CLOSING THE BOOK ON 2021

 

I am sure that most of you who have been making practices over the holidays did not mind missing todays workout with all the gloomy weather.  Now I on the other hand was there ready for our last workout of the year.  There was one advantage which was I had the pool at the gym to myself for over an hour and although I attempted your plan workout, I could not finish it in the hour and 45 minutes. I did however win 3 out of the 4 sets so that was positive.  Thank you to all you swimmers who made the effort to attend workouts over the last 2 weeks.  It will go a long way in how you swim in February thru April.

As we look back over the year and everything that has occurred.  Some good.  Some not so good. Let's not spend time on the not so good or the what if's or what wasn't in 2021.  Instead let's build off what we were able to accomplish and do during the year.  Things such as a IMX meet in February, a fantastic championship season during March, some outstanding long course meets in June and a return to our summer team competition.  Lastly we were able to return to our little larger training groups at the same ends of the pool which always is easier us but more importantly brings the groups together more which is always more fun and in the end fosters FAST SWIMMING.

As we head into 2022 and we have a few days before our first workouts it's a good time to take stock of where you are in your swimming.  Some questions that come to mind as a coach;

• hows my attitude?
• are my turns getting better?
• am I improving my underwater's?  
• am I putting in a good effort every day?
• are you closing in on some of your goals?
• what cuts do you have for JO's?
• what cuts are within reach?
• what cuts do you have for Florida?
• what cuts are within reach?

Unlike the new Spiderman movie there are no trailers for 2022 so as we head into the new year we do so with eyes wide open.  It's a new book for each of you, with blank pages and it will be up to each of you on how that book will read on December 31, 2022.  Let's fill those pages with great workouts, great effort, positive attitudes, great sportsmanship and above all some FAST SWIMMING.

Ready to pick up that pen?

HOLIDAY MESSAGE

Senior Prep, Junior Gold/Blue groups, I wanted to take this time to thank each and every one of you for your amazing efforts throughout this past year.  We worked through a lot over the past year and had an outstanding  effort and showing at our JO’s back in March with an abundance of personal best swims throughout the meet.

Throughout the summer as you all found your way back to your summer teams you continued your excellence in the water scoring points week after week culminating with Divisionals and All Stars ⭐️.

This fall as we arrived back to the pool to start a new season, your hard work continued and you reaped the awards during the Swim and Rock meet culminating at the Winter Classic to wrap up our fall season.

I couldn’t feel any more proud when I look back at what everyone of you achieved throughout the year and consider it to be the best part of the day to come in and work with all of you.  To be able to work with such a great group of talented kids with so many different personalities truly makes it easy to show up for practice each day.  I can’t really call it work really because it’s more a passion where the enjoyment comes   from working with swimmers  of all talents trying to be the best that they can be.  Whether it be a swimmer getting a personal best, finishing the 500 for the first time, executing a perfect turn or pacing the race exactly the way we talked about.  It’s the small things that each of you do that makes it so rewarding.

Cherish every moment in this sport, because as we have learned in the past two years, it's hard when it is taken away.  Enjoy every moment at practice, during the meets because the day will come when you hang up the goggles for the last time.  It will be the friendships and memories created that you have forever to cherish through your journey in life.

I also would like to thank all your parents who support you in your swimming and who sacrifice so much to get you where your suppose to be day after day.

As we look forward to the new year I leave you with this “ You’re not obligated to win.  You’re obligated to keep trying to the best you can every day.”

OUT!

PRACTICE WITH PURPOSE

 

"Practice does not make perfect.  Only perfect practice makes perfect." Vince Lombardi

I know in the past I've posted how perfection is hard if not impossible to attain, but it does have a place in personal growth as long as you don't take it literally.

As we strive to be perfect, we as athletes must remember that true perfection is not the end all.  The bigger picture that you as a swimmer should be looking at is that as your practice should be done at a level of respect for how you see yourself performing/racing in reality at all times. Instead of striving for perfect, strive for excellence during practice.  After all excellence is perfection at it's core.

