PRACTICE to the BLOCKS

 "The starting block isn't a place to become someone new; it is where you give your hard work permission to show up."

Doing all the little things right in practice is critical because swimming races and outcomes are often decided by hundredths of a second.  Consistent execution of the smallest details builds the automatic muscle memory needed to perform a flawless race under race conditions.

You can't be one swimmer at practice and

then think you're going to become a super hero on race day.  Practicing tight streamlines, fast crisp powerful turns and strong finishes on every lap during practice creates "muscle memory".   Sometimes young swimmers have a hard time understanding why it is important to do all the "little things" with correctly and with their best effort during their practice.  Young swimmers struggle with this hard truth---When exhaustion hits in the final yards of a race, your body is under a great deal of stress and always defaults to its strongest habits.

Swimmers, in most cases are driven by outcomes which are driven by the scoreboard for a lot of them.  Sometimes, those times come down to shaving very little of their personal best.  Shaving just 0.1 seconds off every wall which includes the start, turn, and finish can add to a substantial time drop depending on the race and distance.

Fun Fact #1---- swimming takes place in water which if you have ever really thought about it is much denser than water.  Keeping that in mind, keeping your head still, pointing your toes, and maintaining a narrow body line will drastically cut resistance, save energy and goes a long way in determining that final outcome.

Fun Fact #2---- avoiding breath into and ot of your walls during turns and breakouts will preserve your speed thus reducing the energy needed to get going again.  That breath that you think you need, and like to take right before you finish can easily cost a you a PB, a cut, or a place on the scoreboard.

Fun Fact #3----holding yourself accountable for every rule----like never pulling on the lane line, not using arms in a kick set, not breathing out or in to walls in free and fly, doing all legal strong turns and finishes----builds your focus, grit, and confidence required to stay composed and calm on race day.

So what does all this mean to you, the actual swimmer who has to show up and execute on race day. The little things that you do everyday during practice matter and will have consequences long after that one set, repeat or day.

Swimmers come in all types with their own dreams, goals, and expectations of what the race should and will look like.  There approach is to show up for practice (sometimes only when convenient) dive in and swim with little thought on what they are really trying to accomplish as they travel down that black line on the bottom.  

                              

                                 

Our set of the week was done by our Senior Prep and Junior Gold groups this past Thursday.  Both groups did a great job working through the set after a great warmup and pre set focusing on walls and techniques, all those little things.  The purpose of this main set was to work on our pacing and sprinting in free, stroke and off stroke.  All the blue was to set up our speed going into that 2nd repeat which was a sprint ALL OUT.  Why do it?  First swimmers think they are exhausted after a race but in reality this coach doesn't believe they have really experienced what exhaustion really feels like.  So, we took that repeat and were trying to go from a dead sprint from the push to the finish.  No building, no thoughts what so ever, just a sprint baby.  You survived, now talk to me child. 

SWIM AND ROCK NEXT WEEKEND.  GET OUT THOSE SUITS.