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

Region Reflection and Taper Time

Hey guys! Sorry, it has been a while since I last posted, but I’ve been extremely busy with high school swimming. I don’t think that I have mentioned anything about high school swimming in my previous posts, mainly because I don’t like it, but we recently attended Region X Championships. The meet has a really fancy name, but only three teams attended since we live in a wee little region. 

To get everyone all psyched up, we had a team hair and tie dying party along with a dinner. I got a strip of my hair dyed red, even though it barely showed up and immediately came off in the pool the next day, which was pointless. Our team colors are black, red, and white, but somehow the black tie dye ended up looking more like blue. I had never tie dyed before, and lets just say that I do not see a professional tie dying career in my future. My shirt was pretty much all red, with a small dot of “black” here and there. At school the next day, our team looked like we went to war because our hands were red and our shirts were not the prettiest.

Finally, it was time to swim! My coach, Mike, had set some goals for the meet, and they were quite lofty if I might say so myself. He wanted us to win every single solitary event. That is sure a good way to create a stress and nerve free environment, *cough cough* not. Everyone ended up swimming really well, and we went one-two-three in a couple events. The only race that we lost was the Men’s 100 Butterfly. After twenty two events, I think that is kinda a major accomplishment, but Mike, being his usual self, still wasn’t one-hundred percent satisfied. I guess the lesson learned is that there is always room for improvement.

Accepting my medal from this jolly fella

Now comes the sometimes glorious yet frustrating time of year, taper. During taper, your yardage is supposed to be dropped for your body to recover and rest to prepare for optimal performance. For most swimmers, taper is seen as a excuse for everything. Often one jokes about not having to walk up the stairs or getting up from the couch to get food because of the fear that it will ruin their taper. This is why I got in little bit, okay maybe a lot, of trouble when I confessed to my coach about hitting the slopes. My question is, how can one hour of riding chairlifts and skiing through slush (Shoutout to Mother Nature) do any harm to the body?

At Park City, we do taper differently. There is this set called pace. Throughout pace, you have a goal time that you are expected to meet for each distance depending on your personal best in that race. Mike often jokes that if you can talk in between rounds or haven’t thrown up, that you are not going fast enough. Pace is one of the hardest workouts, but it is also the most rewarding. By sprinting with perfect technique, we are mimicking both race quality and race speed.

That is all that I have for y’all today! Be sure to comment below on how your high school season went and how you taper. Thank you for reading and check back soon for a post on 3A state! 

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

My Summer of Swimming

This summer, while some people might have been in their bed watching Netflix, I was in the pool training for my biggest meet schedule ever.  Needless to say, my summer consisted of swimming, napping, and eating. 

As you might know, I swim for Park City Swimming.  Our schedule over the summer was pretty demanding.  We had morning practice every Monday-Saturday and afternoon practice every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Before some people probably woke up, I had already gone through an entire workout. Each of these practices consisted of a half hour of dryland and a hour and a half in the pool.  If you do the math, that adds up to eighteen hours a week.  That’s a lot of swimming!

Now, you may ask, what did I do in my minimal free time? Well, when I got home from morning practice I usually crashed on the couch for my power nap. Then, when I woke up I would have lunch, maybe watch some Dance Moms, and get ready for the next practice.  And that repeated itself, day after day.

All of this training paid off in the end though.  I got best times all around and learned so much.  Even though I went to multiple meets over the summer, the most important were JO’s and Zones.  At JO’s (State) this summer, our three relays smashed all of the state records. My entire relay team was super pleased with the results, but the important part was that each of us gave our very best.

Me right before an important race at JO's
Photo Courtesy of: Kara Senn

Then came Zones, a meet that a select team from Utah, flew to Federal Way, Washington to represent our state. I met a lot of new people and coaches and got five personal bests.  Zones was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had. I can’t wait to go again next year!

Overall, my summer was the best summer I have ever had.  Now with school starting back up again, and the new season beginning, it is the perfect time to get a fresh start and get back into the swing of things!

In my future blog posts, I’ll bring you the scoop on JO’s and Zones, a little bit more about my team, as well as a few must haves for your closet.  Thanks! See you next time!

XOXO

Siena