Perfection says I want to never mess up.  Excellence says I'm going to work on this in the best possible way to the best of my ability and become very good at it.

Let's take Tom Brady for example.  There is no dispute that he was born with some level of natural athleticism and that he has been blessed with some great athletes around him.  To be able to play at a high level year after year into his 40's takes not only a lot of practice but practice with a purpose.

Last week we did a lot of breaststroke work and most of it involved getting a stroke count (minus 1) and swimming all our 25's, 50's and 100's committed to holding that count. Some of us were very focused during these set, others not so much.  We started to understand how hard it was to maintain that count as we continued through the workout and fatigue started to set in.  Not much different then what happens in your races.  

Some of us put in a good effort and they were not dragging their feet, they were really doing it.  They were pretending that it was the real thing all the way.  They were practicing perfectly.  Practice may not actually make you prefect, but without it you have no choice and at the best only a 50/50 chance which are terrible odds.  Doing things correctly over and over again is what we your coaches call muscle memory.  That's important because you can't think of every little detail while your trying to race.  You have to trust the process and have confidence in your training, without it your lost.  This may sound funny but you can't just start a race over because you missed a turn.  You can’t have a do over because you think you could have gone faster.

So what can we offer to each of you to help with practice.  

• Simulate real events.  Practice as close to the real thing as possible, down to the smallest detail if you need to.  You can't start a race late so why would you start practice late.
• Make training harder than the race.  A big confidence builder. When you approach it like this, the next time you race you know you've been there already.
• Get over your fear.  Stop making excuses and projecting the worst that could happen all the time.  Prepare for the worst and the next time you step on the blocks you'll know your ready

The only way to swim to your maximum performance potential is to train your body and mind  to do so over and over...and over.  Before you jump in at the next practice go to a quite spot in the house and have a honest conversation with your self about how you view practice, after all this sport and the races are yours.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

 

Okay so we are done with our meets in December and I have had many questions about meets in January.  No, you don’t have to be a psychic to figure this out although it does seem hectic for sure..

Let's take a look at the meets coming up in January.  First up in the first week of the year is the January Distance meet on the 8th and 9th.  Saturday we will be swimming the 1000 and Sunday the 1650.  This meet will take place at St.James.  I would like to see all of the Senior prep and Junior Gold swimmers to swim in one of these events.  Please read the announcement carefully to make sure you qualify for this meet. If you have not done the 1000 then that will be the event you sign up for.  -.

If you have already done the 1000 it's time to try the mile. You may ask yourself, "Why should I swim these two events?"  I could give you my standard because you can but I think I look at it from this view.  It's a rite of passage.  Okay it's a very long rite of passage but still a rite of passage all the same.  Just like the 200 fly these are events that should be done once, just like distance swimmers should swim the 50 free once.  If that doesn't convince you here are a few other reasons;

• so I stop bugging you about it
• face the fear. remember we have talked about facing your fears and your ghosts disappear 
• opens a new door and takes you in a room you might like
• gives you mountains of confidence for those 100's and 200's

Also if you ever run into a shark you know you can go the distance 

Or not!

This is an easy meet where you know whattime you swim, so you come in warmup, race, go home.  Fast and quick.

MAKO POLAR BEAR MEET. January  15-16. This meet is open for everyone so let’s take a closer look at it and use our heads before signing up.  All our high school swimmers who are in the Senior Prep group should only swim on Sunday.  DO NOT SIGN UP FOR SATURDAY EVENTS.  Also swim ONLY YOUR OFF EVENTS/DISTANCES.  Stay alway from the events that you have been doing a lot at your high school meets.

If you have qualified for the IMX meet and are going to enter you should not swim in this meet.  If you do choose to swim please only pick one day and you too should swim off events.  DO NOT SWIM EVENTS YOU SWAM IN DECEMBER.  It also looks like entries for IMX meet are due on Tuesday the 18th so if you need an event to qualify you might want to take a look.  

