is the 100m Freestyle. Brent Hayden the current world record holder is a friend of mine and is a huge inspiration to me but my Dad is always my main inspiration.

Yes Mme Miles and fellow classmates I have won Provincial GOLD THREE TIMES in an individual event. 8 times in relays and please enjoy my 100 Freestyle Gold Medal win Video.

Thanks again for staying tuned and i have immensely enjoyed myself with writing these and a very special thanks to Spell Check. I almost forgot, remember how I talked about the 1:02.65 I put up on my wall well my final time was a 1:03.75 just off the Provincial Record.

This is the DREAM TEAM!

PS still working on posting the video.

N

Slowing down... a bit, the big taper.

 I have qualified for the big event. I will be competing in a total of 6 events: 50m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly, 50m Backstroke, 100m Freestyle(the best by far), 200m Freestyle Relay and 200m IM Relay.

The training changes A LOT. We are no longer straining our muscles to get stronger we our training and resting our muscles to get faster. This period of time is called tapering. 

The work outs are the same time but a lot easier. 15x100m's are replaced by 15x25m's. We are now training our  bodies for SPEEEEEED.  There is lots of work on our turns, starts and finishes. There is a thing in swimming that if you take a breath entering or exiting a turn you can lose up to half a second. This is a time of heavy coaching and concentration. 

In these weeks I don't like how there are no hard sets because of tapering, I like working hard more.

As part of getting ready for Provincials we watch motivational videos, set goals for ourselves, play games and have fun.

One goal I set for myself last summer was to swim a 1:02.65 in my 100m Freestyle that would have been a ludicrous time. (I had to use a funny word there). My best time from the summer before was a 1:08.01. I put the new target time on my bedroom wall, bathroom wall and any wall I past from my bedroom to the kitchen. No I didn't put one in the fridge but thats a great idea! Having these great reminders kept me focused on my goal.  I did this because I was after the Provincial Record that was 1:02.91. 

The tapering ended very well. Next stop the big event, hope you all join me for this.

Stay tuned.

N