Monday Practice Report

We had two goals for Monday PM's practice:

1- a strong kicking set (we did 10x100 with the last 4 on 1:20 or 1:30)

2- a strong aerobic set (we did either 12x250 or 12x150)

Jack, Drew (a visitor from Indiana), Karen, and Bella did the 12x250.

Here is the set & Jack's results.  Karen's and Bella's results are written below:

1x250 (310) -- 231

3x250 (255) -- 227, 227, 227

2x250 (305) -- 230, 230

2x250 (250) -- 224, 223

3x250 (3) -- 230, 230, 230

1x250 (245) -- 217.9

Karen held 241-242 on the 250s on 310, 305, and 3, while holding 238-235 on the others.  Karen went 227 on the end!

Bella held 243-246 on the 250s on 310, 305, and 3, while holding 241-237 on the others.  Bella went 237 on the end!

Drew did really awesome too!  I'm not going to post a lot of details on kids who swim with other teams…Drew's coach can make that call :)

Our 18x150s group did the set almost flawlessly.  The one hiccup was on number 9….too easily done after a pair of fast 150s.  Jacob 120.1 after a 125, 124 pair led the way.  As an example, Jacob went his 125 and 124, but went up to 132 (if I remember correctly?) on number 9…I would think 128 would be more appropriate given the 125-124 pair.  But to Jacob's and the rest of the group's credit, they get right back in the correct range on number 10 and 11, leading into some good 150s on the end.

Little details make the set!  We are actually a pretty savvy team overall with this time of thing.

The kick set at the beginning was a good, strong effort.  It wasn't our best effort as a group, but we didn't kick poorly….it seemed like the group was getting warmed up mentally for the rest of the day.  I bring this up to highlight the reality of training, as it is sometimes!  Parents and those who are not involved in training have a hard time seeing how this works, but for those of us who are "in it" -- it's a reality…..you gotta "GET UP" for training.  Some days are tougher than others in terms of "Getting up".  But, this being said -- perhaps we need to be harder on ourselves.

I will say that yesterday I wondered and thought about our morning practice attendance (we were hit and miss Monday morning with our National group).  When you have to face Monday PM practice after being "off" since Saturday morning (that's 60 hours!)….the Monday PM practice can come as a shock!  The other athletes (who came to Monday AM practice) can end up getting this undesirable attitude that says "well, that guy didn't even GET HERE this morning…why do I have to work the WHOLE practice this afternoon…after all, at least I have been here."  When everyone is at practice, firing together, it makes it easier to get into the "we're all in this together" attitude mode…which is very powerful!

So, I'd say that while Monday PM's kick set, in itself, wasn't all that bad -- it probably could have been better if we would have all had the Monday AM kick set under our belt…not to mention we would have all been up since 5am and it's quite possible that this fact could have psyched us up as a group to do even better in the PM.  And you all know how I feel, I'd prefer not to waste a single set in training!  We can do it.

Parents, don't be mistaken.  I'm not pointing out an overt attitude issue we had at practice on Monday PM.  This is a very subtle thing that I consider when I think about the direction of our group's attitude.  I do think that our attitude AT PRACTICE on Monday PM was awesome.  We had almost all Group members in attendance, and athletes were psyched doing the training…which showed through their awesome results.  

I want to re-iterate what I put out in an email a few weeks back.  I have encouraged parents not to attend practices, for a variety of reasons, but I am changing my tune with the National group.  Do you want to know a good day to see what's going on?  Friday is a great day…it's a bit shorter, and if you just saw 5pm-540pm you'd more often than not see a group kicking set -- which is a key to our training.  You can feel free to use the bleachers on the CSN side of the pool.