Sometimes Risks are Needed

This past weekend a few of us made the trip down to Lee District to swim our 1000 and 1650 freestyle events.  I was thrilled that many of you accepted this challenge and participated.

As a coach I really believe that these are two events that swimmers in our gold and prep groups need to face once a year.  If you trained during our holiday break, I have always looked at this meet as a perfect way to end this part of your training and a signal that it is now time for that push towards championship season. Sometimes in order to see success later and to get some needed balance in your other events it’s important to open other doors once in a while and take a risk.

Often times when I see the meet entry reports I notice that swimmers are always signing up for the same events and my first thought is, clearly there is no plan that this swimmer is following.  Sometimes the comforts and security that those events give you are the same reasons why you can’t take that next step on your way to becoming a better overall swimmer.  Sure the 1000 and the 1650 can be pretty intimidating.  You begin to wonder about things like, how fast should I go out, will it hurt, can I finish.

Once you go off the blocks those thoughts go away and now you let the mental side of swimming take over, and I submit to you that psychology your brain will help your body get through the event and the confidence you gain from the experience is enormous.

The swims that all of you had over the weekend were outstanding.  What I was looking for in your swims was the ability to start strong and set a pace by the 150.  From there I was looking for the ability to be consistent with that pace over the course of the race. You all were great in setting the pace and holding it, I did not see any bouncing back and forth and when it was time to bump it up you were able to do it.  This tells the coaches a lot about your mental side in the sport which will help as we surge into the next part of your season.

We had one swim that was unusual and it involved one of our girls in the 1650.  At about the 1250-1300 I noticed her splits were getting 1-2 seconds slower so I knew something was up. To my amazement I looked up and here she is now swimming backstroke and knowing she had been out of the water my guess was that she couldn’t get air.  She would complete the race swimming backstroke the rest of the way and upon getting out she had some tears, but i think they were mostly tears of embarrassment.  Trying to bring her back to a good place I pointed out that her backstroke looks really good and the turns were great, nothing to be embarrassed about.  A gusty swim and I was so proud of her for finding a way to get it done.   👍

PRACTICES

This week we headed back to our routines, bedtimes, school and yes back to our workouts in the pool.  All three groups settled in and got back to work quickly after the holidays.  We started out great only to be interrupted by Mother Nature and our first ”snow storm” of the season.  We have had a good first week of training.  With new lanes the gold group got off to a great Monday that followed into Wednesday’s workout.  With both the Prep and gold group you may have notice that each warmup ends with 5x100 (Blue Group 5x50) free all out with a certain amount of time to rest.   This will gradually adjust as we move through the next couple of weeks.  The thought process is that by doing the same thing every day, we will build confidence both physically and mentally.  The key here is to do this set correctly every day if there are going to be any gains.

Senior prep group since we missed our Tuesday workout, we will do it today and because of the meet the pool will be closed this weekend.  If you want to get to a pool please do the Thursday practice below to stay on track.

THURSDAY 1/9/20
Warm up. 400 swim mixer. 300 kick with snorkels (700)
Cycle set.  8x100 fast @1:50 (hold 1:10 or faster) 8x50 smooth recovery @1:00 back. (Alternate 100/50) (1200/1900)

28x25 free kick fast sprint @40
200 easy. (900/2800)

6x200 free pull with paddles @3:15 (1200/4000)

COOL DOWN 400 swim kick x50 (4400)

If your swimming this weekend let’s show up with a purpose and focus on the bigger picture.  This meet is just a piece of the picture along the journey.

GO TO WORKOUTS

                          


Well guys I guess by now you know that our practice has been cancelled for this evening, and although you may be excited and jumping for joy, let’s remember the season we are in.  This is a time when we need to get all the hard training done leading into all the championship meets.  Not a time when we want to be getting excited about missing workout sessions, and yes the coaches do not enjoy missing these workouts either, let’s stay focus on our goals and stay sharpe.

That being said let’s also remember that Mason will be closed periodically over the next two because of scheduled meets.  They will also be having the High School State meet in the middle of May, so let’s have a plan so that your hard work pays off.

Here is a go to workout that you can use if you miss practice.  I will post one throughout January that can be used any time you need to, keep them in your buckets to plug any leaks.

