Yesterday was my first ever open water mile. i was feeling a bit of nerves because 1. i hate swimming with fish 2. i have never swam anything more than a 500. but all of my friends were doing it, and i have been wanting to do it since the beginning of summer. but i really enjoyed racing, it even felt surprisingly easy. i will be doing another one next month, so i will be updating on that! i went 24 minutes, im pretty happy with it 🙂

I AM LOVING IT! 😚💞 Everything is so much better. The people, the trainings, the EVERYTHING! I do not regret that I left, and I am saying that respectfully. I’ll be starting morning practices at 06:00 tomorrow morning and im very excited to start again. We used to have them in the previous club, but then it stopped at some point. The swimmers are a little faster than me at some sets, but it gives me the motivation to wanting to be at the same level as them. Im feeling every single day like that I’ve learned something new, and it wasn’t like that in my last club, I felt like I was stuck in place all the time. And it’s surprisingly similar to the Tenerife camp, the trainings and stretchings, and it’s good to continue/learned what I did in Tenerife here in Iceland, so this move was very successful. I’ve done one week with them already 🥹💕. Also, surprising plot twist, I’ve gotten a new guy in my class. He’s nice to talk to and an okay guy. When I went to swim practice after school that Friday, he appeared suddenly and started talking to my coach about the program. I was pretty stunned as the guy never mentioned to me before that he was a swimmer, and we did the whole thing “get to know each other” in school. I mean, im not against it obviously, I love meeting swimmers 🫶. It’s exciting and we will basically be stuck together the whole day/s. I mean, this is just a fun fact I wanted to share out there 🫠. Alright, now I gotta get some rest for the morning training tomorrow LOL. ✨💤

Part 1 - Ireland 100 Breast - gained some time on my PB (+1.02) but still made it to the A final, unfortunately added another 0.09 to my time and finished 8th. 50 Fly not at all happy - added 1.28 and needless to say did not make it to any final. 50 Breast swam a tiny PB -0.03 and made it to the B final, there I managed to improve again by a tiny amount 0.10. 100 Fly complete disaster. This completely shook my confidence. Nothing went right. Goggles filled with water and just nothing felt right about the race. Wanted to quit right then and there but after a bit of deep breathing I managed to work through it a little and got myself ready for the 200 IM which I generally feel I am not very good at. 200 IM - surprisingly I managed to swim a PB dropped 0.48 and made it into the A final. That unfortunately did not go as well as the prelim but I will take it. 400 Free went ok, though added a little time. 200 Breast - in prelims dropped 0.77 seconds and made it to the A final, again in the final added time again but was reasonably happy with the end result. Last day 400 IM - Had a massive panic attack about 30 minutes before I had to go to the call room. Managed to calm myself down and relax enough to go do the race. Swam a much better race than I thought I would, gained a little time but considering where I was 45 minutes earlier I was pleased, also made it to the A final which was a great boost. I decided not to swim the final as I was exhausted from the week, but ended on a high nevertheless and I knew I had to do it all again the following week in Switzerland, but a lot less racing. All in all a good experience, realised I don’t really know how to race with prelims and finals as this is not really common in Switzerland except in the bigger meets. Things like how hard to race in the prelims and then still have enough in the tank (even with a rest) for finals. Also realised I have still some work to do with nerves/anxiety - first time in a long time that I had to work through such emotions.

Part 2 - Switzerland 200 Breaststroke - unfortunately this did not go anywhere close to what I had hoped, nor even as good as a week before in Ireland. Bad night sleep in hotel, very hot which probably had some affect on results but not happy about my performance. 100 Breaststroke - here too, not a great performance, added time but somehow managed to be reserve for the final. Unfortunately did not get the opportunity to swim again. 200 Fly - not at all happy with my performance here, gained almost 6 seconds to my last time. All I can say is exhaustion took over in the back hundred as the first half went ok, but perhaps went out a little too fast on the first half. Was really disappointed with my performance here. Also swam in relays, got DQ’d on 4x200 free, but managed a slight PB in the 4X100 medley in Breast, and on last day in 4X100 free relay also got a tiny PB on my 100 free by 0.57 seconds so while my individual races did not go well, I did perform quite well in my team events. Again general exhaustion coming into the end of season I think played a significant role, and also nerves caught me by surprise this year.

I'll be straight with you: this is an experiment, but it's easy to measure and I believe in it. So we do it together .. swimmers, parents, and me as your guide. No nagging. You're the boss. Here's why my heart burns for this one. The scroll quietly pulls a little life out of you every day. It gives us something .. distraction, boredom relief, a feeling of belonging .. otherwise we wouldn't do it. Nothing wrong with you. But it does not give you real connection, it does not give you love, and the problems don't go away. Being present does. Swimmers, you can win at this because you have a WHY: you love swimming, you want to level up, you're go-getters who respond to a challenge. And this is a challenge. Parents, you being here is the edge .. at this age advice lands better from the side than from mum or dad, so I carry the message for you. Together. Do all 3 in the comments 👇 1️⃣ Baseline screenshot. Your weekly screen time. - 📱 iPhone: Settings → Screen Time → See All Activity → switch to Week → screenshot. - 🤖 Android: Settings → Digital Wellbeing → tap the bar chart → Week → screenshot. 2️⃣ WHY you want less screen time. Swimmers your reason, parents yours. Be 100% honest. 3️⃣ WHAT it actually gives you. Distraction? Boredom? Feeling connected or informed? No wrong answer .. if you're not sure, journal on it for 7 minutes. I only coach the people who take step 1, so post your baseline. In a couple of days we move to the next step, gamify it, and adjust as we learn. Two easy wins today: no phones at dinner (parents lead), and phone away 30 min before bed. This is really about not wasting the potential you've clearly got!! Let the games begin .. first screenshot this Sunday, me included. 💪