With 2014 closing and 2015 beginning it's time to look ahead to a new year. I've come up with some great tips on how to enhance your new year and hopefully these tips will lead to a successful 2015. These tips can be for the pool, the gym, schooling, better lifestyle choices and really anything else you can think of. Most of the examples are swimming related but the headings can be used for any activity.
1. Have a plan
A plan or road map is the most important part of the journey your own as it will help guide you in the right direction and is a perfect resource for when your falling off that track. Here's an example, and I'll use swimming for this tip. Say you want to make the Canadian Swimming Championships cut in the 200 back, your road map would something like this...
A) Have all the meets listed on a sheet of paper from January-August (when the meet is)
B) Star or highlight major meets like Regional's, Provincials, Eastern's/Western's and any other meets you have that would allow you the best chance to make the time
C) Know the cut time
D) Know your best time to the hundredth as that could make or break you making the meet
E) List goal times for each meet you will swim the 200 back at
F) Consult with your coach and ask for he/she's input about your goal and more steps on achieving the goal
2. Putting the work in
The things you do everyday lead to the end result. In practice if you need to know race splits and more importantly be swimming race splits in practice. If your swimming in a yards pool know the conversions from yards to meters, if you don't know the conversion swimswam is a great resource to find those conversions out. Timing is key but don't forget technique, you need to be practicing race technique in practice all the time so your body has a feel for what racing feels like when your at the meet.
3. Everyday won't be perfect
We can't be perfect or as good as we want to be everyday and that's ok. Our bodies won't be going lifetime bests everyday for practice times, and we won't be going best times every meet we swim at, and that's ok, it's recognizing today wasn't the day tomorrow is a new day and you can improve the second you leave the pool deck with proper recovery. Swimmers can't beat themselves up over the smallest things that don't go the way they were hoping, always stick to the plan and if in the end it doesn't work out the way you were hoping re evaluate the plan.
4. Surround yourself with positive's
The worst thing you can have around you when your trying to achieve your goals is negativity or people who aren't willing to work or put the time and energy in. If this is the case try moving lanes, or if at school decks. This can be difficult sometimes, but the one thing to always remember is the path your own and your goals.
5. Listening is gold
That lecture you listen to and took awesome notes on and are ready for the exam, or the time you spent working on starts in practice with a national champion may just be the ticket you need to make your goals. Sometimes listening to others and being mentored is what brings out the best in yourself, your able to pick the brain of the person teaching you and get as much help as you need at your fingertips. Even better sometimes you can each bounce information or tips off one another or compare notes.
6. Health is key
In order to achieve your swimming goals (yes using the swimming again) your health needs to be on point. You need to be eating properly, sleeping at least 8 hours a night, drinking lots of water to stay hydrated, if outside competing using lots of sunscreen to protect your skin, dress warmly in the winter, and be on top of your health knowing what you eat and how much. You don't need to be logging everything and you definitely don't need to be counting calories, you just need to have an idea of what your eating. Most importantly stick to what works with you and your body. Not everyone's going to be eating 2 helpings of pasta, a 1L of chocolate milk, a bowl of salad and 4 roles, and that is ok, once again know your bodies limits and listen.
7. Listen to your body
Your body is the first person to know what's going on. If your shoulders are hurting let off the swimming and do arms down snorkel kicking. Your legs are hurting do pull. Most importantly talk to your coach and parents as soon as things appear to be going south. The worst is spending a whole season recovering from an injury that could have been prevented. Know and develop limits for your body to prevent injuries in the future. Not everyone is going to be able to swim 60 x 100 free and that's perfectly fine. If you can do 30 perfect if you can do 10 great if you can do 1 it's what you want and need even better. You know what's going on more then anyone else, so listen to it.
8. Goals Goals Goals
Set multiple goals for yourself. Whether it's long term, short term, meet goals, or even better daily practice goals this will help you keep and stay on track. Write the goals in your phone, on your wall, have them on your computer, at the pool on practice sheets, in your logbook, where ever you keep your goals is up to you but always have them handy and keep referring to them to stay on track.
9. Celebrate the Small Wins
Maybe you went a PB for a practice time or got what you call a great mark on a project or test, don't be scared to celebrate your success. At the same time keep your celebration in check and don't over celebrate and definitely don't rub it in everyone's face for the next week. That's poor sportsmanship towards your teammates and it's just rude towards your classmates. There are ways at celebrating and keeping it in check, once again know who your around and know the limits. Sometimes this will take a little testing of the waters, but you know you won't forget.
10. Keep your Head in the Game
When your feeling low or having an off day remember those small wins, remember those goals you wrote down, and try and feed off other peoples energy. This comes back to "Not everyday is perfect" which is perfectly fine, just don't let your off day or negative thoughts effect the rest of the group. This is the toughest skill to master for everyone and will take time to be able to jump over. Always remember the little things that have helped you improve so much so quickly.
Hopefully these tips will help you live a better 2015. I wish everyone the best in the new year and always remember to reach your goals and work hard everyday and you will see improvements. New posts coming in 2015.
Sunday, 28 December 2014
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
Pointe Claire 2014
With 2014 coming to a close it's to look ahead to 2015 and set our goals for the new year, but before we do that I want to look back on December for a moment as a lot of great swimming was swam during the month.
