Talked to the group today about racing.
Essentially that is what the sport of swimming is. I think at the age-group level sometimes we get caught up in the times so much we forget to tell the kids to race.
I think that this is one reason why we see so many kids swim there best in High School Season. High School Swimming is based on scoring points and racing, there is not as much emphasis on the time itself. Put your hand on the wall first that is your job.
I talked to the swimmers about fearing the loss. They are going to happen, but there are different ways to view the loss of a race. The Swimmer can feel indifferent. This is where we kind of want most beginning swimmers, as we want them to focus on their improvement. As they get faster they need to develop the race mentality though. The negative interpretation is allowing a loss to verify where you stand as a swimmer in the pecking order. I know coaches sometimes swim outside of their LSC to get their swimmers away from all the normal competition to avoid this as well. The positive interpretation is accepting the loss, but looking at those who beat you, and committing yourself to working harder to beat them later. The positive interpretation creates inner motivation to push more at practice which in turn leads to better results.
How do you interpret a loss? Neutral, negative, or positive? As a developing swimmer Neutral is ok, but to take the next step you must develop the positive interpretation.
Similar to breaking Negative Self-Talk, you may have to start by artificially telling yourself the positive outloud, and repeat it many times. It may seem silly, but the more a swimmer hears it the more likely they will begin to change their interpretation.
Negativity can kill a swimming career. One bad season or meet that a swimmer allows negativity to take over can become a slippery slope that is really hard to come out of at the end. It takes effort to develop a positive attitude, similar to training your body; you must train your mind. Do not underestimate the power of the mind, negativity can literally destroy a swimmer going down a great path towards success. It will be that thing that no one can understand what all went wrong.
Monday, January 23, 2012
HS Swimming to college
I loved High School Swimming. I loved it for the same reason I loved Recreational Swimming. It became less about the time and more about racing somebody. I believe that this is the reason why so many swimmers have best times during the high school season, they love the race.
I trained the bare minimum of practices in accordance to the rules with my high school team. Other than that I trained with the Club Team. I stopped going to recreational team practices when I was 11. People want to know why the RCA kids were so fast in the recreational league... because we continued to train toward goals that exceeded way beyond Recreational League or High School. The only reason I went to recreational practice was to coach.
Swimming has changed, and the significance of things have also changed. Recreational Swimming never meant much at all, but High School swimming has lost some of its importance in regards to college. It has become more of a spotlight for swimmers to show off to a bigger population that doesn't pay attention to USA Swimming. It is fun to show off all the work you have put in, and High School swimming provides that stage.
College swimming is not a revenue sport for universities. It is a deficit program to colleges, but it provides an opportunity for swimmers to continue to compete at a high level, and for the sport that they committed to help them get an education or add to the college experience (more on this later).
Hypothetically, if I were a college coach, I would not spend my budgeted money or time to travel to a random high school championship. The creation of the national database has put into every college recruiters hands the ability to see the best times across the US. So, it wouldn't mean anything to me as a recruiter on whether the swimmer swam high school or not.
College Swimming has been seen as a way to get a scholarship. My brother describes the college scholarship as the "holy grail." So is there more to swimming in college than the scholarship? Yes! Intramural Sports are big at many colleges, as it adds to the experience of college. Participating at the college level on a true college team provides a similar experience, but with even more meaning and significance. Swimming on a Division 1 college team is not easy, and not all of the swimmers on the team are on scholarship. Most swim on the team for the experience of college swimming. This is done at every level of college sports.
Things have changed. I still think High School Swimming serves a purpose (mainly social), but it is by no means necessary as it may have been in the past to continue on to college swimming.
I trained the bare minimum of practices in accordance to the rules with my high school team. Other than that I trained with the Club Team. I stopped going to recreational team practices when I was 11. People want to know why the RCA kids were so fast in the recreational league... because we continued to train toward goals that exceeded way beyond Recreational League or High School. The only reason I went to recreational practice was to coach.