IMX MEET.  (Remember 1800 points are needed). January 28-29-30 @ University of Maryland. (Not for high school swimmers in senior prep. You will be at district meets). For our swimmers who qualify you will do all of the events.  Friday events 13-14 and 11-12 500 free. Saturday events 13-14 200 fly-200 IM-200 breast.  11-12 100 fly and 100 breast. 9-10 200 free-100 fly-100 breast). Sunday events  13-14 200 back and 400 IM. 12 and unders 100 back-200 IM

Both the distance meet and the IMX meets are a good change of pace meets as we head into the qualifiers in February, the championships in March and finally our Florida meet in April.  These meet will give you tons of experience and confidence as we move though those tough winter training sessions.

WE HAD A GOOD WEEKEND

 

Hey kiddos, we had a good weekend in the pool.  It was nice to get back to a meet format like last weekend.  You all found the strength to power through a grueling weekend of races.  A lot of you swam over 10 (some had 13 or more) races throughout the four days of competition.  We were awfully proud of each of you with your ability to stay focus on what was in front of you, your ability to move from one race to the next.  Apparently our talks on keeping everything in front of you is starting to sink in.    

I usually don't put names out there for fear of missing someone, but we do have to shout out to Sadie

Buckley for her new team record int he 400 IM, 100 IM and the 100 back.  Our 11-12 girls relay won the 400 free, 200, free, 200 medley and the 11-12 boys placed 2nd in the same 3 relays. Due to the short turn around on Sunday we scratched the 400 medley relay to give our kids time to recover for finals.

It was great to watch all of you supporting each other throughout the weekend, hose will be the memories that you take forward in life.

I am fully aware that most of you had expectations for a particular time this past weekend maybe a Junior/Senior cut, a JO cut or even possibly that Florida cut.

It's fun to watch you all develop in this area where that clocks becomes more and more relevant over the years.  One season your clueless about times, but then you become aware of the meaning and then you discover those motivational time standards, meet qualifying times and then your swimming takes on a new meaning. This new meaning is very healthful but....only up to a point.  Time standards or qualifying times while motivating can also become an obsession.  Have I lost my mind with this? No.  what I am trying to point out and what I saw more then once over the weekend is this, swimmers judging their performance solely on whether they achieved a cut, refusing to accept the fact they've inched closer to that goal with a personal best (PR).  Your mind is so set on that result/expectation that you slowly begin to lose sight of everything else.

Something to think about, as you get closer to a qualifying time your margin begins to narrow.  While you may be able to achieve a "B" time while having sloppy turns or weak underwater's it will take some fine tuning to go from a B-A-AA-AAA time standard.  If you want the same results, do the same thing.  If you want to move on you need to change something.  A swimmer got out after one of her races and said "I think I could have gone faster". My response was, Then why didn't you?  I took my watch out and asked her what are all the numbers, "they are all 0's". Until you finish a race with those numbers you will always be able to go faster.

Always aim High, but at the same time stop and accept your small victories at the same time.

THURSDAY DISTANCE WRAP

 

You guys nailed it tonight both with your warmups and those of you who had a distance event.  Let’s make sure we bring that same energy tomorrow for your events.

Thanks to all of you who showed up to get a swim in to loosen up and also to all the parents who made the effort to get the kids to the pool.  It’s much appreciated.  Thanks to all the kids who took care of their teammates and pitched in to count the swimmers laps.

Our 12 and understand did a great job swimming their 500’s wit many best times.  What is really incredible is that a lot of these kids just dropped a ton of time two weeks ago at the swim and rock and did it again tonight.

Something that I did notice is that some of us let outside noise get to us. Remember as you work through this weekend control what you can control and put your earmuffs on to shut out those other noises.

Bring it tomorrow.

SPORTS FAIR UPDATES

 

Hello Senior Prep and Junior Gold swimmers who will be swimming in the Sports Fair Championship meet starting tomorrow evening at GMU.

Let’s go over a few specifics that we talked about this week so that we are all on the same page.  