WRMS braved the snow and winter conditions driving to Pointe Claire for the annual 4 day double ended AA & AAA meet. This year the meet attracted more then 1200 swimmers competing, all in all the meet was ran with any problems. Big shout out and congrats to Pointe Claire and it's parents/officials for running such an incredible meet at such a beautiful facility. For those of you that haven't been to this pool or meet I encourage you to enter one of the meets PC hosts during the year. The 10 lane 50 meter pool with a 6 lane 50 meter warm up pool is truly world class. Having 12 25 meter warm up/down lanes running through every session including the session warm up is unheard of and perfect for swimmers who don't race till mid session, allowing them to sleep in extra and come for a later start time. With A & B finals (10 lanes for each final) for both AA & AAA meets many WRMS swimmers were getting second swims.
WRMS Scores:
AA (Slower meet) 13th out of 28 scoring teams with 217.5 points
AAA (Faster meet) 10th out of 31 scoring teams with 180 points
This meet is attracting many Ontario teams such as London, Mississauga, Oakville, Markham, and Burlington. Note there were other Ontario teams at the meet (to many to list). Which leads me into the next part of this blog.
I'm glad to see teams deciding to opt out of Division Team Champs in Ontario (1,2,3) as at least how I see it the definition of "Team" isn't 30, 40, or 50 swimmers. To me "Team" is every single swimmer on that "Team". Having said that I understand Team Champs is about picking the best number of athletes to represent the team at this meet. The major problem is (and I've scene it happen in 4 different clubs I've been with) parents/swimmers having hurt feelings over not being selected or a swimmer not being selected that should have. This drama starts up in October 2 months before the meet and drags out through the season when parents/swimmers recall the meet.
I see meets like Pointe Claire and the Camo meet better alternatives for clubs as they can take more swimmers, still do a travel meet, have amazing swims, and the meets are in December which is perfect for block one performances. These two meets are perfect for large clubs who would have to nail biting task of trying to select 50 swimmers out of the clubs 500+ membership, instead some of these larger clubs are taking over 100 swimmers (double what you can take to Div 1 team champs) to PC or Camo and no one is having hurt feelings.
I'm not saying Team Champs is a bad meet, it's always been fun, loud and most times teams pull together and swim like a team, however trying to break the "Team" up and only select a number of swimmers doesn't and hasn't ever sat well with me.
Below are Results from both the AA & AAA meets from PC as well a few pictures. A full album of pictures I took during the meet can be found on my Facebook page.
AAA Results
AAA Team Scores
AA Results
AA Team Scores
WRMS braved the snow and winter conditions driving to Pointe Claire for the annual 4 day double ended AA & AAA meet. This year the meet attracted more then 1200 swimmers competing, all in all the meet was ran with any problems. Big shout out and congrats to Pointe Claire and it's parents/officials for running such an incredible meet at such a beautiful facility. For those of you that haven't been to this pool or meet I encourage you to enter one of the meets PC hosts during the year. The 10 lane 50 meter pool with a 6 lane 50 meter warm up pool is truly world class. Having 12 25 meter warm up/down lanes running through every session including the session warm up is unheard of and perfect for swimmers who don't race till mid session, allowing them to sleep in extra and come for a later start time. With A & B finals (10 lanes for each final) for both AA & AAA meets many WRMS swimmers were getting second swims.
WRMS Scores:
AA (Slower meet) 13th out of 28 scoring teams with 217.5 points
AAA (Faster meet) 10th out of 31 scoring teams with 180 points
This meet is attracting many Ontario teams such as London, Mississauga, Oakville, Markham, and Burlington. Note there were other Ontario teams at the meet (to many to list). Which leads me into the next part of this blog.
I'm glad to see teams deciding to opt out of Division Team Champs in Ontario (1,2,3) as at least how I see it the definition of "Team" isn't 30, 40, or 50 swimmers. To me "Team" is every single swimmer on that "Team". Having said that I understand Team Champs is about picking the best number of athletes to represent the team at this meet. The major problem is (and I've scene it happen in 4 different clubs I've been with) parents/swimmers having hurt feelings over not being selected or a swimmer not being selected that should have. This drama starts up in October 2 months before the meet and drags out through the season when parents/swimmers recall the meet.
I see meets like Pointe Claire and the Camo meet better alternatives for clubs as they can take more swimmers, still do a travel meet, have amazing swims, and the meets are in December which is perfect for block one performances. These two meets are perfect for large clubs who would have to nail biting task of trying to select 50 swimmers out of the clubs 500+ membership, instead some of these larger clubs are taking over 100 swimmers (double what you can take to Div 1 team champs) to PC or Camo and no one is having hurt feelings.
I'm not saying Team Champs is a bad meet, it's always been fun, loud and most times teams pull together and swim like a team, however trying to break the "Team" up and only select a number of swimmers doesn't and hasn't ever sat well with me.
Below are Results from both the AA & AAA meets from PC as well a few pictures. A full album of pictures I took during the meet can be found on my Facebook page.
AAA Results
AAA Team Scores
AA Results
AA Team Scores
Pointe Claire Comp Pool
Some of the WRMS swimmers that attended PC 2014
Sporting my new WRMS sweater
Saturday, 29 November 2014
How Fast Was Swim International?
It's been over a month since my last blog post, I apologize for not being on the ball with this as of late. I've had a lot going on the past month or so. Aside from that, I've been working hard on this blog post. Now most swimmers my age probably don't care how all the other swimmers are doing a particular meet and until now I didn't show much interest until learning of the 78% failure rate at the 2014 Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria this past April.
I chose to look at the best time rate for Swim International for a few reasons
a) I was unable to swim do to injuries so counting best times seemed like a good idea to pass the time
b) Swim International was the first meet in Ontario to be ran 3 tanks
c) Swim International is known as 'a fast early season meet' for most swimmers
I asked myself the question how fast was Swim International and is there any evidence to show a tank with faster results or a larger percentage of best times then the rest?
