ANOTHER STEP ON YOUR JOURNEY

 

One of the first steps in your swimming journey this season is GOAL SETTING.  It is important for you to write these down in a journal as a way to hold yourself accountable to yourself.  When you write them down and look at them throughout the season you stand a better chance of attaining them.

SETTING SMART GOALS

When setting goals you will have that one goal that is always constant, never changing but all your other goals will be like moving targets, ever changing from practice to practice, meet to meet, and season to season.

S-Specific.  

M-Measurable

A-Attainable

R-Relevant

T-Time bound

Be as specific as you can when writing down your goals, avoid fluffy goals such as I want to be faster. Duh! We know that or you wouldn't be at workout.  Swimmers come up to me all the time at a swim meet and say I want to go a best time and I always try to respond with, that's great but how are you going to do that.

When setting goals try to change from I want to be faster and write down something like this, "My goal is to drop 3 seconds in the 200 IM by April 1st."  This goal now becomes very specific with both a time, distance and stroke, and it gives you a sense of urgency by setting a date.  But there is still something missing, How are you going to do it?  

The goal becomes just words on a piece of paper unless you choose to change something and this is the hard part when setting goals.Something has to change, so when you sit down, be honest with yourself and add the missing parts into your SMART GOALS.  

You know the missing parts and they might look like this:

• I know my turns are weak and slow.
• My underwater's are weak
• I am not aggressive in and out of the walls.
• I shy away from pushing myself past my comfort zone.
• I know I'm a butterfly, but backstroke is so much easier Chen given a choice.

These are all things that should be included when writing down your goals for the season.

MAKO TIP #1. YOUR SECRET WEAPON

Do you know what it is?  SLEEP

It is impossible to perform, recover or grow without proper rest.  While you sleep your body is working for you repairing your tissues and muscles from the days workout or competition.  This is the most important function of maintaining a regular sleep pattern, it allows your body to heal and maintains a strong immune system to fight off disease.  Outside of injuries, getting sick is one of the leading causes of missing school and workouts.

COACHES TIP-  Create a habit of going to bed at the same time each night (yes weekends too) and get up  at the same time.  We all have an internal clock and if you use it, you'll feel much better and get more accomplished.  Create a dark environment and put your devices away and you'll have a better chance of getting some deep meaningful sleep.

MIKE'S SET OF THE WEEK

This set is a long axis drill for freestyle and will help in three things; head position, rotation, and swimming tall.

20x25 done in rounds of 4. We used snorkels, fins and paddles.

25 superman kick (position 11)@30 

25 Right hand lead@30

25 Left Hand lead@30

25 swim free strong@30

EARN YOUR SUNSET

 

It was nice seeing all of our swimmers and parents this past Saturday.  We hope that we were able to answer any questions that you might have as we get ready for our first day at the pools.  We know that the first few weeks will look a little different as we are waiting on Mason to finish up their construction, but as we always say just focus on what you can control and give it your all and we will be okay.

As we get ready to embark upon our new season it’s time to start putting a plan together, because without a plan all your doing is planning to fail.  Any good plan has to start with some goals both long term and short term and this weekend is a good time to start thinking about them so that we can talk about them next week.

As you start to think and put some goals together let’s understand that perfectionism is not a destination because if it is you just may have a hard time getting there.  Perfectionism can be both an asset in your swimming….but on the other side of the coin it can also be a liability.

Why, number one and I believe this " If you look for perfection in this sport you will never be content", you will never be happy with your races no matter how well you do.  Perfectionist are always afraid of making a mistake or failing in their own eyes, they have a hard time of really swimming with freedom, letting everything go and really enjoying themselves when they race.

Some examples of why perfectionism might hold you back;

• the added pressure that you put on yourself.  It causes you to tighten up and doesn't allow you to relax.
• you start to believe you will Neve be good enough.
• it causes you not set unrealistic expectations.  It doesn't allow you to feel good about the little wins.

All of the above will rob you of the enjoyment for swimming which you have come to love.

"You're never chasing perfection.  You're learning how to form great habits." Swim Cash

As you Jump into the pool this week for your first workout lets learn to practice with a purpose and not just swim aimlessly down the pool practice after practice, make every set count, every streamline, every turn count.  This week is your sunrise 🌅 for the season.  Now let's earn that beautiful 🌅 for the end of the season.  Everything in between is the process, start enjoying it for this is where memories are created to last a lifetime. 

NEXT POST WE WILL JUMP INTO THE YOUR GOALS.

