what were we accomplishing

 This past week we the gold, prep, and highs cool group started the week on Monday with the goal of finding a new comfortable.  As a swimmer often times we know what we have to do at practice in order to become more successful.  The problem is that often the things we have to do tend to make us uncomfortable during practice, it takes more focus, more effort and quite frankly, IT's HARD.  

What is your comfort zone and why does it exists?  This is that area in which you swim to avoid anxiety

and that feeling of pain that you fear and are afraid to confront when swimming fast and hard.  Sometimes you have set up these boundaries unconsciously not even knowing that you have done it.  There are many reasons for this such as, lack of confidence, fear of failure and yes fear of winning.  That's right if you swim in your comfort zone you have a built in excuse for just being average.  Think about that for a few minutes and the next time going into a meet.  Comfort zones are a "safe haven."

 Competitive swimmers everywhere are always looking for ways to improve, ways to do something better and get better results.  Always swimming in your comfort zone and doing the same things will tend to yield the same results.  Sure your times drop and you have some good swims, but what we are searching for are those

GREAT swims that come along a few times each season.  By going outside of your comfort zone during practice you will prepare for those GREAT opportunities when they do appear.

On Monday we did our little test set for all the groups where we just went to see how far we could go during practice at this time of year.  Coaches sometimes get a little wrapped up in total yardage like it's a badge of honor and yes we have a range during parts of the season in order to keep your aerobic base at a high level, but for the most part we are looking for quality instead of quantity.  This is the reason we are hard on you when we see the same mistakes over and over, remember "doing the same things produces the same results". All the groups used the same template for practice but on different intervals, keep in mind that when we are going for yardage and it was a  a freestyle based workout.  The results for the groups were:

• GOLD (70 MINUTES) 3650 YARDS
• PREP (90 MINUTES) 6100 YARDS
• HIGH SCHOOL (75 MINUTES) 4800 YARDS

What we were looking for was your effort and how long could you hold onto your technique during both a high intensity/ high yardage workout.  This was the highest yardage total for a day during this season including our holiday workouts.  This was designed as that first step outside of your comfort zone and to actually see what it's like to feel uncomfortable during practice, and to come to he realization that you're be okay.

As mentioned comfort zones should be like a moving target, one that is attainable, but sometimes are right outside of your reach and will require you to get up on your toes stretch and touch it with your fingertips.  Like finishing a race to the touch pad, "if you want it stretch, reach and go for it."  As you go beyond your comfort zone you will be successful and will become comfortable again.  Your goal is to push yourself to this level of discomfort, and our job is to help you and create the challenge.