High Altitude Camp in Mexico

First of all let me apologise for my lack of updates recently. Things have been crazy the past few months and have forgotten to update a lot of things!

So I am currently 2 weeks in to a intense 3 weeks training camp in San Louis Potosi, which is about 3 hours out of Mexico city. It sits about 1900m about sea level, and while it is not the highest altitude i have trained at, it certainly has proved a tough camp.
A typical week has consisted of 10 swim, 3 weights, 3 cylce, 2 pilates and 1 yoga. Not forgetting all the stretching, physio and ice baths.
The locals here are very friendly and the facilities are great too.
It has been a great way to kick off the new year, and am starting to get some great training done and feel fit again which is great.

What has surprised me is the food, it is nothing like what I expected. The westernised mexican we have at home is nowhere to be found over here, no tacos, no burriots. Well at least not what we think is a burrito or a taco. It is vey simple and tradional which has been nice.

I will try to upload some photos soon.

I hope you all have had a great festive season and are as inspired for the new year as I am.

Eamon

Off the te US

Well it's finally time to fly out to the US for the Pac Pacific
championships in Irvine.
It's always a mad rush running around the day you leave, and today is
no different!
Looking forward to getting out of this cold weather and into the
sunshie!
Will keep you updated throughout the meet, hopefully with good news!

Until then

Eamon

Uncle Toby's Cooking Tips

Hi All,

Check out some video's of myself showing you how to use some Uncle Toby's products to make healthy school lunches for your kids.
But also some tastey treats for anyone whos hungry!

Http://www.youtube.com/uncletobys

Excitement Builds Towards Commonwealth Games

A lot has happened over the last few months.
I have been overseas for 6 weeks in Europe racing and training, we
have had a few meets in Australia and the whole year has been pretty
much spent training...

When I meet people they usually ask me:

(A) Why do I swim?
(B) Why do swimmers spend so much time staring at the black line
when most of our races only last from 20 seconds to 2 minutes?!
(C) What keeps you going when you have so many set backs with
injury's?

All of those answers can be easily answered by two words.....
"Commonwealth Games!!!" But let me go into a bit more detail...

Firstly why swimmers spend so much time training... What a lot of
people don't understand is how technical and scientific swimming has
actually become over the years.
Although I don't swim an many kilometres a week as I used to when I
was younger, I actually spend more time training than I ever have...
Just a lot smarter.
Years ago training used to be a "toughest survive" scenario, people
who couldn't handle to training sets simply didn't make it.
Swimmers, no matter what speciality (sprint/distance) would all do
the same training. Sometimes getting up to 100km a week in hard
training, which is insane! And the core reason that swimmers used to
train that much is to get what we call "Feel" for the water. Having
"feel" for the water is the most important part of swimming I
believe, a lot of people think we simply just in the the water and
thrash are arms as we have been trained to do. But there is a lot
more to it than that, just like a cricketer practices his strokes in
between delivery's; swimmers practice technique day in and day out.
The more time swimmers spend in the water, the better we can "feel"
the pressure we are putting on the water, the angle at which we are
entering/exiting the water and also where we are creating/reducing
resistance on the water. That and the old motto "practice makes
perfect" is basically why we train so much, to practice perfect
technique so that when we get in that water and race, we are not
just moving our arms really fast.... We are swimming at high speeds
with hydrodynamic technique more efficiently that anyone else.
Thanks to science and increasing technology, we can no watch above
and underwater footage of our swimming, get very accurate bio
mechanics to tell us our speeds and velocity for starts turns and
free swimming too.

Secondly and more importantly why do I swim, and what keeps me going
when the going gets tough? Simple, major meets when I get to
represent my country doing what i love.
Meets like the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games are
experiences unlike any other for sports people. Even having been to
2 Olympic Games and 1 Commonwealth Games already, I still find it
hard to explain what it is that makes the experience so great. I
also haven't been able to find anything else that can replicate the
feeling.

There is nothing like standing in there, wearing the green and gold
tracksuit in front of thousands of screaming people, knowing that
you only have 48 seconds to achieve your dreams after years of
training. There is also nothing like seeing your name on the
brightly coloured scoreboard with the simple (AUS) next to your
name. But probably most importantly, and what feels the best. is
when you touch that wall, when all those years of training, all that
hard work pays off. Whether it is Gold, Silver, Bronze or even just
a Personal Best. It is the moment that you touch the wall that it
makes everything seem worth while. Looking up and seeing your
parents in the crowd, the screaming fans decorated in green and
gold, the whole Australian team with eyes on you. That pressure,
that excitement, the glory is what we live for.

