Thursday morning Practice 11-21

This morning we had another great set I thought I'd share.  The team performed very well on multiple levels.  The goal was an aerobic endurance level workout, but broken up so that the team could still feel like they were swimming well and at a good rate.  I was very pleased and even though we were not completely focused on how fast we were swimming, the team was performing at a very high level.

All the freestylers swam together today, from 50-1650's, which we do on occasion.  The sendoff's weren't as important as was controlling their speed and the quality of their swims.  A good number of the team chose to use a combinations of fins & paddles on the 100's and we saw some very good swims.  Our top men were holding 50-51's, while our top women were around 55-56's

The IM and stroke set used a broken 200 to get their heart rates up, keep their strokes together, and keep their speed on the higher end.  We were not adding up time, but almost everyone was close to in-season best times.  The middle set worked on keeping the heart rate up with some 100's and an IM, followed by an opportunity to descend some 75's stroke. 

The main sets took between 50-55 minutes.  I did not include the warmup, but we stretched on deck plus 1000 yards of warmup.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Morning

All FR

1 X 300 @ 4:00/15 (last 100, :05 seconds faster than 1^st 2)

1 X 200 @ 2:30/45 (steady effort, continued from last 100)

1 X 100 @ 1:10

1 X 300 @ 4:00/15 (last 100, :05 seconds faster than 1^st 2)

1 X 200 @ 2:30/45 (steady effort)

3 X 100 @ 1:15

1 X 300 @ 4:00/15 (last 100, :05 seconds faster than 1^st 2)

1 X 200 @ 2:30/45 (steady effort)

5 X 100 @ 1:20

1 X 300 @ 4:00/15 (last 100, :05 seconds faster than 1^st 2)

1 X 200 @ 2:30/45 (steady effort)

7 X 100 @ 1:30

*100’s are best effort, may use fins & paddles.

All IM

X + Y + X + Y + X + Y + 2X

X  = fast 200 IM broken as follows:

1 X 75 @ 1:00  (50FL/25BK)

1 X 50 @ 45 (25BK/25BR)

3 X 25 @ 30 (1BR, 2 FR)

Y =

3 X 100 FR @ 1:10/15

1 X 200 IM @ 2:30/45

4 X 75 stroke @ 1:15 descend 1-4

*limit the rest between sets to less than :30 or none

Stroke

X + Y + X + Y + X + Y + 2X

X =fast broken 200 stroke as follows

1 X 75 @ 1:00

1 X 50 @ 45

3 X 25 @ 30

Y =

3 X 100 FR @ 1:10/15

1 X 200 @ 2:30/45 (steady pace)

4 X 75 Kick @ 1:20 descend 1-4

Monday 10-29 workout

We had another very strong swim workout yesterday afternoon that I wanted to share.  It was meant to push the length that we were swimming at very high speeds.  We have been building the amount of threshold or what we call "cruise" speeds all season, and this pushed the total volume along with the length of time they were holding fast repeats.  They were swimming very fast for 9 minutes at a time (with rest) and 4 minutes of EZ swimming:

Warmup was about 1500 yards, ending with some 25's where we got the heart rate up to be ready to go.

I called these Indy 500's. the pattern I got from an old Mark Spitz set I saw, but I made it work to what we wanted to adapt to.

5 Rounds with a 200 @ 4:00 between each set:

1 X 25 from dive @ 30 (asked them to jump off the cliff, and go fast, get the heart rate up right away)
3 X 50 Kick @ 50 holding best effort they can, most of our team was under 40
3 X 75 Swim @ 1:30 holding our threshold paces or better (my top men's group was all under 40's, and top women were under 45
1 X 100 w/ fins & paddles @ 2:00 trying to go under best times.  We want them to use a bigger engine with the fins and paddles and finish feeling fast, and still working really hard.  We had a few men going under 50 and a few women under 55.  In the future, I may be more selective with the paddles as some of our team at our level, cant keep a high enough tempo.  We shall see.

The entire set takes an hour, very productive for our team.  Where it fits into our training schedule, we did an aerobic endurance set Monday morning, this set in the afternoon, and then no morning practice today, with short (05-10 sec) high velocity swims tonight.

STAY STRONG! Your test will be your test-imony, your Mess will be your Mess-age.

Monday Afternoon Workout

Monday afternoon, we had a Threshold type set that we swam very well.  We use the pace chart below from T2 aquatics for our goal times for the set.  This set and pattern is nothing ground breaking, but it matched what we were looking to do yesterday and we executed it very well which is what a good practice is supposed to do.


