ENDLESS SUMMER WORKOUTS

With the start of a new season staring us down I thought it would be nice to start with a fresh looking for the blog, and as you see I have changed the title.  This blog is yours not mine so I have decided if you all can come up with a catchy title we will go with it, so submit your suggestions to my email.  In order to keep myself out of the “drama” in having to choose I will have my daughters pick the title.  Also if you have topics that you would like to see submit them and I’ll do the work.

 Hey kiddos here are 2 very generic workouts that you can be doing the next couple of weeks as you prepare your bodies and minds for the upcoming season.  Take advantage of the warm weather and outside pools while you can and if you need a pool come on over to LG with a friend or two and I’ll get you in, flags are up at one end with your green pace clock always on.  No excuses.

WORK OUT #1

Meet warmups 

300 free

4x50 free descend @1:00

200 kick

3x50 kick descend @1:15

PRE SET

2 ROUNDS 

4x25 kick@35/40

 3x 30second vertical kick hands up (deep end) 30 second rest

2x50  free to back cruise

1x100 free ALL OUT

Rest 1:00

MAIN SEET

10 x100 (25 kick/ 50 swim @80%/25 kick) with fins (odds @2:00/ evens @1:45)

ALMOST DONE

5x50 @A4 get out 10 crunches 10 leg lifts (use kick board to lay on) @2:00

100 warm down

WORKOUT #2

Warm up 400  RIMO (25 kick 25 smooth swim)

2rounds

2x100 IM (#1 kick/#2 swim cruise) 15 sec rest

1x200 IM (25 kick 25 swim)

Get out 10 push ups/10 crunches/10 leg lifts 

Rest 1:00 repeat

MAIN SET

3rounds

4x75 IM (no fly) 1:20/1:30

4x25 fly smooth breathing 1 up 2 down @30

Get out 10 crunches 

100 free ALL OUT

REST 1:00

100 warm down

One last thing, it’s time to get your ducks in a row, time management is going to be vital for your success. Make sure you have everything in order so you aren’t overwhelmed the first few weeks when we get going.  Get your school supplies, start getting on a regular sleep schedule, and fuel your body for success so your ready to rock in the classroom and the pool.

GEARING UP FOR 2021-22 SCHOOL/SWIM YEAR

Hey all you Mako Blue, Gold, and Senior Prep/Blue Mako swimmers it’s that time of the year where summer is winding down, the guards are ready to blow that last whistle of the year, and you all will be heading back to school.   Enjoy the last few days of summer at your pools and be nice to the guards, maybe even take some bake cookies to them.

Take these last few days and prepare yourself for those first few days of school.  Here is a trick to being ready and getting the most out of those first few days.  This may sound silly and some of you may think it’s way out there but I use to like getting up earlier each day the week before to ease the pain of that wake up call on Day 1.  Try it.   

We also have the other end of the spectrum and that involves a routine for your bed time, remember as an athlete sleep is vital for your recovery.  This is when your body is able to grow, build muscle and wake up the next day stronger.

We are busy planning for the upcoming season and look forward to your arrival on the pool deck.  I will be posting 3 workouts that you may want to do the next couple of weeks, not only to get ready but it will help reduce your anxieties about starting up and relax from the rigors of starting school. Take advantage of your summer pools., water is still warm and not too crowded. 

Have a great weekend and better yet a great start to the school year.

LET THE SUN SHINE IN

 

Another long course meet in our rear view mirror and it was great seeing all of you after a week.  I really didn't realize how much I missed you all after a week.  With that said onto the meet itself.

It was great seeing a lot of you attempt new events especially those of you who swam the 400 free and 400 IM and yes even you Erin with all your negotiations after warm ups. 

Another meet and sometimes the same old story.  Sometimes as athletes I think we are afraid to let the sun shine in even when things seem to be gloomy.  We just came off your first long course meet in two years in mid May where we saw tremendous time drops across the board, and yes it would have been great to see big time drops again but you do have this days when nothing goes right.  Have you ever heard of "Murphy's Law" which states, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong".  

Going into some of these meets it is important to have a plan and swimming a best time is not the only plan you should have in your tool box.  This plan starts with the meet and your reasons for swimming in it,  and from there its's about your reasons for picking the events to swim.  With this plan in place we can avoid a lot of this that Aimee and I heard, "I don't want to swim that event".  Well why did we sign up for it?  

Next part of the plan is to ask yourself this. What am I trying to get out of this race other than a best time? Maybe you've been working on your pacing or underwater's and if so this is the time to take it out for a spin and see what happens.  Maybe you've working on taking the longer races out faster, here is your opportunity to give it a whirl. Most of the time you hesitate to go outside your comfort zone because your afraid 😱 of what awaits on the other side.

You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can look for the sun 🌞 through all the gloom and start where you are and change the ending.

SUMMERTIME

 

Today is June 1st and yes it's been a whole year since we got back into the water at places like Lakeview, CCF, Fairfax, Army Navy, Sideburn Run, and Mosby Woods. What is different about this year?  This afternoon most of you will be returning to your summer pools for your first afternoon practice with old familiar faces.

