Rest is overrated. Just ask Whitehorse Glacier Bear Bronwyn Pasloski.
Swimming in the open class at the Western Canadian Championships in Saskatoon, the weekend of February 20, Pasloski won three medals and set her 43rd Glacier Bears club record.
But unlike with more important meets, Pasloski did not taper her training regiment before competing.
“I call it a training meet,” said the 17-year-old. “I didn’t get to rest for it; I went from hard training into the meet. It’s supposed to be practice for being tired, not well rested.
“You always want to do your best times, so in that sense I wish I did a little bit better. But in the sense that you’re not at your peak, I was not at my fastest, it was quite good.”
At the meet, Pasloski captured silver in the 200-metre breaststroke and bronze in both the 50- and 100-metre breaststroke. She also made it to either the A or B finals in all her events, taking fourth in the 200-metre individual medley, 12th in the 50-metre freestyle and 11th in the 100-metre freestyle, just 0.01 seconds off her best time.
Her club record came in the 50-metre backstroke, finishing sixth with a time of 29.47 seconds.
“I’ve been working a lot on my backstroke,” said Pasloski. “I love all (swim strokes) - I’m really good at breaststroke - but I really like backstroke.
“And I ended up going under 30 seconds, which I’ve been trying to do for such a long time.”
Putting more strain on her body, on the last day of racing Pasloski faced the challenge of competing in three consecutive races, leaving her only 10 or 15 minutes to rest between events.
“It was a go-go-go kind of day,” said Pasloski. “And my last one was my 50-metre backstroke, so I was pretty impressed with myself.”
Pasloski will be tapering her training leading up to the Spring Nationals coming up at the end of the month, a gateway meet to the Pan-Pacific and the Commonwealth Games.
“So we’re training hard and trying to go fast,” said Pasloski.
A high school senior, Pasloski recently signed a NCAA letter of intent to join the Hoosiers swim team on a full scholarship with the University of Indiana.
In addition to signing with the top-10 ranked NCAA swim team in the US, over the last year Pasloski has won silver at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, bronze at the Speedo Western Canadian Short Course Championships, two bronze medals at the Australian Age Group Championships, three bronze medals at the Swim Canada Age Group Nationals, bronze in a Canada Cup event and added two more silvers at the 2009 Paul Bergen Junior International in Portland, Oregon, in December.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com