The below chart outlines all the sessions, ages, No show rate, DQ rate, and overall best time percent and more. Check it out below.
NOTE: The finals percentage was determined by the swimmers prelim to final time. For example if swimmer A had a 30:50 50 free entry and went 31:09 in prelims then went 30:75 in finals this is considered a best time. I was looking at the prelims to finals difference. This raises the question maybe the meet should be structured differently. IE A,B finals 13,14,15,16,17&O format for prelims/finals since it really isn't fare having 100+ 15-16 year old's in an event and trying to fight for 8 spots. Just a thought.
A few things I picked up from this meet was the satisfactory best time rate of just shy of 50% not bad for November, the high number of people not showing up to there events and the number that raised my eyebrows the most was the DQ rate of 147 for a 2 and half day meet is ridiculous let alone any meet. The large number of DQ's raises the question are officials calling way to many things? Are swimmers making that many mistakes? And are the DQ's even valid?
Deep end results I noticed swimmers were swimming the best and this is normally true with any meet. How ever the shallow end results were quite poor as they normally always are, especially at this pool, for what reason, I don't really know. The new 25M pool that is said to be a 'fast pool' well I'd say that's not nearly the case... Now with only 2 sessions of data and an average out of the two less then 30% that to me says enough that the swimming in this particular pool needs improvement. The 25M was never really designed for racing, one could argue it has top of the line blocks, and an anti wave system, but swimmers and coaches were complaining about poor air quality and warm water for swimmers to race in, mix the two together and it sets up for disaster. I'd like to see the 25M pool stay as a warm up/warm down pool for this meet and any other meets that is hosted at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Center since the side 18M small pool is well not a real space to properly warm up/down.
Overall I believe a lot came out of this meet and I hope BAC listens and takes the comments and suggestions made by other coaches into consideration to make the meet even better in the years to come. Do I like the idea of 3 tanks being ran at the same time? No because it forces coaches to try and be in 3 places at once unfortunately we don't have 6 eyes to watch all these tanks it's sometimes hard enough with 2. The parents didn't really have a proper place to watch there athletes compete (little deck space). And the scoreboard needs fixing since some of the panels weren't working. Finally, I felt with 3 tanks, teams were forced to split up where they were sitting as some needed to be in the 25M pool, other in the shallow and the rest in the deep, it may sound small but team dynamic is critical for overall team success.
I'll wrap this up with overall a strong meet for November with most swimmers trying to beat times from championship meets in February. I believe from some of the results posted at this meet December and the rest of the SC season will shape up well. As I look at it every SC meet counts as LC is finally beginning to take the drivers seat instead of the backseat it's been riding in for way to long. All the best Ontario swimmers with many major championship meets coming within 1-2 weeks before the Christmas break.
I chose to look at the best time rate for Swim International for a few reasons
a) I was unable to swim do to injuries so counting best times seemed like a good idea to pass the time
b) Swim International was the first meet in Ontario to be ran 3 tanks
c) Swim International is known as 'a fast early season meet' for most swimmers
I asked myself the question how fast was Swim International and is there any evidence to show a tank with faster results or a larger percentage of best times then the rest?
The below chart outlines all the sessions, ages, No show rate, DQ rate, and overall best time percent and more. Check it out below.
|
Day
|
Pool
|
Age Group Genders
|
Number of Swims
|
Number of NS
|
Number of DQ
|
Percentage of BT
|
|
Friday Nov 7
|
65M Shallow
|
13-14 Girls
13-14 Boys
17&O Boys
|
393
|
23
|
11
|
44.44%
|
|
Friday Nov 7
|
65M Deep
|
15-16 Girls
15-16 Boys
17&O Girls
|
387
|
13
|
21
|
36.08%
|
|
Sat Nov 8
|
65M Shallow
|
13-14 Girls
17&O Boys
|
601
|
23
|
6
|
27.15%
|
|
Sat Nov 8
|
65M Deep
|
13-14 Boys
15-16 Boys
|
666
|
14
|
10
|
50.49%
|
|
Sat Nov 8
|
25M Pool
|
15-16 Girls
17&O Girls
|
498
|
9
|
4
|
20.08%
|
|
Sat Nov 8
|
65M Shallow
|
11-12 Girls
10&U Boys
|
541
|
20
|
15
|
55.61%
|
|
Sat Nov 8
|
65M Deep
|
11-12 Boys
10&U Girls
|
586
|
13
|
14
|
55.98%
|
|
Sat Nov 8
|
65M Deep
|
13&O Finals
|
304
|
0
|
0
|
75.65%
|
|
Sun Nov 9
|
65M Shallow
|
15-16 Girls
17&O Girls
|
502
|
20
|
4
|
14.34%
|
|
Sun Nov 9
|
65M Deep
|
13-14 Girls
17&O Boys
|
590
|
32
|
7
|
26.94%
|
|
Sun Nov 9
|
25M Pool
|
13-14 Boys
15-16 Boys
|
674
|
15
|
7
|
39.46%
|
|
Sun Nov 9
|
65M Shallow
|
11-12 Girls
10&U Boys
|
595
|
16
|
23
|
59.15%
|
|
Sun Nov 9
|
65M Deep
|
11-12 Boys
10&U Girls
|
515
|
25
|
21
|
62.52%
|
|
Sun Nov 9
|
65M Deep
|
13&O Finals
|
319
|
0
|
4
|
88.08%
|
|
|
|
Total
|
7171
|
223
|
147
|
46.86%
|
NOTE: The finals percentage was determined by the swimmers prelim to final time. For example if swimmer A had a 30:50 50 free entry and went 31:09 in prelims then went 30:75 in finals this is considered a best time. I was looking at the prelims to finals difference. This raises the question maybe the meet should be structured differently. IE A,B finals 13,14,15,16,17&O format for prelims/finals since it really isn't fare having 100+ 15-16 year old's in an event and trying to fight for 8 spots. Just a thought.