Although the water may be chilly enjoy your practice and let the warmth of your friends warm your shivering bones.  Take this first day and soak in your surroundings and enjoy the journey.

Some of you will have the opportunity to be assistant or junior coaches working with the younger swimmers.  As you are working with the younger swimmers on your team always remember that they look up to you and those little eyes are always watching you.  Your self awareness is always important and not just around the team but also away from the team.    

Always remember they are watching your every move, hanging on every word and although at times you will think your speaking a different language they do hear and are soaking it in.  Be positive.  

Some things to think about when meeting those swimmers that first day.

WIN THE WARM UP-- keep it simple and consistent.  keep it short you don't want to lose them during the first few minutes.  Having a routine will save time explaining and get your swimmers into the water on time. They know what to do before they leave the house.  Same thing goes for meets.

Techniques- - with all ages bust most importantly the younger groups teach the finer points that will get them from point A to point B as fast as they can.  Your job is that summer league swimmer not the distance club swimmer.  Think sprints!  they will only be doing 50's and 25's during the summer so throw out those 200 swims even the 100's.  You  already know what win's races in summer league swimming, starts, turns and finishes.  Use one of these as a focal point each day and towards the end of the week reserve one day to put it all together.  A fun thing is to have your swimmers do a quick celebration when finishing at the wall.  It will help them visualize the real thing and it's a way to have some fun with them.

KICKING-- do lots of kicking with your swimmers and don't be afraid to do it without boards.  Position 11 is good for body awareness.

SMOOTH VERSUS EASY. If you have been observant over the years we use smooth and relax as opposed to easy a lot.  Reason is that easy signals the brain to disengage even to the point of being lazy on turns among other things.

STRICT VERUS PUNISHMENT----  there will be times that you need to be strict but you can accomplish this in a fun way.  Never use any type of swimming or stroke such as fly as punishment because that will only teach the swimmer that fly or that swim was a bad thing.  Swimming should always be viewed as a privilege...not a punishment.  

Other Coaching Tips----

• Punctuality--  be on time and that means be there to make sure the pool is set up for them and it's safe before they walk through the gate.  be the last one to leave and make sure the pool looks better than when you arrived.
• Be enthusiastic--- the kids will pick up on it
• Walk Around-- move around the deck with the swimmers.  Coaching from a chair is like asking them to swim from the showers.
• Be Creative-- it's okay to use things from other coaches but be creative about it.  An 8 and under can not handle your terminology or workouts.  Adapt workouts to your swimmers.   Best ideas is a way to create fun.
• Be Yourself--- Don't try to coach like someone else.  You have to discover your own strengths and weaknesses and become YOU.
• Challenge Your Swimmers---  at the end of practice have challenges such as timed finishes from the flags. or one I like is timed 12.5 to a turn with feet on wall. Again think creatively.  And it's fun for them.
• Vary your lanes-- if possible try to vary kids in the lanes from time to time.  It will help head off any developing cliques within the team and is a great way to begin team bonding.
• Swim Meets-- Stay calm, composed and confident.  The swimmers especially in the summer already have a high anxiety level and when they can see you calm it goes a long way to steady their nerves.
• Be Flexible-- if you see something is not working don't be afraid to change on the fly.
• Parents-- have your team reps keep them off your deck and out of the team area.  This is the swimmers sport not the adults.   If they want to talk to you make time away from practice and away from the swimmers.
• They are not you-- Every coach has high hopes for their swimmers, but remember a lot of summer swimmers are just starting out and they will not do thin gs the way you know they are suppose to be done.  be patient with them and regardless of their times if they are better the last day of practice you've done your job.

Above all enjoy your time on the deck with your swimmers and coach at your best every day, leave your drama at the gate.

A COMMON DENOMINATOR

 

No matter who you are, what you do, or how good we are which includes you the swimmer we all have to wake up in. the morning and face the new day.  If your lucky enough as a swimmer you may also have the opportunity to witness one or two incredible 🌅 sunrises in your journey.  

It doesn't matter if you happen to be a night owl because eventually the sun will still rise and you get to begin a new day with endless opportunities.  You must decide how to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves to you.

The morning sunrise brings with it new beginnings where you can put to bed that bad race or meet that you have just come off of, or maybe yesterday's workout left a little to be desired.  What ever the issue's were the morning brings with it the endless possibilities and the chance to do a little better.  

Maybe your the swimmer who has never experienced a bad day (lucky for you) and what I will say to you is this, Why should you expect today to be any different?

Have a good Memorial Day weekend.  Remember our Veterans Past and Present.

HOW YOU DOING

 

How's your swimming doing.  After the long course meet I sat down and struggled to nail down a topic for you all that just might strike a cord with some of you.  You see I left that meet somewhat frustrated in the fact that so many of you felt disappointed in your races and I could not understand why.  Was it the fact that expectations were too high?  Maybe you were not clear on how to set expectations or goals.  Was it me and the way I set you up for expectations?  I didn’t know the answer but what I did understand was that more than a few of you needed help if we were going to move forward with any confidence.

