Topic: SCY Nationals
If I'm going to qualify for nationals next summer (short course yards), I have a loooooong way to go. The obvious reason is because I'm out of shape. Out of practice, to be more accurate, since I've not been swimming regularly since March but I'm at the same pace I was when I stopped, at least with the longer distances. That, in a way, is a good thing since those are the events I'm trying to qualify in.

My practice times in both the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke have obviously slowed down. In the past, I was regularly swimming 3:30s in practice for the 200 backstroke with all 10 200s in the set ranging from 3:12 - 3:30. Today I was 3:38 - 3:55. My range in the 200 freestyle recently has been 3:45 - 4:00 and I used to consistently swim 3:40s or better.

Based on times today, here's where I stand:
MY TIME QUALIFYING TIME
200 BK 3:38 2:32.60
500 FR 9:12 6:02.80
1000 FR 18:52 12:51.45

I'd like to prove that the Adidas slogan "Impossible Is Nothing" from the Athens Olympics last year is correct. Right now, qualifying really does seem impossible. How could I possibly improve my times so significantly in just eight months? I haven't told anyone in my family ecause they will just discourage me as usual.

Besides the fact that I don't have the slightest clue how much training is required for such a feat. Eventually I'll obviously have to take up weight training again, but do I need to take up twice a day workouts too?? I obviously need to get used to once a day workouts again before diving into twice a day workouts (no pun intended). Even when I was competing at a younger age, I was never training to qualify for state, nationals, or any other competition that required a qualifying time.

This is what happens when none of my friends are even remotely interested in ANY sports so I feel like I am completely alone in this. Not that it's going to stop me from trying since I'm used to being the only one of my friends even slightly interested in sports, but it would be so nice to have people to talk to about it instead of just writing in my journal about it. Or at least peole who are going to be different than my parents and actually support me whether I qualify or not.