Well, the meet was pretty cool this weekend.
I'm not dropping time like I hoped though. On most of my swims, I added time.
There are two reasons for this. One, I'm on a wall, which is a period of a few months where I just make no progress at all. It happens.
Two, I'm working on new techniques. I've always been bad at technique, and this meet was my best ever for technique. When you change technique, you slow down for a little while.

But I also realized a few more things. Nicole and Chris are starting to ride my ass. This is not too stressing yet, because Nicole's doing it on backstroke, while Chris is doing it on breaststroke, my two worst strokes, and their two best strokes.
If I looked at the 50 free, Chris is right where I was a year and a half ago.
And I've never been a girl, but if I was, Nicole would have been faster at that age. (In case you didn't know, girls start out swimming faster, then at 12, boys pass them and eventually become a lot faster. Sorry girls...)
But one thing I've noticed is that it seems that all the best swimmers have major self-image problems.
Blake, the guy who has Zones times, and is looking for Junior Nationals, had a 1:20 at my age.
I have about a 1:01.
Well, if I improve as fast as he did, I'm going to Junior Nationals most likely.

Of course, that might not be the case. There are people that are improving faster than me, and I work harder than anyone (I can say that as a factual statement without a touch of pride. It is quite obvious at practice.)
But, am I doing the right KIND of work? I've always been good at 50's, 500's, and everything above 500.
It's always in 100's and 200's, the most common kind of swim, that I've really been struggling.
That's because at swimming I'm doing really long aerobic workouts. REALLY long. Like 5000 yards. Really long.
But 100's and 200's are anaerobic. So my coach suggested that if she gives out 20 100's on the 1:30, try to come in at a 1:10 and get 20 seconds of rest, instead of coming in at the 1:29, and going right back into it.
I like it. It's something I can do.

Then I wanted to say something about Nicole and Chris. Nicole is a wonderfully talented swimmer that wants to be good, but her dad is always pressuring her, therefore making her detest swimming in general. This makes her not work as hard as she should at practice, and so not be as good as she could. She could be AMAZING. Her dad is the major guy who is always pressuring her, telling her to go faster. And that's a big problem. She has major self-image problems, stemming from that she can't satisfy her dad.
Sometime, this might just make her throw up her hands and quit. That would bug me. I want us to go do great things together.

Also, Chris. He doesn't have a lot of the problems that Nicole has, but he's too quiet. He keeps to himself a lot. I've been trying to break him out of his little shell, because being friends with him is a major benefit for both of us. I have a feeling that the three of us, Chris, Nicole, and me, will go to big meets together sometime. If we hate each other, that's a problem.

-

Finally, I wanted to clarify something. In my previous journal, I stated that I didn't like people who over-dramatized relationships.
I didn't get a good reaction. There were people who said that high school and middle school relationships were important.

I'm not trying to argue with you. I wasn't being too clear obviously.
What I was trying to point out was, generally middle and high school kids have a tendency to over dramatize things. Like breakups.
I just personally think that probably, it's just a big wad of drama.

I'm not by ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER, trying to say this to everyone. There are middle and high schoolers in true emotional pain that do need support. And it can happen because of a breakup.
What I was talking about, is if something bad, like a breakup happens, stand back for a seconds, take a deep breath, and think "How much does this truly affect my life?"
I was speaking out against the tendency nearly everyone has, to overdramatize the little things. Like I had my computer taken away, and I was mad, but then, I realized, why am I giving so much attention to this little problem? What about all the good things in my life? You know what? This is nothing to get angry over. It's just a computer.

And I wish others would do the same. I will not pass any judgement on whether it truly is a big deal or not. Sometimes it is truly a big deal. If you still see it as a big deal when it really isn't, I can't do anything about that, and it would be condescending of my to try.