The Sound of Music

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.”

During training, I am usually very focused and determined, but I welcome the encouragement of others around me. The new group that I am swimming with is not very inspiring, which is a disadvantage during practice because you can only get so much from self-motivation. Even a “you can do it” from a teammate can help me get through a set, but lately my team has not been too motivating. However, encouragement from others is not the only thing that makes me want to work harder, music can also play a factor.

I know some athletes that cannot train without music. They say it messes up their stride or focus. I am not one of those athletes, but I do occasionally like to let music drive me. In swimming, the sound of music is rare, because your head in underwater 99% of the time, and many swimmers complain about that. I have learned that sometimes it isn’t music itself that inspires me, but the lyrics, so I often sing songs to myself while I swim. Those songs help me, but there are still times when I wish I had an underwater ipod!

Yesterday’s swim workout was particularly brutal one, and about one-fourth of the way through I had run out of songs. I was starting to fade. We were do 30x 100’s and after #6, I was extremely discouraged. I kept going, slowly but surely, but when I touched the wall and went to turn on #15, everything changed. I had made the interval and was enjoying a short ten second break, when my teammate, Sarah Jabusch looks over at me and starts singing Bon Jovi. “We’re halfway there, ohh, living on a prayer-” is all I heard before she had to push off the wall to start her 16th 100, but it was enough to keep me going for the whole rest of the set. My times started to drop and things were looking up. That little “burst of song” is what drove me for the rest of the practice and it exactly what I needed.

Music can change a person, and my experience is proof of that. You don’t need fancy speakers or rhythmic drummers, just a group of kids willing to motivate each other with lyrics. Certain songs have different effects and sometimes all I need is a little Bon Jovi.

Tri-Nine XC Conference Meet Recap

Conference was the meet we had been training for all season, and would be the last race for most of us this year. Green Hope was expected to dominate the meet and take home the championship for the eighth time in nine years. There was a lot of pressure on every runner and we were all nervous.

The Green Hope High School JV team was huddled up 100 yards from the finish line, listening to a pre-race speech by one of the captains. The speech was kind of confusing and not that motivating, so my training group known as “B Company” met for our own personal pow-wow. Our group wore matching lime green shoelace that had our names and times on them, another example of how we had come together as a unified team, a force to be reckoned with. For our inspirational speech, I referenced the popular sports movie, Miracle. “Great moments come from great opportunities. And that’s what we have here tonight, that’s what we’ve earned here tonight. If we raced them ten times, they might beat us nine, but not tonight. Tonight we shut them down because we can. This is our time.” We cheered and broke from the huddle, pumped and ready. There was a lot of pressure on us to do well, and everyone on that starting line knew it.

From the very beginning, I could tell this was going to be a close race. Two of my teammates and I were in the running for the JV MVP and we all wanted to win. The race was a combined girls and guys race, so the course was crowded, and people were always around me. I was constantly looking over my shoulder to see if my competition was catching me. After the second mile, it became a race between me and one of my training partners, Rose Kim. The WakeMed course was course where the winner would be determined on the last mile, and we both knew that. We rounded the last corner and starting sprinting up the final hill. This hill was a half of a mile long and has been to known to make or break races. I raced Rose all the way up, but she pulled ahead and sprinted across the finish in a time of 20:11 to capture the JV MVP title. I finished seven seconds later with a time of 20:18, a twenty second improvement. The next three finishers were all runners from my “Company” and everyone ran great.

Green Hope captured the conference title in both the boys and the girls’ race, earning a perfect score in the girls’ race. We celebrated by taking team photos, and group photos, a great end to a great night.

B Company

4 Black Recap

If swim practice started at 6:00 a.m., my group was in the water at 5:59 a.m. The desire to be better pushed us to our limits each day and we bonded this year over painful sets, Friday Flyday and Christmas training. We all had moments where we wanted to kill Coach Jeff, at least I did, but I knew that in the end, this was where I was meant to be. Without those horrible practices, we would not have become the team we are today. This is the hardest working group I have ever practiced with –my teammates pushed me every day. I could not have imagined a better group of people to swim with eighteen hours a week.

