Nice workout for many today. We had a few athletes who were not quite able to "make the workout" (i.e. the intervals were too hard), mainly from the Senior Performance group -- but there were a few from the National group who had trouble.
Practice Goal: increase aerobic capacity for all athletes, specifically for freestyle training (for today). Read more about what "increasing aerobic capacity" is all about here: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/fitness/Pages/Aerobic-Capacity-and-Training-Ability.aspx
Notable absences from National group: None (good job guys).
Grades: Overall I'd give a 4.25 to National group athletes. We only had a few athletes who were not able to fit into the window of paces. Many National group athletes led lanes or went second in lanes. I saw a few National athletes make some "passes" during the practice (getting ahead of athletes who were not ready to train as fast). Shout out to Emma, who led the way on the B interval the entire way and was as consistent as she could be. Shawn, Jack, and Rip lead the way on the A interval.
Individual grades were not given today -- this was the type of set were you either passed or failed. I've mentioned those above due to their leadership on the set!
Paces were determined by looking at our athlete's 3000 for time (from last week, which not everyone did). I figured out that for most athletes, their "RED PACE" for 200 yards of freestyle was close to or equal to 15 seconds over their best time. Athletes whose best time was over 2:00 (as opposed to between 1:40 and 1:59) were slightly off from that, so I adjusted. I felt pretty comfortable going into the practice that we were on the right track with what the staff was asking the athletes to do….and I was proven correct.
Simply put, most athletes who have been consistently getting to practice and making practice count were great on this set.
Eleven athletes got after the toughest intervals (220-215 and 210). Ten made each interval comfortably. The eleventh athlete was not far behind, but notably that athlete did not attend the Monday Am practice or the Saturday Am practice. So, there is that! I am designing practices for athletes who have a high attendance percentage!
We had 23 athletes take a shot at the "B" interval (230-225-220), and only 12 made the set (accomplished all of the intervals and basically didn't have to stop to let their teammates pass). This is NOT a good percentage. Most of the misses came from Senior Performance, as I stated, but some came from the National group!
I could have made the intervals easier, but I would have made it easier for the higher-performing athletes in the group. "Easier" is not always a bad thing (a huge coaching mistake is to make things "hard" for the sake of being "hard" and "tough"), but in today's case, I am trying to push the athletes to their threshold of what they can handle, and keep them there for 40 minutes. Easy intervals do not allow an athlete to accomplish this!
In the event that Senior Performance members are reading this blog (and I hope they are because it should be a goal to eventually swim in the National group), let's KEEP PRESSING and REDUCE the AMOUNT of practices missed. I hear plenty from athletes and parents about wanting to get faster -- but then I see spaces in the lanes that are empty where the athletes should be. Let's walk the walk, not just talk the talk. If you are new to the group and the intervals are a huge eye opener, remember the discussions we have had: the practices are going to continue to get faster and YOU HAVE TO BE READY. It won't be easy but it will be worth it!
Practice Goal: increase aerobic capacity for all athletes, specifically for freestyle training (for today). Read more about what "increasing aerobic capacity" is all about here: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/fitness/Pages/Aerobic-Capacity-and-Training-Ability.aspx
Notable absences from National group: None (good job guys).
Grades: Overall I'd give a 4.25 to National group athletes. We only had a few athletes who were not able to fit into the window of paces. Many National group athletes led lanes or went second in lanes. I saw a few National athletes make some "passes" during the practice (getting ahead of athletes who were not ready to train as fast). Shout out to Emma, who led the way on the B interval the entire way and was as consistent as she could be. Shawn, Jack, and Rip lead the way on the A interval.
Individual grades were not given today -- this was the type of set were you either passed or failed. I've mentioned those above due to their leadership on the set!
Paces were determined by looking at our athlete's 3000 for time (from last week, which not everyone did). I figured out that for most athletes, their "RED PACE" for 200 yards of freestyle was close to or equal to 15 seconds over their best time. Athletes whose best time was over 2:00 (as opposed to between 1:40 and 1:59) were slightly off from that, so I adjusted. I felt pretty comfortable going into the practice that we were on the right track with what the staff was asking the athletes to do….and I was proven correct.
Simply put, most athletes who have been consistently getting to practice and making practice count were great on this set.
Eleven athletes got after the toughest intervals (220-215 and 210). Ten made each interval comfortably. The eleventh athlete was not far behind, but notably that athlete did not attend the Monday Am practice or the Saturday Am practice. So, there is that! I am designing practices for athletes who have a high attendance percentage!
We had 23 athletes take a shot at the "B" interval (230-225-220), and only 12 made the set (accomplished all of the intervals and basically didn't have to stop to let their teammates pass). This is NOT a good percentage. Most of the misses came from Senior Performance, as I stated, but some came from the National group!
I could have made the intervals easier, but I would have made it easier for the higher-performing athletes in the group. "Easier" is not always a bad thing (a huge coaching mistake is to make things "hard" for the sake of being "hard" and "tough"), but in today's case, I am trying to push the athletes to their threshold of what they can handle, and keep them there for 40 minutes. Easy intervals do not allow an athlete to accomplish this!
In the event that Senior Performance members are reading this blog (and I hope they are because it should be a goal to eventually swim in the National group), let's KEEP PRESSING and REDUCE the AMOUNT of practices missed. I hear plenty from athletes and parents about wanting to get faster -- but then I see spaces in the lanes that are empty where the athletes should be. Let's walk the walk, not just talk the talk. If you are new to the group and the intervals are a huge eye opener, remember the discussions we have had: the practices are going to continue to get faster and YOU HAVE TO BE READY. It won't be easy but it will be worth it!
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