DECEMBER MEET

So, this morning a few of you asked about what events to swim at the December meet.  We want you to think of this as a championship meet and with that it is important for you to be smart when picking events.

We will try to answer a few questions here in the hopes that it will help you.   The first thing to discuss is what suit should I wear.  Our suggestion is that do what ever is going to make you comfortable and be able to race fast.  You all know what the right thing to do is.

Now when picking your events as we said, be smart. Notice that on Saturday the 13-14 year old events are both in the morning and evening.  Sunday it changes to allow the 15 and over swimmers to swim both in the morning and evening.  The reason for this is to allow us to get more events in and give a feel of a championship meet, where we are swimming both in the morning and evening.  Do I need to swim both sessions on Saturday or Sunday?  We highly recommend that you do to get the feel of a championship meet.   

Now you should look at your best events and go from there.   Be smart here, don’t bite of more than you can handle.

You don’t want to put events back to back if you can avoid it.  For an example  a swimmer who talked with me asked about swimming the 100 free and the 200 back on Sunday, and unfortunately those events were back to back. She had a vey good argument for swimming he 100 free, as it is a good event for her and she has not done it this year.  What she decided was that she really wanted to give the 100 free and since it was before the 200 back, it was decided to swim both and we will take what ever comes in the 200 back.   What we are tying to get you all to do it start looking at events and the order they fall.  If you have one of your best events that you really want to do well in, but it falls after an event that you want to do, you may want to give that a second look.  This is the type of meet that you want to do your very best events and just because it says that you can do 3 each session or 6 for your meet total, you don’t have to if you don’t think you have time to recover.  There are other meets for that.   If you have any questions at all please feel free to email me and I will try to help guide you through the process.

THANKSGIVING MESSAGE

 With each turn of the calendar page we get closer to saying goodbye to 2020, but first we have Thanksgiving arriving this week so I ask all of you kiddos out there, What are you truly thankful for this year?  We want you to really give that question some thought as Thursday draws upon each and every one of you. 

Swimmers are usually up before the sun be it practice or those weekends of meets.  While others are still in bed sleeping take a moment, and instead of feeling sorry for yourself, be THANKFUL for the opportunity to watch a sunrise while creating memories that will last a life time.  

Are you THANKFUl for your teammates, after all you do spend most if not all of your pool time with these people.  Have you ever just thanked them?  What for you may be thinking  Your teammates are the ones that you are training with and who are there pushing and encouraging you.  Your teammates are the ones who will have your back, no matter what.  As you go through the process teammates are the ones who help create memories to store in the back of your mind. 

Are you THANKFUL to have a  pool,  your own home away from home and the chance to practice when others may not.  Remember March, April, May.  Your pool affords you the opportunity to participate in a sport you enjoy, and a chance to Destrees from every day life.  Oh, and by the way do you know what de-stressed spelled back words is---desserts .

What about the results of your races?  Swimmers deal with the clock, and for some results are measured in seconds such is  the life of an age group swimmer, but at the next level of the sport results are measured in hundreds of a second, the joys of senior swimming.  Wherever you fall on the pendulum your time there is just a snapshot of your swimming career.  The results are what they are and unlike other athletes in other sports there are no lucky bounces, no Hail Mary on the last play and absolutely no time outs.  So be THANKFUL for every opportunity to do a correct turn during a set, take that extra dolphin kick underwater, work on building your effort during longer races and always be ready to sprint the shorter ones.

Last but not least, How THANKFUL are you for your parents?  Do you ever just say thank you to them for just being there?  After all they are some of your biggest supporters in and out of the pool.  They not only provide you with the all important car 🚘 pool back and forth to the pools, but they also provide for your daily nutritional meals to help you become a better athlete. They are there through it all bad swim, good swim, bad day, good day all with the hope that you become a successful confident person later in life.  

So this Thursday take a moment and cherish what each of you really have and should be thankful for.

MEET PREPARATION

 Meet preparation takes many different shapes, and comes at you in your own individual forms and at different times.  Instead of waiting for the day of a meet to make a plan, we encourage you all to make a plan in advance of the meet.

Of course one of the first items to check off is what’s in your swim bag, 2 pairs of goggles, extra caps, and of course an extra suit.  An extra towel and sweatshirt is always nice to snuggle in and stay warm during the meet. 

The coaches have a season plan laid out for the group and this meet will help us in adjusting this plan as we head back to practice.   We understand that these meets look different this season but be thankful for the opportunity to race and take hold of that opportunity with a plan to be successful.  This will all pass and if you take advantage of every opportunity that is afforded to you, you will be in a better position both as a young person and a swimmer when that day arrives.