AEROBIC MAINTENANCE FREE

WARM UP (1200)

400 swim mixer

300 kick with snorkels

16x25 IMO @30-35 fins (distance for stroke)

100 kick with boards

Main Set (2800)

8x100 free@1:35

4x50@1:15

6x100 free@1:30

4x50@1:15

4x100 free@1:25

4x50@1:15

2x100 free @1:20

4x50@1:15. 

COOL DOWN 200 

RULES 100’s are fast hold best time +10-12 seconds.  They can be back also just add 10 seconds to intervals.  All 50’s are recovery swim no free.

DISTANCE MEET

Below are the approximate times that you will be swimming this weekend.  The first number is your heat as of today and the time that heat will swim.  It could change a little due to scratches but the affect will be minimal.

This can be found on the web site.  We will be swimming a 10 lane course mixed gender.  Try to arrive at least 1 hour before.  Check in right away and proceed to do your warmup.  They will seed you in as soon as they have a lane.  Get a good long stretch out to start and don’t forget to do some kicking.  Everyone should have a interval they would like to hold in their heads from Thursday practice.  Go through some 50’s using the clock on a minute just to get a feel for what your speed should feel like. Do these 50’s to a flip to get a true race feel.  Do about 6-8 of these and you should be good.  If the race starts to hurt think of yourself as a rock because a rock feel no pain.  

HAVE FUN WITH IT!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

We hope you all had a great holiday season, and got some much needed rest over your break.  It was great to see all of you who made an effort to get in your training sessions.  As of today we have had a bunch of you make all the workouts and I would like to thank you for that effort.

We had some great work mixing in a distance workout followed by a sprint workout.  You all put forth an outstanding effort as we worked through these workouts.

As for myself I took a little time to read over your letters that you wrote back in September with your goals and dreams, and to also see how we are doing as a group in chasing those goals.  After reading through all of them I proceeded to chart out the next 5 weeks of our season starting on January 6 and we will refer to it as the Mako 5 week cycle set.

Yes this is a new year and let’s face it, since the start of time people of all walks of life make resolutions that are for the most part hard to keep.  For us in the swimming community it can be that much harder, what with the crazy hours spent practicing the eye watering workouts, and the sacrificing we do throughout the year for a sport we love.  At this time of the year think of resolutions as part of your goal making checklist half way through the season.

As we talked about back in September these goals help keep you focused and motivated, but let’s face it we’re all human and sometimes we stray off our path and need a jolt to find our way.  These resolutions may provide that jolt!  

Remember the two types of goals that we discussed.  We have our outcome goals which are easy because they come down to the watch, but as I have tried to get you to do is set behavior goals that will help you get to that outcome.  Often times it is something that you as a swimmer need to practice multiple times to produce the outcome your looking for.  So if you are thinking of things you can do to help here are some tips, breathing off walls, aggressive work on turns, pushing through the hard swims with a little more effort, show up with a positive attitude, supporting each other and picking each other up when needed and always being nice to yourself and others.  

As a swimmer thinking about resolutions these are the things you should be thinking about among others that just may get you the outcome your looking for.

HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS and HAPPY SWIMMING

HOLIDAY TRAINING

It’s that magical time of the year again, and with it all the bright lights, decorations, good friends and families.  It’s also the season of giving and what better gift could you give    yourself than keeping up with your training this holiday season.  This gift that is yours to open if you choose is so much more than a material gift.  This is a gift that will keep giving throughout your lifetime, it will keep you true to your goals and dreams for later in the year.   A gift that will keep you healthy both physically and mentally throughout the holidays.  Yes there will always be obstacles that will present themselves and yes that little man that lives between your ears will have to make a choice.  You can always make excuses for yourself, but that is just what they are an attempt to lessen the blame and justify yourself.  What choice will you make? Don’t be that person who let’s all the hard work that you have been doing since September who throws it out the window, only have to start over again in January.  

If you are traveling or can’t make the training sessions at George Mason I have several workouts below that will help you over the holidays.  These are only a guide and feel free to set intervals and change some sets.  They are designed to take 60 to 100 minutes.

