Back to the Basics

Hey y’all! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but after Age Group State, it was definitely a time for a break from both swimming and school! For this year’s break, I went to the beautiful island of Maui with my family! As I might have mentioned earlier, this summer I am heading to the Western Zone Age Group Championships (again!), which will be held in Kihei, Maui. While on vacation, I decided to stop by after scuba diving and check the pool out! It was pretty nice, except it had a ghetto scoreboard, but I’m pretty sure nothing can be too bad in Hawaii!

The Zones Pool

It’s finally time to start training for my fav time of year…long course season! The meets are held outside and there are less walls, which is definitely a bonus for me and my sucky turns. The first couple of weeks back in the chlorine are the most important, and they set the tone for pretty much everything in the future.

It’s always good to ease back into your routine, but that is not how we started off this time - unless you call sprinting for thirty minutes in dryland before you even get into the water easy breezy lemon squeezie. I have to admit, it is tempting to start off with a bang, especially by sprinting warm-up, but then the end of practice comes around and you literally are gasping for air.

Before a break, you are in your tip-top shape, just coming off of taper and big meets where you are getting best times. After a break, it is like swimming is an entirely new sport that you have never done. Therefore, it is important to watch your technique. Drilling is one of my favorite ways to practice technique and focus on all the “little things”. If you want to change your stroke, now is the time, as you can enforce these habits all season long. 

Now, during breaks you are supposed to remain somewhat active, and not be a couch potato. Well, I am not the example for this whatsoever. I slowly (key word: slowly) walked to the beach and attempted to tan, averaged twelve hours of sleep a night, and went out to eat every night while engulfing in bread and all sorts of desserts, such as hula pie! :)

Getting back in shape is really tough, but the harder you work, the quicker you’ll be there. On my team, we have been emphasizing leg driven strokes and underwaters. Because of these tough sets, I am super duper sore and walking up the stairs is a struggle. But in the end, it is all worth it, because hard work does pay off!

That is all that I have for y’all today. Be sure to comment down below on your experience with new seasons - I would love to hear ‘bout it! If you want to stay up-to-date with all my posts, please follow! Thanks for reading and I will see ya next time!

XOXO

Siena

Adventures at Age Group State

As most of y’all already know, now that high school swimming is over, I train with club. Club practices are so much better than high school practices because we do a lot more distance and it is intense. This past weekend, I attended the 2015 Utah Short Course Age Group Championships. This meet has three age categories: 10 and under, 11-12, and 13-14. I’m one of the youngest in my grade, and it definitely has its drawbacks. It is never fun to be the last one to get your permit or license! But, I do get to graduate at the age of 17 and swim both age group and high school concurrently!

This year, the meet was held in Bountiful, Utah. If you ask me, Bountiful ain’t an interesting place, but has some pretty good places to eat. Because during swim meets, literally all I care about is food. I ate at Five Guys, In-N-Out, Paradise Bakery and Cafe, Texas Roadhouse, and Mikado. All of the aren’t the best nutritional choices, but nutrition is not, and will never be my forte. My challenge was trying to limit my fruit snack intake, but I averaged about six packages a session. Whoops!

The pool,  even though it isn't this pretty after sweaty swimmers!
Photo Courtesy of: Myrtha Pool

The swim meet began on Wednesday and ended on Saturday. I gotta skip school, so that was legit, except all the makeup work was boring. On Wednesday, I swam the 1650 freestyle (or the mile). Last year, I went nineteen minutes exactly in both my mile at short course and long course state. But this year I went seventeen minutes and fifty seven seconds! And I swear if I would have seen eighteen minutes exactly on the scoreboard, I would have questioned the meaning of life.

On Thursday, I swam the two hundred freestyle and four hundred individual medley in both prelims and finals, along with the two hundred freestyle relay. During a prelims and finals meet, you are supposed to swim fast in the morning and even faster at night. Unfortunately, some people completely ignore this idea, and decide to bag their races in the morning. This annoys me so much, put hey, I gotta go my own way! (Please take into consideration my extreme effort to give appreciation to High School Musical).

On Friday, I swam the one hundred backstroke, one hundred freestyle, five hundred freestyle, and two hundred medley relay. Friday was a rough day (mainly night) for me, but I had to move on quickly to prepare for Saturday! On Saturday, I swam the two hundred backstroke, one thousand freestyle, and four hundred freestyle relay. I did really well in these events, which was nice since I didn’t have the best races the day before.

Elise, Me, and Rachel.

There is something about the vibe that you get at age group meets. Maybe it is because there are really cute little kids, or that everyone knows each other because we have been racing for years! This meet was filled with inside jokes, competition, and the struggles shared among girls while getting into kneeskins. I can’t wait to see what Long Course Age Group will bring!

Thank you for reading this post! Be sure to comment below on your favorite event or stroke, and I’ll see y’all soon!

