Change
One year ago today I was in Tokyo on a day off before my last race of the 2021 Paralympic Games. I had just won a silver medal in the 200m IM SM13 the day before, which was one of the highest points of my athletic career. When I look back to a year ago it’s crazy to think that while I was on such a high, I was also about to experience one of the lowest points of my athletic career. I won bronze in the 100m breaststroke SB13 just a couple days after my silver medal performance and it completely redefined the view of myself and my Games experience.
Now before I get too deep, hey! It’s been a while since I’ve written on this blog, but what better way to remind everyone that I do in fact still have a blog like reminiscing on Tokyo one year later? I certainly can’t think of anything. So here I am again, back to talking about Tokyo. My very first blog post was a reflection on Tokyo 4 months after the Games ended. It’s funny that it’s only been one year because it seems so far away now, but seeing social media explode with throwbacks from Tokyo has brought up a mixture of emotions. I started this blog to be open and honest as a professional athlete and that’s exactly what I’m about to be. Buckle up
After I started training again in January of 2022 my main goal was to fall back in love with the sport of swimming. My motivation was back, but even in everyday life you can have a desire to achieve a goal and hate the process of getting to it. Well, my desire came back but man I hated getting up early for practice. Any swimmer knows one week off will have you out of shape, so to come back after 4 months off was discouraging to say the least. I was only doing singles but upped my dryland workouts to three times a week instead of two. Only doing one swim workout a day was also new to me. Before Tokyo I was swimming three doubles a week, so I was swimming a lot less than what I was used to. Little did I know at the time that was exactly what I needed to find my love for the water again.
Three months back into training with my new and improved schedule I qualified for my 5th World Championships in Portugal over the summer. Two months after that I competed at Worlds and won both the 200m IM and the 100m breaststroke, going a best time and new American Record in the 100m breaststroke. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Flabbergasted would be a better word to describe how I was feeling. I never thought I would stand on top of the podium again, so to do that in two events was something so incredibly special and eye opening. To have the ability to come back after almost giving up on the sport is also something that I have implanted in my brain. I can look back on both of those meets, Tokyo and world championships, and compare the mental state I was in during each race, each warmup session, even each time I interacted with my teammates. The ability to reflect has given me more insight than I have ever had about myself, and constantly learning is something that every single athlete should make time for.
The point of this post isn’t to gloat about how I won but to show how important mental reframing and rest is, not only in athletics but in general life as well. Over the past year I have learned more about what my body needs in order to be the best athlete I can be. I’ve learned to prioritize things that are specific to my success and well-being. Most important, I’ve learned that change isn’t bad. It can be scary, yes, but not all change is negative and sometimes what’s best for us is to change something that has been instilled in us for so long.
With that being said, I’m moving! I have been very fortunate to live at the Olympic and Paralympic training center in Colorado Springs for a little over two years now, but, like I mentioned before, not all change is bad. I’m going back to the east coast to train with my former college coach (shoutout Anthony Bruno) in Baltimore, Maryland with Towson University. I know that this is the beginning of the end to my swim career and to be able to finish it out with a coach who has become family to me is something that I could only dream of.
Winning silver and bronze in Tokyo is something I can look back on now and appreciate and accept. I didn’t know it at the time, but those two medals have taught me more than any gold medal or broken record ever could. In one year, I have learned more about myself than I ever have, and I am truly more grateful for the ability to grow as a person than I think I would have if I had achieved my ultimate goal in Tokyo. That dream is still very much alive and in two years I’ll hopefully have the opportunity to chase it again in Paris. For now, though, I plan on enjoying the ride and whatever life throws at me. Cheers!