“WIN”. What’s Important Now

The time of year has come where I get a lot of questions from a lot of you about long course season and should I do it or not.  I will attempt to give my two cents worth on the subject here. First off Makos does a very good job about offering different sessions that should meet the needs of every swimmer out there.  The first session is vital I believe due to the fact that Makos ends the short course season the first Friday in May, and the reason is simple after that long course meet over that first weekend in May George Mason University keeps the pool in the long course format for the remainder of the summer.  I think it is important for all swimmers to stay in the water until Memorial Day weekend when their summer teams start up. The second session runs until school gets out for the summer, and the benefits of this session is that the summer teams normally have to share the pool with the membership often leading to overcrowded lanes and in cold weather.  The weather also could

 This week we introduce the head sets to the Junior Blue/ Gold and Senior Prep groups.  You all need to let me know if you felt it help you more.  From my perspective all of you responded very well as we worked through drills during our sets.  When a correction was made I could see that you responded and made the adjustment. During the 50’s, 100’s and 200 pace set I saw an immediate improvement and effort in the way you swam during these sets.  Especially during the 100’s there was more of an aggressive approach in the way these were done.  We talked through each 25 of the 100 and how you should attack the race.  We also discussed that the same approach can be used for the other events at that distance with a few minor tweaks, but the principle is to be on the offensive which is always attacking.  Let’s not sit back and be defensive and let the race come to us.  Clearly you play a game of chance if you approach a race with that mindset.  Everything is the same until it’s diferen

I DID IT With the conclusion of the Mako Spring Invitational Championship meet this past weekend, we have one  championship meet left, which is where we will have 27 of our Mako age groupers swimming  from April 10-13 in Saint Petersburg Florida. This past weekend our swimmers who swam in the spring championship meet rocked the pool with both the effort that they put in and the results that they posted on the scoreboard.  It’s been a long season that started back in September, and the effort you have shown and the progress each of you have made has not gone unnoticed by the coaching staff. The coaches were really thrilled and excited to see many of you trying some new events and a lot of new distances.  You all may not know this but by doing this you keep yourself mentally fresh and at the same time improve your swimming overall.  Some advantages of the longer distances are that it allows you to really work on the turns in a racing situation, which will help in your sh

What our senior prep group looked like at warmups today Today little trouble getting in.  I should get with coach Carli and Elaina and figure it out. Think about ittt!  Any way good work out today with the IM set.  Good racing at the end.  Why do it?  Never know when you have to step up.  I just thought of a different version for Thursday so be ready Hope Jackie and Ricky start talking to you all again soon.  It was an interesting breaststroke race however.

This past weekend the best of the best 14 and under swimmers in Potomac Valley gathered at the University of Maryland for some fun exciting swimming.  The Mako swim team was well represented with 54 swimmers representing all of our groups in the meet.  Our swimmers swam exceptionally well achieving many personal best throughout the meet.  We had a few swimmers who experienced rough weekends, some for the very first time, but we are so proud of the way you handled the situation.  You all did not let a bad swim keep you down, you responded each time by stepping onto that starting back and going after it time  after time.  In this sport as in any other it is a lesson that has to be learned and all of you responded in a way that you can hold your heads high and be proud of your accomplishments.  The true mark of a good athlete are not the wins, but how they respond to the challenge after being knocked down. It’s hard to see now but it is a lesson that will help you all through you

Time for what you may ask your coach.  If you need to ask than maybe you and I have a small communication problem and you have not been paying attention over the last few weeks.  It’s time to grab those caps and goggles, prepare your senses for that glorious smell of chlorine over the next few days, put away all of your demons in a box, get ready to race and have fun.  All of your other races have been little checkpoints along the way, it is now time to have fun, put the  pedal to the medal and see where we will end up.  Up to now your job in practice has been to prepare to be the best that you could be in order to go out at this moment in time and be the best that you can be at this  moment and with the understanding that your best may not be good enough every time.  That does not mean your a failure or that you should stop putting  your best effort out there every time you step onto that block.  Don’t forget to approach these next 2 weekends with a l

As we continue our preparation for your championship meet everything we do and talk about is to try and put you in the best position to succeed both physically and mentally. The discussion that follows is all about how you approach this time of year, the goals you have and the results that you come out with.  That first question that I have for all of you is, How many of you tell yourself, “This is the championship meet, the biggest meet of the year.” The pressure starts to build, you have never swam in a more meaningful meet.  By the time your race arrives you feel an overwhelming pressure to swim a personal best, win a race or heat, to make finals.  A lot of unnecessary worrying and stress that will not help you as you step onto the block. Throughout the meet you just seem like you can’t get into the flow, bad warmups, people in your head just an overall bad vibe running through your bones. Why do we do this to ourselves at this time of the season.  I fully believe that be

So do you realize that today is Dr. Seuss's birthday?  Do you have a favorite story from your childhood which was not too long ago.  As for mine it has always been "GREEN EGGS AND HAM" which I just finished reading again this morning after practice.  In case you don't have it I left a short clip below for your enjoyment on this gloomy  Saturday . I know what you may be thinking,  Coach Mike has finally lost his mind, here we are preparing for Championship season, and our coach is talking about green eggs and ham.  How in the world is that relevant to swimming.   We are in serious trouble now.   All I ask is maybe you should take a few minutes and now that your a little older read it with an open mind.  Pretty much like a coach may start practice with a simple question, Sam starts out with the simple question of "Do you like green eggs and ham?  As you might in swimming  immediately respond with "I can't do 20x25 without a breath!  You and the GRI

It’s that time of year as we are starting to get a lot of questions about like “Are we starting our taper yet?”  At our level I always find it a bit amusing when asked that.  First off it comes from  the mouth of an athlete all 90 pounds (if that) with little or no muscle on their bodies, and even though it’s amusing, I also know it is mentally important to all athletes.  So let’s dive into this topic a little bit. First off  “tapering refers to the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition. In swimming the yardage has logged and standing before us is that two week period where you start to feel a little anxious and excited for what could be.  During this time it is important for you, the athlete to channel that anxiety and excitement in positive ways.   The first way to do that is to make sure you are doing all the lonely things that a swimmer needs to do to place themselves in a good position to be successful.  What do I mean by the lonel