During the school year, I was stressed about my classes all the time, but I would look forward to swim practice and TAC became a second home to me. I would sit in my last period English class watching the minutes go by on the clock, dying to be in the pool. My teammates became my family, and together we made each other keep going, no matter how demanding the set was. I cannot describe how much this year meant to me, it was the best season of my life. There were sets that I wouldn’t have made it through without my group.

At the Tom Dolan meet, it was Sage who encouraged me and helped add entertainment to a hard meet. On Christmas Eve, Taylor was the one who pushed me on that last set of 8×800’s. I don’t know if I would have kept going if it hadn’t been for her in the lane next to me, swimming the set as if it where nothing. The day before everyone left for the Eastern Classic, Haley and I suffered together through a set of 20×200’s on the 2:20, and without her that set would have become a 2000 straight. She made me give the extra effort and sprint every 200. In a set of 5×800’s it would be Sierra who would swim side-by-side with me and help me race a set I never thought I would get through. Paige was there to get me excited for my sprint races and Savannah would always be ready to race in a distance set. These people, and many more, are the ones who made my year so wonderful. The end of the season came up on me so fast, but the memories of this year will stay with me forever.

Racing the Clock

Every race is a race against the clock where every second counts and all the little things you do can either help you or hurt you in your quest for a PR. Usually, there all also people in your age group to race and push you, people that make you go a just a little harder when you feel like giving up. That was not the case for me at the Triangle Triathlon. I was the only person in the 15 & under age group and the race was me vs. the clock. All of my competitors had raced the day before and my goal was to beat their times.

When the horn blew for my wave to begin the swim, I was off. I knew I would have to have a good swim and bike in order to have some room in case something went wrong on the run. I was out of the water first, and the fastest woman overall in the swim. It seemed to go by so quickly, but the bike dragged on forever. Even though I ridden the course before, I hadn’t done it as much leading up to the race as I should have, so some hills caught me off guard. The beginning of the bike was fun because I got to race my dad. He started in the wave before me, but I caught him in the swim so we came out of T1 together. I needed to be pushed on the bike, because if I wasn’t off and running in less than an hour, I would not reach my goal time. My bike took me 56: 36, which put me right where I needed to be.

I knew I would have to run under a 25 minute 5K, which I had done in every other triathlon that season. The run was much better than last year, but there were times when I became temporarily unmotivated and wanted to slow down. I had to remind myself that I was almost done and I really wanted to break 1:36. My watch became my friend, and I checked it constantly throughout the last leg of the race. I crossed the finish line at 1:35:06, under my goal and 4 minutes faster than last year. I was very happy with the way the race went, but it won’t be my last time racing the clock. This time I beat the clock, but I need to beware, it is a relentless enemy.

Shannon

13.1 Miles

Kure Beach Race Report

If you’ve never raced an ocean triathlon before, here are a few things to consider.

1. Sand.

This turned out to be an unexpected opponent at Kure Beach this past weekend. Sand in my goggles, sand in my cap, sand in my shoes, sand in my socks, and sand in my bag. And by the way, when was the last time you ran a 300 yard sprint in the sand?

At the Kure Beach Triathlon, the first transition area is just a group of tiny stakes in the sand. Each athlete has their own wooden stick with their number written on it. Coming out of the ocean, finding my stuff was next to impossible. The stakes all looked the same and there were lots of them. I grabbed my shoes, planning to put them on when I hit the pavement. Despite my careful planning, those devious little grains still coated my feet and crunched in between my toes. The sand’s final attempt to defeat me came at the very end, as I raced down the beach towards the second swim, after completing the 20 K bike and two 1.5 mile runs. This 300 yard dash became an endless slog through the sand. I couldn’t wait to enter the ocean for the swim, but did I mention the waves?

