“WIN”. What’s Important Now

  Sometimes swimmers have the misconception that in order to become a stronger swimmer you can add more workouts to your week or add time to each workout.  This is true to a small extent but in order to gain strength and become stronger it will require some work and dedication from your part away from the pool.  Yes we are talking about a strength and conditioning program to not only supplement your swimming but your everyday health.   We have been working with CAPSTONE PERFORMANCE TRAINING to come up with a program suitable for our needs.  They have designed two different programs to choose from.  The first is a on line/ hybrid model and the second is a hybrid model.  We asked them to design a 2x a week program which is perfect for you all.  We have also asked that it should be a swimming specific program. They have designed similar programs for other swimmers in our area.  Below you will find the information.      

  Hope you all had a great weekend and had a chance to get out and enjoy the weather.  We had a great week of workouts and got a lot accomplished in the pool. Our Blue group has done a great job nailing down those free and back turns and will continue with that this week with a big emphasis on getting those stroke counts corrected for our backstroke turns.  A great backstroke turn starts with having a good stroke count and it begins by doing it right in practice.  The Blue group also started putting our IM’s together with drills for our fly and breaststroke legs of the event.  You guys have come a long way working with your snorkels, we actually started swimming with them on Wednesday and I saw a big improvement.  If you’re wondering why this is important, it’s pretty simple as it will help each of you control your head movement while swimming.  That will go a long way to help all of your strokes.  Head position is critical for swimming efficiency.  Keep up the good work. The Gold and

 Let's talk about yesterday but first let's all stop and have one good cough.  No I don't know why so many of you were coughing, maybe the chlorine but I doubt it, maybe fair quality maybe not.  Maybe it became a mind thing where once one of you started you all got the bug.  You all were troopers and you got through what we were trying to accomplish.  Now that we have that out of the way let"s continue on. That practice was low yardage but with everything done at RACE SPEED except for the 200 swim/kick recovery.  We are at the early part of the season where I wanted to see how you would respond both physically and mentally to that type of workout. It will help us plan a course of action for the next 6 weeks  leading up to the Swim an d Rock meet. One of my take aways was that we have a lot of work to do mentally with your swimming.  As I watched and talk to a lot of you I got a real sense that the "fear of failure" is holding you back from your true potential

  You ever go through a workout not knowing exactly what you are doing?  You see the set, you dive in and begin your journey for the day.  Ask yourself this question.  Am I really practicing to improve, or am I Just swimming because I'm here?  Any bells going off in your head? We have talked lately about the mental side of swimming and no where is this more important than during practice.  It's easy to fall into that routine of swimming along that black line with no purpose.  It's like you are at practice but in reality you're really not there at all.  Just filling a void. As a coach I can easily increase your yardage and as a swimmer you can add more workout sessions and this may work short term but you may not see the success your looking for long term.  There's that phrase again, "THE PROCESS" and what's involve to reach your full potential in the moment. The process involves avoiding the noise around you during practice.  When you walk onto the po

  Just thought it would be a good time to reach out and let you all know how we are doing.  The kids performed really well at our October meet and it was good for them to go to the pool and get into a meet atmosphere.  Unlike myself I am pretty sure that you paid more attention to times (human nature).  Early in the season I actually like to observe how they race which could encompass everything from warmups and warm downs, staying hydrated, staying warm, getting to the blocks.  I also like to observe how they progress through their races which include starts, pacing, breathing, turns, underwater off turns, and the effort to finish a race.  Along with all of that I like to observe how they react to their swims (and times) which tell me a lot.  These are all things that the kids and myself have been working on for the first. As we move forward I wanted to give you some insight into my thinking for the next few meets.  I have asked the Senior Prep and Junior Gold swimmers to pick one day

They always talk about waking up on Monday with the "Monday Blues" but not you today.  The reason is simple; YOU have made it through the first meet of the season and you should all feel great about your accomplishments be cause you were simply amazing all weekend.  Were there bumps along the way, of course we encountered some bumps but nothing we can't handle together as we get back to the pool and continue our hard work.  Here is a little song as you keep reading to let you know "everything is okay" regardless of any results.  Some of my observations from the meet and that I will dispense now; The one thing that I do remember from my day as an athlete was the importance of staying warm.  You may think that I participated in athletics during the Stone Age which I did not but had I been there I would have dressed to stay warm.  Think about it, you sacrifice and spend all that time training only to show up at a swim meet, warm up and then sit around with nothing