Swimming has changed, and the significance of things have also changed. Recreational Swimming never meant much at all, but High School swimming has lost some of its importance in regards to college. It has become more of a spotlight for swimmers to show off to a bigger population that doesn't pay attention to USA Swimming. It is fun to show off all the work you have put in, and High School swimming provides that stage.
College swimming is not a revenue sport for universities. It is a deficit program to colleges, but it provides an opportunity for swimmers to continue to compete at a high level, and for the sport that they committed to help them get an education or add to the college experience (more on this later).
Hypothetically, if I were a college coach, I would not spend my budgeted money or time to travel to a random high school championship. The creation of the national database has put into every college recruiters hands the ability to see the best times across the US. So, it wouldn't mean anything to me as a recruiter on whether the swimmer swam high school or not.
College Swimming has been seen as a way to get a scholarship. My brother describes the college scholarship as the "holy grail." So is there more to swimming in college than the scholarship? Yes! Intramural Sports are big at many colleges, as it adds to the experience of college. Participating at the college level on a true college team provides a similar experience, but with even more meaning and significance. Swimming on a Division 1 college team is not easy, and not all of the swimmers on the team are on scholarship. Most swim on the team for the experience of college swimming. This is done at every level of college sports.
Things have changed. I still think High School Swimming serves a purpose (mainly social), but it is by no means necessary as it may have been in the past to continue on to college swimming.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Failing
One of the biggest lessons learned through the sport of swimming, is the lesson on how to deal with failure. Swimmers, and actually athletes in general fail all the time. It is the ability to bounce back that separates the successful and great ones.
In the article, Nation of Wimps, the author describes how our society has created a whole generation of wimps, and that each successive year seems to be getting worse. We protect our children from any thing that may be hard or could possible harm them, even if it is minor damage.
I remember when I wrote my Senior Paper, The Dangerously, Loving Sports Parent, I found research that supported that we were tough on our kids, but protect them from failure. One paper I used was actually in relating the problem to what kids will grow up to face, and that the article was about business and how we have sucked the life out of our success of a nation due to our society not willing to fail.
I took this job at CSSC on a leap of faith. I believed in my ability as a swim coach, and I wanted to test myself to see if I could live up to the demands of a full-time swim coach. So far it has paid off. I left a job I'd never lose and situation that I had helped put back on stable ground, but I couldn't pursue the dream of being a full-time coach in that situation, so I up and left all the was safe behind. I knew there was chance to fail, but I was willing to take that chance to see if I could do what I believed that I could.
Below is a blog by John Tesh, who rights about taking risks and accepting that failure could happen and that it is not the end of the world to fail. It is those that are willing to risk that reach levels that others only dream about.
John Tesh Blog 1/2/12
I have people ask me every year to give them my resolutions for the New Year and I am always loath to do this because it can be a very personal thing. However, this year, which will be my 60th on this earth, I feel like I need to offer up the wisdom I have gathered as a guy who has pretty much tried everything and learned volumes from his failures (and a few successes).
So here it is: My New Year's Resolution for 2012 which has been my same battle cry for about 25 years.
RISK MORE.
I wrote about this in my book a few years back under the chapter 'Hard work, Risk and Prayer' and it is a concept that the world's most successful people have learned to embrace on the road to greatness. There have been many polls over the years where senior citizens (people 80-100 years old) were asked what they would have changed about their lives. Nearly every man and woman said they would have RISKED more. Crazy, right? How is it possible that most of us will eventually look back on our lives and wish we had taken more chances? It's true. For some reason, something in our DNA or something our parents told us established limits in our lives. That little voice in our head whispers promises of failure, embarrassment or ridicule. So, we stay in our comfort zone. We avoid taking risks because that will keep us safe from harm.
For the first one third of my life I missed out on amazing opportunities for success and joy because I was scared-to-death of failure and judgement. After many years of psychotherapy (beginning with Dr. John Hart) I was able to overcome those feelings and enjoy the beauty of RISK. There is no voodoo here and not really the need for therapy. It basically works like this.
PRACTICE FAILING.