2. Waves.

Even though swimming is my strongest leg, I was intimidated by the surf and the rolling waves. The ocean was daunting because I had never raced in such conditions. This is also the first time I had done a run-in start and that proved to be difficult as well. My start was slow and I was chasing the leaders for most of the swim. To get to the first buoy, I had to swim right into the waves and avoid crashing into other racers. There were times where I could not see the buoy when I lifted my head, because the swell covered my view. After turning the corner, the swim became easier and I raced towards the leaders. We all rode the waves into shore, kicking hard to help us along. The first swim was about “getting the hang of it,” and by the second swim I had it down.

3. Heat.

Like many other beach races, Kure beach provided no shade to block the scorching sun. On race day, the thermometer hit the mid-nineties with high humidity. The run snaked through neighborhoods, taking turn after turn but never once allowing runners a break from the heat. I was very thankful for the water stations and the spectators equipped with hoses. The second run became one of the day’s biggest challenges, because the temperature had gone up since the beginning of the race. I was covered in sweat as I finished the run and very happy to see the ocean again.

My favorite part of an ocean tri is changing out of my tri suit into my bikini for a relaxing afternoon at the beach! And if you go to Kure Beach next year, make sure you check out Squigley’s Ice Cream for a perfect post-race snack!

Rave Run: Utah Canyonlands: Spring Break 2010

For Spring Break this year, my family rented an RV and traveled to Utah to visit several national parks. My goal was to still be able to run while we were traveling and I hoped to be able to find some cool trails. The first stop was Dead Horse Point State Park, near Moab, Utah. Our RV pulled into a “parking spot,” at the campground, and we started to unload. I quickly changed into my running clothes and began to search for a trail. It didn’t take long before I found a 2.5 mile path that went out to a lookout point and came back. My dad, my mom and I set out, unsure of what the trail would be like. It was incredible. The sun was setting and the light reflected off the canyons perfectly, giving them a reddish glow. We ran on some soft sand, and then large slabs of rocks. The trail was a huge mass of land, marked with rock piles called cairns. If it weren’t for these rocks, I would have had no idea where to go and even with them, we got lost several times. We climbed up rock steps and jumped over bushes as we tried to get to the lookout. At one point, we stopped, just so we could look over the edge and marvel at how far up we were. It was unbelievable that there would be a trail that ran this close to the edge of the cliff. There were no railings or warning signs preventing you from getting close to the edge. We ran on, occasionally looking down at the Colorado River and the beautiful rock formations below.

This was the most amazing place I have ever run. It was trail running at its finest and I had never experienced anything quite like it. It was windy, but I ran comfortably on the trail, enjoying the fading sun reflecting off the rocks that I stepped over. As we neared the end of the he trail it merged with the road and led straight up to a platform where a large group of tourists were looking over the edge of the canyon.  It was a cool view, but nothing compared to what you saw while running. While running, there was no barrier that prevented you from getting close to the edge; you could see whatever you wanted from wherever you wanted. It was freedom. By the time we reached the lookout, it was too dark to run back, so my cousins drove us back on the paved path, which ran parallel to the trail. I was sad that I couldn’t run back, but grateful for the rest, since it had been a hard journey up. That night I thought about running the trail again in the morning.  I have never looked forward to a run as much as I did that night. I knew that the next day, I would get to run the trail one more time before we moved on to the next campsite. 

Dead Horse Point  is  the coolest place I have ever run!

State Champs: The Perfect Medium

Thursday:

There is always a lot of pressure on Thursday. It is
the first day of the meet and the momentum of the entire weekend is
riding on one swim. The 1000 is an interesting race to start off with
because there are many different way to attack the event, but I decided
I was going to go all out from the start and hope for the best. Coaches
never advise this, but I thought that maybe, I would still be able to
close hard after going out really hard. I was wrong. As soon as I hit
the water, all my nerves went away. The first few strokes you take
determine how the rest of the race will go. I went out hard. My first
100 was a 58.9 and my first 200 was a 2:03.2, a best time. I was
looking strong and feeling good as I reached the 250. A quarter of the
way into my first race of the weekend and I was leading the heat. 250
yards later I was at 5:22.46, another best time, and I had reached the
half way mark. At this point, I was exhausted. I wanted to stop, rest,
and drink some water, but instead I had another 500 to swim. I was
dying. I thought maybe it would be okay, if I took the next 100 a
little easier, stretch out my stroke a little. Ah, it felt so good. I
tried to pick up my pace for the next 300, but my arms just wouldn’t do
it. I maintained the pace of my 6th 100, for the rest of the way. With
four laps to go in this deathly event, I was still leading; however, I
finished fourth, when I hit the wall. . I had been passed by three
people, all in the span of 1:05:39. My time was a 10:58, which was a
best time, but I knew I could do better. I’ve never felt so dizzy after
a race than I did then. Clearly, I had taken it out too hard and my
strategy had not worked. I would later learn that this meet was all
about teaching me the perfect medium in distance freestyle and this
race was just a learning experience.