To set this up, we had a morning workout Monday morning that was very aerobic, endurance based with short rest intervals and a consistent steady effort throughout.  Just good hard work.

Monday, October 07, 2013

Afternoon

Warmup

400Choice-300pull-200kick-100IM

Short FR/Stroke (long FR did a version of this set which took them up to a 300 instead of 3 X 100, we had 2 men go 2:55 and 2:56 which is pretty quick for us)

18 X 100 @ 1:45

*stroke on last 3

1 EZ – 1 Cruise

1 EZ – 2 Cruise

1 EZ – 3 Cruise

3 EZ – 1 Cruise

2 EZ – 1 Cruise

1 EZ – 1 Cruise

18 X 75 w/ fins + paddles @ 1:10

Odd – Head up Kick, FL on BK, 6 beat kick

Even – stroke specific, coach will explain

18 X 50 Kick @ 1:00

*same pattern as 100’s

200-500 Warmdown

All IM

2 rounds

1 X 150 IM No FR Cruise @ 2:10

1 X 150 EZ @ 2:20

4 X 75 stroke @ 1:30

Odd – Cruise, Even EZ

1 X 150 FR Cruise @ 2:10

1 X 150 EZ @ 2:20

18 X 75 w/ fins + paddles @ 1:10

Odd – Head up Kick, FL on BK, 6 beat kick

Even – stroke specific, coach will explain

18 X 50 Kick @ 1:00

*same pattern as 100’s

200-500 Warmdown

Calvin College_________________________2013-14_______________________Cruise Speed

200 PR       100 Pace              125 Pace              150 Pace              200 Pace              300 Pace

1:35-1:39     51.5-53.5              1:06.0-1:08.0      1:21.0-123.5        1:48.5-1:151.5    2:49.0-2:53.0

1:40-1:44     54.0-56.0              1:09.0-1:11.0      1:24.0-1:26.5      1:53.5-1:56.5      2:55.0-2:59.0

1:45-1:49     56.5-58.5              1:12.0-1:14.0      127.0-1:29.5        1:58.5-2:01.5      3:01.5-3:05.5

1:50-1:54     59.0-1:01.0          1:15.0-1:17.0      1:31.5-1:34.0      2:03.5-2:06.5      3:10.0-3:14.0

1:55-1:59     1:01.5-1:03.5      1:18.5-1:20.5      1:35.5-1:38.0      2:08.5-2:11.5      3:19.5-3:23.5

2:00-2:04     1:04.0-1:06.0      1:21.5-1:23.5      1:39.0-1:41.5      2:13.5-2:16.5      3:25.0-3:29.0

2:05-2:09     1:06.5-1:08.5      1:24.5-1:26.5      1:42.5-1:45.0      2:18.5-2:21.5      3:32.5-3:36.5

2:10-2:14     1:09.0-1:11.0      1:27.5-1:29.5      1:46.0-1:48.5      2:23.5-2:26.5      3:38.0-3:43.0

2:15-2:19           1:11.5-1:13.5      1:30.5-1:32.5      1:49.5-1:52.0      2:28.5-2:31.5      3:45.5-3:52.5

Time to play Offense

With football season in full swing and second half of the fall semester upon on, I thought I'd use a little football terminology.  In order to get to Thanksgiving break, we are going to have to have a good offensive game plan.


1. Don't play defense.  When you are on defense, you end up staying up all night, you are always behind and trying to catch up, you overlook important things in your life that need attention, and eventually you will get scored on in the form of a bad test, illness, injury, or make a bad decision that leads to something worse.

2. Have a game plan.  Get your calendar out, put down all your deadlines for papers, exams, swim meets, other things in your life and create a strategy for getting things done on time.

3. Slow steady Drive. The best way to control the game is to run the ball and keep it simple.  Be consistent every day in your studying, sleep, health and faith.  It is more fun to run a flashy offense, but you are also more likely to turn the ball over and start to go on defense.

4. Good clock management. You have to manage the clock. Look at how you are spending your time.  Be efficient.

5. You can't use the whole playbook all the time.  Every coach has their favorite play or a play the crowd may like better.  You have to learn to stay disciplined and call the right play for the right situation.  Sometimes you have to say no.  The right play may be getting to the library, or getting to bed, or getting to Church on Sunday morning.

6. You can't win by yourself.  Use your teammates, you can do more together than you can by yourself.

7. Stick to the game plan.  When things start to go against you, we often want to over react and make bad decisions.  Trust your game plan and go back to executing what you know will work.

Enjoy being busy! You can always do more than you think!

What Motivates You?

