THE VERGE of GREATNESS

 December 31 not only brings the last day of 2024 but also the Junior Gold and Junior Blue last day of training for the year. 

You all were awesome this morning as you worked through your last training session of the year.  The little whining and push back came to an end after Coach Noah took a few minutes to talk about the mental side of your swimming (sorry parents that’s why we went over 10 minutes. After all the ball can’t stop at 2.)and as he pointed out a lot of your races especially the last one of a long meet feels the same.  

The one thing we are trying to get through to you is that this group is on the verge of something GREAT and the only thing in the way is yourself and that person who lives in your head rent free.  When he talks to you in a positive way listen.  When he starts down that negative road, STOP THE NOISE.

 All that person is doing is giving you a reason to fail, an easy out if you may.  It may feel good at the time but later you’re going to be upset for the simple reason, YOU know your BETTER THAN THAT

STOP THE NOISES 

Now I’m going to throw Coach Noah a bone here as we all know he is a true

Commanders fan, but this will be hard as I’m a Cowboy fan.  Though I do not watch them I’m aware how they have been behind in the last minute or so and in years past they would have lost those games.  The reason for the collapse could be anything such as not thinking they could win which leads to the next which is lack of confidence or it could have simply been they didn’t care which is the worse for any athlete even swimmers.

Oh, but how a year changes things where with a change in attitude where now with every game the confidence is growing and now they believe they can win.  Bottom line is a little attitude and confidence goes a long way and just maybe to that GREAT RACE you’re looking for.

As we swim into our first workout on Thursday, come in with that confidence and knowing that we are close to GREATNESS.

HAVE A GREAT EVENING WHEREVER YOUR TRAVELS TAKE YOU.  ENJOY FAMILY AND FRIENDS. BE SAFE AND 

JUNIOR GOLD and JUNIOR BLUE LAST WORKOUT OF 2024.  AWESOME JOB PEOPLE 

RIPPLE EFFECT

 

At this time of year it is not uncommon to sit back and reflect on the past year, and remember all the highs and lows that have happened.  Swimmers are no different they have dreams and goals and with them comes all of those high and lows, the great days of training and competition and also the not so great days.

The days when you question yourself and might even ask, WHY?

We are not going down that usual New Year’s resolution path in this blog today.  However, there is one thing I am going to ask you to do in 2025 and that is to always CHALLENGE YOURSELF.  Join us as we look forward with renewed enthusiasm and vigor.  You spend a fair amount of time in your pursuit of excellence in the pool and along the way make a lot of sacrifices, an we as your coaches spend a lot of time plotting out a course of action. There is a process to this.  There’s the plan and the writing of the workouts, reviewing them and rewriting them to fit our needs while all the time pondering the possibilities. 

 

THE MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Just like you there are those times where we question ourselves, we may ask ourselves, “WHAT IF.”  We are always thinking of ways on how the structure can be improved, how we can help you both physically and mentally while you pursue excellence.  What is constant is that we keep showing because we know as do you that consistently showing up and doing the little things consistently right will increase our odds at being successful and landing where we dream of in 2025.

Those little things are being on time, listening, working through a set with the focus and determination of doing it right. Those little things that you do in practice will have “RIPPLE EFFECTS” in your races.  The question you have to ask yourself is this,  Will those ripples be good or bad?  You need to answer that question heading into 2025.

I encourage you to look at the past and learn, the present and where you are today and then to the future with equal enthusiasm as you ponder the possibilities of 2025.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

SANTA

 

Dear Santa 2024

Hey Santa I know you and your elves are busy tonight filling your sack and loading the sleigh for the big night.  

If it’s not to late Santa and it doesn’t cause your elf’s

to go into a panic there are a few things I would really appreciate them to pack in the sleigh for the trip.  The things I am looking for may require some special tools that I hope your elves can find laying around the workshop.

Santa, first off this sport is hard because I am always expecting a best time when I race and sometimes it's hard to understand and accept when that doesn't happen.  Although my coach and I talk and he explains that I can have a good race regardless of the time, it's still hard to accept.

So, Santa what I am asking for is to keep my positive attitude and the confidence to keep swimming forward when those tough times challenge me, as I know now they will.  There will be times this year that I will need the extra shot of motivation to hold onto my love for the sport in the bad times.  I promise I will keep training hard focusing on my streamlines, underwater's, turns and racing strategies.  