A few things I picked up from this meet was the satisfactory best time rate of just shy of 50% not bad for November, the high number of people not showing up to there events and the number that raised my eyebrows the most was the DQ rate of 147 for a 2 and half day meet is ridiculous let alone any meet. The large number of DQ's raises the question are officials calling way to many things? Are swimmers making that many mistakes? And are the DQ's even valid?
Deep end results I noticed swimmers were swimming the best and this is normally true with any meet. How ever the shallow end results were quite poor as they normally always are, especially at this pool, for what reason, I don't really know. The new 25M pool that is said to be a 'fast pool' well I'd say that's not nearly the case... Now with only 2 sessions of data and an average out of the two less then 30% that to me says enough that the swimming in this particular pool needs improvement. The 25M was never really designed for racing, one could argue it has top of the line blocks, and an anti wave system, but swimmers and coaches were complaining about poor air quality and warm water for swimmers to race in, mix the two together and it sets up for disaster. I'd like to see the 25M pool stay as a warm up/warm down pool for this meet and any other meets that is hosted at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Center since the side 18M small pool is well not a real space to properly warm up/down.
Overall I believe a lot came out of this meet and I hope BAC listens and takes the comments and suggestions made by other coaches into consideration to make the meet even better in the years to come. Do I like the idea of 3 tanks being ran at the same time? No because it forces coaches to try and be in 3 places at once unfortunately we don't have 6 eyes to watch all these tanks it's sometimes hard enough with 2. The parents didn't really have a proper place to watch there athletes compete (little deck space). And the scoreboard needs fixing since some of the panels weren't working. Finally, I felt with 3 tanks, teams were forced to split up where they were sitting as some needed to be in the 25M pool, other in the shallow and the rest in the deep, it may sound small but team dynamic is critical for overall team success.
I'll wrap this up with overall a strong meet for November with most swimmers trying to beat times from championship meets in February. I believe from some of the results posted at this meet December and the rest of the SC season will shape up well. As I look at it every SC meet counts as LC is finally beginning to take the drivers seat instead of the backseat it's been riding in for way to long. All the best Ontario swimmers with many major championship meets coming within 1-2 weeks before the Christmas break.
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
The Re-opening of the Etobicoke Olympium
On Sunday I checked out the newly re-opened and renovated Etobicoke Olympium during Day 2 of the Hall of Fame meet.
With ESWIM just returning to the Olympium Tuesday morning the water was fresh and ready for racing. Swimmers results show the 20 million dollars in improvements made to the facility were worth wild. Here is just a sample of swimmers making waves.
Swimmer A 5 swims over the 2 days and 4 best times (Including nearly a 1 second drop in the 50 free)
Swimmer B 5 swims over the 2 days and 5 best times (Including the 100 fly just shy of a 7 second drop)
Swimmer C 8 swims over the 2 days and 6 best times (Including a 2 1/2 second drop in the 50 breast)
Now of course this is just a sample of 3 swimmers swimming different events and some of the events may not be the swimmers best events. As well we have to take into consideration this was for most if not all the first opportunity to race for the 2014-2015 season. Some of the results won't be because of the newly renovated pool but I'm sure being in an environment that is comfortable and easy to breath in makes some difference. I was in the stands (which is totally different for me) and I was wearing jeans and a heavier sweater and didn't sweat as well was comfortable.
The things I was hearing from swimmers was...
a) The pool is fast and even better to race in now that the renovations have been complete
b) You can breath now (Swimmers recalling AGI June 2013 when roof renovations began and chunks of insulation was falling from the ceiling making it hard to breath)
c) You can see where your swimming (Improved lighting below the water and on the ceiling has made the pool much brighter and making it feel larger)
d) This was money well spent for aquatics (This renovation took place because of the Pan Am games, the Olympium will host as a warm up facility during the 2015 games and continue to serve ESWIM, central region, and Ontario for many years to come)
June 2013 seems like such a long time ago when the Olympium shutdown for just over a year of much needed improvements but it was all worth wild. Most of the renovations that have been completed won't be scene by swimmers, coaches, and spectators but somethings you will notice.
With ESWIM just returning to the Olympium Tuesday morning the water was fresh and ready for racing. Swimmers results show the 20 million dollars in improvements made to the facility were worth wild. Here is just a sample of swimmers making waves.
Swimmer A 5 swims over the 2 days and 4 best times (Including nearly a 1 second drop in the 50 free)
Swimmer B 5 swims over the 2 days and 5 best times (Including the 100 fly just shy of a 7 second drop)
Swimmer C 8 swims over the 2 days and 6 best times (Including a 2 1/2 second drop in the 50 breast)
Now of course this is just a sample of 3 swimmers swimming different events and some of the events may not be the swimmers best events. As well we have to take into consideration this was for most if not all the first opportunity to race for the 2014-2015 season. Some of the results won't be because of the newly renovated pool but I'm sure being in an environment that is comfortable and easy to breath in makes some difference. I was in the stands (which is totally different for me) and I was wearing jeans and a heavier sweater and didn't sweat as well was comfortable.
