PRACTICE to the BLOCKS

 "The starting block isn't a place to become someone new; it is where you give your hard work permission to show up."

Doing all the little things right in practice is critical because swimming races and outcomes are often decided by hundredths of a second.  Consistent execution of the smallest details builds the automatic muscle memory needed to perform a flawless race under race conditions.

You can't be one swimmer at practice and

then think you're going to become a super hero on race day.  Practicing tight streamlines, fast crisp powerful turns and strong finishes on every lap during practice creates "muscle memory".   Sometimes young swimmers have a hard time understanding why it is important to do all the "little things" with correctly and with their best effort during their practice.  Young swimmers struggle with this hard truth---When exhaustion hits in the final yards of a race, your body is under a great deal of stress and always defaults to its strongest habits.

Swimmers, in most cases are driven by outcomes which are driven by the scoreboard for a lot of them.  Sometimes, those times come down to shaving very little of their personal best.  Shaving just 0.1 seconds off every wall which includes the start, turn, and finish can add to a substantial time drop depending on the race and distance.

Fun Fact #1---- swimming takes place in water which if you have ever really thought about it is much denser than water.  Keeping that in mind, keeping your head still, pointing your toes, and maintaining a narrow body line will drastically cut resistance, save energy and goes a long way in determining that final outcome.

Fun Fact #2---- avoiding breath into and ot of your walls during turns and breakouts will preserve your speed thus reducing the energy needed to get going again.  That breath that you think you need, and like to take right before you finish can easily cost a you a PB, a cut, or a place on the scoreboard.

Fun Fact #3----holding yourself accountable for every rule----like never pulling on the lane line, not using arms in a kick set, not breathing out or in to walls in free and fly, doing all legal strong turns and finishes----builds your focus, grit, and confidence required to stay composed and calm on race day.

So what does all this mean to you, the actual swimmer who has to show up and execute on race day. The little things that you do everyday during practice matter and will have consequences long after that one set, repeat or day.

Swimmers come in all types with their own dreams, goals, and expectations of what the race should and will look like.  There approach is to show up for practice (sometimes only when convenient) dive in and swim with little thought on what they are really trying to accomplish as they travel down that black line on the bottom.  

                              

                                 

Our set of the week was done by our Senior Prep and Junior Gold groups this past Thursday.  Both groups did a great job working through the set after a great warmup and pre set focusing on walls and techniques, all those little things.  The purpose of this main set was to work on our pacing and sprinting in free, stroke and off stroke.  All the blue was to set up our speed going into that 2nd repeat which was a sprint ALL OUT.  Why do it?  First swimmers think they are exhausted after a race but in reality this coach doesn't believe they have really experienced what exhaustion really feels like.  So, we took that repeat and were trying to go from a dead sprint from the push to the finish.  No building, no thoughts what so ever, just a sprint baby.  You survived, now talk to me child. 

SWIM AND ROCK NEXT WEEKEND.  GET OUT THOSE SUITS.

   

JUNIOR GOLD VETERANS DAY WORKOUT

 “Work hard in silence.  Let your success make the noise.”

Our Junior Gold swimmers did this workout today in honor of Veterans Day.  It followed our warm up of the following:

• 300 swim free/back by 50’s.  ( flips at far wall open turns near wall)
• 6x50 kick @1:10 ( odds boards. evens no boards)
• 4 x25  free sprint @30 (opening 25 of your 50 so either 1 or 2 breaths on each)

READY TO RACE

 

FOCUS versus DISTRACTIONS

“STARVE YOUR DISTRACTIONS, FEED YOUR FOCUS.”

 

Are you a swimmer who has trouble staying focused during swim practice or during a swim meet?  Think about that before you answer.

Do you have the ability to cut out distractions and ignore all the noise around you or do you allow those distractions affect your performance?

When you have tools (positive affirmations) in your tool box you can genuinely focus on the task right in front of you because your mind is free of clutter and distractions.

Those distractions are actions that move you away from your goals and to stay really focused is hard and takes a lot of practice just like your swimming.

When you are practicing during workout or racing in competition, it has to be the most important thing in the world at that moment.  Your mindset is crucial at that moment, it frees your mind so that you can move through the process to the next step.  Some may say this is “ being in the zone.”

Distractions can either be internal or external but both can affect your performance in workouts or

competitions.   Take a piece of paper and write down any distractions that you have experienced and whether they are internal or external.   Include mental cues that have helped you through those times. 

A good way to keep distractions at a distance is to have a reset word or routine to bring your focus back to the task at hand.

