Since my last post right before Pan Pacs I have returned to Trinidad. In retrospect it was a mistake to go but I learned a few valuable lessons from it.  It has just been too much racing and traveling and not enough training.

My swims were mediocre, 22.56 and 50.20. I was faster in April at the Spanish Open in the middle of hard training for example to give you an idea.

In the future, if I am to undertake an extended period of racing it will be crucial that I maintain my strength. I don’t mean lifting crazy heavy weights like I was but just a few reps heavy and fast to maintain my power and explosiveness while at the same time not beaking my body down too much. I had been racing continually since the beginning of June. This was great practice at the skill and race strategy level but this much time away from hard training doesn’t allow you to improve, only to maintain what you already have. After a while though you strength will taper off. I felt weaker and less explosive as a result of this at Pan Pacs which is one of the main reason I think my 50 wasn’t as fast as I was hoping.

My 100 freestyle races have been very frustrating. If I am swimming 21 and 22 low there is no reason that I shouldn’t be able to break  50 seconds anytime I want. I have been taking this race out too fast, then too slow. The bottom line is i need to change the way I approach this race. I need to step up the amount of aerobic threshold (very high intensity longer) work that I do in training, which will help me to finish the races faster while at the same time keeping up my speed to work to take me out fast in the first 50. I am going to  train more for the 100 next year to improve my ability to maintain my high end speed and then step in down in the Olympic season to just focus on the 50.

The Pan Pacs have also made me realize that I can’t do this by myself.  I have been coaching my self for 3 months now. I believe that I have learnt enough in my 20 years of competitive swimming  to be able to coach my self, but at this level intuitive feedback is crucial to making changes and correcting mistakes. I look and see my rivals and their coaches reviewing video of each race and talking about their mistakes with their coaches, then immediately setting work to correct these errors by going through the correct motions in the warm down pool. This is what I believe I need.

I am seriously considering pulling out of the upcoming Commonwealth Games in 5 weeks and and taking a short break before starting over from scratch to build up towards doing it big at the World Short Course Championships in Dubai this coming December.