Here's my checklist of things I've done so far to help me prep my mind/body for competition:
- I ordered my tech suit. Mine is black/sapphire. My teammate Josh, or as we call him Shoes, works at a swim store and is bringing it back for me from spring break. It's bad ass and beautiful and I cannot wait to compete in it.
- I made a master spreadsheet of my times so far this season. I broke most of my races down by 25 times. I've been able to analyze my splits and fine-tune my sprinting. 10/10 would recommend.
- I had a fantastic last meet of the season at the University of Illinois. While I didn't PR, I held some times that I haven't been able to be consistent with all season. It went exactly how I wanted my last meet before ECCs to go.
- I changed my laptop background to a celebratory photo of the women's medley from the 2012 London Olympics. Nothing is more motivating than the look of pure joy on a swimmer's face after a race.
Things I didn't plan to do before ECCs, but they happened anyways: I sprained my right ankle.
I am so unsuited for land that walking is what took out my ankle. Instead of focused training over spring break, I spent my time icing my ankle and pulling. I'm still recovering, but I did finally swim a full practice yesterday.
Unfortunately, I am too competitive to stop swimming, especially this close to nationals. Swollen ankle or not, I will be on that block in my tech suit, ready to take on my races. I'm out for an individual medal this time around, and I will not be stopped on my quest to the podium.
Here's a throwback to our 4x200 free relay (I'm the one actually swimming in this)
And here's our 4x50 free relay standing on the podium with our second place medals.