I would like you to pack the same things for my swimming group because they are my swimming buddies, my 2nd family.

Ne as thing Santa, could you also pack some awesome finishes for my races in 2025.

Thanks Santa and have a great trip tonight.

A MAKO SWIMMER

p.s. I left chocolate milk (good for recovery) with your cookies

HOLIDAY WORKOUTS GOLD

 

If you can’t make our workouts here are a few that you can pick from if you can find a pool.  Our warmups are “the usual” (3x3x3) which are a 300 mixer free/back, 3x100 followed by 3x50.  There is a variety for the.   The intervals can be individually set but don’t afraid to challenge yourself.

WARMUP #1

• 300 mixer (100 free/100 back/100 free) free no breath turns. Back challenge the underwater dolphins.
• 3x100 @2:00 (50 kick/50 swim free to back) little things
• 3x50 free descend to fast @50

WARMUP #2

• 300 mixer free/back by 50’s
• 3x100 @2:00 (25 kick/25 back)
• 3x50 free to back @50 (hold fast tempo on back)

WARMUP #3

• 300 mixer free back by 25’s. Long UW
• 3x100 @1:45 free build (no breath turns)
• 3x50 @1:00 (IMO/FREE)

PRE-SETS (technically focus here)

#1 16x25 breast @35 with fins and body dolphins (fast hand to full extension get to that streamline)

#2 20x25 free @30 fins-paddles-snorkels. 5 rounds of 4 (1st 25 Superman kick. 2nd 25 R HAND LEAD. 3rd 25 L HAND LEAD. 4th 25 fast free race on this one.)

#3 16x25 fly @30 fins add a stroke (start with one stroke finish breast.  When your stroke count gets you to the wall maintain that for the rest of the set

#4 20x25 back @30 fins (1st 25 streamline kick. 2nd 25 R ARM. 3rd 25 L ARM. 4th 25 fast tempo swim.  Pay attention to a deep pull and rotation

SET#1 IM 3 or 4 rounds

• 25 fly @30 (get your head down before arms come around)
• 50 back @1:00 (big UW off turn 2nd 25 faster than first)
• 25 breast @40 (hold your stroke counts)
• 75 free @1:30 no breath off your turns

SET #2 SPRINT (2 ROUNDS)

• 4x50 free @50 no breath off those turns
• Rest 1:00
• 1x200 race pace get heart rate (work that 3rd 50)
• 4x25 @35 (3 breaths)
• Rest 1:00
• 1x100 fast (all out)

SET #3 STROKE

• 8x25 @40 (2sets of 4) 1-3 and 5-7 drill same drill #4&8 build swim
• 2x4x50 @1:00 stroke/free 1-3 #4 all stroke 
• 100 stoke build work that 3rd 25
• Rest 1:00

SET 4 DISTANCE 2 or 3 rounds

• 4x75 @1:30  50 free+25 kick on back
• 3x100 free build work that 3rd 25 (don’t wait) @1:30
• Rest 1:00

HOLIDAY TRAINING FOR SWIMMERS

 

The holidays always presents a challenge for our swimmers, their parents and families, but also the coaches.  We have spent the last 4 months training working on techniques, and getting back into “ championship season”.  We are coming off of three championship meet where you all swam out of your minds with tons of personal bests.  This is not the time that you want to sit back on your laurels and lose your touch with the pool.

This is the time where your training and routines are interrupted and your consistency will be challenged with travel, social gatherings and families in and out of own.  For sure it’s a time to relax (a bit) and reconnect both physically and mentally.  It’s a challenge and it can become a struggle in your heads because you definitely don’t want to lose ground during the holidays.  

Mentally it's better to have a good mindset going into the next two weeks so your not feeling beat up.  It's a good time to bring a positive element with you to your training.  Training hard is only half of the process, the other half is training there right way.  Pick one or two things that you really want to improve in your swimming and make a commitment for the next two weeks and really focus on them during your training.

The holidays are also a time were you can get run down and get sick so stay HYDRATED,  get your proper amount of rest and wash those hands often.  You definitely can't keeping making strides forward if your sick.

