Don't just try. Give it your ALL.

So with the condition of my shoulders I have worked out a plan to bring my swim times down, even if it means not being a senior swimmer becuase my practice count will drop to 4-5 practices a week. The fact is, my shoulders are not like other peoples and I'm going to have to work around that. How am I going to do this? Let me tell you. Instead of swimming 6-7 practices a week, I'm going to bring it down to 4-5 practices, reducing the amount of inflammation and stress being put on my shoulders, enabling me to seriously haul some butt during practice without feeling like my arms are popping out of their sockets. Gross. To make up for my lack of attendance, I'm going to run every other morning, even on the weekends, varying the time, distance, and sprints, even adding in some push-up/squat/lunges in to keep it spicy with the sprints. I will work in some strength training in my core 15-20 minutes everyday at home. Now add in weight training every other day ( the days I don't run ) at the gym for 45 minutes, and I mean some serious weight training, and I should be pretty whooped by the end of the week just the same as any of the seniors.

Now on Sundays however, I will only do my core work with a very light run. From day to day I will be switching my carb/fat/protein Intakes, and eating most of my carbs before and after work outs to maximize the affects of carbohydrates for the better. So a day that I lift and swim, I will eat around 3000 calories, consisting of 60-80 grams fat, 120-130 grams protein, and 300+ carbs. The days that I run and swim will be 2500 calories consisting of  about 80 grams fat, 120-125 grams protein, and 200-260 carbs. The reason I am eating more when I lift weights and swim is because, for me, lifting depletes my energy stores for the day more so than when I just run and swim. Also weight lifting generally keeps your body on the calorie burning highway longer than cardio does. But it varies from person to person, things like gender, weight, hight, age, and body type have to all be taken into account, and that's why you shouldn't follow a particular persons diet. What's spectacular for one person could be death for another. I want to thank Bear_fitness on Instagram for their great posts that I use in my blog! Check them out for great motivation :) 

 

Remember, we all have the same 24 hours. How you choose to spend yours is up to you. wether you laze through practice, or give it all you've got, it's your choice alone. No one else controls that. So either you can suck it up, or regret it later. Give it everything this week, don't let the case of the Mondays get the best of you, and instead make the best of the Mondays! Let it be a set up for the rest of the week. 

Born for the 500

Hey guys! So last week I mentioned a couple songs that where real spirit up lifters, I wanted to share my music playlist of songs that I listen to to get my adrenaline pumping and ready to swim fast at a swim meet:
1. Bezerk by Eminem
2. Flux and Flow by Siberia
3. Numb/Encore by Jay-z and Linkin Park
4. You gotta want it by Papa Roach
5. We Still In this B**** by B.o.B
6. Let it die by Three Days Grace
7. Run this town by Jay-z
8. 'Till I Collapse by Eminem
9. Rock you like a hurricane by Scorpions
10. Survival by Eminem 
Haha yes some of these songs are old, but they still get me fired up. Tonight is the homecoming football game, and tomorrow is homecoming! I'm absolutely thrilled for the start of this weekend to begin. This year seemed to skip Autumn and go straight to winter, with temperatures just beginning to reach freezing by nightfall. I am not too impressed. During the week my swim coach and I discovered my hidden talent for the 500 Freestyle, during a set in which we did 4 x 500s in which I was beating my best time on all of them. I was able to keep a strong pace, and as my coach would say, embraced the suckyness of it. Why can't I be good at a 100? I absolutely nearly fear the 200. I've never been a real sprinter, and switching between a even, slowish, pace to full out sprint just isn't my thing. But I can hold a strong pace required for the 500. Here are some tips for swimming a 500 freestyle both in practice and a race:
1. Keep your stroke long and even, establish a comfortable breathing pattern, breathing to each side to prevent a cramp.
2. Keep your focus on how your STROKE feels and not on how YOU feel. Think about the water gliding past you, count your strokes, focus on keeping your kick alive. 
3. KICK! Your legs are there for a reason, don't just drag them behind you. They aren't a drag suit. 
4. Embrace the suckyness of it ( Swim coach quote ).
5. The water is your friend, do not fight it. Use it to propel you forward.
6. Make sure you rotate, a longer stroke = more ground ( or water ;) ) coverage as well as preventing shoulder problems.
7. My friend once told me, if you ever get a cramp, just breath out HARD. Yes it sounds weird, looks weird, and maybe even feels weird, but guess what? It works! 
Stay hungry and motivated all you swimmers out there! Never lose the thirst for chlorine. 

I Refuse to Sink

Hey guys, I've realized that I have been neglecting my blog quite a bit, and that's going to change. From now on, I will be posting twice a week, Mondays and Fridays, in the evening. These past two weeks have been rough for me, I had lost some of my inner motivation for my sport, competitive swimming, and this week I finally picked myself up with the help of my dad and swim coach. I had started feeling like I wasn't good enough, like I was being judged, and just burning myself out as well as losing sleep and my self confidence. Over the weekend I convinced myself that I wasn't going to swim and make myself miserable so something needed to change. I had to stop thinking that I couldn't do this or that, the interval was too fast, I didn't have a good day, or whatever other excuse I was making up in my head that wasn't positive twoards myself. All the fun was being sucked out of swimming. I took a step back and refocused on my goals, one of them being that I'm going to have fun at practice and stop being so hard on myself, and on Monday of this week I came back strong and ready to kick butt, AS WELL as have fun and enjoy myself, and I accomplished that. Today I went to morning practice, the gym, and afternoon practice. It nearly killed me, but I refuse to sink! I made practice fun for myself, laughing and thinking positive.

Last week I promoted to Airman in my Civil air patrol, although it's one of the lower rankings, I consider it to be a huge step in my life. I did something that I've been wanting to do for the last year!.

I recently discovered a song that really spoke to me, it's a song I wish I could have heard a few years ago, it's called More beautiful you By Jonny Diaz. All you girls especially, give it a listen! It speaks the truth. There can never be a more beautiful you! Also, another uplifting song I really like, Brave by Sarah Bareilles, got my spirits up and also gave me the courage to say what I wanted to say and help another swimmer out with her shoulder troubles. Music has always been a big part of my life in some way, it motivates me, inspires me, gets my adrenaline pumping through my veins to push through the last few reps or miles, makes me happy when I'm sad, and gets my mind off of troubling things. A goal of mine is to pick others up when they fall down, and to teach them to be their own hero so that when things get rough, they can come back stronger on their own. I want to be able to inspire other girls to just focus on being the best that THEY themselves can be, and to not worry about who they aren't being, what they aren't doing, what boys like them, and 

to just focus on living their lives, enjoying their family, respecting themselves, and have high self confidence in themselves. And Vice Versa for you guys as well! Never lower your standards just to be accepted by someone, or to seem "cool" or whatever it is you're trying to attempt. If somebody doesn't accept you for they way you are, forget them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with just being you.  A few of the pictures I use are not owned by me and I do not take credit for them, except for the CAPS photo of me:)