First off please be on time for warmups as all the teams have been assigned to lanes. We will have two warmup periods during the 13 and over sessions with one lane in the big pool and one lane in the back pool so arrive focus and ready to rock your warmup so that you are in a position to be successful.  The 11- and 12 warmups will have more room but the back pool will not be open for that session or during finals.  

While we are on the subject of warmups please remember to get in for your warmups for your events and remember it’s just to get your heart rate elevated.  Remember to warm down immediately after your event.  The longer you wait the longer it will take to get warmed up for that next event.  At the end of the day give your body the present that will keep giving all weekend and that is to do a long warm down. For our Senior Prep group a minimum of 400 more if needed.  The Junior Gold a minimum of 300 more if needed.

This is a preliminary/finals meet.  This means YOU are not allowed to scratch without talking to a coach.  We are swimming all of our events and I don’t want to hear that your scratching because your tired.  It’s time to swim like big girls and boys.  If you fail to show up for finals you are scratched from the rest of the meet.  Not showing up is disrespectful to the sport, coaches and other swimmers.

This meet will have relays in it and they are at the end of the sessions so please check to see if your in a relay before you leave.  If you are selected for a relay you will wait in it.

As we talked about this week there have been some changes to the meet particularly in the 11-12 sessions. We will now be swimming boys/ girls in one pool.  This will add 1 hour to the time line but it will also allow more recovery time for the swimmers.  It is still a very short session and a quick turnaround for finals so stay focused and stay positive. The other change is that they are bring back 2 heats, yes that’s 16 swimmers.  Let’s swim into finals so we can have some great nights. 

Above all remember we are all one group and we expect you to take care of each other.  If you see someone’s down go over and picked them up after a swim.  Someone has a great swim go over and congratulate them.

This is the time to face whatever fear 😧 you have in competition.  Meet it head on face it and your ghosts will disappear.

YOUR ON YOUR OWN

 

This week is our “mid terms” culminating with a championship meet this weekend with our 11 and overs and next week’s meet for our 10 and unders.

As we enter the next two meets let stay a little more focused on why your at the pool in the first place.  While we want you to have fun and enjoy yourself, we also want you to remember why your their, to RACE.  Many swimmers swim badly because they allow themselves to become wrapped up in everything and racing because secondary on their agenda.  They forget to go through proper warmups and warm downs especially the warm down.  If your not in the warm down pool right after your swim you’ve missed your window.  I see kids running to talk with friends check their phones pretty much anything other than what they should be doing, warming down.  On the flip side they don’t warmup for that next event and think their bodies are going to be able to do what they are about to ask. 

Your mental state also goes a long way in determining how you will preform.  You start to worry about the names and reputations around you, the logo on their caps, past accomplishments, your seed, all things that are totally out of your control.  Last time I checked you race in your own lane, your own little space and I have yet to see anyone jump over a lane line  grab you or take a whack at your arms.  You swim in your own lane and perform at a pace that you decide is necessary to win, uninterrupted by any external forces.

Your race is just that, YOURS.  Make your competition faceless.  It really doesn’t matter who they are because your going to swim an event, and your job is to swim that event to the best of your abilities using the strategies that we have worked on.  All you can do is give it your all and who your swimming against shouldn’t change that.

Thanksgiving Wishes

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all the swimmers from the Senior Prep, Junior Gold and Junior Blue groups.  Thank you all for showing up and doing what is needed to make us all better. You are all wonderful and we hope you enjoy your day off and if you become a little bit fidgety during the day go outside for some fresh air and exercise.

Most of all this Thanksgiving instead of counting your laps, just look around the table as you sit down and count your blessings.

If your out of town and get that itch to get wet and can find a pool here are a couple of workouts.