The things I was hearing from swimmers was...
a) The pool is fast and even better to race in now that the renovations have been complete
b) You can breath now (Swimmers recalling AGI June 2013 when roof renovations began and chunks of insulation was falling from the ceiling making it hard to breath)
c) You can see where your swimming (Improved lighting below the water and on the ceiling has made the pool much brighter and making it feel larger)
d) This was money well spent for aquatics (This renovation took place because of the Pan Am games, the Olympium will host as a warm up facility during the 2015 games and continue to serve ESWIM, central region, and Ontario for many years to come)
June 2013 seems like such a long time ago when the Olympium shutdown for just over a year of much needed improvements but it was all worth wild. Most of the renovations that have been completed won't be scene by swimmers, coaches, and spectators but somethings you will notice.
- Note not a lot was done outside other than the roof
- New welcome desk as soon as you walk in
- New title and paint making it bright and welcoming
- New bleachers for swimmers
- New timing booth in the shallow end
- New bulkheads
- New lighting on the pool deck and under water
- New Myrtha pool
- New sound system
- It looks like new timing clocks will be installed (shallow end score board was missing)
- Updates to the patio pool
Overall a lot of work went into this much needed renovation and the Olympium is now in line with the best pools in Ontario (Pan Am Pool Scarborough,Windsor International Aquatic and Training Center, Pan Am Pool Markham, and the Canada Games Aquatic Center in London which is set to re-open November after a 6 million dollar renovation) Personally I'm looking forward to racing in the Olympium when the time comes for me. Below I have attached a couple pictures from inside the pool.
Panorama view of the newly renovated and re-opened Etobicoke Olympium
A view of the competition pool (deep end being used in the AM session) with the shallow end open for warm up/warm down.
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
Shoulder Update
Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving long weekend. It's been over a month since I've posted a new #TmacsBlog time flies when your busy with school, swimming, dryland, university information sessions, therapy for my shoulder, and more. Aside from that I'm back and providing an update on the current status of my shoulder. I hope this blog does post properly as I'm writing on my iPhone away from the office.
Today I had two doctors review the MRI results from a few weeks ago. I could tell something didn't look right and the doctor was closely looking at the images provided. After a few minutes of reviewing the images I was told the rotator cuff is healthy. Great news to hear that and the rotator cuff had been healthy for sometime now, however a problem has come up that needs further investigating.
I'll do my best to explain this injury I have. It is a bit complicated to put into words but I'll do my best, bare with me.
The shoulder has a ball in the front (if you place your hand you can feel it move around if you move your shoulder back and forth). This ball provides movement for the shoulder and allows it to swing and in swimming pull. Where my ball attaches to other bone structures like the rotator cuff there is some tissue type martial that has worn down and is beginning to come apart from the bone structure.
How to fix this new problem? 3 options.
1. Continue with therapy and just leave it. There is a 90% chance of the injury healing on its own. However I may have to limit most of my overhead activity AND OR modify the activity (as I'm doing now) to ensure no pain, tearing, or clicking occurs.
2. In 8-12 weeks have another MRI done. This time dye would be injected to the shoulder and attach itself to torn areas and show clearly on MRI pictures. The dye injection MRI wasn't conducted because it wasn't nesesary for a rotator cuff injury. The assumption was nothing else was wrong with the shoulder. Now we know there is a different area to target.
3. A very unlikely option surgey. This would require a lot of thought and time. Normally patients don't see recovery results for 8-12 weeks at a minimum. Surgery at this point is a last resort and not on my radar. I'm confident that the therapy will be enough for a full recovery.
Where to go from here?
I don't go back to Brampton to see the therapist till Friday. After Friday I'll have a better idea of where things stand. At this point I'm not sure when I'll be back in the pool to race. Late November early December. Maybe... At this point I'll be taking training one day at a time and doing a lot of kicking as I have been for the past 4 weeks. Limiting swimming will continue and any sign of pain will have me stopping and going onto kicking.
I know and understand this won't healed tomorrow. I have the best team on my side helping me recover as quickly and healthy as possible. They have the best interest in me which is awesome. The situation at self still makes me bitter and is tough to deal with some days. I'm not pointing the figure or putting the blame on anyone because that is childish. This experience is a true test of patience, working with others, learning about the body, and knowing limits. The road is long but I'm beginning to see the light in the distance. I have every confidence when I'm back this whole process will have been worth it. It's a bump in the road but a learning curve but I'll be the bigger person coming out of this!
As always follow me on Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram for the latest. I'm going to try a bit better to jump back on the blog wagon. Until next time always remember to face your challenges head on.
Today I had two doctors review the MRI results from a few weeks ago. I could tell something didn't look right and the doctor was closely looking at the images provided. After a few minutes of reviewing the images I was told the rotator cuff is healthy. Great news to hear that and the rotator cuff had been healthy for sometime now, however a problem has come up that needs further investigating.
I'll do my best to explain this injury I have. It is a bit complicated to put into words but I'll do my best, bare with me.
The shoulder has a ball in the front (if you place your hand you can feel it move around if you move your shoulder back and forth). This ball provides movement for the shoulder and allows it to swing and in swimming pull. Where my ball attaches to other bone structures like the rotator cuff there is some tissue type martial that has worn down and is beginning to come apart from the bone structure.
How to fix this new problem? 3 options.
1. Continue with therapy and just leave it. There is a 90% chance of the injury healing on its own. However I may have to limit most of my overhead activity AND OR modify the activity (as I'm doing now) to ensure no pain, tearing, or clicking occurs.
2. In 8-12 weeks have another MRI done. This time dye would be injected to the shoulder and attach itself to torn areas and show clearly on MRI pictures. The dye injection MRI wasn't conducted because it wasn't nesesary for a rotator cuff injury. The assumption was nothing else was wrong with the shoulder. Now we know there is a different area to target.
