SPRING BREAK

 So spring break has finally arrived for most of you. The past year has brought many changes to your lives both in swimming and your personal comings and going.  With the arrival of this annual ritual it might be a good time to reflect on this past year.

Swimming is a unique sport, one which seems to never end.  There is always the next workout, the next meet always something.  You spent the last year swimming about 624,000 yards.  That a about 380 miles or swimming the English Channel

18 times back and forth.  Now of course we did not swim the whole way as we spent 20 % of the time kicking across, and other than free we spent  most of our other time swimming IM, back and than choice as we made are way back and forth.

Most swimmers enter a race trying to win and better their times and a chance at qualifying for that next level meet.  Even at the high school level you race your dual meets with that chance at qualifying for districts and a chance to advance to regions and states, but what happens when that last meet of the season is finished.  What should you do next?

First off this is a perfect time to take a break, yes a break is okay.  I know some of you believe a break is a bad thing, but it all depends on your roadmap for the season, and we have reached our destination for the short course season.  Keep in mind that a break doesn't mean becoming a couch potato,

you can hike take walks, ride a bike all of which will engage all the muscles in your body.  

 The break away from the pool provides you with opportunities to refocus on your next roadmap, rest and refuel your body and maybe most importantly allows you to reflect on your accomplishments of the past year.  The break will also allow the body and mind to come back stronger than before as you head into long course and your summer meets.

As you reflect on everything that you have done in and out of the pool over the pas year always keep this at the top of your lists, Being proud of your accomplishments is the first step to being proud of yourself.  We are proud of your accomplishments and just so you know my number 1 objective for all of you, strange as it sounds is not to win a race or even get a best time.  No what I want you to do is get your hand to the pad and at that moment know that you have given everything you had and you held nothing back,  Then my friends we are all winners.

This is how the Senior Prep/ Senior Blue and Junior Gold group kicked their way into spring break.

CRUSHED IT

So today the senior prep group had a little challenge set to accomplish after warming up.  First off yesterday they all picked a song which was put into a playlist that was played during the set.  The set consisted of 20x200 IM/Free @ 3:00.  The challenge for each of the swimmers was to come in under their best 200 IM time.  We had some tremendous efforts during the hour with some heavy arms and legs, but you all really crushed it.  BE PROUD OF YOUR EFFORT as you go into yourspring break

The twist of the set was that if their song was playing as they were on the wall waiting for the next repeat they were allowed to skip that 200 if they chose to.  Some of you were pretty funny all bright eyed gasping for air, as Catherine exclaimed where is my darn song!  

Nice job with this set.

WHERE DO WE GO NOW

 

Now that we have arrived at the conclusion of our short course meet schedule some of you may be wondering, What do we do now?  I am sure one of the big things on all of your minds is Spring Break especially if you are lucky to be traveling this year by 🚘, 🚂, or ✈️.  If you are one of those lucky ones be safe and have a great time.  For the rest of us enjoy the time away from the pool, let your body rest and get outside and do some type of activity.

Everyone who participated in the Mako Spring Fling meet did a great job with many personal best times to finish off this part of our competition.  We had a lot of you who took the chance and went outside of your comfort zones looking for new adventures with the 500 free and the 400IM coming to mind.  It's amazing when talking to all you that what I hear a lot is this, "That was fun. or I liked that, or It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."  Sometimes when you go outside of your comfort zone you discover a whole new world that has some fun things in it. Something to remember in the future is that when you take some risks often the rewards will be higher.

We cannot forget our 9-10 year old swimmers who traveled out to the Freedom 

Center for their Championship Meet.  You little guys were absolutely amazing swimming a lot of races in about an hour all four days, and posting a lot of new best times that you can be proud of.

As mentioned in our last post, we have been going hard between those lane lines since June 1st and over the next couple weeks, take the time to reflect on all of your hard work and your accomplishments.  It is also a good time to look at any shortcomings that you think you may have had.  

Where did I put those notes with my goals for the season?  Yes your roadmap to success.  Opps no roadmap.  Maybe that is a shortcoming.  Its hard to get somewhere without a roadmap.  Write down how you felt after not only your good swims but those swims that you think were bad.  Remember there is no such thing as a bad swim, in fact the only bad swim is the one that you learn nothing from and keep repeating it.  Keeping that swimming journal will always provide you with information that can help you in the future.  This is all part of taking ownership of your swimming.