Don't forget your GOALS!  This is all part of the training process that will help fuel your success in 2025.

We have moved are practices to late mornings so look at the schedule below and make a plan.  As you can see we have included days away from the pool so be smart when planning

MONDAY 12/23- GOLD /BLUE @11-12:15. 

TUESDAY 12/24- GOLD @9:30-11

SATURDAY 12/28 GOLD /BLUE @9-10:30

TUESDAY 12/31 GOLD /BLUE @9:30-11

THURSDAY 1/2 GOLD @9:30-11

SATURDAY 1/4 GOLD /BLUE @9-10:30

For those of you who might be traveling I will;l post several workouts that you can pick from if you can find a pool.

THE DISQUALIFICATION

 

Yes that dreaded disqualification, a little yellow piece of paper that is signed by the officials and in most cases given to the coach explaining the swimming infraction by the swimmer.  That is the moment that it becomes official whether we like it or not.

This past weekend I had several swimmers maybe 4 or 5 who came back after races and either said they thought they were DQ or asked if they were.  This happens at every meet and the one thing I normally ask is, What makes you think that?   What I’m looking for from the swimmer is a rule infraction that they think they may have had in the race.  The majority of the time the swimmer states they saw a hand raise.  

First thought,  why are you looking at the official ?  This tells me that no matter what you say and think your entire focus is not on YOUR race.  You can say it is but just saying it is doesn’t make it so.  

The stroke and turn judge is watching 2 or more lanes during the race and they make a judgement call on what they see or think they see.  Disqualifications will happen and they happen to swimmers at all levels. As a swimmer the one thing that you can do to reduce them is to focus on the little things (no matter how little you think they are) during your practice and training sessions.  Be aggressive with your turns, pay special attention to good stroke counts, stop floating into your turns especially backstroke, and two hand turns and finishes in breast and fly.

Take the feedback from the coaches from this past weekend, write them down and let’s get back to the pool and really focus on them going into the swim and rock meet and our mid season December championship meets. 

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

 

When thinking about your goals and it comes down to times you have one constant and that is your time in any event at this moment in time.  Remember you need to have SMART GOALS and they must be RELEVANT to you.  You can't set goals that pertain to times based on other swimmers or things that are outside your control.

For our purpose we are going to base everything on one event (you can use any event) the 100 free.  In today's world people, swimmers not immune expect instant positive results and have a real problem when faced with conflict and for swimmers it's the time on the scoreboard.

Sometimes when you look up it's like getting smacked in the face, it stings but it's not the end of the world.  Is there a way that you can avoid that moment, I think YES and it comes down to managing your expectations depending on where YOU are in the process.

Think about setting upper and lower expectations when setting goals based on times in addition to your SMART goals.  When you do this you are creating a situation where it's all or nothing.  The goal is still important but you also allow yourself to think bigger and also give yourself a reality check.  

Now let's take an example such as the 100 free:

• Your time at the moment: 1:03:99
• Bare Minimum:  1:03:50
• Smart Goal:  1:01:99
• Stretch Target:  1:00:99

In this example if everything goes right you are slipping under 1:01:00 and that in itself would be amazing but if you don't get there it's not disaster because you have some other goals that are achievable.  Set some reasonable goals for yourself and at the same time don't be afraid to set a stretch target and you need to WRITE them down in your journal or they become meaningless.

Now is the time to sit down and put pencil to paper and figure out what your dreams and goals are for this season before we get into SWIM and ROCK and the DECEMBER MID CHAMP MEET. Be Honest with where you are in the process when thinking about this.  There are many things that will affect the results that happen outside the pool such as; health, nutrition, hydration, sleep habits.  Are you making your training sessions consistently or are you in and out.  When you are at your training session, are you there both physically and mentally and doing what will make YOU a better person and swimmer   It's not to late to do it, SO DO IT NOW and make it happen.

ELECTION DAY

 

So, today is Election Day and although you may still be to young to cast a ballot, I’m sure you will enjoy your day off from school and welcome Wednesday morning will bring an end to all the news surrounding the election.

PRE-COMPETITION ROUTINE:  

Do you have a routine that steady you and eases your anxiety?  Watching and talking to some of you at the last meet I sensed your anxiety and the fact that mentally we failed to prepare.  First of all, it's not the end of the world and it is something that we can work on.  Having those feelings does not make you a bad swimmer, it's just another step in the process that you have to commit to working on.  It's as important as the time you put into your time in the pool.