No matter how tough training can be, no matter how many injury's I
get.. All I have to do it think about those moments and it is easy
to stay motivated

HOPE YOU ALL WILL WATCH THE AUSTRALIAN SWIM TEAM AT THE UPCOMING PAN
PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS IN USA IN AUSGUST AND THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES
IN DEHLI IN OCTOBER!

Monaco - Mare Nostrum

The "Mare Nostrum" is a series that takes place every year in Europe.


Over 2 weeks we take part in 3 meets - Monaco, Barcelona and Canet... All on the south coast of Europe, can't complain!

The first pic is of me racing the 50 freestyle "Monaco" 50.
This is the only meet which does elimination 50's which makes it very hard to win. It has 5 heats, halving the competitors every round until there are only 2 swimmers facing off in the final round! I made it to the final 4. The last few weeks of hard training had taken its toll and I was and still am feeling quite fatigued! But it will be good for the long run!
I didnt race too well in the 100 Freetyle either... With 4 more meets to go it seems like I have a long way to go! But I am hoping ot improve with each meet!



This is a photo of the famous Casino in James Bond movie Casino Royal!
You should see the amount of money floating around this place. Ferarri's, Porches and Rolls Royces everywhere!
You arent' allowed in the Casino unless you are very dressed up, black shoes, collared shirt the works!




Finally the view from my balcony at the hotel. The whole of Monaco is basically built on the ocean and is full of Marina's.
To say that the boats in the Marinas are big is an understatement, these things are huge!!!
There is so much money floating around out there it is rediculous.
So jealous!

Next meet Barcelona!

http://www.rednosedayfundraising.com.au/eamon_sullivan

Hi all,

This is a picture of me and my dad! I have recently signed on as an Ambassador for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Every family has to face the possibility of SIDS in the early years of childhood, yet SIDS and Kids receives less than 5% in funding from the Government.

Currently, SIDS and Kids receives NO federal government funding for bereavement counseling and rely on the goodwill of the community, through fundraising exercises such as Red Nose Day to fund grief support service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I have had a close friend lose their 22 month old son, and it is an experience that no family should have to go through.

To do your part please visit http://www.rednosedayfundraising.com.au/eamon_sullivan and donate as little or as much as you like.

If you could share or forward this to some of your friends/colleagues or even start your own donation page that would be amazing.

It's such a great cause and you will be helping to find some answers for families affected by SIDS.

Cheers
Eamon

Visit to Switzerland

So I am still training overseas in Europe, it feels like a month has passed but actually only a week!

In the past week we have travelled to Singapore and taken a swimming workshop for the Australian School there, travelled to Milan and set up our base camp for a few days and recently just travelled to Lugano in Switzerland to spend a few days with a coaching legend of swimming.

Genardi Touretski is the god father of sprint swimming, his philosophies are still used to this day. He coached the Russian machine Alexander Popov and Australian hero Michael Klim for many years leading up to the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Alex and Klimmy broke numerous world records with times that are still in the top 5 in the world.

We trained 4 times in the pool over 2 days and spent a few brain storming sessions with Genardi at his pool in Lugano. We watched some videos from almost 15 years ago of his training techniques and machines that he build to help train the sprinter and I must say they are absolutely amazing.

It was definitely the highlight of my trip so far spending time with Genardi and his squad, it was great to get some ideas outside the box and to listen to his stories (he has about 1000 and is not afraid to tell one!).

Whilst we were there we also got to go and see the Dam with 007 Golden Eye where he jumps off the edge! Photos below

The photos below are: (Top Left) My training group with Genardi Touretski who is the one standing in the middle with navy top and white pants, (Top Middle) The view of the pool with me swimming towards the camera, (Top Right) The Dam made famous is James Bond 007 Golden Eye where he jumps off the edge, (Bottom Left) Brain storming session with Genardi and my coach with some underwater videos and (Bottom Right) our humble sleeping arrangements...some people think we travel in style! But its quite the opposite!