EVENTS FOR UPCOMING MEETS

 

I have been getting a lot of questions on what to swim in the upcoming meets so let’s take a look.

First off everyone will not be able to swim in both meets due to sheer numbers. 

SWIM AND ROCK MEET at Oakmarr November 19-21.  This meet will be offered to our 3 time of week swimmers in the Junior Blue and all of the Junior Gold and the Senior Prep group.  This has always been a preliminary and finals meet and we will see how that shakes out as it gets closer.   We should all be thinking about swimming our very BEST EVENTS at this meet.  We will be suiting up for this meet.

MAKO GOBBLE MEET.  This meet will be for the rest of our groups or if you will not be available for swim and rock.  Swimmers in the Junior gold and Senior prep groups who are swimming at swim and rock should not participate in this meet.  If there is overwhelming desire to swim in this meet, I would like to see you only pick one day and enter events that you will not be swimming at Swim and Rock.  Think outside the box and try events and distances that are challenging and maybe even new.

LOOKING AHEAD AT IMX

Your IMX score is established after you have swum all the events required for. your age group during either the 2021 season (9/1/2020-8/31/21) or the current season (9/1/2021- 8/31/2022).  My understanding is that is you missed one of the required events during the 2020-21 season you must swim the entire list during this season.  You may get your score by going into the USA swimming data base and you should have a score for your best events.  Make score you use only the events from the list and you have the correct year.  Please plan the next 3 meets according so you do not miss a chance.  This meet is also where you swim all three days and all the events.  There will be no scratches no excuse. 

THE EVENTS

10 and under 200 free-100 back-100 breast-100 fly-and 200 IM

11/12- 500 free-(or400 free LCM)-100 back-100 breast-100 fly-and 200 IM

13-14 500 free (or 400 LCM) 200 back-200 breast-200 fly-200 IM- and 400 IM

Please put a lot of thought into the next few weeks as you are preparing for your meets.

MEET THOUGHTS

 

What a weekend but we all got through it and made it to Monday, some of us even answered that call for morning workout and yes I did take note of those who hit their snooze button at 4:15.

Your absence was duly noted with an asterisk in my book and on that note be careful what you say to the coaches first thing at the meet.  You may ask, Why?, but when the first thing out of your mouth is, I'm tired! two things are happening, One you are setting yourself up to fail or only have a so-so meet and the second is that you will not get much sympathy from coaches who have been on deck all day.  So be careful of the words you choose and if you have any doubt then go back to our book to the section on talking positivity to yourself.  "Set Yourself Up To Succeed!"

Let's get to some observations from the weekend.  First off, you all overall had a good meet for early in the season.  It's been a while since the majority of you raced in this type of environment and you all were outstanding.  Were there disappointments, of course there were☹️, great swims, yes but that's what being a swimmer and athlete is all about and you have to balance all the success and disappointment together and come out the other side as a better person and you can't get there if you don't participate.

Take this meet for what it was and that is a learning opportunity, chance to race and take what you learned from those races back to practice, work on your weak areas and improve for the next time out.  We talked with all three groups yesterday to some extent about the meet and what we gather is that we had a lot of best times, new events and new distances from a lot of you.  As I mentioned to all of you that although I glance at your final time because I know how important it is to each and every one of you, I pay attention to a lot of other things such as

• BodyLanguage- how you carry yourself when you first show up, as you prepare for your race, how you react to your performance.  It tells me a lot and where we are and what we need to do.
• Warm Up and Warm Down-  how you go through it and do you have to be told to do it.  I think I posted this a few years ago that at when I was at the Championship game with Clemson and Alabama as the players came off the field a lot of them would head to the stationary bikes to ride. Why? to keep there muscles loose and warm.  Swimming is different we know but if you get out of the pool and just sit down again it will take longer to loosen them up for that next race and that is why performance drops off as the meet goes on.
• Splits-  Why do coaches take  splits.  To help you understand how to race your 100's 200's and for some of you those 500's. They tell you if you went out to fast or if you died like a big dog coming home.  They tell you what part of your race you need to work on for the next time out.  This is why having a small log is a great piece of equipment to carry in your bags so that you have a reference.  How many of you forget or even dismiss the information from a coach as soon as you turn your back.  Be honest with yourself.  That log is forever is as important as anything in your equipment bag.
• Turns- oh yes those dreaded transitions at the walls.  how you approach and attack those walls and how you come out of those turns and perform your breakouts.
• Finishes- how you approach the walls in your finishes, Are you attacking? or are you hanging back and just waiting for the wall to come to you.  Hint the wall doesn't move you need to attack and get your hand on the wall and stop the clock.

