THE PACE CLOCK

 As we get closer to that first day of workouts I thought it might be wise to reacquaint ourselves with one of the best tools that each of you have to help you reach your goals and to swim faster than you ever have.  That tool is the “PACE CLOCK” and it might have either a digital or analog face.  It could be any color.  Regardless of the pace clock you use it will give all of you the same valuable information so that you can take your swimming to a new level.

The pace clock also helps your coach run through an efficient practice while allowing corrections individually during the workout.  It allows the coach to “coach” instead of being a traffic 👮‍♀️.  How does the pace clock help each of you, let’s take a look; 

• Helps you learn your time
• Allows you to set some practice goals.
• Gives you a better sense of awareness in the water
• Allows you to work on different strokes within the workout

Let’s grab a piece of paper or make a copy of this and bring it to that first practice and I’ll take them home and check them out.  If the group scores 90% or better we will have doughnuts for that first Saturday practice and yes I’ll see if we can go with chocolate and sprinkles.

Lets first help you understand how important it is to know your times.  Remember they are important to you and you alone so if your relying on me to know all your times in all events you will be waiting a long time.  They should be important to you and that’s how it should be.

Answer the following 

PART A

1. What is your best time in 50 free?
2. What is double that time ?
3. What is your best time in 50 of your best stroke?
4. What is double that time ?
5. How much slower is 2 from 1 and 4 from 3?
6. How do you think the 50 splits should look like in the two events?

PART B. Here are some tips you have heard  when using a pace clock.  Cross out any that are not helpful.

• Remembering what number you left on.
• Just push off right away when the person in front of you has left
• Look at the clock when you touch the wall (AND YOU WILL GET YOUR FINGERS ON THE WALL) to get your finish time.
• Look at the clock to see if you are holding pace.
• Ask your coach your time on a repeat because they will know what you left on.
• It tells you how much time left in practice. (Hint if that your concern your focus on improving is lacking)

PART C. Okay now let’s say we are doing 5x50’s on the 50. What number do you leave on each repeat if we start on the 60?

 #1 leave on the 00

#2 leave on the______

#3 leave on the ______

#4 leave on the ______

#5 leave on the______

Now let’s see how you handle following directions and using the pace clock for a more difficult set.

We are doing 4 rounds of the following 3x100IM @1:45 followed by 4x25 kick IMO FAST @35. Rest 1:00 between rounds.

 ROUND 1 #1 IM on the 00. #2 IM on the____ #3 on the. #1 kick on the____ #2 on the____ #3 on the #4 on the ____

Round 2 starts on the ____ #2IM _____#3IM_____. #1kick _____ #2_____#3_____#4______

Round 3 starts on the____. #2IM______ #3_______. #1kick_____#2______#3_____#4_____

How are you all doing so far.  Awesome 😎 I am sure.

Last little exercise for you are basic little Monday warm up to start our season to see where we all fall.

12 x100 free (4@2:00/ 4@ 1:50/ 4@1:40

#1 leave on the 00 #2 on the____ #3 on the____#4 on the_____

#5 on the _____#6 on the_____#7 on the______ #8 on the____

#9 on the_____#10 on the____#11 on the______ #12 on the____

Now we are going to see if we can swim and avoid chaos within the lane. We are doing 8x25 kick on the 40

Swimmer 1 leave on the 00. 2nd 25 on the _____ 3rd 25 on the____

Swimmer 2 leaves on the____ 2nd 25 on the____ 3rd 25 on the ____

Swimmer 3 leaves on the_____2nd 25 on the____3rd 25 on the_____

Don’t forget the pace clock is another tool in your bag that will help you achieve your goals but you need to have the proper attitude as you use it going through the workout.

Have a great week at school and enjoy the day off Friday.

KICK CHALLENGE

 

Hope the first week of school went really well for all of you.  Hope you have some awesome 😎 classes and teachers that will challenge you during the school year.

Now with a little down time over the next couple of days it may be a good time to dust off your equipment bag and head out for a tune up swim to lessen that feeling of swimming like a out of shape whale in about 12 days.

You certainly would like to avoid that feeling, I would think.  Remember how we talked last time about the importance of our kicking early in. the season, here is a set to try out over the weekend if your up for a challenge.

This whole set should take 55 minutes or less. So here we go.

WARM UP see if you can go for a 5 minute swim mixer 

 

MONSTER KICK SET. (I am just going to throw out 2 intervals for the 100's and you can adjust so you get about 20-30 seconds rest in between.