Some things that we knew going into the meet included the following;

• First long course meet since 2019
• Times in meet sheet were at least 2 year old
• Many new events were going to be swam, thus an abundance of N.T.
• Many mako swimmers making their first appearance in a long course meet

And now the big questions.  What were your expectations?  What were your coaches expectations?  Probably not the same but a good bet would be that your expectations involved a time and ours were probably a little more complicated to be sure.

Okay down to the nuts and bolts of this.  After many of our mako swimmers races they would come back, we talked and this was the look I got from some of you (not all) but was clear that a lot of expectations were set high and and results fell short.  The majority of our races over the weekend produced many best swims and times yet I often heard, I.m not happy with that' or I could go a lot faster" and than it was "that time is so old".  We were all winning in the pool but mentally a lot of us were using the race.  It's okay to demand perfection from yourself as long as you recognize that your human and perfection 100% of the time rarely happens in life.  Life is hard and sports especially swimming where we are relying on a clock is no different.

Let's take football and look at the running back who picks up a couple of yards and the result is a first down.  It's like they just scored a touchdown and won the game but it's just a first down and they let everyone know.  Sure every time they touched the ball they have goals of going all the way and scoring a touchdown but they are willing to take that small win and build on it for that next opportunity.  The point is to accept the win no matter how BIG or small and build on that, move forward towards the next race.

Setting goals and expectations are important and a necessity if you are going to achieve anything.  When setting goals try to remember these sayings;

1. A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit nothing
2. It's okay to aim high and fall short.
3. Big problem is to aim low and hit

If you continuously are unhappy with your results because they don't meet your expectations you continually feel like your letting yourself down, you start to become disheartened and eventually lose trust in yourself as a swimmer.  When the trust in yourself breaks down there is a cascading effect which are, you stop setting high expectations, you avoid events you're afraid of and finally you stop being aggressive in your swims.  It your mind when you approach your swimming like this it becomes easy to fall short.  You can better accept the results and at the same time justify them to yourselves.  

In closing remember that when you step up onto the blocks and it's GO time take your results along with the wins no matter howBIG or small and move on to your next challenge.  This is the way you begin to build trust in yourself, your training, and your preparation.  Take ownership in the races, after all they are not your parents races, not your coaches races, they are YOURS and YOURS alone.  Your easy race or practice was always your last one.

PRACTICE

 

 Over this past season we have touched on a variety of topics, meets, attitudes, positive self talk, and how we look at results.  After reading a message from Oliver Leroy about getting better, I went back to our book on conquering the pool to gather some thoughts and if your wondering, yes we will be talking about practice and how you approach it as an athlete.

When you think of getting better most of your focus is geared to your races at meets and that end result, the final time, but what about getting better at practice.

 How do you approach practice each day has a lot to do with your success at meets.   There is a thing called mindless swimming where your mind is swirling around like a tornado just wrecking havoc on everything you are trying to accomplish.

Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself this 🙋‍♀️ question, do I fit one of the following swimmer modes.

🏊‍♀️ “The swimmer who has huge goals for their season, but struggles to put big chunks of high-grade effort in practice.”

🏊🏻‍♂️ “ The swimmer who who backs down when things get rough in practice.”

🏊 “ The swimmer who knows what they need to get better, but finds themselves coming up against mental blocks that they can’t conquer.

The conversations that you have with yourself may look similar to some of the following ones;

• Why am I not closer to my goals?
• Why can’t I swim as fast as my teammates?
• What if I work hard all season but my goals aren’t met?

These are normal conversations that swimmers have from time to time and as we have discussed before it’s human nature, and they are all fear based.  "You can side-step a lot of this fear-based, movement-stopping, improvement-blocking stuff when you start asking the right questions."

Try this, treat practice like a meet, and what I am talking about is winning just like you are trying to accomplish in your races.  "Here is an example, let's say you want to crank up your underwater dolphin kick this season."  The problem is that you fear failing so you don't work at it and the reasons are many, it's hard, it's uncomfortable being under water, I can't hold my air (it's not about hiding it but a case exhaling slowly). The problem lies within and the simple truth is that you don't put in any meaningful effort into improving it, and this can also be applied to breathing, stroke corrections, turns and streamlines.    This can also apply to areas away from the pool such as your eating habits, hydration, sleep habits among some.  All of this is directly tied to being successful on race day.

How do I WIN at practice? Sometimes it only take a few minutes each day for example, performing a tighter streamline with 1 extra dolphin off each wall during let's say 10x100's takes only a few minutes.  The result is that now you have worked on it 40 times during the set. The next day add another kick or make them faster, the point is you start winning during practice and it builds your confidence and reduces your fear.

It's like making your bed every morning, regardless of how the day goes it started by accomplishing one small task and if you can do that you can change how your story is written.

No matter how small it seems, Go out and WIN the day.