Happy New Year’s Eve

To kick off our first practice of 2021 on Saturday the senior prep can suit up.  We will bring in the new year with challenging sprints.  It’s time to challenge yourself, have a little fun, go a little crazy and just maybe swim really fast.

Have a good news years eve.

HOLIDAY MESSAGE

 Participating in sports can be one of the greatest experiences in your life. Sports not only provide a healthy way to stay active and in shape they also help shape you as a individual.  Sometimes with all the distractions and stress that come along with the competition we lose sight of the true meaning of being an athlete.  This year each of you have been faced with many challenges not only in swimming but also at school and at home.  So as we go through this holiday season here are some things that you the athlete can reflect on as we enter the new year.

First off , Do you have to be the best?  No one said that you had to be, except maybe the person in the mirror, and that’s okay to strive for, but let’s face it there is only one person in the entire world that is the best.  As long as you always focus on being the best version of you, and are doing the best that you can do, you’re always be a winner.  Always focus on improving and at the end of the day be satisfied with being a better person and a swimmer than you were when the day began.

Second thing to remember is never let a negative comment or a bad swim define you as a person.  There is no way that you as a swimmer can go race after race without stumbling and having that off day.  Acknowledge that bad swims will happen and learn from mistakes that might have happened, take the positives from the swim ( surprise yes there can be positives in a bad swim) shake it off and move on to the next thing.

Third thing is to give it your all.  Whether it’s practice or a meet always “go hard and leave it in the pool” .  You don’t want to wake up one day with the age old question; “What if?” Whatever you’re doing own i and and take pride in doing it to the best of your ability and you will never have to look in the rear view mirror.  There are no do overs in life.

Fourth thing is to treat your teammates like family.  They are like a second family after all.  As we have said before they are with you through thick and thin.  Pick each other up after a bad practice or race and you may be surprised by the results.  When all the medals and ribbons are forgotten these will be the memories that you will have for a lifetime. These are the people who will have your back day in and day out.

Fifth thing is to stop and thank the important ones, your parents.  They are the ones who are making the big sacrifices to be there with support and encouragement through he both the goo and the bad times.  Don’t forget them.

Above all never forget what it is all about and cherish every moment because if anything else we learned this year is what it’s like when it’s taken away. Enjoy every moment in the pool, at the meets, the day will come when you will have to hang the goggles up and move on.   Hopefully you’ll be able to continue in one form or another, but it’s these friendships and memories that you will forever have to cherish throughout life.

We wish all of you a Happy Holiday season. 

The Pace Clock Doctor

So let’s have a little fun with this exercise shall we.  Today we as in the senior prep swimmers were having a little trouble with the clock, seems we were still having a snow day, especially Caitlyn.  Now in her defense she reported that she got confused with too much math.  It’s at this point where I have to ask everyone else, Why is everyone just looking at each other asking, should we go This was not rocket science interval.  Just pretty simple stuff like 4 rounds of 4x50 stroke@55 and 1x100 recovery @2:30. No extra rest between rounds as it is built into the set

So here are 4 simple pace clock equations 

X = first send off. X-5 = second send off. X-10 = third send off.  X-15= fourth send off. X-20 = our 100 free recovery @2:30

First things first, what is X.  Coach Paul and Mike gave you X when they said leave on the top which for our purposes was 00.

QUESTION 1:  when do we leave for our second 50?  Think Caitlyn

QUESTION 2:  when does our third 50 begin?  Sara

QUESTION 3:  when does our fourth 50 begin?  Walker

QUESTION 4:  when do we start our recovery swim?  Chaz

EXTRA CREDIT: when do we start our second round?  Anyone please Anyone

WINNER TAKE ALL QUESTION:  you are swimming 20x50 on the 45.  You are first in the lane and your send off is on the 00.  Which repeats will you be leaving on the 30 during the set?  ( oh and your not allowed to text a friend either.

The clock allows us to proceed through an organized practice and get things accomplished, and it only works if the entire group works together on send offs and not on each other’s feet.  By the way if you ever think that someone is riding your feet, don’t get upset it may just mean that your a little off that day and need to let them go ahead of you.  

