Quote of the Week

When we long for life without difficulties,

remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary

winds and diamonds are made under pressure.

Ralph Pierre LaCock (a.k.a. Peter Marshall)

Quote of the Week

 

It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept

anything but the best, you very often get it.

William Somerset Maugham

Final Summer Attendance Numbers

Added in everyone's July workouts and here's how we ended up for summer of 2013 workout attendance:

KW (128/31/159)
CG (123/33/156)
MW (113/31/144)
KV (108/32/140)
AS (93/28/121)

Compare these numbers to your peers on high school teams in the area/state and y'all should be very confident going into this season.

Let's build on the aerobic base and strength we gained over the summer and get even further ahead as we go through September and October.

Quote of the Week

Give me six hours to chop down

a tree and I will spend the first

four sharpening the axe.

(via The White House)
 

Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the Week

 

The easiest way to build an incredible team is

to build an incredible team.  Thoroughbreds

don't want to run with donkeys.

 

 

David L. Ramsey III

Next Three (3) Weeks

Right now I'm buried with prepping for school.  I'll be teaching math at BCHS.

Posting this from the notebook, as our desktop just died.  Taking it to a buddy in the morning to see what, if anything, he can do for us.

Suggested workout schedule for the first three weeks of the season:

Monday, 26th, Afternoon:  ECHS/FCST
Tuesday, 27th, Afternoon:  Dry-land & Swim
Wednesday, 28th, Afternoon:  Swim
Thursday, 29th, Afternoon:  Dry-land & Swim
Friday, 30th, Afternoon:  Swim

Tuesday, 3rd, Afternoon:  Dry-land & Swim
Wednesday, 4th, Morning:  Swim
Wednesday, 4th, Afternoon:  Swim
Thursday, 5th, Afternoon:  Dry-land & Swim
Friday, 6th, Morning:  Swim
Friday, 6th, Afternoon:  Swim

Monday, 9th, Afternoon:  ECHS/FCST
Tuesday, 10th, Afternoon:  Dry-land & Swim
Wednesday, 11th, Morning:  Swim
Wednesday, 11th, Afternoon:  Swim
Thursday, 12th, Afternoon:  Dry-land & Swim
Friday, 13th, Morning:  Swim
Friday, 13th, Afternoon:  Swim
Saturday, 14th:  Swim & Dry-Land

This is hardly written in stone.  If this doesn't work with the high school and/or club workout schedule I completely understand.  Just give me feedback so I'll know who's working out when/where so I send appropriate workouts.

For the first few weeks, I'd like to email y'all swim and dry-land workouts to do in El Campo.  As we get into a routine (fourth week will be a full week similar to what y'all did in April/May), we'll see if we can't figure out a schedule that'll allow me to run a workout here and there.

Coach Nava provided me with a meet schedule and I'll work around that.  Also, if Coach Nava asks y'all to do a different afternoon workout than what I send, please don't hesitate to do whatever he asks.

Watch your email for next week's workouts.

Nope, don't need that.  Playing here and there (mostly when Clare was driving on trip).  Still too much of a cheapskate to pay for anything.  Stuck at 125, but getting closer.

Link to Bobby's US Open 200 free video is here.  Had a little trouble playing it on this computer, but once it was in full screen mode, it played well.  Kid from Wisconsin in lane 4 was pretty good underwater.  He had a higher stroke rate, though, so he and Bobby had very similar overall stroke counts.

Finally, we did the tourist thing and tried out a drive-through tree in the Redwoods.  Good thing we had a rental, as the truck wouldn't have made it.

Quote of the Week

Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and
high achievers don't like mediocre people.

Nicholas Lou "Nick" Saban

Quote of the Week

 

The key to ultimate success is the
determination to progress day by day.



Edmar John Mednis

Quote of the Week

 

I try to make the good days great and

take something positive from the days

I'm not feeling so good - work on

technique or something like that.

Kathleen Genevieve "Katie" Ledecky

Quote of the Week

Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow

I can accomplish what others can't.

Jerry Lee Rice

Guess Who?

Wednesday - Friday Schedule Changes

Wednesday:  7:30 - 9:00 a.m. & 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.

Thursday:  8:00 - 9:00 a.m. & 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Friday:  8:30 - 9:00 a.m. & 4:00 - 4:30 p.m.

FIP Updates

Successful FIP's from this morning:

Free

MW - 1:15

Primary

CG - 1:15
MW - 1:32
KV - 1:35
KW - 1:40

Quote of the Week

 

Nobody got anywhere in the

world by simply being content.

Louis Dearborn L'Amour

Time Conversion Link

This link provides pretty accurate conversions.  Converts between SC yards, LC meters, and SC meters.  For times swum in Wharton, go from SC meters to SC yards.

Time Conversion Utility

Sad Reminder

This is why we do not do unsupervised/long distance breath-holding.  Story here.

Quote of the Week

 

Setting a goal is not the main thing.
It is deciding how you will go about
achieving it and staying with that plan.



Thomas Wade "Tom" Landry

Talent is Overrated

Talent is overrated?  That's what Geoff Colvin says. Read more here.