Often times after your swims we can sense your disappointment with your times even though you swam a great race and in some cases even dropped some time. Other times when talking to some of you after a swim I get a lot of, "I'm tired or I didn't feel that good."  Guess what people it happens to everyone so

instead of going to that EXCUSE WHEEL every time something doesn't go exactly right figure out a way of not letting it happen again.  Guess what it probably will. Sometimes in todays world there is a lot of attention on winning every time there is a competition, which is not a bad thing, but it is also not the end all.  After all you are still kids who are constantly growing, changing and learning.  

Always remember that you have to embrace the entire process if you are truly going to enjoy the sport and that means taking the good with the bad and there is always more good if you open your 👀 

JOB WELL 

HAPPY ST. PADDY’s DAY

Did anyone see any leprechauns in their travels today.  Are you wearing any green as you left the house today.

I thought it would be interesting and fun for each of you to do your own limerick in honor of Saint Patricks  day.  

What is a limerick?  A limerick functions as poetic form that is specifically structured in terms of rhyme, rhythm, and meter.  It’s intention is to provide humor, levity, and entertainment.  It’s a form of literary and creative expression.

Here is a template for you to print out and fill out.  Can yo relate it to swimming, school or some othe important part of your life.  After your done bring it in and receive a prize.

MAKO SHOWCASE NOTES

 

First off let’s thank Heather, our Mako parents and all of the officials who helped in providing such a great end of the year meet that all the swimmers worked hard for and deserved.  We would also like to thank Disco Dave for providing all of the great music at all the final sessions.  After getting him to understand to lower the volume we finally had some great music and as we discussed earlier had some great background music playing during all of the races.

As for you the swimmers what can we say as coaches other than you really came ready to put on a incredible show with some great races.  The coaches were awestruck with your ability to come in and race over a four day meet, a new experience for most of you.  Some of you ended up swimming over 13 events or more over the 4 days, a new experience for sure.

When Heather and I got together back in December we were determined to have  a championship meet that included prelims and finals. Working within the capacity of swimmers and the number of swimmers we could have finals became our challenge, but with some tinkering we came up with the format.  

All of this was going to make it somewhat tougher for all the 🏊 participating to make their way to the podium. The end result was that it made for some great swimming during all of the prelims session and each age group.  It was also nice to bring the girls and boys who train together and get them at finals at the same time.   

During prelims it wasn’t just about getting back to finals it became, I

had to be top 3 or in the case of 13-14 top 4 in order to win a medal.

Throughout the meet our warmup periods were shorter and we made adjustments which you all handled brilliantly and the end result was that you were still able to swim faster, a fact not lost on myself as a coach. Was it luck, no I don’t believe in luck, more that all of you did the hard work, warmed up down correctly and were ready to swim fast no matter what and that’s what it comes down to.

To watch you all work and support each other as a group under our restrictions was fun to watch, although coach Heather would keep telling me about our social distancing.

I would take the time to list all of are swimmers that made finals, but honestly I’m afraid 😱 I would miss someone and you all would never let me forget.

We do have to recognize 3 of our Mako teammates who won high point awards; 13-14 boy was Adrian Coray, 13-14 girl Riley Miller and 11-12 girl Claire Dobrydney.  Congratulations 

Again awesome job by all of the Mako swimmers, you came and swam like monsters.

SPRING FORWARD

 

Let’s not forget to set our clocks ahead an hour before your head hits the pillow tonight.  You all have it so easy in today’s world because with all the technology this is all done for you.

It was not too long ago that this was a big thing in many households as everyone had to run around to every single clock and manually move the hands ahead an hour.

In the US it was first introduced in 1916 only to be repealed 7 months later.  It was reintroduced in 1942 as “War Time”, with the eastern war time, mountain war time, central war time and pacific war time.  Af the end of the war it became known as peace time.  In 1966 with the signing of the uniform time act the country now had a uniform schedule with DST starting the last Sunday of April and ending the last Sunday of October.  It has been tinkered with ever since like in 1973 with the oil embargo and than with the energy policy of 2005.  It has remained unchanged since 2007, before some of you were born.

The biggest proponents of DST are that with more sunlight in the evenings more people are motivated to get out of the house.  There is more time for outdoor recreational activities leading to a fitter country.  With the extra daylight it is argued that we conserve more energy.