4x100 kick @2:20/2:30 last 25 all out

4x25 kick on back all out @45 keep the hips up

REST 1:00

3x100 kick @2:20/2:30  negative split 2nd 50 faster than first

4x25 kick on back all out @40

REST 1:00

2X100 KICK @2:20/2:30 FIRST 75 ALL OUT STAY WITH IT

4x25 kick all out @35

REST 1:00

1x100 kick all out @2:20/2:30

4x25 kick all out @30

WARM DOWN 200 swim IM/free nice long and controlled stroke NO SPEED HERE!

As you go through this kick set here are three things that will help you develop that killer kick;

1. Start the kick from your core and hips.  (notice how that word core popped up).
2. Kick narrowly with a very slight knee bend.
3. Kick near the surface and keep those ankles relaxed.  (this will help reduce resistance and will give you great body position and alignment.

So dust off this swim and equipment bags, follow that scent of chlorine and jump in and get wet.  You need a pool grab a friend come visit, we can have ice cream afterwards.

Have fun with it!

GOALS AND KICKING

HELLO SWIMMERS.  We hope your first couple of days back in the classroom went well.  Seeing old friends and meeting new ones is always exciting.  We are excited and looking for the same experience at our first workout  in 15 days.  Use the next couple of weeks wisely and settle into your academics before we add swimming to the mix.  Remember you are a STUDENT/ATHLETE.

Last we we talked about getting mentally prepared for our upcoming season and the importance of setting some good habits from day one.  Another way to mentally prepare yourself for the upcoming season is to sit down and ponder on what you would like to accomplish as you work through the season ahead, and it starts with setting some goals.  Goals don’t always have to be about your time.  They can involve many different areas of your swimming, but they will usually all affect your times in the end.  I came across this list the other day and immediately thought of you all and how it could help you start thinking outside of the box when you start setting your goals.  After reading the list grab a pen and put your thoughts to paper and see what you can come up with for your swimming journey this year.  

FIRST LOOK

   Early practice’s 

So what's our first couple of weeks in the pool shaping up to look like.  Our focus will be on some high intensity kicking.  Why?  First off is that along with your core it will serve as a good foundation for some fast swimming this season and its also is a great way to get into shape at the beginning of the season.  If your not sold on kicking yet let's look at it this way, the majority of your muscle mass is in your legs.  Let's set the groundwork now for some fast swimming.

I would like to ask the swimmers in Mike's Senior prep and Junior Gold groups to purchase the following piece of equipment for our workouts.  They are available on the Finis web site and through amazon.

Finis Alignment kickboards

 

Finis tempo trainer

Have a good week

CHASING DREAMS AND SETTING GOALS

Today let's turn our focus to the pool side of your upcoming year.  Before you even dive into the water

ask yourself these two questions; What can I do to to reach my GOALS and DREAMS for this season?  When should I start?  First off you should have started  the day after your last practice.  

If you have goals and dreams for your short course season you NEED to start chasing them now and not wait until the time is convenient for you.  Funny thing about dreams and goals the longer you wait the further they run away from you until it becomes impossible to catch regardless of your efforts.  First goal I would like all of you to make is, I won't be that swimmer.

So how do we prepare mentally to get ready for our upcoming season.  The first thing is to take a honest look back at the previous season.  What worked?  What didn't work?  Did you focus on your fundamentals with consistency or only when an important meet was coming up?  Did you meet your goals?  I venture to guess that there were stretches last season when things all went your way.  You were in that zone.  Reflect on those times and write down how you felt, what music you listened to, what you ate, your workouts and so on.  In other words take all those positive things and store them away.  Take all the negative stretches away from last season and let them go, we are not going to dwell on them as we are moving forward into the new season.

In order for you to be successful in this sport, you need to mentally challenge yourself. You need to start building good habits from day one.  Everyone should have this as their number one goal, be consistent with your workouts. Some other examples off building good habits are;

• Be on time for workouts and meets.  (if practice starts at 5 that means caps on bags at there edge of the pool ready to go.  we are not putting our c app on arg 5.)
• Dolphin kicks- start from day 1 with a minimum of 3 overtime you leave the wall.
• Turns- every wall- speed in-speed out- deep arm pull no breath.
• Hydration- bring your water bottles- drink so you can maintain your energy level.
• Time Management- It's critical that you stay up with your academics so that you can run your schedule.  Don't let work pile up putting you in the position where your schedule is running you
• Journals-  From time to time connect with your journals and write down how it's going.  'Your ups and downs.  What worked or didn't work.  Sets you like. Sets you didn't like.