After reviewing all of my notes from the weekend I have decided to add 5-10 minutes at each practice and work on the same thing for that entire week and we will call this our critical skills set.  This week as you have guessed it is our underwater's that we will focus on.  Not unexpectedly I saw a lot of notes next to your names about not only longer wall (which will come with practice, growth and will power) but more aggressive kicks from the core with what ever distance you have.

All and all I think we had a Great first outing and you should all be pleased.  Later this week we will discuss my thoughts on times.

Mike's Tip of the Week "Staying 

Warm"

You all make a lot of sacrifices and put in a lot of work to swim fast at meets.  Do your body and your muscles a favor and keep them covered up and warm as you are waiting to swim.  You are about to ask them to go hard and help you succeed, the least you can do if help them by staying warm. A lot of you said I"m warm but unless you know what your muscles are thinking, help them up by covering up.  They will be grateful.

WHAT A WEEK

 

End of our third week and looking forward to our first meet of the season next weekend to see where we all stand.  This week let’s really focus in on those little things that can make a difference in your races (should be doing this everyday anyway)

Yes that is what I feel like after practice especially those Monday and Wednesday evenings, I’ll sleep where I fall.

This past week the Sr. Prep and Junior Gold groups had their first test set of this young season.  What is a test set, you all are wondering?  It is basically a measurement to gauge where you are at a particular point in your season and how you are progressing towards your goals.  Hopefully you listened and went home and recorded how you felt as you worked through the set.  You should have recorded how many of the repeats that you hit our target time and  how many times you missed it.

Another thing we are trying to accomplish with a test set is create a competitive atmosphere within the group, similar to on you may encounter at your meets.  The emphasis for the next test will be trying to be better than your previous test.  

There are a few measurable components that we can look for within a test set and for this past one we were trying to see if you could hold the set base pace on all the 25's. How did you do?   I was very proud of one of our Sr. Prep swimmers who came to me after practice with concerns that they could not hit any of the times in the stroke portion of the test.  As we talked I encouraged them to record their thoughts on paper and not to be overly concerned at the moment.  We talked about the fact that  this swimmer was doing breaststroke and that they were the youngest in the group, and that now they have a base established that we can work with.  I just hope the rest of you looked at the test set in the same manner.

JUNIOR BLUE

You all did a great job with your ready positions and streamlines off the walls which will carry you into 5 of your seven turns.  Our backstroke turns are improving with every workout so keep up the good work.  Don't forget that in order to make your turns and streamlines better YOU MUST execute them correctly every time you leave the wall.  the sky is the limit but you have to work and reach for it.  We are there to catch you if you fall.

This weekend we will hold our first meet at The St. James Facility and our team area will be outside so make sure you plan accordingly.  

Just some reminders for all our swimmers to relieve some stress and you are prepared;

• wear you Mako cap
• wear Mako team attire 
• pack extra caps and goggles (they do break)
• pack water (you need to hydrate yourself. a lot of bad swims can be traced to lack of hydration )
• bring your chairs
• KNOW YOUR EVENTS BEFORE YOU WALK INTO THE POOL (you aren't prepared to race if you don't know your events.
• no scratching (skipping events) unless you talk to your coach. If you are in my group you better make a good argument for not swimming an event.
• have a plan for what you are trying to accomplish this weekend.  Hint it involves more than a time such as underwater's, breakout's. new events, turns, finish, how you attack the longer events and how did you feel.
• warm ups will be crowded so remember to CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL it will go a long way in the way you handle the meet
• work on what's in front of you at the time.  stay with the event that your own not the next one.

proper warm down after swims (my group at least a 200 and at the end of the day before you leave double that,  YOUR BODY WILL THANK YOU.)