WORKOUT #1 

Warm up 800

200 free (first in the 11) @3:00/3:15

200 IM/free @ 3:15/3:30. Focus on good tight open transitions

200 free (25 kick in 11 25 swim) @3:15/3:30

200 IM (25 kick/25 swim

UNDERWATER DOLPHIN KICKS FINS 500

20x25 dolphin kick @40 (odds on stomach evens on back. Must all be fast). Make it all the way if you come up finish fly

FREE IM WITH STROKE FOCUS 1800

2x200 @3:15 first and fourth 25 fly

2x200 @3:15 first and fourth 25 back

2x200 @3:15 first and fourth 25 breast

1x200 @5:00 IM ALL OUT ON BACK HALF OF EACH 25 + 100 easy free

2x100 @3:00 IM ALL OUT +50 easy back

SOME RACING TO FINISH 600

2x

3x50 fast free @45

1x50 smooth recovery back @1:30

3x25 fast back @30 focus on fast tempo good body position spin the arms but pull water

1x25 smooth back @1:30

Swim down 300 

100 kick 100 swim 100 kick total 4000 yards

Workout #2

Warm up 1200 yards

8x

100 free @1:40/2:00

50 kick @1:10 odds boards evens no boards

KICK SET (550 yards/ 1750

2x

1x75 fast kick +1x50 easy swim  @2:30

1x50 fast kick +1x25 easy swim @1:45

1x75 fast kick all out @2:30 interval includes recovery time

IM SET (2000 yards/3750)

4x

3x100 IM @2:00 (25 fly 50 back 25 breast)

4x50 @50 free descend each one to all out

Rest 1:00

SWIM DOWN 

100 kick/100 swim/100 kick

TOTAL 4050 yards

BAD RACE

 

So, you had a bad race this past weekend.  End of the world, not likely.  Your a bad swimmer, not likely.  Not working hard enough, only you can answer that one but I doubt it.  Just wasn't your day, more likely.  Anyway the positive is that you got to race, something you love to do and you finished unlike these pour souls who never touched the pad.

Here is something to put in in perspective, You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.  Think about it for a second.

Bad swims can bring about many emotions ranging moping loss of confidence or maybe even thinking your a bad swimmer.  Sound familiar?  First step in dealing with it is to spend some alone time with yourself and mentally evaluate the swim.  A good place for this is in the warm down pool.

No one likes the experience of having a bad result and it's human nature to be upset about it. Don't spend a lot of time being frustrated and by all means don't cause a scene. Take the alone time to get to a better place.  When your ready talk to your coach.  

Every race your in something goes well.  It could have been the start, the turn, the pace or just the way you felt, whatever it was find that one thing and build around that feeling.  The sooner that you realize that a bad result does not mean the swim was bad, there are always positives that you can take away from the event and be proud of.  This past weekend I had a senior prep swimmer come over after her race where she dropped a lot of time and I could see she was not happy, only to find out that she had not reached her expectations.  Don't forget to accept the little victories in your swimming as well as the big ones because as you develop and grow they become fewer and fewer.

In conclusion I would say this to each of you after a bad swim; "Put it away and move on to the next race."

That's the best thing about being a swimmer, there is always the next race.

SWIM and Rock Thoughts

 

The wrap up from the swim and rock meet this past weekend.  After missing this meet last year it was a great experience.  You all showed up, raced and should be very happy about your performances over the weekend.  A big THANKS to all our parents who volunteered to help out during the meet, we could not have done it without your support.

While I watched swimmers race this weekend, ones who have put in the work during the last year and especially during the past 2 months I may have had a tear or two (okay maybe it was the bad air)  thinking back how far you all have come during a very challenging time.  Some conquered new events over the weekend, ones that they would have never dreamed of racing a mere two months ago.  Some of you got to experience coming back and swimming at finals with the "BIG KIDS" in the evening, and yes Petra you can race a 200 fly twice in one day, just ask Coach Peter it was his favorite event.

It's always fun to watch our 12 and under's race and see how they perfect their flip turns, or do their first Big Girl/Boy finish in backstroke or maybe how they go a little faster and longer underwater and then as they touch a little smile appears on their face as they realized they just went a little faster than before.