Friday:

Friday
is always the most fun day of the meet. I get to swim the 100 fly and
the 400 IM, two of my favorite events. The 100 fly is a sprint and I
love swimming it. I get to race, hard, and it only consists of four
laps; what could be better? The thing that gets me most psyched up to
swim the 100 fly is when my coach tells me I am not a sprinter. I enjoy
proving people wrong and if somebody tells me I can’t do something, my
goal is to prove that I can. The top 16 in each event get to come back
and swim the race again in finals. While this may not sound like much
fun, it is a reward to get a second swim and is the goal at a meet like
this. I wanted to make finals in the 100 fly, but I knew I would have
to drop at least two seconds, not an easy thing to do in a 100. When I
got up to the blocks, I was focused, but excited. I knew this would be
fun. The first two laps felt great, as they always do, and the third
25, was all about kicking harder than the first two laps. The last 25,
nothing ever feels right and today was no exception.  My arms were on
autopilot and I was just doing what I had been trained to do. Finishes
are important and I smashed my hands so hard into the wall, and then
immediately looked at the clock. 1:03:24! A new sectional cut! I was
thrilled, but I didn’t have much time to celebrate before I had to
warm-up for my next race, the 400 IM. In this race, I would start off
swimming the 100 fly again, followed by the 100 back, 100 breaststroke
and 100 freestyle. I got to race one of my teammates, Claire L., in
this race and that always makes me go faster. After the butterfly, I
was at a 1:05:88 which was a pretty good time for me.  I have to go out
hard in the fly because my middle 200 isn’t as strong. The backstroke
was all about trying to catch my breath and go as fast as possible
while doing so. People say that breaststroke is the “make it or break
it” stroke in the 400 IM, but for me it is all about surviving. The
freestyle is where I shine. I was not able to pass as many people as I
had hoped in the free, because I had gotten passed in the breaststroke,
but I still brought it back strong enough to drop 7 seconds and get my
sectional cut. After the 400 IM, I was very exhausted, but I was only
halfway done with my brutal meet schedule.

Saturday:

Saturday
was a very interesting day. It started out with the 200 fly, which was
my worst event of the weekend. I never enjoy swimming this event and my
heat was fast, which makes it even more discouraging. I was in pain the
entire time, and couldn’t wait for it to end. I ended up adding just
under a second, but I was not too disappointed. The second event that
day was the 500 free. I had swum the 500 free every week for my high
school team and still had problems with it. Despite the fact that the
race requires a counter, it is a sprint, all 20 laps of it. I was
nervous, but I knew I could at least go a 5:22, because that’s what I
had got out in the 1000. When I starter beeped, I took off, and started
strong. I felt good, but I had no idea what my splits were. The race
went by pretty fast and produced a lot less pain that the 1000. When I
touched the wall, I was satisfied with my 5:22.12 and felt
accomplished. After talking to my coach, I learned that this time was
good enough to make it back for finals. Finals are later in the evening
and only the top 16 in each event are invited back. You get to swim
your event again with the hopes of dropping and placing higher than you
did in the morning (prelims.) In my case, it meant swimming the 500
free all over again. After my race, I got home as fast as I could, so I
would be able to get the most rest possible. I watched movies and laid
down for a while before I had to come back to the pool. I came to
warm-ups late because I was the last event of the night and I would
have plenty of time to warm-up on my own. I did several 100’s trying to
hold 500 pace. I was feeling pretty good, but I wouldn’t really know
how good I was feeling until I dove in for the first 50. I was in what
is called the “B” final, with all the people who placed between 9th and
16th place. I was seeded 12th, which meant that the fastest seed would
be swimming right next to me. The fastest seed was actually my teammate
and good friend Claire F., who I swam many distance events with. I
always enjoyed racing her, because she made me push myself and this
race would be no different. The starter called us up to the blocks, we
took our marks and then we were off. I tried to take it out long but
strong, a combination I been working on for the last few weeks. I
flipped in first place after the first 100, 200 and 300, but Claire was
not giving up easily. We raced hard the fourth hundred and she flipped
.12 ahead of me with one 100 to go. In my head, I had been winning the
whole time and I did not want to lose. I sprinted the last hundred and
closed in a low 1:03. I slammed my hand into wall as fast as I could,
and luckily it was fast enough. I finished with a 5:16:06, a solid 6
second drop from this morning, putting me in 9th place overall and
first place in the B Final. I had found the perfect medium. My stroke
felt good and I was feeling happy and confident. That was the swim I
needed going into Sunday’s big race. I was pumped and ready.

Sunday:

Sunday
morning I had to swim the 50 free as part of the 200 freestyle B relay.
This relay was in the morning, so I had to be at the pool by 6:30 and
ready to race by 8. Although I hate to admit it, I was not focused on
this 50 free like I should I have been. I was in a completely different
zone. All I could think about was the mile tonight and this 50 free was
just something I had to get over with. My mental attitude towards the
short 50 was reflected in my performance. I was the lead off swimmer
for my relay but I did not give my team the start they needed. When I
finished, the clock read 27.68, almost a full second slower than my
best time and by far the slowest time of my relay. The next three girls
swam great and we finished 7th, two seconds under our seed time, but no
thanks to me. After the relay, I changed into dry clothes and went back
home to rest. I had six hours before the biggest race of my life.
During the next six hours, I had to make a very important decision;
what should I eat? I settled on a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter,
a fruit smoothie with protein and strawberries, plus lots of water.  I
arrived at the pool one hour before warm-ups started. I was going crazy
and pacing in the house and I had to go. Once I got to the pool, I felt
a lot better, because I knew I wouldn’t be late. The 1O &Under
swimmers were swimming at this time, so I watched some of their races,
and tried not to think about mine. My coach seemed confident that I
could drop, but I wasn’t so sure.  The last time I had swam the mile, I
had a great race, competing side by side with one of my teammates, much
like the 500 on Saturday.  Swimming the mile was bad enough, but adding
in it just made it worse and that was my biggest fear.  My goal going
into the race was to get a medal. The top eight swimmers would receive
one, and I was seeded sixth. Earlier that morning, the third seed had
scratched, declaring that she would not be racing. This bumped me up to
fifth, and in contention for Select Camp, which was a special camp for
the top five in each event. I was getting more and more nervous. With
minutes to spare before the race, the officials were trying to decide
if we would be “walking out” or just starting behind the blocks.
“Walking Out” means that the heat gets to march from behind the back
pool towards the blocks following a sign with music playing in the
background. They eventually decided that we would be walking and that
we should go sit in the chairs behind the back pool. Dressed in my suit
and a parka, I joined the rest of my heat in our designated chairs. We
were all nervous. It was a mile and so many things could go wrong.
Every single person sitting with me wished it was just 50 yards, but we
knew it would be 33 times that amount. We began to talk about the worst
case scenarios and what we would do if something went wrong. I wanted
to know if it was legal to stop and fix my goggles or cap if it fell
off, since it would be hard to swim blind for 66 laps. My teammate
Hannah, said that she thought it was legal as long as I didn’t push off
the bottom. That is the last thing I remember before we were called up
to the blocks, the song “Sandstorm” playing in the background.