Have a good week at school and prepare yourself for the meet at practice this week.

PERFORMING THE SIMPLE TASK

 

JUNIOR BLUE CORNER

It's been great getting to meet and work with you the past three weeks, please be patient as coach Wendy and I try and put names to all the faces.  We have other groups and sometimes to be honest it get's a little crazy.

Coming off your summer season we are sure of this truth and that is you have had to adjust to our coaching.  For these first 3 weeks we have been trying to build a solid foundation with all you that make you a better swimmer this season and especially as you walk into your summer pools on Memorial Day 2022.  What started here will change your swimming and how you race leading not only to more time drops, more ribbons, but a better overall feeling about yourself and your swimming.

We can assure you that no matter your age, or your talent level  if you focus on the things we are trying to teach you, you will become a better swimmer.

The first thing that we have been emphasizing these first few weeks is how to leave the wall in a proper streamline.  Although you may find this boring and mundane it is a simple task that will lead to better and more efficient race.  You see this is such a simple task like making your bed in the morning, after which you can move on with your day and the next task at hand.  Swimming and racing are no different, the race involves many little tasks, such as the start, the breakout, the turn, the pacing, the breathing and the finish.  When they all come together for you all amazing things will happen and the day will be yours.

The way you come off the wall will save energy because there will be less drag and you'll have an easier time getting into your races.  Here is a fact that some of you may not realize; swimming has 7 turns, the free and back flip, the fly and breast turn, the fly to back, back to breast, and finally the breast to free.  The last 5 turns all involve the ready position and the way we are trying to teach you to leave the wall every time and not only when you feel like it.  If you can master that small task you will be on your way to better turns and faster racing.

IT’s JUST PRACTICE

So why do swimmers or for that matter any athlete need to practice so much?  look at that statement on the right, "We practice to make our strokes and races perfect" but is perfect possible.   Perfect is "having all the required or desirable elements, qualities or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be."

When you think about it; What is a perfect stroke?  As coaches we all say from time to time during practice; "Focus on perfect stroke during this set."  For myself what I mean is for YOU to focus on getting to your perfect which may be different than swimmer B. Sometimes what is forgotten is that we all come in different shapes, we all have different physical limitations, we all have our own goals, and we are all at different points in our own swimming.

Yes, we all want to end up being in the fast lane, winning the heat or winning the event. That is always the "DREAM GOAL" for every swimmer and that is a great goal to have as long as you keep it in perspective.  Out of all the swimmers in the event only 1 gets that honor and out of a heat of one only one gets the fast lane and only one will win the heat. What does that mean for the rest of us?  We go back to the definition of Perfect from above and that is "being as good as it is possible to be" and as long as you can tell that to the  person in the mirror, YOU were perfect at that moment in time.

Now lets get back to practice and that age old question from swimmers and their parents, Why do swimmers practice and train so much compared to other athletes?  What I have found is some swimmers and parents have a difficult time trying to wrap their heads around that question.  Children who participate in other sports such as basketball, volleyball, baseball, soccer or what ever sport it may be attend practices a couple of times a week and in most cases their games last much longer than their practice sessions.  Most of the skills that children learn and need in these activities have been learned since the time they started crawling, walking and running which by the way are all land based activities.

Now lets introduce water into the child's activities which at first is a very foreign concept to an athlete.  It affects our balance and our ability to breathe and the way we propel ourselves from Point A to Point B.  On land we move ourselves with the use of our legs but in the water we need to learn to move ourselves forward with our upper bodies and we have to be able to propel ourselves through a new medium, water.  That

first time in the water is like crawling for the first time and starting from scratch.  To be sure this can be both a refreshing feeling but at the same time a little bit intimidating to children.

