“If it’s important to you, you will find a way.  If not, you will find an excuse.”

FEEDING YOUR MUSCLES 

Having trouble with those early morning workouts or competition?  Not sure what to eat or how much so that you can perform at an optimal level and get through it?

Understanding the process and how to get there is not an easy one.Waking up early to jump into a cold pool for either swim practice or  a swim meet is no easy feat.  For sure one of the biggest advantage is you get to see the sun rise and you have a jump on everyone else.  One of the first things that you have to do to survive a early workout/swim meet is to fuel your vessel.

By the time you wake up your body is already starving.  You need to figure out a way to fuel it that works for you.  It's not something that you can ignore because the consequences will affect your success.  I was amaze or maybe not that so many of you have nothing to eat before arriving at the pool in the morning.  This is an area of your training that we need to work on moving forward.

While the idea of a full-course heavy breakfast may not be on your menu you need to find something to eat that works for you.  You don't need to fill your tank all the way but you do need to get it off the empty mark where the light is blinking (that's a red flag that says your going to shut down).

Some suggestions for you to start with are a banana, a slice of toast with peanut butter, honey or anything

you might like on it, sone yogurt with granola.  The point is to find something that agrees with your taste buds and get it into your tanks, give your body the fuel it needs before you ask it to work for you.  This make take some time through trail and error but we have to start somewhere ladies and gents, so let's get started so we can HIT THE POOL WITH DETERMINATION.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Some thoughts on our performance from last weekends meet.  First and foremost I truly believe we are at a good point with just two weeks of workouts under our belt.  Try to remember that we are early in the season and as I tell you over and over it's a marathon not  a sprint.  Yes we are always aiming for best times but don't forget that you can have a good swim without a best time..  Too many of you came back and said "I did bad".  When I ask why you answer comes back "because of the time" You can't always look at the results especially early in the season, try and look at the process also.

THE GOOD-- A lot of us got in some new events in this first meet and it was good to see you put yourselves out there.  Going outside of your comfort zones will definitely help you down the road.  There was a good effort with our UWK (that fifth stroke) during your races.

THE BAD--  our streamlines can be better.  Our 3 rules 1. lock the thumbs.  2. squeeze the ears.  3. look down.  ?We are very soft in and out of turns.  The walls in a short course pool offer a great opportunity to gain an advantage over your competitors if you choose to use it.  Be aggressive in and out of those walls.  Stop looking at it as a rest area along the highway.   THIS BEGINS AT PRACTICE WITH consistency during workouts on the wall, don't forget "WIN"

THE UGLY-- Within our 3 groups we suffered 4 DQ's and while any DQ's are bad they will happen, it’s human nature.  We had a DQ in backstroke with a delay in a turn, another in backstroke coming off on our stomach.  One in fly with an underwater recovery on the finish and another in fly on not finishing.   Notice that 3 of these DQ's involved the walls so that should send a red ⛳️ to all of us that we need more attention to our walls at practice.  The positive is that all 4 of these can be corrected it just takes a little more attention to detail.  If you want me off your back, then focus on the walls and do the turns correctly.  That easy.

SET OF THE WEEK:

We did this little set at the end of each practice as both a swim down set and to work on our UNDERWATER's off the wall with the goal of becoming comfortable while doing something uncomfortable.  I thin k we will make this a staple.

WITH FINS 4 ROUNDS

3x25 @30 fly kick with boards

3x50 @1:00 free to back (#1fast UWD to 10M/. #2 UWD to 15 M. #3UWD all the way.

A good way to swim down while accomplishing something good. 

Senior prep swimmers, how is your strength conditioning program going.  You should be entering the third week of exercises this week which means you should have a minimum of 6 sessions at the end of this week.   It is important to stay consistent as we put in more exercises at a higher volume and intensity in the next session.  

MENTAL TIP #2 VISUALIZATION

No worries, I've swum this race a hundred times in my head.  It's not going to replace your swimming workouts, you will still need to show up at the pool and work hard, you still need to do your strength training, eat healthy, hydrate and get your proper rest. it will however,  supplement and help you maximize the work you are already doing.

Make the environment real as you close your eyes, see the flags (what color), the walls, the bottom of the pool (is it tile or plaster) the swimmers around you and of course your coach standing next to the pool with that crumpled meet sheet in hand.  Make it real.

When you use visualization start getting in touch with all of your senses, the stepping up on the block, the texture of that block under your feet, the smell of chlorine in the air, and the cold water surrounding your body off the start.

Try and hit as many of your senses as you see yourself swimming like a AQUASTORM bigger and badder than your typical hurricane.

Stay on top of your school work.  Help out around the house.  Take care of yourselves away from the pool. And don’t forget, WIN

W-- What's

 I-- Important

                            N-- Now