In early December, I will be attending the Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was slightly unexpected, so while I thought I had a long winter to focus on conditioning, I'm having to shift gears and get ready to compete in less than 3 weeks. I thought it might interest you so know what goes into preparing for a major competition.
Firstly, while I am always expected to eat healthy, I must now follow a very strict diet. It's amazing to see the physical effects of what one eats, and putting quality foods into the body really does have a tremendous impact on performance. I incorporate a lot of fresh, whole foods and lean meats. I try to avoid foods high in unhealthy fats and foods that are highly processed. My calorie intake may be high, but the goal is still to eat a healthy and balanced diet to optimize performance.
My training routine has also changed. Going into the "off-season," the focus has been on conditioning and injury prevention. Lots of my swimming and track workouts incorporated longer, easier sets, with aerobic threshold goals as opposed to speed and race-pace targets. My swimming workouts are now much shorter, but with much more emphasis on speed and racing strategy. Likewise, in running, I now focus on simulated racing intervals and do a lot of shorter, speed sets. My running and swimming workouts remain key for my overall conditioning performance.
In fencing, we're now focusing on bouting strategy and lots of quick-paced actions, instead of drills and technique exercises. Shooting, too, is now about rapid loading and shooting while out of breath.
As we get closer, we will begin to "taper" out workouts so as to achieve optimum rest before the competition itself. The goal with any workout program is to "peak" at the right time, so with the combined effort of eating healthy, completing workouts geared towards the demands of competition, and plenty of quality rest, I should be at my peak come December.
This will be my first major international competition, so it will be interesting to see how I stack up to the higher-caliber athletes. I'll keep you posted as I get closer, but for now, pray that I train well and don't get injured anytime soon!
Caitlin Flathers, signing off.