First step is to think back to that one or two times when you had incredible races and start working backwards.  Journals are great for these exercises.  Think back to that dyad write down short notes to yourself of what you did leading up to those races.  What did you eat?  What was your warmup like

?  What were your thoughts leading up to the race?  Don't over think this basic step.  Just write down what comes to mind.  Maybe even draw a line down the middle and lable them ass positive/negative and that way you are aware of things that help you and things that get in your way.

This is a true and tested way of preparing mentally.that is part of the process that just may lead to that spectacular swim.

How well do you know your history?  Our first three Vice Presidents were chosen by the electoral college and was changed when the 12th amendment to our constitution was passed.  There was a time when the electoral college voted for two candidates with the candidate receiving the majority becoming president and the second place candidate becoming the vice president.  It worked well for George Washington and John Adams, however during the 1797 election the winner and runner up were from opposite parties.  This was the only time in US HISTORY that the president and vice president were from opposing parties.  The 1800 election ended in a tie between Jefferson and Aron Burr which took 36 votes to break, and so before the 1804 election the 12 amendment to the constitution was adopted and passed.

Can you imagine what today might look like without the 12th amendment?

TALKING BACKSTROKE

 

Over the last couple of weeks we have spent a lot of time working on our backstroke.  We have covered a wide range of topics with this long axis stroke starting of course with our STREAMLINES and UNDERWATER DOLPHIN KICKS, to the breakout, the catch, the rotation and finally the kick.

First off for all you Air Hogs out there you get to swim this stroke with your face out of the water so enjoy breathing.

The first and most important thing we talked about was your body position and how that begins up top with your head and how important it is to hold your head still an d looking straight up.  this allows you to keep your hips in alignment and high in the water.  If your constantly changing the position of your head your hips start riding that "rollercoaster" creating a lot of drag decreasing efficiency and making you swim slower.

THE CATCH and PULL: We begin the pull with your hand exiting the water thumb-first keeping your arm straight and slowly rotating the body setting up the catch with the pinky entering first.  We talked about the clock and how we wasn't to make the catch at the 11 and 1 on the clock. We don't want to enter at the 12. notice the picture on the right.  The pull feels similar to a high-elbow freestyle pull. 

THE KICK:  Think SHORT and FAST here.  Kick is driven from the hips not the knees.  Toes are pointed and legs not too wide. Smaller and faster kicks will produce more speed.  Too slow or no kick and your hips drop creating drag and slower times.

ROTATION: With a small rotation on the catch you reduce shoulder drag and resistance, but be careful not to rotate too much (a little less than in free).  Remember Humans are not made to swim in the water efficiently so we are looking for ways to decrease drag and resistance at every opportunity.  This should be your focus during training.  It may take time but eventually it will produce speed and power.  Notice the rotation in the first picture.

TEMPO: Fast backstroke comes down to arm speed and that is challenging for young swimmers because it's hare and uncomfortable, so again we have to work on becoming uncomfortable if we want to swim fast.

FUN FACT

Half of the American population does not know how to swim

MOST IMPORTANT WORD FOR SWIMMERS

 

What is it?  Can you guess before reading any further?

If you guessed STREAMLINES you’re right if you guessed something else your not wrong it just might not be as important as those STREAMLINES.

How important is the STREAMLINE to swimmers of all ages at every level in swimming from the novice to the Olympian, simply put it's gigantic and for short course races it's enormous.  

First off, every lap in your race begins with a streamline whether you are starting or coming off your turn and the longer your race the more streamlines you have during the race.  The streamline starts with your fingertips and runs all the way through your body to your toes.  It's also important in developing that 5th stroke: UNDERWATER STREAMLINE DOLPHIN KICK.

The two biggest  enemies  of every swimmer is drag and resistance and there is a lot of both that is created around the walls as you go in and out of your turns.  While you may not pick up speed off the walls you certainly don't want to lose speed.  The one and only thought you should have going into your turn and coming out of your turn is this: I WANT TO MAINTAIN MY SPEED.  If you can do this that breakout stroke into the next 25 gets easier and more powerful.  

