In The Best Shape of My Life
Jun
25In The Best Shape of My Life
Posted by Kevin Doak on Thursday at: 3:25pm (June 25th, 2009)
I'm making incredible progress :)
In the pool I feel faster, more controlled and my endurance has increased. Due to all my dryland exercises, my balance has improved and I feel more well rounded as an athlete. My reaction times are better than they've ever been. It's odd to even comment on something so abstract but I feel more aware of my surroundings and find myself catching the random falling object with precision and coordination. I only say it because it's such a drastic difference over the past year or so. I feel sharper and smarter about training. My food intake is more natural and contains less ingredients. I've achieved everything I have without taking a single medication, supplement or vitamin of any sort. My times in practice are very consistent. In the past I would get broken down and my motivation would decrease. Now I find myself pushing myself harder than I thought possible. I show up early to practice and finish every single meter as it's written... a sharp contrast to my college career. I'm the most flexible I've been in my entire life. For a person with such pathetic hamstring flexibility I can now reach past my toes during a sitting stretch. I can run at a decent pace with good form. I'm 168.4 lbs in a swim suit and I feel lean and strong. A natural byproduct of training so much is that my body is undergoing slight changes in the way of muscle definition. I have a support group consisting of other skilled swimmers in practice. They push me in practice and I push myself to improve. I said 4 months ago I wanted to be able to say I'm the fastest swimmer I've ever been at the age of 28. I've already lowered my times in 10 of the 23 events I've focused my attention on over the last 9 months. I've achieved multiple Masters Swimming national records in the last 12 months and I'm aiming at a few world records in the next 12 months. Just a few months ago I once again swam a low 25 second 50 meter backstroke short course meters. At 25.15 and 25.22 I'm 0.10 to 0.17 seconds away from the world record of 25.05. My 100 meter backstroke long course meters time of 57.00 is faster than the world record in Masters. I have a shot to break both records in the next 6 months. I can honestly say I'm in the best shape of my life RIGHT NOW. I see no reason why I won't keep improving. I'm committed to keeping swimming a top priority in my life and for all the reasons I've already mentioned I don't feel like I'm anywhere near "peaking". I still have a very long way to go to achieve both my public and private goals but I'm doing all the things necessary to achieve them all. I'm proud of myself.
I have some drastic life and training changes planned for the next year. My plans are very much so "up in the air" right now and therefore I won't write about them. Things will be changing for the better though!
Thank you for the interest and support of all my friends and family, I appreciate you all!
In the pool I feel faster, more controlled and my endurance has increased. Due to all my dryland exercises, my balance has improved and I feel more well rounded as an athlete. My reaction times are better than they've ever been. It's odd to even comment on something so abstract but I feel more aware of my surroundings and find myself catching the random falling object with precision and coordination. I only say it because it's such a drastic difference over the past year or so. I feel sharper and smarter about training. My food intake is more natural and contains less ingredients. I've achieved everything I have without taking a single medication, supplement or vitamin of any sort. My times in practice are very consistent. In the past I would get broken down and my motivation would decrease. Now I find myself pushing myself harder than I thought possible. I show up early to practice and finish every single meter as it's written... a sharp contrast to my college career. I'm the most flexible I've been in my entire life. For a person with such pathetic hamstring flexibility I can now reach past my toes during a sitting stretch. I can run at a decent pace with good form. I'm 168.4 lbs in a swim suit and I feel lean and strong. A natural byproduct of training so much is that my body is undergoing slight changes in the way of muscle definition. I have a support group consisting of other skilled swimmers in practice. They push me in practice and I push myself to improve. I said 4 months ago I wanted to be able to say I'm the fastest swimmer I've ever been at the age of 28. I've already lowered my times in 10 of the 23 events I've focused my attention on over the last 9 months. I've achieved multiple Masters Swimming national records in the last 12 months and I'm aiming at a few world records in the next 12 months. Just a few months ago I once again swam a low 25 second 50 meter backstroke short course meters. At 25.15 and 25.22 I'm 0.10 to 0.17 seconds away from the world record of 25.05. My 100 meter backstroke long course meters time of 57.00 is faster than the world record in Masters. I have a shot to break both records in the next 6 months. I can honestly say I'm in the best shape of my life RIGHT NOW. I see no reason why I won't keep improving. I'm committed to keeping swimming a top priority in my life and for all the reasons I've already mentioned I don't feel like I'm anywhere near "peaking". I still have a very long way to go to achieve both my public and private goals but I'm doing all the things necessary to achieve them all. I'm proud of myself.
I have some drastic life and training changes planned for the next year. My plans are very much so "up in the air" right now and therefore I won't write about them. Things will be changing for the better though!
Thank you for the interest and support of all my friends and family, I appreciate you all!