It was awesome seeing all of you again this past week, and I hope that those of you who are new to Makos this season enjoyed the week as much as I did and made some new friends along the way. Matt and I enjoyed woking with such a talented group that we had on Saturday morning. Watching practices and seeing how all of you handled the workouts we are very excited with the possibilities that are possible this season.
Matt, Emma and I talked this week as to our planning of practice. We are trying to make sure that we are on the same page to accomodate those of you who may be combining am/pm workouts. Although intervals and yardage may vary a little the general outline will be the same.
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Gold Group and the Senior Prep group spent most of this past week working on the aerobic side of training. Why you ask? All of you have been out of the water for 6 or more weeks so we are no where near the same shape that you were in back in August or April. Oh by the way water polo, sharks and minnows, Marco/Polo, duck-duck-goose, and laying out don't count as being in the pool.
A lot of the work involved our long axis strokes (free and back) as this is the best and quickest way to get back to a level where we can really start to train. As you noticed the early part of the season will also involve a lot of kicking as that will be vital to finish your races during the year. As we go through our kicking sets try to channel your energy to the hips and legs and don't forget to tighten up those core muscles as your working.
No I didn't forget you Blue monsters, but your workouts were a little different for the first week. The first day we spent a lot of time talking and going over everyting from entering meets, equipment needed, and goal sheets. When we got into the water we went through all the strokes to make sure we were ALL legal and you guys were awesome. We did some technique work in free trying to focus on swimming TALL. We also spent alot of time on our ready position and leaving the walls correctly EVERY time and not just when you feel like it. Leaving the wall is the foundation for 5 out of the 7 turns in your swimming events.
THIS WEEK: All practices are normal this week as we prepare for our first meet of the season this weekend. For the Gold group the anwser is no we don't skip FRIDAY to rest for the meet. The training especially this time of year is vital for our success that we are going to have come Championship time. Sometimes it is important to swim meets when your tired so that when we do rest a little you will be fresh and full of energy and feel like anything is possible. As you work your way through the meet this weekend stay with in yourself, and don't make the meet bigger than it is. If you don't stay relax your muscles tighten and there will be a domino of bad things that come your way. Try and learn to carry your energy level through the entire meet and some of that will depend on how well you stay hydrated and how you fuel yourself during the meet. The other side of the coin is don't let what you may think is a bad swim affect the rest of the races. Remember it's early get feed back and than move on and we will deal with it at practice next week. A BAD TIME DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAAL A BAD SWIM. This is a oppurtunity to learn and get better.
LET'S HAVE A GREAT WEEK OF PRACTICE AND ENJOY YOURSELVES NEXT WEEKEND AS YOU GET BACK TO THE FUN PART OF SWIMMING RACING
MIKE
OWN YOUR RACE! DOLPHINS RULE! THE COACHES