With the modern society with its technological advances such as computer screens, A/C units and TV screens it is widely believed that the savings from DST is negligible.  Some even believe that the time switch has a direct effect on are physiological well being not to mention the disruption to our sleep patterns twice a year and therefore want to stop moving the clocks all together.

WHICH CAMP ARE YOU IN?

As for myself, the extra sunlight is nice in the warmer months.

So it’s hard to believe that our championship season is on the horizon, yes a time when you walk around maybe with your chest pumped out, your shoulders held back a little more than normal and with a little more crispness in your stride.  It’s hard to believe that it has been 2 years until this time, but here it is.

Since stepping back in the pool back on June 1st, you all have shown up everyday and put in some incredible work to come full circle and arrive stronger, faster and mentally ready to have incredible swims at whatever meet you are in.  If you had one shot, one opportunity to win everything you ever wanted, in one moment would you capture it or just let it slip away.  Challenge yourself in your swims and take each one as they come, don’t get ahead of yourself. You’ve made the sacrifices, put in the hard work and now it’s your moment to shine.

When you feel

Like you can’t swim

Any faster

Kick any further 

You must keep going

Greatness is only milliseconds away

But you have to give 100%

You can’t slack off halfway 

Through the race because 

You think negativity, you must

Maintain a 100% effort for the

Entire race.

 

THE FINISH

 You’ve had a good start, a fast breakout into that first leg of your race and executed some awesome turns and now it’s time for that awesome finish so as to leave no doubt.

For a swimmer it’s not as easy, as running under a sign, through a tape or the sound of a final whistle as time winds down to 00:00.  For you the swimmer it’s all about getting your hand to the pad.  

Different events require different finishes at he wall, for instance all your fly and breaststroke events require two hands on the wall simultaneously. The backstroke event requires you to stay on your back and not being fully submerged as you touch.  The freestyle events require any part of your body hitting that wall.

Regardless of the event you are swimming they all have a few things in common, the first involves accelerating as you near that pad.  The last thing you want to do is to relax at the flags and coast into the wall, this could mean the difference of achieving your goal and also leave you off that podium.  The next common mistake we see a lot is lifting the head before you touch, maybe to see the scoreboard, but whatever your reason, don’t do it.  Your head should be down, eyes looking at the bottom as you touch.  Another big misconception is something we have talked about and that is your fingertips will hit the pad before the palm of your hand every time.  

The last area involves our breathing into the finish, and other than breaststroke and backstroke for obvious reasons we should not be breathing from the flags in, remember we are accelerating here so let’s stop practicing things that make us go slower.

What can I do to better my finishes, first off finish at the wall each time in a good body position.  This is the big one stop touching the ledge of the pool, just stop.

 Finish to the imaginary pads on the wall with your head down.  Simple things but remember it’s the little things that add millisecond, tenths and maybe a second to your times.

Swimming: An Underrated Sport

Have you guys ever wonder what other's think about your sport.  Maybe you have friends that make comments and just don't understand what you do and just how hard it really is.  

This was sent to me by a former swimmer and it made me think of you all, and thought I would share it with you.  It's about 11 minutes long so grab your popcorn or a little snack and enjoy.

You should be really proud of yourself going into championship month regardless of what meet you find your self.

OPEN TURNS

 

Today’s stop on our trip will be the open turn which encompasses both your breaststroke and fly, along with the exchanges in your individual medley events to an extent.

We will begin with your approach into the turn.  Sometimes it looks as if   your confused as your approaching your turns, should I speed up or

should I slow down.  Coach Paul says “maintain your speed and try to touch long, that is, when your arms are reached out in full extension and

FULL EXTENSION

your body is in a streamline position”.  Yes that phrase again!  The only light you should be seeing is green.  Otherwise you are slowing your momentum which affects how fast you will be able to make that transition.  You are correct there is no flip involved here, and yes, you need to touch with 🙌.   But then what?  First off the touch is more like a push with the hands.  Don't get caught holding onto the wall.

