SWIM MEET THOUGHTS

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 on your bodies to keep those muscles warm.  You are about to dive into that pool and ask a lot of those muscles and if they are cold you will have a revolt on your hands while your racing, "good against evil". Even if you think you are warm do your muscles and cover them up and keep them warm, and they will be there for you when you need them.  Help the "GOOD win over evil.

Another area I want us to take notice with is our work around the walls.  Many turns were good not great

and certainly not aggressive enough.  What do I mean?  Slow turns are not very energy efficient.  If you are slowing your speed going into that turn you are going to come out of that turn slow with a slow breakout.  It will take a lot more of your energy to get back up to race speed and by the way when you do another wall gets into your way.  Your stuck in the tug-of-war never able to maintain that race speed.  Let's turn this situation around and get more aggressive with our walls, I promise you, YOU will feel the difference and see the results in your races, but it STARTS at WORKOUT.

A little thing that I want to address before it becomes a big thing is this statement, "Can I scratch a event because I'm tired". Don't get me wrong there are situations where it is important to skip a event, but you better have a good argument and we will decide together.  It's not a mom and dad issue either.  I am more than capable of being the"bad guy" if you put me in that position.

I want you to take your journals out at some point this week (sooner than later) and answer these questions;

• What did you do well?
• What were you trying to accomplish at this meet?  Be specific, not just a time.
• Was my self-talk positive? Hint Walking into pool saying I'm tired is a negative.  Not wanting to swim an event because you're tired is a negative and a really bad excuse.
• Did you catch your one rabbit? (goal)
• What can you do better?
• How to get faster?
• WHAT NEXT?

Have a great week at school and arrive at workout ready to "Get Better".