SETTING THE TONE

 

We hope that your first couple weeks of school went well and you’ve settled into a routine.  In another week we will be starting our workouts/training for the 2024-25 short course season.  The coaches are ready and eager to welcome back our returning swimmers, and look forward to meeting and getting to know our new swimmers to MAKOS.

We look forward to an exciting and successful season ahead.

As we start our new competitive swim season it is important for all swimmers to be prepared both physically and mentally from day 1.  Set yourself up to be successful this year from that first workout.

WAYS TO GET OFF TO A GOOD START.

1. GOOD ATTITUDE - 😃 Everyone will have the blues once in a while.  It's human nature.  On those days leave all the outside noise and distractions at the door, don't bring them onto the pool deck.  It will set a bad tone for you, the group and the coach.  Let the feel of the water encompasses your own body and get to work.
2. STUDENT/ATHLETE- It's a privilege to be able to swim which can be gone in a instant.  Your school work always comes first, so do yourself a favor and stay on top of all your assignments.  It's called time management. The week has 168 hours in it.  You sleep 56 hours a week(based on 8 hours a night).  You are in school for 30 hours a week (based on a 6 hour day).  You have 12.5 hours of home work a week (based on 2.5 a night m-f).  You have 6 hours of swimming a week (based on 1.5 4 times a week).  That leaves 63.5 hours a week for whatever.  In other words swimming does not take up all your time so don't use it as an excuse.  Manage your time wisely.
3. SLEEP-😴 Your body needs to rest so it is ready for the next day.  Get use to having an internal clock that tells you each day when you need to go to bed.  Set a time and stick to it no matter what.  If you miss 4 hours one night, you can't make it up.  Those hours are gone forever.  Your feel better and you will avoid illness if you maintain that regular schedule.
4. HYDRATE--The one thing you can control is your water intake.  Bring your water bottles with you everywhere that you are allowed and constantly drink from it.  Especially during workout or any other physical activity.  You need more water at those times.  Just like sleep I f you become de-hydrated it's very hard to catch up and you start to feel the effects very quickly.  So drink.
5. NUTRITION-- Garbage in = Garbage out.  Treat your body as the fine tune machine that it is.  You have all these dreams and goals in this sport so don't sabotage them by feeding the machine with garbage.  If your parents used bad fuel in the family car it would start to perform badly.  You need a variety of food groups to fuel your performances, including carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, vegetables 🥒 (yes the green things), fruits and of course your fluids.
6. BE ON TIME-- When you get to the pool deck start preparing your body for what you are about to ask it to go through.  Set up a 5-10 minute routine for some dynamic stretching that will actually help you.  Stop just plopping yourself on the ground.  Being on time means getting into the pool with the WHOLE GROUP and not on your schedule.
7. ORGANIZATION-- Have all your equipment on the deck in front of your lane.  We do not want to waste time getting out to get it.
8. LISTENING--  Be prepared to listen to what we are focusing on and trying to get accomplished in the sets.
9. GETTING BETTER-- Every workout, every warm up, every set, every repeat, every streamline, every turn, every underwater, every breath, and every finish is an opportunity for you to grow and get better.  Don't waste even one of those opportunity, it just may be the one that costs you that .01 you need later in the season.
10. SHOW UP--  You can't accomplish your goal if you don't show up.  A workout missed is a workout lost forever.  Stay on your schedules.

TAKE AWAYS FROM 2024 OLYMPIC SWIMMING

 

My take away from the Olympic swim meet is that from we got to see a lot of great racing from some extraordinary athletes.  If it was world records or Olympic records that you were looking for you might have been a little disappointed.  There were 17 Olympic records and 4 World records broken during the Paris games.  You would have to go back to the 1996 Atlanta games  to see so few world records broken. That year there were also fewer Olympic records (13 ) set.   I was fortunate enough to witness those 96 games and person and  saw some outstanding races during the week.

You may wonder which Olympics saw the most world records broken.  You would only have to go back to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in which the world saw 25 World records fall and an another 65 Olympic records fall.  

That year the Speedo sponsored swimmers wore what they referred to as the LZR racer suit made of polyethylene and neoprene material appropriately nicknamed the “shark skin suit” which was developed jointly with an Italian company, the Australian Institute of sport and yes NASA.  In 2010 the suits were banned ant the athletes had to go back to suits made solely of textiles.  Is that the reason we don’t see the records falling as much, 

Instead of seeing the records fall you got to witness some exciting races where anyone who could find a way to get back to the final eight, had a chance to get to the podium regardless of the lane you were in.  Races that swimmers led from start to finish and other races were if you could find that next gear coming out of the last turn you just might have found yourself on the podium maybe even on the top.  