As we move forward let's take a look back when we talk about swimming in our comfort zone,  This past weekend one of our senior swimmers swimmers walked by me and said "once a year Coach Mike".  It brought a tear to my eye to realize that this swimmer who came through the system with Coach Beth in the mini program through Junior Gold and Senior Prep and now with Coach Peter hung onto that one concept  that we talked about many years ago "swimming out of the comfort zone. " Katherine Helms will be the first one to shout it from the mountain top that 200 fly is not an event for her, but non the rest here she was swimming it at swim and rock.  Why? You would have to ask her but I venture to guess because it's  there and it will help her down the road in her good events.  

The comfort zone can involve many aspects in your swimming and not just events and distances.  It can be simply deciding to push a little harder during a kick set or the main set.  It could be getting your feet over the to a little faster on the turns or something as simple as not taking that first breath off your walls every repeat and not just when you want to.  Maybe its working that underwater kick a little faster and longer.  All I do know is that "Great Things never come from the "Comfort Zone."

Tomorrow - What if I had a Bad Race?

 We have a busy week on the horizon as we return to the annual Swim and Rock meet at Oak Marr on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  This meet will be he a prelims and final meet for the 11 and overs on Friday and Saturday. Let's review the procedures for this type of meet.

FINALS- On Friday and Saturday the top 8 11-12 year olds and the top 16 13 -14 and 15 and overs will return in the evening to swim in the championship finals session.  If you make finals you must show up to swim.  If you fail to show up you will be scratched from the remainder of the meet.  If your intention is to scratch you must do it within 30 minutes after your event ends.  You must talk to a coach before scratching.  Swimmers from the Junior Gold and Senior prep groups will NOT be scratching and if you need to you better make a good argument.

POSITIVE CHECK IN-  Be aware of the events that you need to check in for, normally 200 and above events. This is normally done before you get in for warm ups and needs to be completed prior to the start of the meet.  THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.  If you are arriving late you can get someone who is there to check you in, but understand this is not the coaches responsibility. Another note on positive check in and this is important if you check in and fail to show you will be scratched from your next event.

WHAT SUIT SHOULD I WEAR-  for the Junior Gold and Senior Prep groups it's time to dust off your good suits and put them to use this weekend.

TID-BITS FOR UPCOMING WEEK.    

• SLEEP
• DIET
• SCHOOL
• POSITIVE SELF TALK

WORKING TOGETHER

 

Here we are in November and we are off to a good start with our first few practices with our prep, gold and blue groups.  We hope those of you who were out of school enjoyed the time off and got some extra rest as you head into the next quarter.   

In swimming we also are headed into a new phase in our were especially with the gold and prep groups where we will increase our intensity as we head into the next few meets some of which will have a championship format.  Think of these as your midterms as we move closer to our championship season that will be here sooner than you think.

We have preached to you all a lot about putting yourself in a position to be successful, and as coaches that is what we try to do during practice especially when we have sets that involve race strategy.  We spent a lot of times working on learning our pacing for your 100's and 200's in the attempt to ease your stress and allow you to swim those events with a lot of confidence.  

Some take aways from the workouts.  first and foremost channel your  energy at the meet, during the warmups, and during your warm downs, then go out and swim YOUR race.  What do we mean by this?  Simply put we want you to channel that energy into your race and stop wasting energy both mentally and physically on factors that are out of your control, such as times, competition, and what your doing after the race. Like your parents in their work, you are there to do a job and that is to race thats it, so put your best mental and physical effort into it.

As for the events, for those long events we worked on finding that easy speed off the start using those legs softly and saving them for that last sprint to the finish.  We also worked on the differences between the different strokes and how you want to approach them so if your still unsure, let's talk.

Bottom line find an excuse to win instead of looking for excuses to fail.  Look around and say to yourself, "this is going to be tough, but it's not going to last and if I fail let me fail greatly."

For those of you who normally practice on Saturday, if your not in the meet that day we will be having practice at normal time at St. James. 9:00-10:30.