Here is a thought for you to ponder before your next training session.

Let’s say we do our routine Wednesday warmup for our gold group.

400 mixer (100 free-200 back-100 free) How many chances did you just have to work on improving your streamlines? The answer is 16. 

Put another way, thats 16 investments that you and only you are making in your swimming.  That investment will just compound and become larger and better over time and something that you can draw upon on RACE DAY!  This is something that YOU can control and that's a good thing.  The choice is yours!

Here is a 1 minute video for your enjoyment

The four biggest mistakes that coaches see swimmers during races are: 

1. Pushing off the wall and begin swimming immediately.
2. Pushing off the wall with arms apart in "position 11" or the "Superman" position.
3. Head Up looking forward.
4. Not being firm and having a "jello" bodyline.

Just like making your brushing your teeth,  performing a streamline should be the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night before bed."  Okay not exactly but yo get the idea.  Right!

The sentence that uses every letter of the English alphabet is, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."  Check it out if you have doubts.

ANOTHER STEP ON YOUR JOURNEY

 

One of the first steps in your swimming journey this season is GOAL SETTING.  It is important for you to write these down in a journal as a way to hold yourself accountable to yourself.  When you write them down and look at them throughout the season you stand a better chance of attaining them.

SETTING SMART GOALS

When setting goals you will have that one goal that is always constant, never changing but all your other goals will be like moving targets, ever changing from practice to practice, meet to meet, and season to season.

S-Specific.  

M-Measurable

A-Attainable

R-Relevant

T-Time bound

Be as specific as you can when writing down your goals, avoid fluffy goals such as I want to be faster. Duh! We know that or you wouldn't be at workout.  Swimmers come up to me all the time at a swim meet and say I want to go a best time and I always try to respond with, that's great but how are you going to do that.

When setting goals try to change from I want to be faster and write down something like this, "My goal is to drop 3 seconds in the 200 IM by April 1st."  This goal now becomes very specific with both a time, distance and stroke, and it gives you a sense of urgency by setting a date.  But there is still something missing, How are you going to do it?  

The goal becomes just words on a piece of paper unless you choose to change something and this is the hard part when setting goals.Something has to change, so when you sit down, be honest with yourself and add the missing parts into your SMART GOALS.  

You know the missing parts and they might look like this:

• I know my turns are weak and slow.
• My underwater's are weak
• I am not aggressive in and out of the walls.
• I shy away from pushing myself past my comfort zone.
• I know I'm a butterfly, but backstroke is so much easier Chen given a choice.

These are all things that should be included when writing down your goals for the season.

MAKO TIP #1. YOUR SECRET WEAPON

Do you know what it is?  SLEEP

It is impossible to perform, recover or grow without proper rest.  While you sleep your body is working for you repairing your tissues and muscles from the days workout or competition.  This is the most important function of maintaining a regular sleep pattern, it allows your body to heal and maintains a strong immune system to fight off disease.  Outside of injuries, getting sick is one of the leading causes of missing school and workouts.

COACHES TIP-  Create a habit of going to bed at the same time each night (yes weekends too) and get up  at the same time.  We all have an internal clock and if you use it, you'll feel much better and get more accomplished.  Create a dark environment and put your devices away and you'll have a better chance of getting some deep meaningful sleep.

MIKE'S SET OF THE WEEK

This set is a long axis drill for freestyle and will help in three things; head position, rotation, and swimming tall.

20x25 done in rounds of 4. We used snorkels, fins and paddles.

25 superman kick (position 11)@30 

25 Right hand lead@30

25 Left Hand lead@30

25 swim free strong@30

EARN YOUR SUNSET

 

It was nice seeing all of our swimmers and parents this past Saturday.  We hope that we were able to answer any questions that you might have as we get ready for our first day at the pools.  We know that the first few weeks will look a little different as we are waiting on Mason to finish up their construction, but as we always say just focus on what you can control and give it your all and we will be okay.

As we get ready to embark upon our new season it’s time to start putting a plan together, because without a plan all your doing is planning to fail.  Any good plan has to start with some goals both long term and short term and this weekend is a good time to start thinking about them so that we can talk about them next week.

