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

Conquering The Mental Battle

Every mind is complex. In swimming, the tough and the weak are defined through a series of brain games. When your body and your mind send you mixed signals, it can be difficult to know what is right. Swimming is a sport where hundredths of a second determine a winner and a loser. Swimming is a sport where waking up before dawn is the summer norm. But most importantly, swimming is a sport where dedication is a necessity.

One of my fav quotes
Photo Courtesy of: HD Wallpapers

On my team, we become mentally tough through our language. We are not allowed to say the word can’t, which is also known as the c-word. If we do say it, then we must do twenty five pushups and twenty five lunges. And boy, after dryland and a long practice, every pushup and lunge burns more than the last.

Right now, we are on taper for the age group state meet. Along with any taper comes the good ol’ pace set. By the end of pace, you are out of breath and all that lactic acid is building up in your muscles. Basically, your body feels horrible with a “capital h”. Yet, you know that if you give up, you won’t achieve your desired results. And later, you will know that you will regret it. In those last couple of one hundreds, you need to believe that you can. It all comes down to your attitude.

There are highs and lows in every sport, but the mid-season of swimming is notorious for being an ultimate. In the beginning, your body is fueled and you are excited to get back training. But after a couple of months, without any major meets, most people say practice is just a drag. How do you fix this problem? Think about the future. The final hoorah meet will come, and all of that hard work that you put in mid-season will pay off. 

Guess what, life isn’t perfect. Once in a while, you will have a disappointing swim. I can personally vouch for this, as basically every time I swim the two hundred butterfly, I drown the last fifty. But, you have to put those races in the past and learn from those mistakes.

Doesn’t everyone just love nerves? To a certain extent, pressure can be beneficial because it helps get the adrenaline running. I still remember how stressed I was for my first race at Zones. It was my first travel meet without my parents, and I didn’t trust my training. It was definitely reassuring knowing that my team was there cheering me on, but I still didn’t know how to focus. Sometimes all it takes is a couple deep breaths and a I can do it. And guess what, I ended that race with a personal best.

I am honestly not the most competitive person around, but it is important to focus on your race and not your competition. The only person that you are in control of is yourself, so you gotta make the most of it. Finally, the most important part is to have fun. You will never have dedication in the first place if you don’t enjoy what you are doing.

Preparing to warmup.

I hope you guys enjoyed these inspirational (and deep) words from me. As Ms. Alp (my Spanish teacher) would say, “It is okay to cry and go fart around in the field!” I recently gave a Ted Talk about how your attitude directly affects your performance in my leadership class, and it was the inspiration for this post. Be sure to comment below on how you stay calm before diving in, and I will see y’all soon!

XOXO

Siena

Swimming Stories in Seattle: The Sequel

Note: This post is a continuation of my last one, Swimming Stories in Seattle. 

The last two days at Zones were eventful to say the least. My last individual race of the entire meet was the mile (30 lengths of the 50 meter pool)! I was super nervous because this was the race that I wanted to perform the best in. I gave it everything I had left in me after seven races and ended up dropping 20 seconds (part of it was the altitude difference)! The best part of that race though was the fact that everyone on the Zone Team cheered me on. After I got out and finished cooling down, the chaperones gave us Pink Starburst and Fruity Pebbles smoothies from Jamba Juice off the Secret Menu. It was a special treat because these ones were pure sherbet versus greek yogurt.

One of the traditions at Zones is that each team performs a skit. We were supposed to do a skit, except each skit has to be approved by a committee. Our plan was to go out and pump up the crowd, then walk away after saying “We don’t have one.” The committee didn’t approve, so there was no skit for Team Utah this year. :(

After the finals session that night, it was time for the swimmer social. All the teams that came representing their LSC’s went to a party at the Fun Center. We played mini golf, arcade games, bumper cars, and much more! But the best part was the pizza buffet, I had been waiting for junk food for what seemed like forever. 

After staying up really late the previous night, and waking up early the following morning, we were ready to travel home. Before our flight, we went and toured the streets of Seattle. First, we visited the Space Needle and then the gum wall. Yes, I did add a piece of my gum. We realized that we had a lot less time than anticipated, so we ran through the streets and took the monorail hoping that we could catch our flight on time.

I took this picture of the Space Needle. It was a beautiful day!

Once we arrived at the airport and finished checking all of our bags, we had lunch at Wendy’s. We each were allowed to order three items (I think someone ordered 3 frosties). But one of the guys orders only came with thirty chicken nuggets instead of forty, so we spent forever waiting for those extra ten. 

The flight home went by really fast, probably because it was really short. I’m pretty sure the flight attendants were annoyed with us by the end, but that’s their job. When we entered baggage claim, everyone’s parents were there with balloons and a giant “Congratulations” poster. I was away from my family for a week, so I couldn’t wait to see my brother, sister, mom, and dad!

Overall, Zones was awesome. I hope you enjoyed reading some of my favorite memories. Next year, since I am still age group, I get to go to Zones again. Except, this time, the meet will be held on the tropical island of Hawaii. I can’t wait!

Thank you and check back for more posts coming soon. 

XOXO

Siena

Swimming Stories in Seattle

PCS Zone Swimmers

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this summer I attended the Western Zone Age Group Championships that were held in Seattle, Washington. I had a blast with all my friends and in this post I would like to highlight a few of my favorite memories.

After we landed in Seattle and finally got out of the rental car place, each of us were placed into van groups that we would travel with to the hotel and meet every day. I had the best van group ever, and it consisted of my buddies Catherine, Katie, Elise, and Bella. You could say that on the way to the hotel, we got really lost. By really lost, I mean that we went fifty miles in the opposite direction. That was really a great start to the whole trip!

Bella, Elise, Myself, and Catherine

My friend Elise, being the curious person that she is, decided to experiment with Katie’s iPhone. Since Katie’s iPhone had a life proof case on it, Elise wanted to test the depths that the phone could withstand. Thinking that it wouldn’t sink quickly, she plopped Katie’s phone into the dive tank. Within seconds, the phone hit the bottom. Everyone gathered around and stared down in awe. Luckily, Elise got the phone before it exploded!

A lot happened during our van rides to prelims and finals. Bella packed Listerine breath strips in her swim bag, but they had melted together into one due to the heat. So, she decided to put them all in her mouth at one time. For the next couple of hours, whenever you were nearby, her breath was like a minty cloud. At one point, she claimed that she could breathe through her ears.

To pass time, we rocked out to the latest hits while imitating different Vines. Cars passed by us, and the drivers looked at us like we were aliens. I’m surprised that we didn’t cause a car crash.

I met a lot of new people, including this kid named Joshua, except everyone called him Chow (a nickname he clearly deserves). He had a quirky personality, but all he really cared about was food. During our team dinners, he kept going back for more. Chow and his friends were in the hotel room next to us, and every morning he would come out of the elevator complaining that breakfast wasn’t ready. 

For this meet, we wore kneeskins, which take forever to get on. It was a girl party in the locker room, and every couple of minutes you would hear a yelp of joy or cheering, which meant that someone got their suit on. Once your kneeskin was up, it was time to celebrate! To this day, Elise has ripped several kneeskins, including the Arenas, and I don’t know how that’s possible. She truly deserves a giant prize for her efforts.

The boys were going down to hot tub on the final night after the swimmer social, and they got locked out of the hotel room in their speedos. They ended up having to go down to the front desk to get another key.

Stay tuned for Swimming Stories in Seattle: The Sequel!

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