A HALLOWEEN HAUNT

 Ashley settled in on Halloween eve to watch her favorite Halloween movie.  Ashley and her brother had spent the afternoon carving the family pumpkins.  She remembers how she made fun of her brother's  pumpkin with it's large circles for eyes. ] ]]

 She had told him that pumpkins were suppose to have scary faces not happy faces.  He was mad and told her that it was bad luck to make fun of pumpkins because they had been know to get revenge.

 The evening brought with it dark skies and thunderstorms as the weather was beginning to change.  Suddenly Helen sat upright on the sofa startled at the sudden noise coming from outside.  

She brushed it aside for the moment figuring it’s was the branches from the wind hitting the house when all of sudden there was a loud boom followed by a bright light and the house fell into total darkness.   Trembling as she approached the front door she observed that the whole neighborhood had been plunged into total darkness.

Ashley slowly cracked the door open to get a better look outside when she noticed that her pumpkin was gone from the porch, could the neighborhood kids have taken it as a Halloween prank.  As she

headed upstairs for bed the hair on her arms started to rise and she became overwhelmed by a intense creepy feeling .  As she ran up the stairs she started to shake uncontrollably.  Ashley slammed the door shut jumped into bed and pulled the covers up tight.  Morning will be here soon, or she hoped.

Later that night she awoke in a cold sweat,

trembling under the covers frozen with fear, from a light coming from outside although she could tell that the power was still off.  As she arose from the bed to peer out the window she screamed as she saw her brother's pumpkin coming up the sidewalk to the front door. 

 As it approaches the house things started falling off the shelves crashing to the floor below when all of a sudden the Jack-o Lantern started she speaking, "I see you, let us in." "One, two were coming for you."   She started to wonder if her imagination was playing tricks on her, or could this really be happening and was her brother's pumpkin possessed with some paranormal spirit.  

As she got back into bed she could not get rid of that image or the voice she heard.  And what did Jack mean by "us"?  Ashley fell asleep only to be woken a few hours later by voices that now seem to be coming from under bed and from downstairs.

Ashley needed to know what the noise was coming from downstairs so she arose from bed and went out into the hall and as she neared the top of the steps only to discover that the entire downstairs was full of water, pumpkins and sea turtles.

Before she could turn she found herself falling into the water, as she creeped crawled and floated to keep her head above water she noticed a shadowy figure appear.  This figure was shaking her and as she opened her eyes she recognized her mother who was telling her to wake up, your having a bad dream.  Ashley jumped from her bed darted down the steps and opened the front door and to her relief her pumpkin  was in its proper place.  She told her mom that she would never make fun of her brother again.  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.  BE SAFE

Understanding your Race

 

It's Friday which means another week of training is about to end, but ask yourself, Did I accomplish anything this week?  Did I get better?  

Last weekend as I thought about the plan this week I thought about this, we the coaches sometimes just assume and expect you to be able to swim the mid distance events but do we really prepare you to swim them.  We talk about how you need to set yourself up for success, so you should expect the same from your coaches. 

This week the swimmers from the gold and prep group spent a lot of time working on our 200 free and 200 back events.  The Gold group also started to work through the 200 breast stroke event.  The senior Prep group spent time working through our IM events.  

We worked on some stroke drills at the beginning of each set and then proceeded to longer repeats of 100's and 200's with the goal of starting out as fast as possible and maintaining that tempo and effort as long as we could with the idea that if we could  feel and recognize a certain feeling of speed we would better understand the event.

At meets coaches take a lot of time trying to get your splits to each of you for the purpose of understanding how to better swim the event at your next meet.  As for the 200 free we talked about how important it was to be fast but you also have to find that easy speed that sets you up for a good race.  We talked about the mistake of backing off that second 50 only to have a slower 3rd 50.  