Get ready to Rock your swimming with good habits.

Have a Great weekend!

Enjoy that first day of school.

LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW SEASON

SUMMER FADE

I hope you are enjoying the last few days of the summer.   It seems like the summer has melted away as fast as a popsicle but unlike a swimmer who can stop a clock with a touch to the pad we can’t really stop the clock of life.

As the Senior Prep, Junior Gold, and Junior Blue groups begin preparing for the upcoming season it’s time to come up with a theme for the season.  I have always encouraged you all to take ownership of your swimming because the person that it is most important to is “U”.  Therefore for the last week I have been working on putting together our first few weeks of workouts and our theme for the year will be, There is a “U” in success. 

Say that to yourself right now.  Now write it down on an index card.  Now post it in your room where you can see it every day.  If you say it enough, you see it daily,  you will start to believe in it and yourself.

What can you do to start off the new academic school year and our short course swimming season in a strong positive way.  

Start getting into your school year routine NOW.   The first thing you can do is to think about adjusting your body clock.  Since summer swimming ended a lot of you may have fallen into those lazy dog days of summer, staying up late and sleeping in.  Some of you may think of me as an "old wise man" or maybe not but here is a piece of advice  to lessen the shock next Monday morning.  Make an attempt this week of going to bed a little earlier and if you need it set that alarm and get up earlier each day.

If you had summer reading or homework assignments this might be a good week to finish it all up and for those of you who never started it, what are you waiting for?  just like we do in swimming start visualizing how you would like your school year to go.  Start making some goals and like in life be ready to adjust on the fly because you will hit bumps throughout the year.

Above all remember that you are a student/athlete.  Read that again and the order that the words student/athlete appear.  You can't be a swimmer without being a student first.

Now that we have you ready for the school year lets turn our attention to the pool.  The first thing you might want to think about is heading out to your summer pools over the next few weeks and just jumping in and going for a swim, nothing hard just something to get get rid of the cobwebs and avoid that heavy/sluggish feeling that always happens when we return to the later.  Let's call it a tune up to put you in a better position for those first couple of weeks.

GEAR BAG- When was the last time you checked it or cleaned it.  Get rid of anything that has mold on it and replace it.  Do your fins still fit?  Mako Cap?  Goggles in good shape?  Snorkel in working order? Pull Buoy anywhere? Paddles with bands?  Kick boards?  Water bottle?

Now that we have taken care of your gear bag let's turn to your body and what you can be doing to prepare it for the upcoming season.  The NUMBER 1 thing to physically get ready for that first day of practice other than some light swimming is to do a lot of core work.  A strong core is crucial to your success in swimming.  A strong core gives you a powerful platform from which you can pull, push, and kick through the water.  A strong core helps you maintain a good body position, keeps your hips high (have I ever told you to get your hips up) reducing drag and making you more efficient as you chase your goals. If you spend 15 minutes 4 times a week now, I promise you that you will feel better and stronger and it will pay BIG dividends later in the season.

CORE EXERCISES FOR FASTER SWIMMING

PLANK

• Support yourself on your forearms.
• Squeeze your abs and your butt to achieve a straight body position.
• Your mid section will try to sag toward the floor, don't let it.  Hold that straight line including your head
• Breathe.
• Hold for 30 rest for 15. (try increasing time until you can hold for 1 minute rest 30 and repeat.

HIP BRIDGES

• Get on your back, lay your arms down at your side.
• Keep your feet flat on the floor and raise your trunk towards the sky.
• Stop when you have achieved a straight line spine.  Don't over extend.
• Hold for a three count, and SLOWLY descend.

SUPERMAN

• Lay face down on the ground, arms straight above head.
• Tighten your gluten (butt muscles). Pull them in towards your belly button.
• Lift your left arm while also raising your right leg.  Hold for 3 count. Now switch arms and legs.
• Don't drop your arm and legs, you want a controlled movement.
• Continue with this combo for 30 seconds and rest for 30 and repeat.

V-SITTING KICKING

• Sitting on the ground start fluttering your legs up and down.  Focus on making small kicks as close as possible to your kick in the water.  Remember big kicks create drag.

• Balance yourself and bring your arms above your head into a streamline position.  You may have to cross your arms on your chest until you build that core.

RUSSIAN TWISTS

• Sit on the ground, raise your ankles off the ground, lean back a little to balance yourself.
• Use a med ball, pull buoy and turn your shoulders 45 degrees. Touch the mat. Now the other way. Continue for 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds.
• Perform these with control.  Don't flop around.

HOW OFTEN