A Day in the Life: Blythe Murray, Day 1

SEATTLE, Washington, November 14. AFTER the University of Southern California's Kalyn Keller got SwimmingWorldMagazine.com's "A Day in the Life" series off to a strong start, we remain in the Pacific 10 Conference with University of Washington senior Blythe Murray.

Murray, a distance freestyle specialist, will offer our readers insights into a rebuilding program. With a new head coach in Whitney Hite, the team is going through a new way of thinking in the Pacific Northwest.

Monday, November 13; Day 1
It's 5:20 a.m. and that annoying beeping sound goes off. All I want to do is curl up in a ball and burrow under the covers. Yes, it's Monday practice. It seems like only 5 minutes ago I was getting ready for bed, yet here I am making my PB&J toast and turning my car's heat on high as I drive down to the pool. Good news is…no rain!!

Four years ago, I would have thought that getting up at 5:20 would have been cake; (back then my practice started at 5 a.m.), but in college you have a lot more responsibility than in high school; you're expected to act like an adult. This means I am responsible not only for swimming and going to school (and excelling at both) but also paying my bills, buying my food, cleaning my home (apt.) a lot of the same things I use to rely on my parents to do. With all added stress and responsibility of becoming an "adult" this extra 20 minutes of sleep seems priceless.

Monday mornings consist of one hour of dry land with medicine balls and one hour of swimming. The dryland part usually allows us to chat while working out. Today's topic was Borat, a movie the team went to on Sunday night with a recruit. We all thought it was absolutely hilarious and were quoting lines while doing exercises. For the swimming session, usually the more yardage focused girls (that would include me) do a longer aerobic set (4x 1000's is an example) while the rest of the team does a circuit.
Today was a surprise though!!! We all got to do the circuit. I'm not saying it wasn't tough; it was just nice to mix it up and to do some speed work instead of longer yardage.

Circuit consisted of….
16x 25 fast
8x 50 pull
8 minutes pulling with a tube around your feet
8x 50s power towers
Push-ups, pull-ups, wall sits, hanging leg lifts
The emphasis of circuit was working on turning over quickly and swimming with straighter arms. One of the techniques we used to work both the quick turnover and the straighter arms was keeping a stroke count. By keeping our stroke count, we are able to ensure that we were efficient while we maintain the specified speed.

I hadn't been feeling so hot, so after practice I went to see our trainer Kathy. Kathy is wonderful. She always seems to have so much energy. I don't know how she does it. After some tests, I found out why I wasn't feeling so good. I have "walking Pneumonia" The trainers said I should rest or it would get worse so no swimming this afternoon. I'm a bit bummed out about not swimming. I'm the type of swimmer that needs to be in the water and training regardless and that swimming through whatever it is can only make me better. I hate not being able to participate. At the same time, I know that if I don't take time to recover from this I could really jeopardize my health and my season so I'll listen to the trainers/doctors.

The missed practice is not a loss though because it allows me to talk with our amazing new coach Whitney Hite. One of the points he is really trying to push with the team is we need to put ourselves out on a line, in a position to be successful. Whitney emphasizes that "most" swimmers can't expect to catch-up or come from behind, rather they need to go out strong and hold on. This is a really new concept for a lot of people on our team (myself included) but so far I've found it to be very true. It can be scary going out fast, but I'd much rather go out fast and then die then never build up a very fast pace at all.

Talking with Whitney was very insightful. I think it's very important to be able to talk with your coach. It doesn't matter whether it is about swimming, recruiting, or life in general, having a good relationship with open communication between swimmer and coach is beneficial to both on so many levels. Your coach can't read your mind. It's hard enough just trying to reach your potential, without good communication your coach will never be able to help you become the best you can be.

Well, I better wrap up today's blog. It's been a long day and I need to wake up in the morning and study a bit. Somehow, I never quite finish everything in one night. I'm really looking forward to writing about the rest of the week.

Night, night
Go Dawgs!

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