Another rough week

Oct
5

Another rough week

Posted by Kevin Doak on Wednesday at: 8:46am (October 5th, 2011)

Over the past week I've enjoyed some very good coaching as well as two of the hardest practices of my life.  Monday I got sick, most likely from pushing myself too hard with work and swim.  Then yesterday I injured my neck yet again.  I've been doing this thing to my neck since my freshman year in high school.  I'll do a dive or breathe quickly swimming freestyle and it will tweak some muscles in the bottom of my neck which takes about 2 weeks to heal.  In the mean time it's difficult to turn my head and makes sleeping nearly impossible due to the pain.

Yesterday I asked Coach Mark Hill if I should rest a day before my Milan Masters Meet.  He had an interesting point of view.  His opinion was to not let up at all regarding training.  If I were to rest and swim poorly, I would be emotionally affected.  His recommendation is to still swim a hard practice on Saturday, stay emotionally unattached to any swims on Sunday.  Therefore, if I swim well, I can say "great, I swam awesome".  If I don't swim very well, my reaction will be "oh well, I'm broken down so it makes sense".  It was an interesting point of view which I agree with.  It will give me additional race experience and I won't care if I swim poorly.  

Training Quote
"Your frustration is derived from the fact that you understand the flaw in your stroke, I'm ok with that. It's far better than being upset because you don't understand the issue." - Coach Mark Hill
|