Workout#1 -  A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING 60-80 minutes (4400 yards)
WARM UP  500 alternating free to back ( fast feet to wall on free. Open turn on back)
                      20x50 free to back fins @50/1:00 ( off turns underwater dolphin as far as you can. Challenge yourself)
KICK SET
8x25 fast kick @30/35 board rest 30/. 4x100 kick with snorkels @2:00/2:00/2:15 rest 30/. 8x25 fast kick on back @30/35
MAIN SET. 4 rounds
2x100 fast free@1:15/1:20/1:30. 4x50 stroke drill/swim non free @1:15 recovery
COOL DOWN 500 done same as warm up

SET#2 Distance and Stroke 90 minutes (4300 yards)
400 Mixer/Choice (no kick)
300 IM (25 drill 50 swim)
2x200 back @3:00/3:10/3:20 (core rotation)
8x50 fly/breast with glide @1:00
KICK SET
500 kick build alternate easy/fast 30 seconds rest. 5x100 kick @2:10/2:20/2:30
SPRINT SET (50’s 2/3 breathing.  25’s 2 breaths)
4x75 free @1:05/1:15
8x25 free fast@35/40
4x50 free fast @40/50
8x25 fast free @30/35
COOL DOWN 
20x50 free with fast set to turn underwater as far as you can to dolphins @1:00

WORKOUT #3 Long warmup 50’s and 25’s.  60- 75 minutes (4000j
600 mixer. 12x50 stroke drill/swim @1:00. 3x100 IM @1:45/2:00. 4x50 free fast @1:00
SET
30x50 free @1:00. Every 5th one sprint @40/45
16x25 stroke non free. Same stroke 1-8. And 9-16 @40. Good breakouts 

WORKOUT #4. Short Set 60-70 minutes. (2500 yards)
WARMUP 
500 free with fast flip to back with open turns
8x75 (25 kick fast 50 swim)@ 1:20/1:30
SET
8x50 free@50/1:00 odds breathing 2/3. Evens 3/4
8x50 stroke non free work breakouts and fast turns @1:00 same stroke 1-4 and 5-8
8x50 free @1:00 odds breathing 1/2 evens 3/4
COOL DOWN 200

Think of these workouts and the ones you attend as the gifts for success in the future.  Senior prep let’s not forget about some dry-land over the break, at least 2 if not 3 a week.  A short 20 minute session while your watching a movie or listening to music would be nice.  You should continue focusing on your core exercises ( low and high planks, flutter kicks, leg lifts, sit-ups/get ups, and crunch twists) and also your leg exercises ( squats, jump squats, lunges).  Don’t forget to these in a slow controlled manner while maintaining good body position.

Have a great holiday.

COACHES VIEW

MEET WRAP UPS

With the Winter Classic and Mako Invitation meets now behind us we can look forward to a few weeks of hard training, but before we do let’s take a look at things learned, and also things to work on as we move forward over the next few weeks.

Let’s start by giving the parents a big thank you for all the help and support over the last few weekends.  Thanks for having the kids where they were supposed to be.  The coaches really appreciate this as it one less thing on our plates that we need to worry about.

When looking over all the swims over the last two weekends, I like to evaluate the group as a whole to see if what we are doing is working and what needs to be added or deleted to help us move forward.  After that I look at individual swims to see areas that we can work on during practice.  When looking at the groups as a whole there was a lot of success throughout the weekend.  Certainly there were some individual swims that some of you might want back, but all you can do is learn, understand and move forward.  All athletes have those moments when they wish there could have been a different outcome, but you know what happened  so let’s understand it and move on.  That is what is unique about sports, outcomes are not pre-determined, you must have the heart to go and grab it and sometimes you miss.  Get over it. There are no predetermined outcomes that’s why we race and play the games isn’t it.  Now what about the meets.

First off you all were great working through your warmups and warm-downs throughout the weekend.  Now I will speak for myself here and it involves your little chats with coaches after your races.  Now I heard a coach this past weekend say, “I discuss the same thing after every race but they won’t correct it.”  For myself this is one of the most frustrating things that I encounter in coaching.  Those little chats are opportunities to learn.  For myself I try not to overwhelm you information, and I try to narrow in on one maybe two things that will help you in your next race.  Will it result in a best time, not always but with some attention it will eventually.  The best thing that you can do after the meet is keep a little log where you can write down your events, what worked or didn’t and what you discussed with your coaches that can help you in future races.  Please don’t look at these chats as criticism, it’s feedback to help you move forward.