When this meet appeared on our calendar, we decided to look at it as a training meet.  This being said what we are looking for as coaches is being able to put together what we have been doing in practice and applying it to your races.  What this all means is that we are looking for great underwater’s (5 second rule), our middle 50’s, our 3rd 25’s and of course our overall approach and the total efforts put into the races.

For your part we would like you over the next few days it would be great if you could sit down and write your 2 or 3 events down on a piece of events.   Write down a specific goal that you would like to accomplish in each event.   Now some of you may put down a “ time” and that’s okay, it’s human nature, but if you are that one we would like you to be a little more specific.  What that means is, how are you going to get to that time.  Is it working your walls, or maybe your going to work the middle of the race a little more.  Whatever it is I think the message is pretty clear, you can’t just throw a time out there, you need a plan of how to get there.  Just something to think about.  

When you step up onto the block there is nothing more you can do, but race.  You have trained and planned for this moment and now all that’s left to do is execute your plan.  At this point have fun with it, all of your teammates will pick up on your energy and be in your corner along with your coaches.  You deserve to have fun so enjoy the moment and just race to the best of your ability. 

EFFORT

Last week as we worked through our test sets in the Prep and Gold group we would periodically look at the clock to check on everyone’s effort as the set evolved.  You may have figured out, or maybe not that the green clock also helps the coaches keep track of the groups effort with more consistency.  It makes it harder for you all to  ZONE OUT during the set, and you all know what we mean.

We were amazed to watch the last (5) 50’s in the test set when we asked you to really work some magic and drop some time.  We were expecting some 1 and 2 second drops.  The problem arose when we were seeing over 5 second drops in a 50 at the end of a test set.  I’m not sure what you were waiting for other than the fact that you were at that fork in the road with 2 paths to choose from, the easy path or the harder path that involved a little more work and a big effort along the entire path. If the thought crossed your mind that we were going to get in and help you down the pool, you might want to rethink your approach.  

These test sets are designed as both a physical and mental exercise to see were we are, at any particular point of our season.  On occasion we would ask if that 50 was at race speed and you responded honestly and stated that it was not.  Good for you, you took responsibility for the lack of effort.   Sometimes we would hear "I'm tired" but that sounds like an excuse for failing.  It is easy to think if I'm not really trying, I can't lose.  Or, it's going to be hard and painful, so why not wait?  The mind is a funny thing especially some of you Senior Prep kiddos.  Swimmers will often give up and talk themselves out of swimming hard when someone, be it at practice or a meet, starts beating them.  You begin to doubt your own abilities and you shouldn't. Each of you are amazing individuals in and out of the pool.  In swimming, the only true opponent is that clock, and a lack of effort will have the clock beating you every time.  Use the clock as your true measuring guide.   Let's continue to always move forward, you may not like whats behind you.

You really don’t want to get caught from behind  or maybe you enjoy being shark food.

Veterans Day Workout

In honor of Veterans Day we will do the following workout to honor all of our veterans in each of our countries armed branches.  Before we do we think it’s important for you to understand the origin of Veterans Day.  WWI know as the “Great War” ended in June of 1919 with the signing of the treaty of Versailles, however the fighting actually ended on November 11th, 1918 when a armistice was signed by all forces to end all hostilities at the 11th hour.  At the time it was 

believed to be the armistice to end all wars.

November 11 was first know only as Armistice Day, but WWI brought about WWII and soon after we found ourselves involved in the conflict in Korea.  Because of these events the Congress struck out the word Armistice and replaced it with the word Veterans in 1954 and later that year it was signed into law by President Eisenhower and became a national holiday to honor all veterans of the past and also those currently serving our country.  Veterans Day is always observed on November 11 regardless of the day of the week.

Today Workout

SENIOR PREP AT THE END OF WORKOUT

UPCOMING MEET

 

Some information for you all as we look at our next 2 meets that are on the horizon.  Although the schedule is presenting some challenges this year, let’s attempt to keep it as normal as we can.  That being said as we look at the one day meet in November let’s look at events that will put you in a good position for a GREAT meet in December.  

The December meet will be our first 2 day meet since last February and in any other week it falls on the same week as the Sports Fair meet which is our fall championship meet.  We will approach that meet with a championship attitude.  We will practice with that meet ⭕️ on our calendar.  We will continue to prepare for that meet and when the date nears, we will taper a little, we will suit up, we will swim our best events and we will have a good time, be successful and walk away happy 😃 .