SNOW DAY

 

Okay really I’m sure your as happy as Pooh Bear that you don’t get to do our Wednesday workout 🏋️ that you already saw on line.  What do you think, maybe move it to tomorrow? 

Not even enough snow for a distance snow fight, but a good day to take the truck out to the mountains.

Enjoy your day off, see you all tomorrow.

Meet Wrap and Moving Forward

 This past weekend our groups had great success at the meet, with a lot of personal best times recorded.  We want to thank all of you for such a great effort at the meet and all the months of hard work leading up to this past weekend.  All of you should be proud of the way you have handled all of the new challenges that have been placed in front of us this past year.

One of the areas that we need to keep working on is our crossover turns if we are going to use them in competition.  An official brought to my attention that we had some disqualifications on Saturday and as explained to me the problem is that we may be over rotating the body past 90 degrees before the hand actually hits the wall.  A BIG NO NO.  Apparently after talking with the referee all the DQ’s were pulled with the benefit going to you, the swimmer.  It’s something that we want you to be aware of as we continue to move forward and this may be a good time to just review the video and really pay attention to that first step.

We were very pleased with our underwater work off the wall and as with anything else this is an area that can always be improved upon.

Those streamlines with the dolphins off the wall are a great way to gain an advantage over your competition and picking up valuable speed off the turns. You are not only moving faster while underwater but more efficiently, but you have to know when it’s time to breakout on the surface.  To get that timing down takes a lot of work with repetition and that is why it is so important to treat every wall during practice like a race.  That’s the only way they will improve.  Don’t take that part of your race for granted.  A lot of you believe you are doing it during practice but it is hard for you to understand that you need to be very aggressive with every wall during our training sessions.

We know that it seems a little soon but we have to look forward to the meet in January and make a decision about which events to enter.  For our High School swimmers let’s not forget that if they can get the season going you all may have a dual meet sometime that weekend.  Our suggestion for you all is to pick one day to swim during our meet and pick events that you would not normally be doing.preferably longer events.  For the rest of you let’s think of this as a training meet and focus on events that you normally might not do.  Don’t be afraid of stepping out of you comfort zone when choosing events, you might be surprised with the results and in the end will actually help your best events when the time is right.

TRYOUTS

 

For all of you who will be trying out for your high school teams this week, everyone from the group will be cheering you on.  Swim fast, have fun and above all stay safe.  Don’t forget you will be adding people to your bubble so keep the masks on and stay apart.  We know it’s hard but we all want to stay in the water until this gets better.

With that in mind for your planning purposes this week, on the days you actually are swimming I think it would be alright to skip our practice that day.   You’ve been going hard since June so I think it’s okay to take that little break.   Talk to your high school coaches so that they are aware of your practice schedule.  It will look a little different this year.

Making Today Count

All of you have been going strong since June and this weekend will allow you to reap the rewards from those tough training sessions in the pool.  Getting yourself mentally prepared during the next 24 hours is just as important as all the physical preparation you’ve worked so hard on in the past months.

Everything that you have done during those months could be undone if you’re head isn’t in the right place as you walk out to the starting blocks.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

It’s human nature to have doubts, worries, and nerves leading up to races, but what is important is that you try and cleanse your mind of these pitfalls before you allow them to overwhelm you mentally and physically.  

Each swimmer has there own routines that allow them to manage these pitfalls.  Make sure that you fully understand your goals. And that they are specific, achievable, and realistic heading into the weekend.

Visualize your race as you see it unfolding beginning with a great start and breakout, being aggressive with your turns and holding a good stroke rate, and finally having a strong finish and getting your hand to the pad.

In doing so you are prepared for any little thing that comes your way.

 

Meet Goals

As we enter our last meet of the year it might be a good time to revisit your swimming goals to get a picture of where you stand.  We want you to think of this meet as a championship meet, the first since last winter.  We hope that the holiday season combined with this great opportunity that you have been given that you are able to have a little more bounce in your step, that you come prepared to swim fast.  Just Do You!