As you start to think and put some goals together let’s understand that perfectionism is not a destination because if it is you just may have a hard time getting there.  Perfectionism can be both an asset in your swimming….but on the other side of the coin it can also be a liability.

Why, number one and I believe this " If you look for perfection in this sport you will never be content", you will never be happy with your races no matter how well you do.  Perfectionist are always afraid of making a mistake or failing in their own eyes, they have a hard time of really swimming with freedom, letting everything go and really enjoying themselves when they race.

Some examples of why perfectionism might hold you back;

• the added pressure that you put on yourself.  It causes you to tighten up and doesn't allow you to relax.
• you start to believe you will Neve be good enough.
• it causes you not set unrealistic expectations.  It doesn't allow you to feel good about the little wins.

All of the above will rob you of the enjoyment for swimming which you have come to love.

"You're never chasing perfection.  You're learning how to form great habits." Swim Cash

As you Jump into the pool this week for your first workout lets learn to practice with a purpose and not just swim aimlessly down the pool practice after practice, make every set count, every streamline, every turn count.  This week is your sunrise 🌅 for the season.  Now let's earn that beautiful 🌅 for the end of the season.  Everything in between is the process, start enjoying it for this is where memories are created to last a lifetime. 

NEXT POST WE WILL JUMP INTO THE YOUR GOALS.

SETTING THE TONE

 

We hope that your first couple weeks of school went well and you’ve settled into a routine.  In another week we will be starting our workouts/training for the 2024-25 short course season.  The coaches are ready and eager to welcome back our returning swimmers, and look forward to meeting and getting to know our new swimmers to MAKOS.

We look forward to an exciting and successful season ahead.

As we start our new competitive swim season it is important for all swimmers to be prepared both physically and mentally from day 1.  Set yourself up to be successful this year from that first workout.

WAYS TO GET OFF TO A GOOD START.

1. GOOD ATTITUDE - 😃 Everyone will have the blues once in a while.  It's human nature.  On those days leave all the outside noise and distractions at the door, don't bring them onto the pool deck.  It will set a bad tone for you, the group and the coach.  Let the feel of the water encompasses your own body and get to work.
2. STUDENT/ATHLETE- It's a privilege to be able to swim which can be gone in a instant.  Your school work always comes first, so do yourself a favor and stay on top of all your assignments.  It's called time management. The week has 168 hours in it.  You sleep 56 hours a week(based on 8 hours a night).  You are in school for 30 hours a week (based on a 6 hour day).  You have 12.5 hours of home work a week (based on 2.5 a night m-f).  You have 6 hours of swimming a week (based on 1.5 4 times a week).  That leaves 63.5 hours a week for whatever.  In other words swimming does not take up all your time so don't use it as an excuse.  Manage your time wisely.
3. SLEEP-😴 Your body needs to rest so it is ready for the next day.  Get use to having an internal clock that tells you each day when you need to go to bed.  Set a time and stick to it no matter what.  If you miss 4 hours one night, you can't make it up.  Those hours are gone forever.  Your feel better and you will avoid illness if you maintain that regular schedule.
4. HYDRATE--The one thing you can control is your water intake.  Bring your water bottles with you everywhere that you are allowed and constantly drink from it.  Especially during workout or any other physical activity.  You need more water at those times.  Just like sleep I f you become de-hydrated it's very hard to catch up and you start to feel the effects very quickly.  So drink.
5. NUTRITION-- Garbage in = Garbage out.  Treat your body as the fine tune machine that it is.  You have all these dreams and goals in this sport so don't sabotage them by feeding the machine with garbage.  If your parents used bad fuel in the family car it would start to perform badly.  You need a variety of food groups to fuel your performances, including carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, vegetables 🥒 (yes the green things), fruits and of course your fluids.
6. BE ON TIME-- When you get to the pool deck start preparing your body for what you are about to ask it to go through.  Set up a 5-10 minute routine for some dynamic stretching that will actually help you.  Stop just plopping yourself on the ground.  Being on time means getting into the pool with the WHOLE GROUP and not on your schedule.
7. ORGANIZATION-- Have all your equipment on the deck in front of your lane.  We do not want to waste time getting out to get it.
8. LISTENING--  Be prepared to listen to what we are focusing on and trying to get accomplished in the sets.
9. GETTING BETTER-- Every workout, every warm up, every set, every repeat, every streamline, every turn, every underwater, every breath, and every finish is an opportunity for you to grow and get better.  Don't waste even one of those opportunity, it just may be the one that costs you that .01 you need later in the season.
10. SHOW UP--  You can't accomplish your goal if you don't show up.  A workout missed is a workout lost forever.  Stay on your schedules.