3. A very unlikely option surgey. This would require a lot of thought and time. Normally patients don't see recovery results for 8-12 weeks at a minimum. Surgery at this point is a last resort and not on my radar. I'm confident that the therapy will be enough for a full recovery.
Where to go from here?
I don't go back to Brampton to see the therapist till Friday. After Friday I'll have a better idea of where things stand. At this point I'm not sure when I'll be back in the pool to race. Late November early December. Maybe... At this point I'll be taking training one day at a time and doing a lot of kicking as I have been for the past 4 weeks. Limiting swimming will continue and any sign of pain will have me stopping and going onto kicking.
I know and understand this won't healed tomorrow. I have the best team on my side helping me recover as quickly and healthy as possible. They have the best interest in me which is awesome. The situation at self still makes me bitter and is tough to deal with some days. I'm not pointing the figure or putting the blame on anyone because that is childish. This experience is a true test of patience, working with others, learning about the body, and knowing limits. The road is long but I'm beginning to see the light in the distance. I have every confidence when I'm back this whole process will have been worth it. It's a bump in the road but a learning curve but I'll be the bigger person coming out of this!
As always follow me on Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram for the latest. I'm going to try a bit better to jump back on the blog wagon. Until next time always remember to face your challenges head on.
Thursday, 18 September 2014
Shoulder Injury Status Update
Since being with W Ross MacDonald Swimming it's been a busy start to the season with a new schedule, new pool, new routine, and new lane mates. With the end of the first full regular week coming to a close I thought this would be a great opportunity give my followers and readers an update on my shoulder and the latest information I know.
The pain in my shoulder hasn't went down much since the summer months of training and competing. Through the month of August pain was minimal with a few bad days but most good. Going into Camp AK-O-MAK I knew and my coach knew we had to be EXTREMELY careful with everything I was going to participate in knowing this shoulder will flair up with pain could dominate if a sudden stress or increased movements were taken. Now my pain tolerance is high and it takes a lot of pain to make me uncomfortable. I could tell something was going wrong because a 1 KM swim and a hour and a half canoe paddle made the pain come back and as a result I wasn't to swim, canoe, lift anything, or do anything that could damage the shoulder more.
I'm lucky to have an awesome team filled with people that are willing to go out of there way to ensure a swimmer is cared for. One of the team doctors took a look at the shoulder and recommended further assessments be done to ensure nothing is broken or torn.
First was an ultrasound last week which reviled a small tear (3 mm by 3 mm approx) in the left rotator cuff. As bad as that news sounds there were positives that came out of it.
1) This pain I have been having for 5 months really has been something and not just thoughts in my head or tendinitis or nothing.
2) The tear is small enough it can be fixed with intense therapy and care
3) I WILL be able to swim again (No timeline given, could be a few days, a couple, weeks or a couple months, depends all on how the body responses to treatment)
Second up (yesterday) seeing Steve Hill a well known and highly recommend sports therapist who has worked with international athletes in many different sports. He provided some stability exercises for my back as my shoulder blades are weak and need strengthening before the shoulder can be fully dealt with. The prognoses from Steve was simple, listen to your body, do your stability exercises regularly and always be aware of what was going on and figure out limits that can happen at this time. Next appointment is next week so the ball is rolling quickly with Steve and good news was given. Right now there is a lot of tape involved to get the ball of the shoulder rolled forward and the shoulder blades back and the lower back sitting straight instead of bent.
Third was seeing the shoulder specialist today. The morning began with 4 X Rays being taken to get a different idea of what's going on in the shoulder. The doctor wanted to compare ultrasound images from last week to the new X Ray images from this morning. There is a small white spot on the shoulder bone, it is unclear if it's inside the bone or on the outside of the bone and we don't know if it's connecting to anything.
The doctor today was able to give some great answers to some questions.
Q: Will surgery need to be performed on the shoulder to repair the damage done?
A: No, the tear is so small surgery is not the route to go. Intense therapy is the way to go and listening to the therapist as yourself to when pain comes on and taking the proper steps to ensure you aren't causing more damage.
Q: Is there any timeline on when I can take a stroke again?
A: I wouldn't be surprised if you could take a stroke now. I would say if you feel comfortable, and ready to take some easy strokes you probably can. If you are going to do that, make sure even if you feel the slightest of pains or something isn't right STOP right away and return to kicking.
Q: Do you know a cause of this injury?
A: Most sports related injuries likely come from something within the sport. (I mentioned earlier that I figured over training and lack of attention to detail would probably be causing this pain) After this reply I gave the doctor, he mentioned likely poor technique overtime and not being aware of what was happening or given proper direction by coaches could be a reason for the injury.
Q: How long is the road to recovery?
A: There really is no time frame with this kind of injury. It all depends on how the body reacts to the therapy and how invested you the patient are into getting better. There will be good days and bad days. This could be a few weeks or maybe a couple months, we just don't really know.
After discussing further the doctor recommended I go for an MRI to ensure all angles of this shoulder problem are covered, and to ensure nothing has been overlooked. The doctor believes the MRI won't show anything but he would like one done to ensure everything is good to go. Unsure at this time when that will be scheduled in but hopeful for the next couple weeks.
