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National's Week!

So, as many of you know my sport is badminton and this weekend is the Irish National Championships. I go into the weekend after some good results at the weekend in Essex where I played on the Leinster senior team against Essex and Ulster. Beating Ulster 7-4 and Essex 6-5, this leaves us second in the table going into the final weekend which is in March where we will hope to qualify for the play-offs for promotion to England's top league.

With National's this weekend, I have been very focused and excited to play after being selected to represent Ireland at the European Women's team championships in 10 days time. So I am really looking forward to this weekend and my preparation has been going well. Leading up to a tournament I try not to put too much stress on my body while still training at the same time. Looking after your body is a crucial factor in being able to perform at the highest level in competition. This includes diet, sleep and training. Eating a balanced, healthy diet while getting at least 8 hours sleep is of up-most importance as well as training.

For the week that's in it, I would start my day with either mashed banana on brown bread or a simple mixed berry smoothie with one piece of brown bread toast. For lunch, I would usually have a 2 egg tuna omlette and for dinner I would have a meal containing brown pasta or rice. I feel that starting the day right is half the battle. I am getting a mix of protein, carbohydrates and fats which help fuel my body to allow me to train at a high intensity each day. I am burning a lot of calories each day so I need to be taking in enough also or my body will crash due to lack of energy.

In a week like this leading up to a tournament, I tend to do a few light sessions, a full session on say the Wednesday and then ease it down again so that the body isn't too drained. It is important to maintain a good energy level for competition.
So this week my training would be the following:
-Monday: 30 minute run, light on-court matches
-Tuesday: Light on-court hitting, medium-high intensity footwork
-Wednesday: Tough on-court match session
-Thursday: Light aerobic exercise, medium-high intensity on-court session
-Friday: Light on-court session, 20 minutes stretching/foam rolling

This is just a sample of my week, obviously it can change depending on how my body is feeling on different days. I am very focused and looking forward to the weekend. I hope this post was somewhat helpful to you guys and that you can use it at some stage in your sporting careers.

Thanks guys and as always please share my blog with your friends and family! Feel free to leave a comment or suggestion for any posts.

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