We talked about how it will change with your growth an experience down the road.  We put up on the white board of what coaches look for in the splits.  For you math genius the formula looks like this (x)+(x+1.7)+(x+1.6)+(x+1.5).It looked liked this for a swimmer who had a time of 27.5 in a 50 free. (29.5+31.2+31.1+31.0).  The big thing that should stand out to you is how close the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th 50 are.  A common mistake that swimmers make is that they go out to slow and think that they can put it all into that last 50 but the problem is while you may get as good time at a young age it will not work out at the next level.

As for the 200 backstroke we talked about how it is crucial to do these four things one, is a steady head position, 2 is to have good hip rotation to generate power in the arms , 3 is to develop great underwater's

and 4 is to incorporate the spin drill to help with your tempo.  We talked about having that soft kick for the first half of your race and when you have a 75 left start building that kick into a burst for the final 50 to get home.  if you focus on negative splitting this event you should be in good shape.

UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE ARE DOING

 

Senior prep, we want to make sure we all understand what we were trying to accomplish today at practice.

After a good warmup wit some long mix swims, pulling and kicking we went I to our big set for the day.

It was basically an IM set with 4x100 IM followed by 4x50 fast free.  We went through 4 rounds of this with each round finishing with either 2x50 kick fast or 25’s  kick fast.

As you noticed and we talked about the intervals started fast were some of you had trouble making it or barely make it.  Each segment of the round we increased the interval by 5 seconds.  

The problem we were having is that we want to get

the same effort on the last round as we got on the first round.  The slower interval does not signal us to slow it down, it’s meant to give us a little more recovery time in order to keep the effort high.  It is important that we all understand that so we are working together to make each of us better.

If we can all get together we have a better chance of everything coming together when the time is right.

 What happened this week during practice?  Let’s take a look back with a quiz?  How focused were you?  Take a piece of paper and write out your answers and bring them in Monday and Tuesday.

• What is the difference for the need of air In a 50-100-200-500.
• What are some breathing patterns you can use?
• What is the purpose of our underwater dolphin kick?
• When do you know it's time to breakout?
• What is your pacing strategy for a 200 free?  Is it the same for all 200's?

We spent a lot of time this week on our underwater kicking going to the 10m mark, then the 12.5m, then to the 15m mark and finally trying to go for it.  The majority of you were very focused and stepped  outside of your comfort zone during this drill. Some of of us not so much.  We know it's challenging and it's human nature to go as far as what you are comfortable doing, but in athletics that will not help you down the road especially for age groupers.

What was the purpose of those short kick swim sets from the flags at the end of practice?  Do you really understand what we were trying to do during that set? We were trying to get used to getting to your fastest speed possible from the flags without the blocks or the walls, a feeling that will aid you in your races.  Make no mistake its about getting used to swimming really fast as quickly as possible.

Most age groupers equate best times as a measure of getting better.  The conversation that you have in your head goes like this, I had the best time in this event, so I am getting better.  What is coach talking about when he says things about my stroke, my underwater kicks, my walls or my pacing.  Let's start with a personal best time.  It's always a great feeling to touch the wall, look up and see your best time, a feeling of total accomplishment overcomes you as it should, but as we discussed last week sometimes you need to slow your roll. 

What age groupers fail to grasp is that the time does not tell you the whole story.  Sure it gives you the event, the heat, your lane, your time, and your place, a lot of information.  What it misses is the start, the underwater, the breakouts, the stroke, the pace, the finish and finally maybe the most important factor in the overall race YOUR EFFORT and YOUR HEART.  Age group swimmers bodies are for the most part are always growing, changing, and getting stronger and as a result best times come in bunches, but if you don't put the work in at practice and pay attention to the "little things" it will all change drastically as you get older.  Personal Best's are already hard to come by at the senior level, but it will make it that much tougher if you don't perfect all the little things today.

SATURDAY WORKOUT AT ST.JAMES

If nothing changes, nothing changes.  The feed back your coaches give you after your races are things to be aware of that you can take back to practice and work on as you go through your workouts.

The majority of age group coaches understand how important that time is in the moment, but the best coaches are looking down the road in order to help you be successful in your high school swimming when it really becomes more team and more fun.  

print a copy.  can you swim your way to the gold!