How does that translate to swimming at our level.  Having said this before and I’ll say it again now and that is this; we put so much emphasis on that final result (the time)  both leading up to the race and when we come crashing into the wall at the finish that we are so tight we forget to just race and have fun with our sport.  

Let’s talk about the things you can take away that will help each of you in your swim competitions.  The first is that I hope when Rowdy Gaines kept pointing out the underwater off those starts and turns that you took notice and have a better understanding of how important they are especially off those last turn when every muscle in your body says NO.  The next thing that he kept pointing out is that you need to stay in your lane and swim your race.  The last thing that I would like to point out is how he kept talking about finishing the race with an explosive kick and a crashing into the wall.

These are all things that we can all get better with but you need to buy into it and commit yourself during every workout.  

If you listened to any of these swimmers especially the veterans who may have taken some time off in the last four years the key message I took away is this; remember why you got into this sport, and have fun with it and enjoy the moment.  Swimming is a part of your life don’t let it become bigger than you are and remember enjoy the process and have fun with it.

Let’s spend a little time over the next few days and start preparing for our school year coming up.  Let’s not wait until Sunday night to start thinking about.  Enjoy that first day and don’t’ forget that means you’re one day closer to the summer of 25. 

We will see you next week.

VACATION TIME

 

Now that swimming and diving all stars ⭐️ is over it’s time to get away from the pools for a while.  You’ve worked hard and now it’s time to give those bodies a chance to recover. 

It’s time to recharge both physically and mentally so that we return to the pools refresh and ready to go.

If you get a little anxious during this time how about some strength training especially your cores.  Something that will benefit you when you get back in the pool.

Wherever you are headed have fun and be safe.

We will see you in a few weeks.

COACH MIKE

WRAPPING IT UP

 With a weekend of fast swimming at all the Long Course and summer league championships it is time to put this season in the books.  Take a needed break away from the pool and spend some time having fun being a kid with nothing to do.   Before you blink it will be time to refocus and turn our attention to a new journey with new goals and aspirations.  

Before we do that take the time to write in your journals about your journey this past season.  Share with yourself the goals you had, with both your successes and failure.  Both are important and vital for your growth in the sport.

CHAMP WEEK SET ( MEET WARM UP EACH DAY)

TUESDAY 

12x50 (4 25 MRS/ 25 free) (4 MRS) (4 25 kick 25 free)@1:00

WEDNESDAY 

9x50 (3 25 MRS/25 free) ( 3 MRS) (3 25 kick 25 free) @1:15

THURSDAY 

6x50 ( 2 25 MRS/25 free) ( 2 MRS) (2 25 kick 25 free) @1:30

FRIDAY

BRING IT ALL TO GETHER 

STARTS TURNS BREAKOUTS FINISHES 

SATURDAY 

OWN YOUR RACE!  NO OUTSIDE NOISES!!  CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL!!

This will be the last post until we near the season sometime in mid August.

NO IDLING

 

The ability to accomplish your goals first comes down to how discipline and committed you are, and saying you are without the actions is like an empty promise.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s school, swimming or life the bridge 🌉 between wishing and accomplishing is discipline.  The discipline to know what you need to do, how to do it right and executing your plan consistently.

You just idle around in your lane doing things inconsistently like getting In late weak warmup, bad turns and the beat goes on if you get my drift……

The three essential things that any athlete needs to succeed in sports are,

1. A hunger and passion to succeed
2. The mindset to handle pressure.
3. The self-discipline to do the hard stuff….The stuff others won’t do.

Without that hunger and passion, the mental toughness when things go wrong or get hard  and the discipline to do the hard stuff, your journey becomes longer and the climb steeper.

The consistent swimmers are the ones who understand that to reach their goals takes a high level of commitment and self discipline.  It doesn’t come from doing easy or average work.  If you do average work I dare say you should not expect anything but average results.

“You can either suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret—-the choice is yours.”   Discipline is not a punishment either, it is what’s needed to achieve success.

Excuses make today easy, but tomorrow hard.  Discipline makes today hard, but tomorrow easy.

SWIM SET FOR THE WEEK

3 ROUNDS (2nd round kick)

1x100 Cruise 25 MRS 25 free

2x50 @1:00  (25 fast MRS /25 cruise free)

4x25 @1:00 MRS BUILDING SPEED ON EACH 25. WORK ON BREAKOUT AND FINISH (10 seconds apart ).