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.