Speaking of preparation the meet sheets should be out by Friday, so our suggestion is to figure out your events, heat and lane assignments before you arrive at the meet.  This will relieve that stress from your day.  Write it on your hand, piece of paper or take a picture of it with your phone. Do something to prepare.  Pick out someone to beat.

This may also be the best time to revisit an old story, you may remember it as, Good.....Better.....Best....a old Mother Goose nursery rhyme that easily relates to your swimming.  What it means is “Never rest until your good is better and your better becomes your best.”

So, let’s dive into that little rhyme for a moment.  Before you go any further take a moment and think about what that means to you, Not what you think we want to hear but what it truly means to you and your goals.

First up is good might and what that may look like to you. I dunno, 1:01something in 100 free because that’s what you were doing in practice during the set in practice when you were with your teammates with no worries in the world.  To do that on race day would be a good thing.

 

With that in mind now let’s talk about what better might look like to you.

Again, I am not sure but going out in a 29 something and coming back in a

31 sure looks better because you finish with a 1:00 something.  Could that be your goal?  Now for some of you perfectionists out there you may think that’s a slap in the face because you wanted to go under, but when realistic goals are set maybe just maybe you will relax a little more and by relaxing some of your anxiety and stress may just float away and and allow you to swim fast setting the stage for your best.

The best swim would be for that perfectionist who has set that dream goal of not only going under 1:00 but has set the goal of breaking 59.  You know you have to get out fast maybe a 28 low perhaps a high 27 and then by reaching deep inside yourself you have the ♥️ to come back in a 30 low to go from a good goal, to a better goal, to the 

Let’s have a good week at practice.

Great Test Set

 So, both the Senior Prep/Blue and the Gold groups just finished a week of practice that cumulated with our 50's test set.  So your parents have an idea of what we are doing during this set, let us take a moment...... the first thing that the kids notice as they walk onto the deck is our "special pace clock with green numbers".  The purpose of this is to change the atmosphere and to let the kids know we are going to race.....and race all day.

This set started back in September and repeats about every 3rd week hopefully having it fall one week out from our upcoming meets.  The Senior Prep/Blue group set consists of 50x50 while the Gold groups set consists of 40x50.  The interval for the groups were set the first time we went through this and have been getting faster by a few seconds each time we repeat the set.

You may wonder why use a different clock, but in addition to changing the atmosphere it can be set to reset to 0 after each swim and allows each swimmer to pick up their time after each 50.   For the Prep/Blue group their 50's are choice/free, with the only rule being that each 50 is the same for the entire set.   The Gold group set is all free and again remains the same.

The swimmers are instructed that the purpose of this set is not only to give them confidence to swim fast when they are tired but also to be consistent and try to come in on the same number every time. They understand that it is time to put on their big girl, big boy suits and race that clock.    There is no strategy here its just go fast immediately from that push, and race the entire 50.

As the little story says the clock will never lie and the coaches can see what your coming in at on every repeat.   We also know who might be faster and are able to judge the effort levels.  Their are no drills here just the simple race rules such as no breath turns, no breath at the finishes and always great streamlines with maximum under water dolphins with speed.

The last 50 of the set is done from a dive in heats.  The dive is important so that they can "hog "that lane and not circle swim.  Yes we do not have blocks, but I look at the positives that we can still get from the dive, like the forward thrust we get from a little height with our legs, the streamline as we enter the water and just the overall feeling of moving through the water from the start.  that dive is like first impressions in life such as eye contact, the old firm hand shake know now as a good elbow bump, the first scene of a movie or even that first paragraph in papers you write.  It sets the scene just as the dive sets your race up especially the shorter ones.  Great dives can go a long way.

This past Thursday we had a real good effort on that last 50 with many of the swimmers setting their best time of the set.....thus WINNING THE DAY......   We do have to give a shout out to one of our Junior Gold swimmers who yesterday swam like a "Big Dog" and won every one of her repeats.  Sophia Speidell accepted the challenge and really stepped up and took it to the other 7 swimmers in her group.  She knocked on their doors let herself in before they even knew what happened.  Now we have to say that Luca and Ken gave her a bit of a challenge but in the end Sophia's fingers were on the wall first every time.

Let’s keep up our great effort as we prepare for the meet this upcoming weekend.