In
a mile, the first three strokes set the tone of the entire race. I can
usually tell after the first 100 if I am going to add or drop. When the
starter told us to take our marks, I gripped the block hard, and when I
heard the beep, I was off.  The first 100 felt good and that was a
reassuring sign. I had settled in to what I hoped was a strong pace. I
knew that if I beat 3 people in my heat, I would make Select Camp but I
couldn’t tell what place I was in. I kept pace with the girl to the
left of me for the first 200, but then increased my pace and edged in
front. I was feeling good, and the coaches looked happy, but the
counter read 15, which meant I wasn’t even a quarter of the way there.
If the person counting for you holds the counter, it means keep the
pace, but if they shake it, then you need to go faster. My counter was
held for 99% of the race, but every once in a while it would shake. I
wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew my coach had a plan for me. I
could tell that I was ahead of both the girls next to me, and I was
assuming somebody else, so I was guessing I was in fifth. At lap 51, I
wanted the race to be over, not because I was dying, but because I
didn’t want to be passed. The water felt cool and my stroke felt
smooth, but it was a hard smooth and the sooner it was over, the
better. When the counter said 63 I smiled. The next time I would see
it, the white square would show two red blocks, meaning “last 25.” When
I flipped at the wall, I knew I had only 4 laps to go. I could hear the
bell ringing signaling that there was only one more 50 for the lead
swimmer. This meant that she had laped me, but I had expected that to
happen so it was okay. I raced the last 100 all out, because I was
trying to lap the girl on the other side of me. I touched the wall as
fast as I could, and saw that I had beaten her to the wall.  Satisfied,
I looked at the scoreboard to see my time and place. I was third with a
17:58! I had broken the eighteen minute mark and I would get to stand
on the podium! Nothing could ever replace the feeling of knowing I had
achieved the one major goal I set this season. I hoped out of the pool,
tired but overjoyed, and immediately went to congratulate the other
swimmers. We talked about the race and how we pushed each other, and it
was so cool to be included in this group of incredible distance
swimmers. The medal ceremony began by announcing 8th place, then 7th
and so on. I had never won a medal in year round swimmer before this
moment and it is not something I will forget. My name was called along
with the names of the fastest milers in the state and the feeling of
standing on the third place spot on the podium was indescribable. I
have won other things in my life, triathlons, summer league races, and
so on, but I have never felt more proud than I did that night on the
third place block. I had found a new stroke that night and everything
was better than I had ever imagined.

 

Running In The Dark

When we turned the clocks back, we gained light at night, but in return got darkness in the morning. It’s going to take some getting used to, but I will miss one thing: Running in the Dark at night. Before the time change, I used to come home from swim practice at 6:45 p.m., eat a Powerbar and be out running by 7:15 p.m. I could usually squeeze in five miles at the most, before I would have to be back, to do my homework. To some people, running after swim practice may seem like torture, but I loved it. It is hard, to come home hungry, and have to go running while everyone else is eating, but once I start running, I feel great. Very rarely do I run badly after swim practice. The night is peaceful and it is just you and the sound of your feet hitting the sidewalk. You can think, be in your own world and escape the stress of life for 45 minutes. It’s a great feeling, but with the time change, I will have to wait until next winter to do it again.   Unless, of course, I follow my coach’s advice and run early in the morning…

    Shannon’s Guide to Night Running: What you need and why

    •    Shoes- These are very important. I haven’t gone without my shoes yet, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to try it.
    •    Shorts and a t-shirt- Even if it is cold out, I usually just wear shorts and a t-shirt. I warm-up as soon as I start going and then I don’t have to carry a jacket with me
    •    Reflective Vest- I feel safer wearing this. It makes it easier for cars to see you, and when the light hits it, the vest glows, which makes you look cool.
    •    Flashing Light- This is a red light that I clip on to the back of my shorts, so the cars that are behind me can see that I am coming.
    •    Spotlight Hat- This hat is really cool. It’s an adjustable mesh baseball-like hat, with a light button on the front. When you press the button, the light turns on, allowing you to see what is in front of you. This is especially good if you are running near icy sidewalks or bumpy roads.
    •    A Running Partner- While it is easy to get lost in your own world at night, running partners make things a lot more interesting. My running partner pushes me and our conversations make me forget about the pain.
    •    A Sense of Humor- People will give you strange looks. That’s okay. Smile and keep going.
    •    Latin Flashcards- Okay, this is not recommended at all. I only add this to the list because, if you have a running partner who is also taking the same class you are taking, and you run together, it is possible to study together. However, if you do decide to try this, make sure you have a light and at least one partner to hold the cards. I would also advise staying on the sidewalk in a neighborhood and off the streets. Studying while running may be dangerous, but it provides added brain power!