We all have our goals, needs, and desires that motivate us on a daily basis, however, there are always days where we have no motivation.  Why does that happen and how do we keep it from happening? Here are my thoughts:


1. Personal goals will only get you so far.  I believe the days in which our motivation levels are low are the days we are being selfish and just thinking about ME.  Times, awards, and medals are great, but there is more and these goals need to be tied to something bigger.

2. Contribute to someone else' goals. Everything you do has an impact on somebody else.  You can either push someone or a group of people forward or be the anchor that keeps everyone from setting sail. If you can't push yourself forward, push somebody else forward.  In fact, it should be in that order in the first place. Contribute to your teams success, don't be the week link.

3. Turn goals into behaviors.  Goals are where we want the journey to end, however, how do you have to act to get there, what behaviors do you have to learn. Focus on those behaviors and not the finish line.

The next time you need some motivation, stop thinking about yourself, make someone else better, and focus on the lessons and behaviors your goals are forcing you to learn.  I think you will be more successful.

Let Him in the Boat

Sometimes, it funny how the Lord puts you in the right place at the right time.  This past Sunday, I heard a sermon that really influenced me.  It talked about new goals, fears, finding God's presence and what Jesus does when you let him in the boat.  It carried over to what we are experiencing at this very moment with new semesters, new teammates, new goals, and all the fears that go along with it.

First, I have to give credit to where credit is due.  Rev. Peter Jonker was the pastor and the sermon took place at LaGrave Ave. CRC this past Sunday.  Here is a link to the audio version.  It is well worth the 15 minutes.

http://lagraveavecrc.org/flash_media/09_15_13_11am.mp3

I hope that link works! if not go to the church website and to the sermon search and you'll find the title.

I used the key points with my team yesterday for our weekly devotions.  The sermon comes from the story of when Jesus called Peter to be a disciple, first using Peter's boat as a pulpit and then proceeding to tell Peter to go out in the deep water (after spending all night catching nothing) and catches more fish than his boat can carry. If you don't know the story it can be found in Luke 5:1-11.

1.  Once you let Jesus in the boat He will push and challenge you.  If you break down the story, Peter was not seeking Jesus out.  He was coming in after a long night of bad fishing when he gets sweet talked by this Rabbi to use his boat to preach a sermon, then going out and into deep waters to catch fish he couldn't catch all night long.  Peter was probably rolling his eyes like we all do when asked to do something above and beyond what we are ready for.

2.   Once you let Jesus in the boat He will show you a whole new world.  By letting Jesus into the boat, Peter's life changed.  He saw and did thing he never imagined were possible.  Peter walked on water, witnessed the transfiguration, the cross, and countless other miracles.  Who knows what is out there if you don't let him in the boat.

3.  When Jesus pushes you there is fear.  Every time Jesus shows up in peoples lives throughout the bible there is always a fear.  From Isaiah to Mary after the resurrection to the shepherds tending their flock by night.  If you are looking for God's presence in today's world, it could very well be in the fear we experience when we are being pushed to speak about our faith, or get involved in a new group, or stand up for what we believe.  In the sermon, Peter Jonker says that kind of fear is God sent.

If you have time, listen to the sermon, I hope it speaks to you as it spoke to me

O Captain, My Captain

I have been talking with my captains a lot these past two weeks as we prepare for the coming season.  I think it is a great experience and a great opportunity to be a captain.  It is also hard for captains to get it 100% right, as it is hard for anyone to be a leader.  Here are my 3 keys to being a great captain:

1.  Don't Put yourself on a pedestal, rather take a step lower and work in the trenches.  Sometimes it is easy to receive a leadership position and see yourself looking down and speaking down at everyone.  Rather, dive down into the trenches, and serve those that you are leading.  Lift up everyone's voice, not just your own, make sure everyone's needs are being met, not just yours, and be humble.

2.  It's how you act to adversity, not how well you perform.  I have had a few captains ruin their senior year by putting too much pressure on their performance.  They thought they had to have the best workouts, the best taper, the best results.  All that stuff is great, but a true captain is one that you will look to when you lose a close meet, the one that is not afraid to talk have a tough conversation, the one that will react the best to the worst.

3.  Know your strengths.  It is always awkward to hear someone try to give an inspirational speech and they aren't very good at it.  Don't be afraid to delegate tasks to those that are best suited.  Sometimes there are leaders that are great speakers, sometimes there are leaders that are great workers, that is why quite often we have more than one captain, to maximize our talents.  Do what you do well, and don't be afraid to ask for help when you come to an area that is not your strong suit.  Get others involved.

Remember, Jesus chose 12 very ordinary people with very different backgrounds and gifts and changed the world.  What difference can you make in your team.