Westward passage

Last weekend was our first chance to see   where we are at this point in the season, and a lot of the swimmers from the Senior Prep, Junior 1, and Junior 2 groups turned in numerous personal best’s  .  I do know that some of you may not have been happy with your results, but we do need to keep it all in perspective.  What I mean by that is that since around December 20 and up until January 2 a lot of us have not been on a normal schedule (unless you kept a normal swimming schedule including the holidays), and that is larger than a lot of you think.  For the Senior prep and Junior 2 groups the workouts are set up so that you are not out of the water for more than 2 days straight, because there is a strong belief that after 48 hours an athlete starts losing some of their conditioning.  For myself I am normally in the pool   M-W-F and if I miss one of those days the next time I hit the water I feel very tired  , slow (no comments I know you think I am already slow) and just miserable, and have to really work to get through the workout. 

All that being this is what I was looking to get out of the meet, and if you notice it was one of the meets that I don’t pay too much attention to times for various reasons.  What I am looking for is that each of you are swimming each and every event with a lot of heart  and that heart is beating regardless of how you feel or the conditions.  Are you exploding off the starts and turns with a great breakout stroke?  Are you finishing   each race with great speed  ?  Are you breathing off the walls?  Are you swimming smart races?  How is your focus?  This is what I am looking for as we work through the month of January!  Yes I know that I was not at much of the meet, as I was at the distance meet (where the senior prep group should have been), but I have enough confidence in each of you that you know what I expect and you will rise to those expectations.  We also had a few DQ’s that were mentioned to me, and I think I have gone over most of them with the swimmers involved, and remember you’re not the first or last to be DQ, but use it as a learning experience.

UPCOMING MEETS:  January open (21 and 22), Snow meet (February 4) and the PM qualifier (February 11 and 12).  The meet that most of you will be going to will be the snow meet.  For the January open We are only taking Senior prep and Junior 2 athletes.  The reason for this is that I have included this meet as part of their training schedule.  Some exceptions were made for a few and as a coach I made that decision based on workout attendance, how they workout, and are they near cuts.   As for picking events you should be choosing events that you are near the cuts, and if you already have the cut, WE SHOULD NOT BE SWIMMING IT UNTIL CHAMPIONSHIP TIME.

SUITS:  I was asked before the last meet by a swimmer; Should I wear my fast suit Saturday?  This issue always amazes me and I know it comes from both peer pressure, and parent pressure because everyone else is doing it.  Take it from a parent who had twin girls   swim into their college years, ALL YOU NEED IS A TIGHT SUIT AT MOST MEETS (SIZE THE TEAM SUIT DOWN ONE FOR MEETS).  Save that SPECIAL suit for that one or two meets a year when you want to feel a little different.  If you wear it for every meet you have nothing to look forward to when that special meet arrives, and above all it will be worn and stretched out by that time. A SWIMMER WHO HAS PUT IN THE WORK AND HAS FOCUS MAKES A FAST SWIMMER.  BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND NOT ALL THE GIMMICKS.

WEEKLY TOPIC:  Mother Goose   and Swimming (a lot of this is from a article  from ASCA written by John Leonard)

“Good, Better, best, Never Rest Till Good is Better and Better is Best.” When we ourselves as swimmers, or we as a team or a group of swimmers  are “GOOD”    we tend to become complacent and we stop taking chances.  Examples of this may be practice where we know that a hard set is lurking around the corner so we pull back on effort at that time instead of pushing through the current set, and accepting the next challenge to see what might  happen (The safe choice).  In a race we may hold back or even be afraid   to try a new strategy because we are happy with our results.  We tend to stop taking chances, or trying new ideas because we are afraid of making a mistake.  On the other hand new swimmers or less talented swimmers make that big leap because they have nothing to lose.  The challenge for US as a group and you as individual swimmers  is to change on the fly and take a chance to move from being GOOD to being GREAT  .  We will get that chance as we move through the next few weeks of practice, race in the next few meets, as we move closer to CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON.  Let’s not let “being good” gert in the way of being GREAT  !

WEEKS PRACTICE:  This week we did a lot of work putting are IM’s together and a lot of work not breathing off the wall in free.  Some keys points from the week, Fly-pull all the way through recover position fast with press.  Back, good rotation with deep catch, press toward bottom.  Breast arm pull slow-medium fast forward.

·    SET Of THE WEEK:

·         4x500 free (all 50’s done fast)

·         1x400 cruise hold a steady but strong pace

·         2x50 @55

·         1x300 cruise hold a steady but faster pace than on the 400

·         4x50 @55/50/55/50

·         1x200 cruise hold a steady pace but faster than the 300

·         6x50 @55/50/45/55/50/45

·         1x100 faster pace than the 200

·         8x50@55/50/50/45/45/40/40/easy

Have a good weekend   MIKE

SWIMMING AND MOTHER GOOSE