The Sounds of Silence

Over the summer, the weather and the long days allow me to get some good time outside on my bike early in the morning or late at night.  I typically put in 30+ miles or so early Saturday or Sunday Morning and while I leave with the intentions of getting some exercise, I get something else I really need, SILENCE.  For 90+ minutes, all I hear is the wind and the birds, and as I look back, I think it is just as therapeutic as it is good exercise.  The more time passes, the more clear my mind gets, and I am able to reflect on the things that are most important to me that I don't normally get a chance to think about.

As you go through the day, pay attention to how much time is spent reading, listening, and watching anything but your own thoughts.  Just today, I had the news on during breakfast, talk radio on the way to school, and I am even listening to music while I am writing this.  In today's world of ipods, internet, t.v.s on every wall, and cell phones, there is not a lot of Silence in our lives.

Leave the ipod home on your next walk or run, turn the radio off in the car, and you will be surprised what you hear and who you hear.  If you are a swim coach like me, never let your swimmers complain of not being able to talk or listen to music during practice.  The Sounds of Silence are important to thinking clearly, and making sense out of this crazy journey.

Lamentations 3:26

English Standard Version (ESV)

26 It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.

Starting New Goals

Starting New Goals

As I turn my attention to the fall and the new school year and swim season, I have been thinking about what our team goals are going to be, what kinds of individual goals am I going to achieve, and how far can I get my classes and team to go this year.  

I look forward to the start of new goals, but it also got me thinking.  Why do we, so often, wait until we are at ground zero or at the bottom of the ladder before we set our sites on such high goals. Instead of living in the basement, and always wanting to reach the 5th floor every so often, what would life look like if we lived on the 2nd or 3rd floor?  

I believe in order to do that takes 3 things:

1.  Consistency - you have to do a lot of things often and on a daily basis.  We need to address each of the 5 components of health EVERY DAY.  In no order, those components are:  Physical, Social, Mental, Spiritual, and Psychological.  All five of those flowers need to be growing in your garden and one of those can't be acting like a weed and choking everything out.

2.  Persistence, (Elbow Greece) - If you are waiting to be inspired in order to take something on, think again, the most creative and motivated individuals are those that work hard at something every day, even when they don't want to.  Repetition will yield creativity.  A routine is not boring, it gives you time.

3.  Commitment - This is becoming a lost art as it is becoming easier and easier to back out of a contract, talk your way out of a goal, or find an excuse.  There is a lot of people selling the "Carpe Diem" approach and just living for the next day or whatever life gives us. Opportunities come out of commitment, not the other way around.

Good luck to all those starting new school years and new athletic seasons!

The Practice Range

One of the things I enjoy outside of swimming is golf.  Believe it or not, I even enjoy watching it on T.V.  Recently, I have run across a show that has caught my attention, as a golfer, and as a swim coach. The show is called the Practice Range and can be found on the Golf Channel the night before a tournament.

The show has a live camera on the Practice Range at the tournament site and it looks at what the golfers are working on and what drills they are doing to improve a particular shot, or maybe fix something that doesn't feel right.  As the camera goes back and forth from golfer to golfer, the guys in the studio comment on what they are doing, why they are doing the drills, and what they are trying to fix.

As I was watching, my mind wondered to what our swim practices looked like.

First, if there were live camera's in our practices with commentators back in the studio making comments, would they know what is going on? when they watch swimmers do drills, would they know what we are trying to work on? Do our "drills" even look like drills or are they just filler, so we can say we did our % of drill work? Is the coach even paying attention?

Second, from a skill building stand point (I am a big believer that swimming is more skill building than any of the other big aerobic exercises), there are some differences in how golfers and other sports build skill that we don't see in the pool.

Here are some observations from the practice range:

1.  Not worried about how many balls they hit (reps).  Would rather do less, with the desired outcome.
2.  There is not a time crunch (sendoff).  Very laid back, time to talk, and think.
3.  They work on all their shots, not just their favorites (strokes).
4.  They work on the simplest things the most, like short puts.  (streamlines)
5.  They pay attention to the outcome.  What happens as a result of this or that (stroke count/speed).


The more I watch and think about my own practices, the more I am convinced that building skill cannot happen on fast sendoff's or just sticking drill/swim in front of a set of 50's.

We have to allow our swimmers TIME to stop and think, the ability to COMMUNICATE with coaches and each other, and take away the STRESS of sendoff's so they can pay attention to what things feel like and know the outcomes, rather than how much rest they are getting before the next rep.