So for now there is a lot of tape going on, I was making the joke this morning at swimming my back looks like a treasure map with all the tap and the big X is where the gold is. Lots of kicking going on and a lot of being careful. I'm ready for this road to recovery and hope to be back in the water training hard with my teammates instead of doing kick for everything. But I know doing all this kick will only improve my kick, build strength in my legs and make me a better swimmer. I'm in for this long haul and will do anything and everything in my power to get better as quick as possible BUT as healthy as possible. Stick to my Twitter @tmac_swim14 for the very latest on this injury and for more awesome things swimming related, school, news, and so much more. I'll try my best to be back before the end of the week with another blog post. Have a few ideas rolling through my mind of what I'd like to write about, and of course if you have a topic and you want my view on it let me know via email, comments, Twitter, or Facebook and who knows your topic may appear on my blog. :)
The pain in my shoulder hasn't went down much since the summer months of training and competing. Through the month of August pain was minimal with a few bad days but most good. Going into Camp AK-O-MAK I knew and my coach knew we had to be EXTREMELY careful with everything I was going to participate in knowing this shoulder will flair up with pain could dominate if a sudden stress or increased movements were taken. Now my pain tolerance is high and it takes a lot of pain to make me uncomfortable. I could tell something was going wrong because a 1 KM swim and a hour and a half canoe paddle made the pain come back and as a result I wasn't to swim, canoe, lift anything, or do anything that could damage the shoulder more.
I'm lucky to have an awesome team filled with people that are willing to go out of there way to ensure a swimmer is cared for. One of the team doctors took a look at the shoulder and recommended further assessments be done to ensure nothing is broken or torn.
First was an ultrasound last week which reviled a small tear (3 mm by 3 mm approx) in the left rotator cuff. As bad as that news sounds there were positives that came out of it.
1) This pain I have been having for 5 months really has been something and not just thoughts in my head or tendinitis or nothing.
2) The tear is small enough it can be fixed with intense therapy and care
3) I WILL be able to swim again (No timeline given, could be a few days, a couple, weeks or a couple months, depends all on how the body responses to treatment)
Second up (yesterday) seeing Steve Hill a well known and highly recommend sports therapist who has worked with international athletes in many different sports. He provided some stability exercises for my back as my shoulder blades are weak and need strengthening before the shoulder can be fully dealt with. The prognoses from Steve was simple, listen to your body, do your stability exercises regularly and always be aware of what was going on and figure out limits that can happen at this time. Next appointment is next week so the ball is rolling quickly with Steve and good news was given. Right now there is a lot of tape involved to get the ball of the shoulder rolled forward and the shoulder blades back and the lower back sitting straight instead of bent.
Third was seeing the shoulder specialist today. The morning began with 4 X Rays being taken to get a different idea of what's going on in the shoulder. The doctor wanted to compare ultrasound images from last week to the new X Ray images from this morning. There is a small white spot on the shoulder bone, it is unclear if it's inside the bone or on the outside of the bone and we don't know if it's connecting to anything.
The doctor today was able to give some great answers to some questions.
Q: Will surgery need to be performed on the shoulder to repair the damage done?
A: No, the tear is so small surgery is not the route to go. Intense therapy is the way to go and listening to the therapist as yourself to when pain comes on and taking the proper steps to ensure you aren't causing more damage.
Q: Is there any timeline on when I can take a stroke again?
A: I wouldn't be surprised if you could take a stroke now. I would say if you feel comfortable, and ready to take some easy strokes you probably can. If you are going to do that, make sure even if you feel the slightest of pains or something isn't right STOP right away and return to kicking.
Q: Do you know a cause of this injury?
A: Most sports related injuries likely come from something within the sport. (I mentioned earlier that I figured over training and lack of attention to detail would probably be causing this pain) After this reply I gave the doctor, he mentioned likely poor technique overtime and not being aware of what was happening or given proper direction by coaches could be a reason for the injury.
Q: How long is the road to recovery?
A: There really is no time frame with this kind of injury. It all depends on how the body reacts to the therapy and how invested you the patient are into getting better. There will be good days and bad days. This could be a few weeks or maybe a couple months, we just don't really know.
After discussing further the doctor recommended I go for an MRI to ensure all angles of this shoulder problem are covered, and to ensure nothing has been overlooked. The doctor believes the MRI won't show anything but he would like one done to ensure everything is good to go. Unsure at this time when that will be scheduled in but hopeful for the next couple weeks.
So for now there is a lot of tape going on, I was making the joke this morning at swimming my back looks like a treasure map with all the tap and the big X is where the gold is. Lots of kicking going on and a lot of being careful. I'm ready for this road to recovery and hope to be back in the water training hard with my teammates instead of doing kick for everything. But I know doing all this kick will only improve my kick, build strength in my legs and make me a better swimmer. I'm in for this long haul and will do anything and everything in my power to get better as quick as possible BUT as healthy as possible. Stick to my Twitter @tmac_swim14 for the very latest on this injury and for more awesome things swimming related, school, news, and so much more. I'll try my best to be back before the end of the week with another blog post. Have a few ideas rolling through my mind of what I'd like to write about, and of course if you have a topic and you want my view on it let me know via email, comments, Twitter, or Facebook and who knows your topic may appear on my blog. :)
Sunday, 7 September 2014
2014-2015 Swim Season
I have begun the 2014-2015 season with W Ross Macdonald Swimming after deciding to leave the Brantford Aquatic Club after a year and a half. I will now mostly be training out of the 6 lane 25 yard pool at W Ross Macdonald school in Brantford, with some 25M water workouts at WGSC as well weights at the Gretzky center. This season I am working on 3 major things that I think will help improve my swimming as well allow me to excel to heights I could have never reached before.