TAKE AWAYS FROM 2024 OLYMPIC SWIMMING

 

My take away from the Olympic swim meet is that from we got to see a lot of great racing from some extraordinary athletes.  If it was world records or Olympic records that you were looking for you might have been a little disappointed.  There were 17 Olympic records and 4 World records broken during the Paris games.  You would have to go back to the 1996 Atlanta games  to see so few world records broken. That year there were also fewer Olympic records (13 ) set.   I was fortunate enough to witness those 96 games and person and  saw some outstanding races during the week.

You may wonder which Olympics saw the most world records broken.  You would only have to go back to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in which the world saw 25 World records fall and an another 65 Olympic records fall.  

That year the Speedo sponsored swimmers wore what they referred to as the LZR racer suit made of polyethylene and neoprene material appropriately nicknamed the “shark skin suit” which was developed jointly with an Italian company, the Australian Institute of sport and yes NASA.  In 2010 the suits were banned ant the athletes had to go back to suits made solely of textiles.  Is that the reason we don’t see the records falling as much, 

Instead of seeing the records fall you got to witness some exciting races where anyone who could find a way to get back to the final eight, had a chance to get to the podium regardless of the lane you were in.  Races that swimmers led from start to finish and other races were if you could find that next gear coming out of the last turn you just might have found yourself on the podium maybe even on the top.  

How does that translate to swimming at our level.  Having said this before and I’ll say it again now and that is this; we put so much emphasis on that final result (the time)  both leading up to the race and when we come crashing into the wall at the finish that we are so tight we forget to just race and have fun with our sport.  

Let’s talk about the things you can take away that will help each of you in your swim competitions.  The first is that I hope when Rowdy Gaines kept pointing out the underwater off those starts and turns that you took notice and have a better understanding of how important they are especially off those last turn when every muscle in your body says NO.  The next thing that he kept pointing out is that you need to stay in your lane and swim your race.  The last thing that I would like to point out is how he kept talking about finishing the race with an explosive kick and a crashing into the wall.

These are all things that we can all get better with but you need to buy into it and commit yourself during every workout.  

If you listened to any of these swimmers especially the veterans who may have taken some time off in the last four years the key message I took away is this; remember why you got into this sport, and have fun with it and enjoy the moment.  Swimming is a part of your life don’t let it become bigger than you are and remember enjoy the process and have fun with it.

Let’s spend a little time over the next few days and start preparing for our school year coming up.  Let’s not wait until Sunday night to start thinking about.  Enjoy that first day and don’t’ forget that means you’re one day closer to the summer of 25. 

We will see you next week.

VACATION TIME

 

Now that swimming and diving all stars ⭐️ is over it’s time to get away from the pools for a while.  You’ve worked hard and now it’s time to give those bodies a chance to recover. 

It’s time to recharge both physically and mentally so that we return to the pools refresh and ready to go.

If you get a little anxious during this time how about some strength training especially your cores.  Something that will benefit you when you get back in the pool.

Wherever you are headed have fun and be safe.

We will see you in a few weeks.

COACH MIKE

WRAPPING IT UP

 With a weekend of fast swimming at all the Long Course and summer league championships it is time to put this season in the books.  Take a needed break away from the pool and spend some time having fun being a kid with nothing to do.   Before you blink it will be time to refocus and turn our attention to a new journey with new goals and aspirations.  

Before we do that take the time to write in your journals about your journey this past season.  Share with yourself the goals you had, with both your successes and failure.  Both are important and vital for your growth in the sport.

CHAMP WEEK SET ( MEET WARM UP EACH DAY)

TUESDAY 

12x50 (4 25 MRS/ 25 free) (4 MRS) (4 25 kick 25 free)@1:00

WEDNESDAY 

9x50 (3 25 MRS/25 free) ( 3 MRS) (3 25 kick 25 free) @1:15

THURSDAY 

6x50 ( 2 25 MRS/25 free) ( 2 MRS) (2 25 kick 25 free) @1:30

FRIDAY

BRING IT ALL TO GETHER 

STARTS TURNS BREAKOUTS FINISHES 

SATURDAY 

OWN YOUR RACE!  NO OUTSIDE NOISES!!  CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL!!