Holiday Training Recap

Tomorrow is my last day of Holiday Training before school starts. It has been a very eventful two weeks.

It all started on December 19th, my first swim practice since school let out. We began this awful “Christmas Training” with the famous “12 Days of Christmas” swim set.

Here is a quick summary of this three hour practice:
Warm-up=400 free+ 400 IM kick
8×125 IM order (25 drill-25 swim-25 drill-25 swim-25 drill) @ 2:00
3×400 freestyle pull @ 4:50 descend 1-3
24×50 butterfly with kick with fins @:40
1×1000 free 80% effort
8×75 fly/free/fly by 25 @1:00
+ 2,650 more yards of assorted strokes and drills

After that practice we had the rest of the weekend off and we all enjoyed in preparation for the week to come.  However, I still had to get my run in so my day off became my run day. I ran 4 miles and then went home to finally rest.

Monday the 21st was a great hint of what was to come. We swam 8,500 yards in the 3 hour morning practice and then 6,000 in the two hour evening one. Tuesday the 22nd was the same kind of setup. We swam from 7-10 in the morning for about 8,700 yards and then 3-5 in the evening with about 5,800 yards. And if two days in a row of doubles we had the same thing on Wednesday.
 
Thursday morning was the big one, four hours of hard swimming, from 8-12. No one was excited, but attendance was mandatory so there we were, at the pool at 7:59 am. The cold water looked so unappealing and no one wanted to get in. It took the threatening of butterfly to finally convince us that jumping in the water was a good idea. The first hour came and went with minimal pain. However, we celebrated each passing hour as a milestone in this very, very long journey. Once we got to the two hour mark, we were rewarded with a ten minute snack break. This was a nice, short chance to recover and brace ourselves for what was to come.

We had just completed a brutal set of 5×800 IMs (200 of each stroke) and we were tired. The coaches told us that the next two hours would be the hardest to get through, mentally. They told us that we were all physically capable of making it, but I wasn’t so sure. The third hour was hard, but we wouldn’t know the true meaning of hard, until the last and final hour. Our last set was 8×400@ 5:20 and this is where I truly felt the effects of four hours of swimming. This would normally be a fairly easy interval for me, but that day, I was barely making it, getting less than three seconds of rest each 400. I had never felt in so much pain in my arms ever before. I could barely move them around to take a stroke. The last 400 became a race between me and the person in the lane next to me and we were both so tired. Once we touched the wall at the same time, my arms started to shake. The 200 warm-down that we did, consisted mostly of me kicking on my back, sucking in air and trying to rest my arms. Now that this was finally over, we could smile. Christmas was the next day and we had completed the only thing standing in the way of truly enjoying the holiday.

I had a very nice Christmas and enjoyed the day off.

December 26th: Saturday was the day I would get to fly out to New Jersey to visit my friend Kylie. But first I had to bike. The ride was really short and was just a chance to get out on my new bike and try it out. All was well, and then it was off to New Jersey.

December 27th: The swim coaches had given us the weekend off (aren’t they nice!) so I decided to enjoy mine. Today was a day of total rest from swimming, running and biking but I did get to play laser tag and mini golf with Kylie, so that was really fun!