The idea of "deliberate practice" seems to mirror what we're supposed to be doing with our swimmers.

Can you see how Colvin's eight (8) characteristics of deliberate practice tie in with the way outstanding swimming programs teach and train their athletes?

An Understanding of Deliberate Practice
A summarization of Colvin’s eight characteristics of deliberate practice follow below. Readers will find a more in-depth explanation as well as a number of examples in Colvin’s original article.

“Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance with the key word being ‘designed.’ The essence of deliberate practice is continually stretching an individual just beyond his or her current abilities. By contrast, deliberate practice requires that one identify certain sharply defined elements of performance that need to be improved, and then work intently on them. The great performers isolate remarkably specific aspects of what they do and focus on just those things until they’re improved; then it’s on to the next aspect.”

“Deliberate practice can be repeated. High repetition is the most important difference between deliberate practice of a task and performing the task for real, when it counts. One is the choice of a properly demanding activity just beyond our current abilities. The other is the amount of repetition.”

“Feedback on results is continuously available.” Though this is obvious, it is “not nearly as simple as it might seem, especially when results require interpretation. In many important situations, a teacher, coach, or mentor is vital for providing crucial feedback.”

“It’s highly demanding mentally. Deliberate practice is above all an effort of focus and concentration. That is what makes it ‘deliberate.’ Continually seeking exactly those elements of performance that are unsatisfactory and then trying one’s hardest to make them better places enormous strains on anyone’s mental abilities. The work is so great that it seems no one can sustain it for very long.”

“It’s hard. This follows inescapably from the other characteristics of deliberate practice, which could be described as a recipe for not having fun. Doing things we know how to do well is enjoyable, and that’s exactly the opposite of what deliberate practice demands. Instead of doing what we’re good at, we insistently seek out what we’re not good at.”

There is a definitive ‘before the work’ component. “Self-regulation begins with setting goals – not big, life-directing goals, but more immediate goals for what you’re going to be doing today. In the research, the poorest performers don’t set goals at all; they just slog through their work. Mediocre performers set goals that are general and are often focused on simply achieving a good outcome. The best performers set goals that are not about the outcome but rather about the process of reaching the outcome.”

There is a ‘during the work’ phase. “The most important self-regulatory skill that top performers in every field use during their work is self-observation. Even in purely mental work, the best performers observe themselves closely. They are able to monitor what is happening in their own minds and ask how it’s going. Researchers call this metacognition – knowledge about your own knowledge, thinking about your own thinking. Top performers do this much more systematically than others do; it’s an established part of their routine.”

There is an ‘after the work’ component as well. “Practice activities are worthless without useful feedback about the results. These must be self-evaluations” and “the best performers judge themselves against a standard that’s relevant for what they’re trying to achieve. Sometimes they compare their performance with their own personal best; sometimes they compare it with the performance of competitors they’re facing or expect to face; sometimes they compare it with the best known performance by anyone in the field.”

First Semi-Rest Meet

We'll back off just a bit on June 26 - 28 so y'all will feel pretty good for weekend meets on the 29th & 30th.  That means a little over two more week of hard work before a little break.

Quote of the Week

If everything seems under control,

you're just not going fast enough.

Mario Andretti

Santa Clara Videos

A few slow motion videos from the Santa Clara Grand Prix are here.  Hoping they'll upload more soon.

Quote of the Week

The pessimist complains about the wind;

the optimist expects it to change;

the realist adjusts the sails.

William Arthur Ward

Quote of the Week

A winner is someone who recognizes his
God-given talents, works his tail off to
develop them into skills, and uses
these skills to accomplish his goals.



Larry Joe Bird

Quote of the Week

 

The first thing is to love your sport. Never do
it to please someone else. It has to be yours.



Peggy Gail Fleming

Another FIP

Free w/shoes

CG - 1:25

Quote of the Week

 

Even when we weren't running
good, we were having fun.



Anthony Wayne "Tony" Stewart

More FIP's

200 Free

CG - 2:20
MW - 2:25*
KW - 2:35
KV - 3:00**
AS - 3:10

*missed, try 2:30 next time
**made easily, try 2:50 next time

Quote of the Week

I attribute my success to this -

I never gave or took any excuse.

Florence Nightingale

Mesa Grand Prix Vids

Women's 200 breast A Final

Watch how much better Aggie Larson turns at the 150 than Leverenz.  Also, watch her build the tempo on the last 50.

Men's 200 breast A Final

Johnson picks up his turnover on lap 4 and blows past both Alexandrov and Burckle.

Women's 100 back A Final

Franklin not as good underwater as others, but had excellent 2nd 50 for win.

Men's 100 back A Final

Grevers had a nice back half.  Also, check out underwater shot to see how deep these guys dig/pull.

Women's 400 free A Final

London 800 free gold medalist Ledecky destroys the field.

Men's 400 free A Final

McLean holds off ex-Longhorn Klueh.  Both had excellent final 50's.

FIP's

Remember for next time:

Free

CG - 1:13
MW - 1:15
KV - 1:30
AS - 1:35

Primary

CG - 1:22
KV - 1:35
MW - 1:35
AS - 1:48