Here are a few:

PHYSICAL 

• The goggle snap
• The water splash
• The towel wipe
• The block grip
• The cap adjustment

MENTAL/VERBAL

• Next one/next lap
• My lane
• Head down
• Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth
• Why not me today

Do any of these sound familiar to you, maybe you have used them.  You may have others that I would be interested in knowing as I’m sure your teammates would tool.  Start working on the mental side of  swimming because it is as important as the work you do in the pool.

LAST WEEK BIG SET

This was a set we did with the gold group on Friday towards the end of our workout.  The focus was to hold your speed throughout the entire set.  Focus on stacking your hands off the ready position and work a tight streamline off the push.  We split the lanes and started off both sides so everyone could have a strong finish into the wall.  The other focus was to not breathe until you got to the 12.5 mark on each repeat.   Hopefully this will set you up for strong breakouts and finishes during your upcoming races.

THE HAUNTED POOL

 Wind swirled around the starting blocks, whipping the pools surface into whitecaps as ten swimmers lined up for the final race of the day.   The four Mako swimmers—- Stella, Keagan, Evelina, and Maggie stood ready to race their first 1000 free, their hearts pounding and butterflies fluttering in their stomachs.  “1000 free,” the ghost starter announced.  “Swimmers, take your marks ….BEEEEP! “ The swimmers exploded from the blocks into the depths below.

The race was going smoothly until Keagan reached his 17th lap and heard a strange gurgling sound rising

from the depths below.  He remembered those stories from the older mako swimmers like Nick and Anna about the swimmer who disappeared years ago during this exact race and how he came back every Halloween looking for the next swimmer to snatch away.  At first Keagan had thought they were trying to make this race seem scarier than it was-–but then on that flip on the 17th lap he felt a sight tug on his feet as they met the wall as if it was pulling him through the wall. 

As Keagan pushed off the wall, Coach Mike’s. Warning flashed through his mind: never look back after a turn.  He looked anyway.  A dark figure hovered behind him, perfectly still, though its shadow stretched across the pool floor towards his feet.  Then the wall split open without a sound, and a kraken unfolded from the darkness, its long tentacles curling into his lane.  Keagan kicked harder than he ever had, but something cold tightened around his ankles and pulled him down.  His shout dissolved into bubbles.  Above him, the race continued—- but another Keagan was swimming in his lane, matching his stroke perfectly.  It turned to breathe, looked straight down at him, and smiled.

When the race ended, Maggie, Evelina, and Stella watched the swimmer in Keagan’s lane climb out without a word.  Then a hand broke the surface behind him—-the real Keagan was still trapped below.  

The three of them reached for him, but the kraken’s tentacles held tight.  Coach Heather seized a pole from the pool wall and thrust it towards the creature’s eye.  Its grip loosened, and together they pulled Keagan onto the deck.  Shivering and dazed, Keagan looked up at his teammates.  “What was that—-and what was my time?”   No one laughed.  Coach Mike closed the pool that night, but as the last light clicked off, the scoreboard flickered back on.  Beside Keagan’s name where his time should have been, two words glowed: NEXT HALLOWEEN.

AUTHORS: ARIAL, STELLA EVELINA MAGGIE.  Edits coach Mike

RACING WEEKEND

 

WHICH VOICE

 

“Your words have the power to lead you in any direction.”

Fear is a real thing in swimming.  It can be fear of a new event or distance, fear of a unfavorable outcome, fear of getting tired or any other thing that each individual swimmer might face.

There is nothing that you are going to face in a race that we have not faced down in practice, the trick is to face the fear with a plan.  If you have put in the effort and work in practice then you’re ready to face the ugly beast with confidence.   If you are always doubting yourself and not giving a honest effort in practice the beast will probably win most of the time.

Every swimmer can pretty much talk themselves into or out of, almost anything.  Your words have power.  What you repeatedly say to yourself will eventually lead to a strong mindset and eventually become your belief.

Good swimmers will not let negative thoughts hang around and that includes those races with unfavorable outcomes, that is why we do a swim down.  Go warm down after your race (positive or negative) and do on your own not with a group of friends.  Just you and that voice in your head.  Have an honest conversation and then move on to the next race.

Bottom line is that you spend more time with that voice that lives between your ears, so you may as well make it a voice that helps you in the long run, right?

You don’t have to pretend everything is easy.  Be honest with yourself, than than give yourself something that will end up being useful. Talk to yourself as you would to a teammate—-with patience, encouragement and a clear plan of attack.