Over both weekends it was great to see that all of you arrived at the pool with your game faces on.  Rarely did I hear from any of you that familiar line “ I’m tired” which told us right from the start that not only did you come to swim, but you were here to race.  From the start we were able to see all of your hard work starting to pay off on all aspects of your races.  We saw some great things with your underwater dolphins, some aggressive work in and out of your turns and some great detail in finishing your races to the wall.

The execution of your races was a lot of fun to watch.  For the longer events it was good to see so many of you step out of your comfort zones and really work the middle of your races and trusting the process and hard work that you have put in to be able to finish those races.  Personal best were abundant throughout the racing over the course of both weekends.  Yes, as in any athletic event some of you were faced with adversity but it was great to see that you were able to deal with it, move on and bounce back, one of the hardest lessons faced both in athletics and life in general.

You will be a better person because of it. 

 The way that you all supported each other both when things went well, and when some of us hit bumps was great to watch as the weekends went on.  Way to go by all of you who participated.  Great Job!

KEEP THIS THOUGHT IN YOUR MIND AS WE MOVE THROUGH THE WINTER MONTHS

LOOKING FORWARD

A Look Ahead 
Now that we are through the first part of the season with the championship meets behind us, it this time to tire our focus towards the qualifying meets.  We have talked about how important it is to start preparing for this part of the season from day 1.  As you are preparing for this part of the season it is important to take a look at the meets on the horizon and make a plan for yourself.  Below I will try to share my thoughts with you as you make your plan.

The first thing that we need to understand is that any events that you have made your qualifying times for (JO, Senior Junior Champs, NASA ) should not be swam until those meets.  Try new events.  Please be smart.

HOLIDAYS I f you are going to be away for the holidays, I will post some “Go TO WORKOUTS” for you if you can find a pool.  It is important to stay in the pool during this period or the work you have done so far will go into the trash bin.  You will end up starting over again and put yourself in a bad position for championships. I will have them up next week.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY MEETS

DISTANCE MEET - January 4-5. Senior prep group let’s not forget that 1000 free is requirement in the program.  There will be no mako qualifier meet so let’s get it done.  The timeline is fast and you have a specific time that you swim and so you come in warmup, swim and leave.  If you are not training over the holidays you should not enter this meet.

MAKO INVITATIONAL January 11-12. If you are swimming the IMX meet you should not be swimming in this meet.  The only reason you should be entered in this meet is if you are trying to achieve qualifying times.  Focus only on the events that you are near your cuts.  Do not overload your list with events that you are not near.  For all the events you enter there should be something specific that we are trying to accomplish.

IMX January 24-26. This is a qualifying meet.  You must have swam all the events on the program within a specific time and have also accumulated 1800 points.  If you go to the Mako /USA swimming site you can find your score and the rules for the meet.  If you meet the requirements I would like to see you enter this meet.  You must swim all the events, if you planning on not doing some of them please do not enter this meet.   I really believe that this is a great meet to build your confidence because it challenges you mentally as you move into championship season.  If you get through this meet anything is possible.

SNOW QUALIFIER February 8. This is a one day meet.  The events that you pick should be events that you are within reach of achieving.  When signing up please consider where the events fall in the schedule.  The turnaround can be quick with not a lot of time to rest.  Keeping that in mind remember  you have the presidents meet later.

PRESIDENTS CLASSIC February 14-16. This is a preliminary and finals meet.  This is also the last meet which you will be able to get qualifying times for the championship meets in March.   That being said if you achieve your cut in the preliminary session you will be scratching out of finals.  The reason being if we achieve the cut, mission accomplished and there is no need to swim the event again that day, and it will also allow a swimmer on more chance to get that cut.

I hope that this information will help you as you plan for the next two months.  Please take the time to sit down and plan out,  one what you want to accomplish, and two how we are going to get there.  If you need help I am hear just ask.

We will wrap up the two meets and go back to our regular blog this week.