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Brittany MacLean’s Recovery Not As Smooth As She Hoped – Still Takes Victory At Mel Zajac International

Olympic finalist Brittany MacLean jumped back into competition this weekend at the Mel Zajac International following a week-long break from training after the 2015 Canadian Team Trials. The purpose of the break was to promote recovery for her shoulder and hamstring injuries that kept her from competing at her best all season.

“I had planned to race this weekend all along, so it is not really a sign that I am doing better than expected. However I don’t think it’s a bad idea to get off the blocks a few times and use the weekend to train while racing a little,” said MacLean.

MacLean competed in her first race back since the break this weekend at the Mel Zejac International competition in Vancouver. There, her best finish was in the 1500m freestyle where she came away with a win in a time of 16:41.21.

MacLean also swam a few off events, grabbing a sixth place finish in the 200m IM and taking the eighth seed in the 100m backstroke prelims before scratching the finals. MacLean also scratched the 800m freestyle on the same day.

Prior to the meet MacLean stated that she wasn’t sure how many events she would do. ” I will base that off of how I feel. I will probably do a few off events, not put too much pressure on the big ones this early in my training cycle,” said MacLean.

The two scratches on the final day of competition indicate that MacLean wasn’t feeling exactly 100 per cent, however MacLean has not given any indication of how she was feeling at that time.

As for her recovery, “things haven’t gone as smooth as I would’ve liked since trials in April, but I am home for the summer, getting great treatment and lots of recovery time in hopes that I’ll be ready to go in August.”

For the past three years, MacLean has been training at the University of Georgia where she has won both individual NCAA titles, a team NCAA title, and after her 2014 performance was appropriately named Swimswam’s 2014 NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year.

MacLean had a two week break between the 2015 NCAA Championships and the Canadian Team Trials. On the last day of trials MacLean was named to the Pan Am Games team. MacLean decided to opt out of any opportunity to swim at the World Championships in order to promote recovery directly after the games

On training for the games MacLean said, “It is a slow process but I am increasing my yardage still and hoping to be in much better shape come July.”

After the Pan Am Games MacLean plans to take an even larger break from the pool in order to fully heal as the Olympic year approaches. MacLean is one of the best distance freestylers in the world at the moment, having medalled at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Pan Pacific Championships.

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About Mitch Bowmile

Mitch Bowmile

Mitch worked for 5-years with SwimSwam news as a web producer focusing on both Canadian and international content. He coached for Toronto Swim Club for four seasons as a senior coach focusing on the development of young swimmers. Mitch is an NCCP level 2 certified coach in Canada and an ASCA Level …

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