A New Chapter

Since finishing my 2012 Olympic Trials run, I've reflected upon my experience in a positive way many times to friends and relatives.  As I tell my story, I find that I smile and say things like "I wouldn't trade it for anything".  I knew a lot about the swimming world before I started with Club Wolverine Elite but the people and events I was a part of, in a way, revolutionized my swimming.  I will utilize some of the techniques and training ideas I learned this past year in my future swimming.  Some of them I will choose to leave in my past as something I tried and did not benefit from.  As with any program, I saw value in some of the training and developed preferences on what I would change regarding other portions.  It was an experience I won't ever forget.

Today I start a new chapter in my swimming career.  There are external factors that affect how I move forward, most are outside of my control, and that's ok.  Being a 31 year old post graduate swimmer, my options are limited as to who I train with and when I train.  I have a flexible schedule but even that doesn't solve my "who to train with" issue.  This past weekend while at the Masters clinic I learned that there will not be a dedicated post graduate program at U of M anytime in the near future.  In the past month, there had been a sliver of hope that a group of post graduate swimmers would be returning to Ann Arbor to train.  Although I'm not certain, this looks unlikely.  With the 2016 Olympics being my 4th post graduate Olympic Games, I am far outside of the "waiver" that the NCAA and the USOC require to train alongside a college team.

With no training options at U of M, I find myself in solo mode, a place I've been many times before.  Initially I felt a bit disapointed with the news that the training situation I enjoyed so much vaporized after the 2012 Olympic Games finished up.  Yet, in my 2 weeks off, I've really enjoyed the freedom of not swimming every day and getting back to life, friends, and family.  This new chapter in my swimming career can be whatever I want it to be.  And writing <--that sentence put a smile on my face.  In a way, the sky is now the limit.  Now I'm a Masters Swimmer all over again, I will struggle to find a consistent training location and I will push myself to train hard each week.

I feel the pressure of the challenge, a little fear, but mostly excitement :)