Saturday, December 27, 2008

Heading back to Tejas

Tomorrow I will be leaving Wisconsin and heading back to Austin, Texas. I must say I am a bit sad about leaving. My time here in Wisconsin has been wonderful. This break has been filled with great memories of spending time with my family and friends, playing in the huge amount of snow we had, snowboarding, cooking and getting a chance to just kick back and relax. I realize we must always return back to reality but it is still sad to leave all this behind me.

My training will begin abruptly when I return back to Austin. I get in late Sunday night and will be getting up by 6:20am on Monday morning to go swim. I have never shied away from work, sacrifice or training...however, this doesn't mean I like it. I completely understand that the work I have put in has taken me above and beyond where I could have ever been without it. There is still a bit of nervousness inside me about going back for winter training. This will be my sixth year training with Eddie and Kris at Texas...I know what winter training entails. We will swim two hours every morning and night. On top of this we will do weights three days a week. The difference in this training is that the coaches realize there is nothing else we are doing except training...they absolutely kill us every workout and every set.

Let me take a minute and clarify something.... I don't see this blog as a forum for me to complain. This is not its purpose in any way, shape or form. I want this to be a place where ya'll can get some insight into what I'm feeling and what my life is like as a professional athlete.

My point is that although I have been to the Olympics and have been fortunate enough to have had some success in my career, I am still as human as anyone else. I guess there will be times in all of our lives when we feel intimidated or even a bit apprehensive about things. Right now I think I am just dreading the dead tiredness, pain, and mental stress I'm about to be put into.

I have found the best thing to do in life is take things one step at a time. When I return to Austin and start training, I will think about the practice at hand...not the number of hard practices that are still to come. This mentality puts me in a better position to focus on the work I will be doing at that given time. There will be updates throughout winter training...check back soon!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Right now I think I am just dreading the dead tiredness, pain, and mental stress I'm about to be put into.
Oh how i know that feeling, but thats a long story to get into.
Just remember if you need to rant and rave about it do it. Nothing worse than letting it build up and explode all at once(something I'm still working on) because it's never pretty. As the song goes /Momma said there'd be days like this/
Maybe you could sink stuff to the bottom of the pool to spice things up on the line? Something silly to spark your mind. I was going to say a blow up sheep but then aging i have a weird sense of humor.

Donna Binkholder said...

You know I get stressed a lot when I train you know because I am a beginner and I am like why I am doing this again, then I take a step back and realize that this is my dream and I must go and live it. All the tiredness makes us stronger it's dreadful but if it were easy we'd all be doing this. Hang in there and nice blog by the way.

Alyssa23 said...

"With great victory comes great sacrifice"
I always think of this when I feel stressed out in any situation. All of your dedication and determination now will sooner or later show up in your performances. and it's human to feel anxious and dread the rigorous practices and training, we've all done it:) We do crazy things for something we love.

Anonymous said...

I don't know the feeling of training so hard as you but for example when I have to go to the gym and go swimming,I'm not always happy but when it's all over I start feeling happy and I know that is over for that day....
It's hard training but you have to think that if it's what you want, then go for it and we just got to wish you good luck...

Soly said...

Have safe trip back to Austin. Always keep your head up high Garrett! :o)

waposwimprep said...

That's a seriously good attitude torwards training...
good luck!

Garrett said...

Believe me I'm not one to hold things in...I'm not a complainer either but I always voice myself haha

You're exactly right, it's not easy...that is precisely why everyone is not doing it

Eddie Reese always tells us the hard work and sacrifice always pay off if you're willing to wait and be patient. I 100% believe him

Thanks for the support. I got back to Austin safely late last night and had a great day of training today!

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear that you got back to Austin safely! It was great to meet you and hear you speak at AHS on Saturday!

Lots of love from WI.


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