Progress & Process

Finishing college has allowed me to start enjoying the small things about training again. More often than not it’s the small things that make the biggest difference, they are usually the least obvious but their importance should not be underestimated.

Celtic Tri-Nations is on in Swansea from may 27th – 29th. Tri-Nations is always a good competition and there are usually some fast swimmers to race against. It is the the first time since 2009 that I am swimming for an Irish team at international competition. There is something different about racing for Ireland when it’s against Celts from two other countries. There is a similar quiet competitiveness amongst the three nations that can make racing each other very interesting.

Day one is the 200 fly for me, the heats were a pleasant surprise. A 2.07.0 was a good swim in the heats and 2.07.1 added an air of consistency to my day. Big swims from my team mates as well today, Karl Burdis on the men’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay that saw them win the race and Niamh O’Sullivan as part of the women’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay with the Irish girls dominating from start to finish.

Day two was my main event, the 400IM. I had no racing in the morning but the final of the 400IM in the afternoon session. My time was a 2.39 which is PB +12sec, not a great swim by any stretch of the imagination but I followed up with an ok swim on the men's 4 x 200 freestyle relay. The whole team had a busy night of racing and I think some of us were the feeling it a bit.But some words of wisdom from Coach Banks reassured us in what we had to do the next day.

Day three, I hadn’t been feeling great on the final day of the gala, a bit of an upset stomach, the details are a bit gruesome. I took the heat swim in the morning at a “steady” pace, touching in a 2.19. For my afternoon swim I decided to have a go despite not feeling well. Clocking a 2.09 was a good swim I thought all things considered. Our guys 4 x 100 Medley relay put up a really good fight, leading at the half way mark, only to be touched out at the wall by Scotland in a tight finish.

Sometimes you just have to get up and get the job done as best as you can, you never know what your situation may be come a big meet. A valuable learning experience. It’s always important to have something to bring back to the training pool from a swim meet, even if it didn’t meet all your expectations.

Getting a blackberry in the very near future, my tweets are going to be awesome….YEAH SON! http://twitter.com/#!/Swynning_Man89

Results: http://www.welshasa.co.uk/liveresults/

Finals & Freedom

Sometimes it’s hard to balance everything going on in your life, sometimes you need to take a step back and relax.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/188/4/8/Frankie_Says_Relax_Design_by_mrockz.png

Final exams are tough but they’re just part of college life. If you’re going to devote 4 years of your life to doing something you might as well do well out of it.

I have a feeling training is going to be awesome when I really get back into it. Qualifying for WUG’s was a big pressure off . This is the first time I’ve qualified for a major international meet since 2005 and I’m loving it.

You have to do what you love and love what you do. What you do isn’t always fun but you still enjoy it.

Still getting used to this blog thing…

Every moment is an experience.
Jake Roberts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Swynning_Man89

First Post

So I've decided to start up this blog to see what type of reaction I get. I'm just out of an awesome National Championships, where I won three national titles and got a Irish Senior Record, and a mountain of work is ahead of me over the next couple of weeks. Got my finals to do...5 of them. I guess it's not so bad, I could be studying chemistry. Still have a little of the buzz left from Friday nights swim, it hasn't quite sunk in that I'm getting to race in China in August. I'm guessing talking slower and louder won't work in China, as it hasn't worked anywhere else when trying to get non-english speaking people to understand me. It can't be true that the chinese alphabet has something like 3000 characters can it? Is there a form of chinese that might be better suited to me, something along the lines of Spanglish, Hector Irish?

I'm hoping to have way more entertaining stuff on this site once I figure out how to use it. It's actually a lot more complicated than I thought. For now I guess the easiest way to keep up with me is twitter @Swynning_man89 . Not quite as fancy as a blog but I'm hoping to catch on quick.

What is possible for one is possible for all - Mahatma Gandhi