But coach what about our November meet?  Well guys this is what we call a training meet therefore there will be NO SUITING UP , no exceptions. When signing up for your events let’s steer clear of your best events.  What’s that mean coach?  Let’s say one of your best events is the 100 fly, well then why not swim a 200 fly and work on your turns and under waters.  For you 100 freestylers let’s make a go of the 200 free. I think you get the picture and if not ask us, we don’t bite.  Sometimes I think you don’t ask because you already know the answer and don’t want to hear the same thing coming out of our mouths. Put yourself in a good position to allow yourself to achieve great results.  Sometimes the correct path you choose can be hard and though there may be bigger pitfalls, the rewards at the end of that path will be greater.

JUST A THOUGHT!

Practice is Everyting

The mindset that one has when arriving for practice goes a long way in determine one’s successes or failure’s during a meet.  You all know this sport well and how you are conditioned to viewing whether a race is successful or not, think about it.  After getting your hand to the wall, where do you shift your attention, the clock.  That clock will tell a story at that exact moment, but what I can tell you is that you start writing that story at practice and it is your story, no one else.  When we scrawl something on the whiteboard or verbally communicate the focus of a set to you, do you absorb it and really work on it, or do you just flush it and go about swimming along the line

on the bottom of the pool.

 

We know your thinking they are on their soapboxes again, but we feel this is important if you truly would like to reach your goals and potential whatever they may be.  Let’s take a step back and look at that scoreboard for a moment.  It is something that all swimmers or most of them fixate their eyes on when finishing a race but is it the story.  Sometimes when you allow yourself to fixate all your attention to the final result, opportunities that allow the result to happen get’s pushed to the end of your priorities.  Games, matches and races are always going to be the more exhilarating and fun part for any athlete, but instead of looking at practice as something one has to endure to get to race, lets look at practice as something that is fun and that you are lucky to participate in.  Yes it takes a little more effort than just physically showing up and may require you to change your mindset to something like, "I am going to improve some part of my swimming today."

 

Ever notice how your mindset and your attitude changes as a “BIG MEET” or “TAPER” time suddenly appears in front of you?  Your walk has a little more crisp in it, your plate at meal time may even look a little different, maybe less fried foods and more color, maybe the devices get turned off a little earlier for a better night’s sleep, even your workout sessions take on a little more purpose.  Why not put a little of that mindset into your workouts, after all it is during these workouts where the foundation of your races are built.  How you execute your turn, streamlines and finishes in those workouts, are how you will execute them in your races.  If you can’t get down and dirty and go all out when we ask you for it, what makes you think you will b e able to flip that switch during a race.  Practice is where mistakes are made and corrected, its where you can test how far and hard you can push yourself  and not be fixated on a time.

 

GOOD practice and workout sessions give you that mental confidence to step up on that block and ask yourself this question, Why not me Today?  This mindset will always put you in a better position to b e successful.  Without the good practices and workouts one will always question their ability and worry about doing well.  After all you don’t skip homework and studying and than expect an A at the end of the semester, Do You?

 

“Here is what a "practice is everything” mindset produces;

• You do the best you can with what you have.
• You perform at your best no matter how tired you are, or how you are feeling that day.
• You prepare for your workouts with the same focus and consideration you prepare for competition.
• You compete at every opportunity with yourself to be better"

Talking with a lot of you big meets tend to make you nervous, but what I truly believe is that when you approach practice with a better mindset it will give you to confidence and knowledge of how good YOU are and will allow you walk onto the deck of a big meet with that confidence and be able to rest it like just another race.  You may not even notice those nerves any longer.

Election Day Workout

So kiddos today is the last day of your 4 day weekend and it just so happens that it coincides with Election Day.  Have you ever wondered why Election Day falls on the second Tuesday in November giving you a day off from school every year.  Why not the first Monday or for that matter any other day of the week, of any other month.

Although it's become more and more easy to vote early sometimes a couple of months before, the first Tuesday of November remains the official day.  But Why November?  Do you remember how Halloween came to be?  Harvest Time.  Yes it has to do with the same thing.  It was that time of the year when all the work for the year had been completed.  Why Tuesday?  Well long before polling places were far away and people had to travel long distances to vote.  For religious reasons people did not want to travel on Sunday and did not want it on Monday  for those same travel reasons, thus we land on Tuesday.   Another reason for that first Tuesday is because November 1st is all Saint's Day and it is also the day that many shop owners balanced their books for the last month.

And so that is why Election Day will never fall before November 2nd of any given year and why you never go to school on the first Tuesday of any year.

Today’s workout