NOTICE THE ELBOW PAST HIP AND THE HEAD POSITION WITH THE TOP ARM COMING DIRECTLY OVER TTHE TOP

Obviously with our fly and breaststroke turns there are no flip involved, so what we are trying to do after the touch is to pull one arm back past our hip and at the same time tuck your knees under your body turn your hips towards the wall.  Your feet are planted on the wall with your toes pointed to the outside lanes ready for that explosive push off the wall.  Your head does not turn to the side during these turns, it falls back to the other end of the poll looking toward the ceiling and watching the other arm come right over the top.  Think of these not like turns but as changing directions, we are not turning our heads at the wall.

Notice feet and toe placement on wall

The breaststroke requires a little patience as you leave the wall as you initiate your pullout.  Think back to a time not long ago where your coaches might have hat you count 1-2-3 before you began your pullout and for good reasons.  It takes a little time after leaving the wall for you to lose that momentum off the wall and because of stroke rules you want to hold that tight streamline until you begin to decelerate.  As you begin to decelerate begin the pullout with 1 powerful 🐬 kick generating from the core and hips, its at this point you begin the arm movement.  It is vital that during this movement your chin stays tucked and your arms stay as close to your body as you can, the further the arms move outside the shoulders the less catch and power you have.  Finish it off with 1 power kick to the surface and get into the next leg of your race.

As for the fly stay in that tight streamline off your push followed by some dolphin kicks and again surface with that chin tucked.  Do not breathe on that first stroke and after that go into your breathing patterns.  You may ask yourself how many dolphin kicks should I do?  The simple answer is it depends on you and how you have worked on it during your training sessions in the pool.  Is it a 50, 100, 200 or 400 IM all important factors.  What we can say is that the longer the event the more important it is to get oxygen to the blood so that the muscles will not fatigue early in the race on you.  

Again, how well you can execute all of these things comes down to how well you execute them during practice at every opportunity and not just the day before a meet.  I am always amused how right before a meet swimmers will ask, can we work on turns, finishes, things that should be worked on every moment of every practice.  You will not perfect them in a day.  Take for example the underwater part of races, if you've been with me for a while you started with nothing and as you have grown, gotten stronger and worked on them, they have improved tremendously but it is as sophomores, juniors and seniors and high school that they will really shine.  All of this takes work and dedication on your part and the desire to improve all areas of YOUR swimming.

Next up: The finish

NEXT STOP

 Our next stop on our road map is the flip turn for free.  What are you looking for here?  Simple answer is a clean efficient transition into the next leg of your race, a transition that will sustain your momentum with the least amount of energy.  In other words hold your speed off the wall so that you don’t have to go to your reserves to bring that speed back up.

THE FLIP TURN- - - -  Do you use your arms/hands to help you propel yourself into that flip turn?  It might feel good and the right thing to do, but it actually slows your rotation at the wall and causes you to pause before you push off in order to get your arms back in your streamline to maximize your speed.  Think of your abs/core as you go into your flip turns that is your power source for fast rotations.

Coach Paul would tell you that foremost you need to maintain your speed into the wall, this is definitely not the time to go into a slow down.  If you decrease your speed into that turn the results could be disastrous, and in swimming we are talking about hundreds of a tenth that reflect on that scoreboard.  Stop looking at your walls as a obstacle and instead look at the walls as an area to maintain and increase your speed over your opponents.  Own your Turns.  Your goal should be to get in and out of the flags as fast as you can, any time spent on the wall is wasted time.  The watch keeps going while you are napping 😴 on the wall.

Train yourself with the markings on the pool to help set up your turns.  That black line on the bottom of the poolhas a T at each end, use it to time that last pull into a strong flip.  Don't use it for a signal to breathe, your last breath should come between the flags and the T after that a breath only slows the whole process down.  Go into that wall strong with your chin down.

Use your core to bring your legs over the top (legs right over shoulders) toes pointed upward, not to the side and feet separated a little bit.  How much?  Here is an exercise, make a fist with both hands and place them between your knees.  That would be a great place to start. As you rotate over the top chin is down, legs have a slight bend in them (90 degrees).  Think of jumping on land, your feet are squared with a slight bend in the knees, no different when doing a flip turn.  This sets a good solid foundation in order to get a good push off the wall.

Some simple exercises for your abs and core you can do anywhere.  If you spend a few minutes 2 or 3 times a week doing these you just might improve your flip turns.  It takes work away from practice to get better for any athlete 

NEXT UP: THE PUSH AND BREAKOUT