XOXO

Siena

Developing a “Habit” at Senior State

Over our winter break, which wasn’t really a winter break at all since there was no snow *insert crying emoji here*, my team and I travelled to St. George for the 2015 Utah Senior Championships. This meet is a prelims and finals meet, and since it takes place at a lower altitude, your times are often faster due to the difference in atmospheric pressure. This year, not only did I swim well, but I also indulged in amazing junk food.

The car ride down was over four hours, but I made sure to keep myself busy by snacking on Mott’s Medley fruit snacks. Out of all the pouches that I devoured, only two contained my favorite carrot ones, which was very depressing. On Thursday night, I swam the mile for the first time this season and ended up dropping fifty three seconds. During all eighteen minutes and seven seconds of swimming back and forth, I was only thinking about a four letter word, food. For dinner, I went to this burger joint called The Habit, and ordered a double charburger with no tomato and a side of french fries. This meal totaled just a small 1080 calories. Little did I know that I would eat at The Habit four times within the next forty eight hours, which is quite a feat if you ask me.

Then came Friday morning, where I swam the 200 freestyle and 400 individual medley. After prelims, can you guess where I went to lunch? The Habit. Except, this time I ordered a chicken caesar salad with french fries. Nearby The Habit, there is a smoothie bar called The Orange Peel. They make dairy free smoothies and bubble tea. I always order the Orange Cream Dream (OCD), which is super funny because it toats matches my personality.

Can you tell that I really like these smoothies?

After finals on Friday night, I went to dinner at a new place, just kidding, The Habit. I was in need of major carbs, so I got a chicken sandwich with french fries. If you haven’t caught on, I kinda like french fries. Following a much needed beauty rest, I competed in the 500 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and 200 back at morning and night. The early session was followed by a meal at The Habit, a chicken caesar salad with french fries, but my mom and sister were tired of going to the same restaurant over and over again, so we went to Olive Garden Saturday night. Really?

The meet was finally over, it felt like it took weeks. There was an athlete party after Saturday finals that included a DJ and foam cannon, but I didn’t go. My friend Blaire went, but she was disappointed because the foam cannon wasn’t up to her standards. It is difficult to go back to school after a break, but it is not hard to go back to swimming. I am always eager to dive into a pool, even if it has an insanely high amount of chlorine like my team’s recently, and learn how to improve. 

That is all that I have for y’all today! Be sure to check back for more posts and comment below on your favorite places to eat at meets. Remember, I will give a follow for a follow! Thank you for reading!

XOXO

Siena

Nutrition No-No's

As a distance swimmer, or really any athlete, it is important that you fuel your body to maximize performance. In todays world, there is lots of research on what to put in your body to get the results out. While this information has been presented to me in many ways (through magazines, coaches, parents, lectures…), it seems to pass right by as my nutrition habits are nowhere, and I mean nowhere, near what they are supposed to be. In this post, I will be giving you a glimpse into my swim meet eating schedule.

For lunch after prelims and before finals, you can find me at the closest In-N-Out Burger ordering a Double-Double Animal Style with no tomato and extra burger spread with french fries. I usually try to pass on the shake, as I figure it might be a little much, but sometimes that extra creamy and thick vanilla ice cream is too hard to resist. I consume exactly 1675 calories of fatty deliciousness every time we go through the drive-thru. Now, my lunch menu is quite different from the simple and complex carbohydrate, protein rich, fresh fruit, crisp vegetable, vitamin and mineral packed, healthy diet. I am pretty sure that I am the only person in the world who would even think of engulfing such a meal before finals.

Double-Double Animal Style Burger
Photo Courtesy: Serious Seats

For the time between races, you are supposed - key word: supposed - to snack on foods that are quickly absorbed, easy to break down, and can reach muscles speedily. Some of these food items include crackers, fruit, energy bars, cheese, peanut butter, or eggs. Instead, I prefer Curious George fruit snacks, Cheez-Its, Chewy chocolate dipped chocolate chip granola bars, Pringles or Lays, and basically anything that is artificial. The only snack I have that is actually recommended is Go-Go Squeez, but only in Apple-Apple or Apple-Cinnamon flavor, I just love the pouch!

Now, you might think that I am a total failure, but there is hope. Hydration is my forte. I go through so many waters and Vitamin Waters, so not only am I quenching my thirst, but water makes the body feel refreshed and energized. As my coach says, you can never have to many fluids.In any sport, recovery is crucial in order to consistently be at the top of your game. My go-to recovery drink is chocolate milk because it tastes great and helps rebuild muscles. 

Before meets, you should start your day off right with a substantial breakfast. Now, at six in the morning in the car, the last thing I want to do is eat. But, I do eat a packet of Quakers blueberry and cream oatmeal. Why settle for anything less than a sugary bite filled with all kinds of dyes and fake fruit?

As you can tell, I might not be the best role model as far as healthy eating is concerned. Now that it is the New Year, and I don’t really have a New Year’s resolution, maybe I should try to start 2015 out right with a better nutrition plan. But, you know, today was all about the junk food from chocolate to cheesy Doritos.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and learned what not to do before a meet! Be sure to check back for another post coming soon and leave any comments below. See you next time!

XOXO

Siena