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Behind the Blocks: NCAAs or bust tracks the training and development of former All Met swimmers working towards the goal of making the NCAA Division I championship meet in March during the 2013-2014 season. Each week the swimmers will post a personal blog about training with their respective school’s swim program and the daily challenges of life as a student-athlete at the D1 level. Check back every Tuesday for new blog posts, and join us throughout the season for a behind-the-scenes look at some of price of clomid the country’s elite collegiate swimmers and swim programs.
Eva Greene is a junior at the University of California-Berkeley. She started her swimming career with the Tuckahoe Tigers in the NVSL and continued with McLean High School where she was MVP from 2008-2011. She was named PVS Swimmer of the Year in 2009 as a member of Machine Aquatics.
Winter has officially arrived in Berkeley. Mind you, “winter” in Northern California looks a little different than in Northern Virginia (we complain when the temperature dips below 60 degrees). Nevertheless, I’ve busted out my scarf and gloves and have embraced my coffee addiction and loss of tan lines (RIP afternoon sunshine…).
This past week brought me back to a more normal routine. Coming off the free weekend, I felt refreshed and ready to take on the second half of the semester. While workouts proved to be just as tough, we had a little fun with it.
Thursday afternoon our coach Teri gave us a little treat: a dice workout! She wrote out one set at a time on the white board, and selected a different person each time to roll a dice for the number of rounds that were to be completed per set. We got a little unlucky and ended up with 4 rounds of a hypoxic set — a training technique used to improve tolerance of oxygen depletion — and 6 rounds of the main effort, but it was still nice to change it up a bit!
This workout was a great lead-in to our meet on Friday. We swam against Wisconsin at home with the men’s team, and it was definitely an exciting afternoon.
Because our teams train separately and with different coaches, we don’t always get to race and compete together. The few times a year when we do are always a treat. Not only do we gain a little more breathing time between races, but the extra buzz that comes with adding our guys to the environment is unbeatable. They have some serious talent on their team, which makes for great racing that is always fun to watch.
I ended up swimming better than I had expected based on how I felt in training throughout the week. On top of being a little drained physically, my brain was in a different world. I had to take a midterm right before the meet, so my thoughts were more focused on economic policies and trade liberalization than stroke technique and race mentality. Plus, my dad came out and surprised me at the meet, which was a total shock! So, with my thoughts on pretty much everything but the task at hand, I ended up having the best meet of the season so far, times-wise. Maybe I’m on to something here! I raced without thinking about it too much, and the hard work that I’ve been putting in definitely showed. This makes me hopeful and excited for the weeks and months to come.
I’m definitely knee deep in the semester, which means midterms, presentations, and papers are being thrown at me in every direction. Luckily, we get a little break from competition and traveling for the next few weeks so we can all catch up and get ahead on our workload. Us Bears take our work very seriously – it’s hard not to when you go to a school like Berkeley! Until next time – GO BEARS!
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