1) Training Using USRPT (Ultra Short Race Pace Training)
Now this is simply training at race pace and goal race pace during workouts. I am still looking into research in this area of training and I will say it is tough to research because most North American coaches don't like or believe in this type of training. One may stop and say well hold on this swimmer isn't a 50 swimmer. To answer, I'm not a 50 swimmer and USRPT isn't just used for 50 swimmers you can swim any race from a 50 all the way to a 1500 using this training method. It's simple and thinking about it for a while now, it's makes so much more sense to be training at race pace. This will allow the swimmer to have an idea of where there at going into a meet. Yes those crazy 'where did that swim come from'? will still happen but at least training at race and goal pace will ease that. This season I will be using the USRPT formula to improve 50, 100, 200, 400 free, 50, 100, 200 back and 200, 400 IM. On paper the plans look incredible, now it's seeing how things will shape up in the water and I can not wait to get started.
2) Technical Training
In order to be an efficient as well fast swimmer technique has to be up to pare. At this stage in my swimming technique took the back burner while mileage was up front and important. Now it's all about returning to the basics of swimming and getting those little 'over looked' items under control and solid. 3 cameras that are live via 15 second delay will run at every single workout to allow all swimmers to see what the coaches see. Also iPad's can be used from different angles, close ups, and the use of the 'Coaches Eye' app to draw lines, zoom in on technical errors, and slow motion for even more correction. Huge improvements have already been made in an extremely short period of time, but there is still a lot of work to do and a lot of correcting ahead of me.
3) Body Awareness
A lot of you may know I have been dealing with an on and off shoulder injury since late April. This made the end of the 2013-2014 season a challenge filled with emotions, frustrations, anger, and discomfort. Any injury really makes one stop and doubt, feel down, left out, and unprepared to train and race. This season I'm trying to drop the negative and think positive on this injury. This weekend at camp I learned quickly that an injury doesn't just go away in a couple weeks, I did a lot of running and only a small amount of swimming. There was a lot of icing going on and physio stretches are making a full time come back. Heading into the season, this week with dry-land starting up I have to be careful and over cautious to ensure no new injuries develop as well monitor the existing one from all angles. I plan to start with easy swimming before dry-land to ensure everything is fully warmed up and ready to go before hitting the gym. At first it will be a lot of modifying, not doing some exercises, and maybe having to add exercises my teammates might not be doing, This is all alright because I'm looking at the future and understanding that this isn't going to be forever that it's a minor setback in the plan sometimes plans have to be changed, revised, and rethought.
Finally, I want to end off with a huge thank you to everyone at WRMS for the warm welcome. I mentioned this to the seniors at the camp fire Saturday night "I may have just joined the team, and I may only have been with this new group of people for a few short days, but it feels like we have been together for years". Honestly the support in this club is unlike any club you'll ever step foot into, it's great to know I can go to any swimmer and just be myself and not worry about being judged. I can't wait for what the season has to hold for everyone else and I look forward to getting to know everyone on WRMS more and making new memories that will last a lifetime!
1) Training Using USRPT (Ultra Short Race Pace Training)
Now this is simply training at race pace and goal race pace during workouts. I am still looking into research in this area of training and I will say it is tough to research because most North American coaches don't like or believe in this type of training. One may stop and say well hold on this swimmer isn't a 50 swimmer. To answer, I'm not a 50 swimmer and USRPT isn't just used for 50 swimmers you can swim any race from a 50 all the way to a 1500 using this training method. It's simple and thinking about it for a while now, it's makes so much more sense to be training at race pace. This will allow the swimmer to have an idea of where there at going into a meet. Yes those crazy 'where did that swim come from'? will still happen but at least training at race and goal pace will ease that. This season I will be using the USRPT formula to improve 50, 100, 200, 400 free, 50, 100, 200 back and 200, 400 IM. On paper the plans look incredible, now it's seeing how things will shape up in the water and I can not wait to get started.
2) Technical Training
In order to be an efficient as well fast swimmer technique has to be up to pare. At this stage in my swimming technique took the back burner while mileage was up front and important. Now it's all about returning to the basics of swimming and getting those little 'over looked' items under control and solid. 3 cameras that are live via 15 second delay will run at every single workout to allow all swimmers to see what the coaches see. Also iPad's can be used from different angles, close ups, and the use of the 'Coaches Eye' app to draw lines, zoom in on technical errors, and slow motion for even more correction. Huge improvements have already been made in an extremely short period of time, but there is still a lot of work to do and a lot of correcting ahead of me.
3) Body Awareness
A lot of you may know I have been dealing with an on and off shoulder injury since late April. This made the end of the 2013-2014 season a challenge filled with emotions, frustrations, anger, and discomfort. Any injury really makes one stop and doubt, feel down, left out, and unprepared to train and race. This season I'm trying to drop the negative and think positive on this injury. This weekend at camp I learned quickly that an injury doesn't just go away in a couple weeks, I did a lot of running and only a small amount of swimming. There was a lot of icing going on and physio stretches are making a full time come back. Heading into the season, this week with dry-land starting up I have to be careful and over cautious to ensure no new injuries develop as well monitor the existing one from all angles. I plan to start with easy swimming before dry-land to ensure everything is fully warmed up and ready to go before hitting the gym. At first it will be a lot of modifying, not doing some exercises, and maybe having to add exercises my teammates might not be doing, This is all alright because I'm looking at the future and understanding that this isn't going to be forever that it's a minor setback in the plan sometimes plans have to be changed, revised, and rethought.
Finally, I want to end off with a huge thank you to everyone at WRMS for the warm welcome. I mentioned this to the seniors at the camp fire Saturday night "I may have just joined the team, and I may only have been with this new group of people for a few short days, but it feels like we have been together for years". Honestly the support in this club is unlike any club you'll ever step foot into, it's great to know I can go to any swimmer and just be myself and not worry about being judged. I can't wait for what the season has to hold for everyone else and I look forward to getting to know everyone on WRMS more and making new memories that will last a lifetime!
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