This will be the last post until we near the season sometime in mid August.

NO IDLING

 

The ability to accomplish your goals first comes down to how discipline and committed you are, and saying you are without the actions is like an empty promise.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s school, swimming or life the bridge 🌉 between wishing and accomplishing is discipline.  The discipline to know what you need to do, how to do it right and executing your plan consistently.

You just idle around in your lane doing things inconsistently like getting In late weak warmup, bad turns and the beat goes on if you get my drift……

The three essential things that any athlete needs to succeed in sports are,

1. A hunger and passion to succeed
2. The mindset to handle pressure.
3. The self-discipline to do the hard stuff….The stuff others won’t do.

Without that hunger and passion, the mental toughness when things go wrong or get hard  and the discipline to do the hard stuff, your journey becomes longer and the climb steeper.

The consistent swimmers are the ones who understand that to reach their goals takes a high level of commitment and self discipline.  It doesn’t come from doing easy or average work.  If you do average work I dare say you should not expect anything but average results.

“You can either suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret—-the choice is yours.”   Discipline is not a punishment either, it is what’s needed to achieve success.

Excuses make today easy, but tomorrow hard.  Discipline makes today hard, but tomorrow easy.

SWIM SET FOR THE WEEK

3 ROUNDS (2nd round kick)

1x100 Cruise 25 MRS 25 free

2x50 @1:00  (25 fast MRS /25 cruise free)

4x25 @1:00 MRS BUILDING SPEED ON EACH 25. WORK ON BREAKOUT AND FINISH (10 seconds apart ). 

CONCENTRATION

 

Concentration.  What is it? How can it affect your race or your workouts?  One of your greatest strengths as a swimmer is your ability to eliminate distractions and be focused and present in the moment, but it takes as much practice as your time in the pool.  However it is often overlooked by many swimmers in today’s world.

I believe that we agree that as swimmers we are often distracted by both

internal and external things both in practice as well as competition.  These are things that take away our focus and our ability to stay on task and remain in the present.

What you focus on will determine how calm and loose you are, the level of confidence you have going into your race and how quickly you are able to rebound from set backs.  Without the ability to focus on the the now your vulnerable to falling into mental traps.

Concentration is the ability of going into a race and finding what is important and letting go of everything else.  Some of these distractions are external such as the pool, the officials,your teammates and sometimes it's the noise in your head that you need to learn how to let go of.

When an athlete goes into a competition athletes tend to be all over the place, they are thinking about the out come, making a mistake, who's watching basically too many things to focus on and not letting go of it all and finding what is important now.

Try this exercise to test your  concentration.  Take 10 different color markers and throw them in the air and see how many you can catch.  Now put a blue one in the middle of the markers and throw them in the air.  Catch only the BLUE one.  Now you have let go of all the other distractions and what is important is catching the BLUE MARKER.  How did you do?

Focus in the NOW.  Not the Past (past races). Not in the FUTURE (the outcome).  Practice focusing in the moment (the now).  You can't be in the past or the future, you can only think about it.  

Stay in the NOW and keep you focus on the right thing, Your JOB which is to race.  When you get distracted you need to be able to catch yourself and c one back to the NOW.  I know in most of my competitions if I felt myself drifting and getting distracted I always used this phrase when I felt like I was being distracted and losing focus, (THE PROCESS).  It always brought me back to the now and it worked it school also.

Find a trigger word that will help you concentrate and as I say you need to practice this as much as you do swimming.

FIREWORK WORKOUT JULY 4th

13 and over triathlon 

RUN 1 mile come thru emergency gate read time off clock coaches will record quickly transitioning move into COMPETITION POOL 

KICK WITH BOARD 300. Read running time coaches record transition to the other pool 

SWIM 500 

When finish cheer your teammates to finish line

9-12 year olds do a biathlon after stretching

Kick 150/ swim 300

Best part is that they cheered for everyone until they crossed the finish line