December 28th: Today I would get to swim with a swim team in New Jersey, GPAC (Greater Philadelphia Aquatic Club.) It was interesting to swim with another team, but overall we did about the same yardage, so I feel like I got a lot out of the practice. Wave may be a little harder than this team, but it is hard to compare because I don’t know as much about what phase of training they are in compared to us.      
December 29th: I got home really late on the 28th, but that didn’t stop me from arriving at TAC at 6:50 for Tuesday’s morning practice. It was good to be home, and the 8,000 yard morning workout with my team made me feel glad to be back. Round two that afternoon was just as hard as the morning. The coaches swam us hard, but as usual we felt a lot better when we were done.          

December 30th: Today was another one of those practices that lasts forever. It was three hours, just like all the rest but it seemed to drag on forever. This was probably due to the fact that I knew I wouldn’t have to come back that afternoon because I was going on a bike ride with my coach, Stacey Richardson, and two fellow triathletes, Forrest and Lili.  The ride was scheduled for two o’clock so I would get one hour less rest than I would have if I were going swimming. It was cold on the bike and the ride was hard. We rode for almost two hours for a distance of 35 miles. It was nice not to have to swim again, but there is no doubt that the bike was equal to, if not harder, than the typical afternoon practice.

December 31st: This would be our last official Christmas Training practice and we were all excited. However, the coaches planned on killing us, and they made sure to let us know that. We did about 8,000 yards that morning, during the three hours, mostly consisting of hard, fast, swimming. There was only one practice that day and afterwards we all went out to CiCi’s pizza to celebrate.                  

Shannon’s Facebook Status’s through Holiday Training:                  
Shannon: is so tired from Christmas Training! I want to sleep! Dec. 22, 7:44 pm
Shannon: is so tired from our lovely four hour practice! Dec. 24, 4:09 pm
Shannon: is going to New Jersey for a couple of days and is really excited! Dec. 26, 11:08 am
Shannon:  survived Christmas Training! Dec. 31, 5:12       

Tom Dolan Speedo Invitational: The Mile

Thursday was the big day, the start of the meet we had been training for all fall. The first event was the 1650 free and it was my best and longest race. That morning, we had a mini practice of 1,200 yards, so our muscles would be loose when it was time to race. Our coach had rental a rental car for those going up early to swim the mile, so me and three other fellow milers piled in and set out on the 4.5 hour drive. The Tom Dolan Speedo Invitational was hosted by Curl-Burke Aquatics, a team from Potomac Valley in Washington, DC. We would swim at George Mason University for the meet which would be an interesting change of scenery because most of our meets are at the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC).

The meet was scheduled to start at 6:45 that night, so at 5:30 we were in the water, warming up. The pool was crowded but not as crowded as it would be over the next three days. My goal for the 1650 was, of course, to drop time, but specifically get the AAA time, which was an 18:31. That time would require me to hold just under 1:08 for every 100 but my best time was an 18:50. I hadn’t swum this race in a very long time and I was looking forward to seeing how fast I could go. My heat was the sixth to go off, and I was very nervous. The rest of my team had arrived up on the team bus by this point and they were lined up on the side of the pool ready to cheer.  I was ready to swim.

I decided to go out of fast and try and hold it, and my first 50 was a 28.97 and I was 1.00.7 at the 100. At this point I was staying with the person in lane 2, who would end up winning the race. I flipped at 2:06:90 at the 200, but I could feel that my pace was fast and I wanted to slow down. I knew I couldn’t swim that pace for 58 more laps. At the 500 I was at 5:28:49 and I was starting to tire. This is definitely not a good time to feel fatigue because you aren’t even halfway done. The 850 mark soon came and I got excited, I was over halfway done, then I realized I still had an 800 to go. It started to go bad mentally after that. I got really tired and my abs were killing me. It was all about putting on hand in front of the other and getting to the next wall. I tried to maintain a steady pace, but it was becoming challenging. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. At the 1000 mark I was at 11:09, only three seconds off my best 1000 time. The next 650 was brutal but I managed to keep swimming and touch the wall 26 laps later, happy as a clam that the race was over. I was also thrilled to see that I had gone an 18:27, four seconds under my goal time. I was very happy with that swim and it was a great start to what was a really fun weekend.

Check Out My Video Clip – I am in lane 1.