TRUE  FACT: when we run or jump on land we make contact with the ground which doesn't move and that force is so great that it moves us past the point at which we made contact.  In the water as we make contact "the catch" that point in the water where we make contact moves as we are pulling and because of this we need to apply force to the water to move forward.  This is where all that practice fits into our story.  Each day you need to focus how you catch the water and how much force and how to channel that force to move forward through the water.  That cannot be learned on land.  With swimming there are so many strokes, turns and events that it takes a lot of practice in order to just be a swimmer.  With enough practice you may progress to a good swimmer and then a great swimmer and eventually emerge as a exceptional swimmer.

If you work hard on focusing on our technique during our skill sets, and on all the little things during practice such as ready positions off walls full extensions into each each turn with explosive push offs and strong underwater's  you are likely to get better and will be on your way to perfection to that person in the mirror.  The one caveat  is that if you don't practice on a regular basis you won't improve and you will end up experiencing what all swimmers have experienced at some time and that is swimmers can quickly lose their feel for the water.  That is why the sport does not have long breaks in it.

WHAT A SWIMMING PROTEST LOOKS LIKE ON A SATURDAY MORNING AT 9AM

THE FIRST WEEK

Great Job to all Junior Gold, Senior Prep, and Junior Blue swimmers we’ve made it through our first week of practice and those first day butterflies 🦋 are in the rear view mirror with nothing in front of us but great workouts and fast times.

It was great seeing all of you again this week as I am sure you all enjoyed getting with your buddies for workouts.  We do have some new mako swimmers in all three groups and it is important that you all introduce yourselves to them and make them feel welcomed.  At the same time let’s work together in helping each other through our workouts with enthusiasm and encouragement.

You all did a great job coming back in somewhat reasonable swimming shape although I heard some moans about swimming against the tide.  The first week was set up to allow us all to get our bearings back which for some of us served as a wake up call to what is needed to get back to where we were back in March and April which was race shape.  Don’t be fooled with the difference between swimming shape and race/competition shape.  For example

I believe I’m in swimming shape but when it comes to racing I’m not even in your league but I understand that.  The point is YOU have to understand where you are today and what you need to do to get where you want to be.  All of you have your books now so try and understand what you have to do outside the pool, we will take care of you at workouts but the work doesn’t stop when the workout is over.

We spent our first week on three of the little things that we talked about in becoming a better meet swimmer and that was our STREAMLINE, UNDERWATER DOLPHINS, and not breathing on our first stroke off the wall or our last strokes into the walls.  Let’s see if we can carry those things I to our second week as we throw in a couple of more.

We finished up our week outside with some IM work and some wall kicking and exploding streamlines.  If the weather stays hot all week and the temperature of the water doesn’t drop maybe we can stay outside next Saturday.  Maybe I’ll put the high dive up for you.

STREAMLINES 

 

 

KICKING WITH SNORKELS 

LABOR DAY WEKEND WORKOUT

You made it to the last weekend of the summer and now have 2 weeks of school completed.  Enjoy this last long weekend before we turn our attention to practice next week.

It look like we are going to get 3 good days of weather so take advantage of the outdoors this weekend, maybe even head to your pools for ONE workout.  I tried to make this workout a fast little sprint workout going into the season.  If you really focus should take about an hour and will get your heart ❤️ rates up.
 

As we near the start of the season, you have to ask how is your is your first practice going to feel?  Is it going to feel heavy and sluggish almost like your swimming against the tide ?  As you prepare for that first practice remember this; there is more to each workout than swimming back and forth and although the yardage is somewhat important it’s not the end all for your story this year.  It’s about what you do with that yardage, with each set and each repeat.  Focus on how you are swimming, how it feels basically the “little things” during the workout.  If you do that than your story will be a best seller.

LABOR DAY WORKOUT

Warm up

2x thru

200 free/ back

2x100 free @1:50

4x50 @1:00 (odds fly to back/ evens free to back) fast

4x25 kick All out @40

Rest 1:00

MAIN SET

8x25 fly ALL OUT FROM A DIVE @40 (5 squats on even ones)

1x50 smooth choice @2:00

8x25 @45 ALL OUT (odds fly evens free with 1 breath ) from a dive ( 5 crunches after even ones)

1x50 smooth choice @2:00

3 rounds

2x50 all out free @45

1x50 choice smooth @2:00

SWIM DOWN