| UPDATES FOR WEEK: Due to a university swim meet this weekend, we will not have practice on Friday the 16th or Saturday the 17th. Most of us should be swimming in the Swim and Rock meet.  SWIM AND ROCK MEET: Warm-up times each day are as follows. 11 and overs 6:30-7:50. 9-10 year olds 1:15. Finals 5:00-5:50 (See me for timeline before leaving prelims) This is a trails and finals meet for 11 and overs. For 11 and 12 they will take the top 8 and you will come back in the evening to swim FASTER. You must show up or scratch the event before you leave prelims. Do not just not show up as there is a penalty.  This also shows disrespect for the sport and all the other swimmers. If you make finals WE expect you to be there. If you are planning to scratch you need to let me know.NOVEMBER OPEN WRAP: This past weekend a lot you had some great races, and some of you went outside of your comfort zone. On Friday night we had a lot of 500 swimmers. Brooke W. swam her first 500 and was very impressive, with nice long walls, good breathing patterns, and her splits were consistent. Rachel A. swam her 500 and also had very consistent splits and held her breathing pattern throughout the race. Dylan and Tyler B. also swam the 500 and had big time drops. There splits were also very consistent. Logan M swam a 500 and had great splits after going out in her first 50 at 30.1 (her best is 29.8). I must say I was worried after that first 50 but she showed a lot of heart  with the swim. Rachel A. finally swam her 50 fly and had a great race! Other big time drops in fly Katie Y. Alex H. Meg R. Abby M. Megan H. Gabriel G. Lauren Y. Rachel A. Our 50 backstrokers looked great and our turns are improving, although we need to be a little quicker off the wall. Gabby turned in her first 200 IM and had a good swim. Our 100 free's were good but we do need to a little more aggressive with this (more later). Our breaststroke pullouts are much improved, but I need some feed back from you all. Do you like the Drill we are doing, and can you feel a difference? Talk to me. Swimming the 200 Free for the first time were Victoria L. All our 200 free swimmers performed well, and don't forget to attack that 3rd 50. First time 100 IM swimmers included Shannon O. Billy Yost swam his first 100 back and just missed the JO cut. Swimming the 200 breast and the 100 fly for the first time was Meg R. And last but not least swimming in her first 100 fly and just missing the JO cut was Christina G. Our 50 freestyle looked great. What WE are looking for here is a great start, get up fast. get to the wall and off, and finish strong. Breathing pattern for you experienced ones is 2 down 3 back. That is our goal. For the younger ones we can go 3 down 4 back and work towards the goal!WEEKLY TOPIC: SPLITS AND RACING TECHNIQUES Have you ever asked why do coaches give me splits and what do they mean? The splits in swimming are like instruments on a car that will give you a gauge on how your engine is running. Now we try to get most splits but will miss some because we may be talking to other swimmers, but if pads are used you should be able to get your splits. We have already talked about 50's they are sprints get up and get going. For your 100s and 200s in each stroke think of the race as four quarters. Setting the pace on the first quarter (25 in a 100 or 50 in the 200), will depend on the stroke and the distance of the race. For an example we will use James Murphy and James Chung 100 Free this past weekend. Murphy's best 50 is a 29.37, and Chung does a 30.9. Now what we would like to work on is for that first 50 to be within 1.5 of your best 50 and the second 50 to be 3 seconds off the first. James M. splits were 29.7 and 32.8 which were great and he had a great swim. James C.was 31.8 and 36.5 and he had a good time. In James C. case we need to learn to finish stronger. Now lets look at a 200 breaststroke and lets use Shannon O'Donnell's event this past weekend which was her first. Keep in mind that her best 50 is 38.3 Her splits were 41.1--47.2--47.6..47.9 for a time of 3:03.8. She kept the first 100 long with a little glide in her stroke, and than she pushed the 3rd quarter which allowed her to finish strong. You want to try to minimize the difference between the first and second  to ensure that you hold pace. A large drop from first to second presages a bad-and painful race. What I like to see is that your first quater should always be the fastest because you have a dive and your excited, the second and third should be about the same, but you really have to focus on that 3rd quarter. The last quarter should take care of itself. If that last is a your second fastest than we need to get out a little faster! THE Cowboys earned a tough victory on Sunday beating those N.Y. Giants, and now lead the division by 3 games. Now it's Redskins week and we should be able to win but we will need to show up and have a good game against a tough defense.LET' S HAVE SOME GREAT SWIMS THIS WEEKEND AND I WOULD LIKE SOME COMPANY AT FINALS! GOOD LUCK MIKE |
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
NOVEMBER 12- 18