Practice falling on your face so you'll know what it feels like. It's no longer some creepy, unknown horror. For example, Dr. Hart would have me sit at the piano and start a piece and then have me purposely make a mistake. He would ask me how it felt....what was going on in my body....to describe the feeling etc. Then he'd have me do it again and again. Then we would formulate a plan for recovery. Would I smile and acknowledge the error? Would I replace the notes with others? Would I pretend it didn't happen? The point here is that you understand how failure feels (practice it) so you are not 'shocked' by that feeling and you can move on. You've seen men do this at parties where they ask 10 women to dance and the 11th says yes. You've seen quarterbacks throw a pass after 3 straight interceptions. You may have heard how I quit a 7-figure job at Entertainment Tonight to start a music career. I used to work with Olympic skiing champion Billy Kidd and on the air I asked him his secret for becoming a true champion. "Falling....a lot", he said.
"The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live". - Leo Buscaglia.
"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot
In the article, Nation of Wimps, the author describes how our society has created a whole generation of wimps, and that each successive year seems to be getting worse. We protect our children from any thing that may be hard or could possible harm them, even if it is minor damage.
I remember when I wrote my Senior Paper, The Dangerously, Loving Sports Parent, I found research that supported that we were tough on our kids, but protect them from failure. One paper I used was actually in relating the problem to what kids will grow up to face, and that the article was about business and how we have sucked the life out of our success of a nation due to our society not willing to fail.
I took this job at CSSC on a leap of faith. I believed in my ability as a swim coach, and I wanted to test myself to see if I could live up to the demands of a full-time swim coach. So far it has paid off. I left a job I'd never lose and situation that I had helped put back on stable ground, but I couldn't pursue the dream of being a full-time coach in that situation, so I up and left all the was safe behind. I knew there was chance to fail, but I was willing to take that chance to see if I could do what I believed that I could.
Below is a blog by John Tesh, who rights about taking risks and accepting that failure could happen and that it is not the end of the world to fail. It is those that are willing to risk that reach levels that others only dream about.
John Tesh Blog 1/2/12
I have people ask me every year to give them my resolutions for the New Year and I am always loath to do this because it can be a very personal thing. However, this year, which will be my 60th on this earth, I feel like I need to offer up the wisdom I have gathered as a guy who has pretty much tried everything and learned volumes from his failures (and a few successes).
So here it is: My New Year's Resolution for 2012 which has been my same battle cry for about 25 years.
RISK MORE.
I wrote about this in my book a few years back under the chapter 'Hard work, Risk and Prayer' and it is a concept that the world's most successful people have learned to embrace on the road to greatness. There have been many polls over the years where senior citizens (people 80-100 years old) were asked what they would have changed about their lives. Nearly every man and woman said they would have RISKED more. Crazy, right? How is it possible that most of us will eventually look back on our lives and wish we had taken more chances? It's true. For some reason, something in our DNA or something our parents told us established limits in our lives. That little voice in our head whispers promises of failure, embarrassment or ridicule. So, we stay in our comfort zone. We avoid taking risks because that will keep us safe from harm.
For the first one third of my life I missed out on amazing opportunities for success and joy because I was scared-to-death of failure and judgement. After many years of psychotherapy (beginning with Dr. John Hart) I was able to overcome those feelings and enjoy the beauty of RISK. There is no voodoo here and not really the need for therapy. It basically works like this.
PRACTICE FAILING.
Practice falling on your face so you'll know what it feels like. It's no longer some creepy, unknown horror. For example, Dr. Hart would have me sit at the piano and start a piece and then have me purposely make a mistake. He would ask me how it felt....what was going on in my body....to describe the feeling etc. Then he'd have me do it again and again. Then we would formulate a plan for recovery. Would I smile and acknowledge the error? Would I replace the notes with others? Would I pretend it didn't happen? The point here is that you understand how failure feels (practice it) so you are not 'shocked' by that feeling and you can move on. You've seen men do this at parties where they ask 10 women to dance and the 11th says yes. You've seen quarterbacks throw a pass after 3 straight interceptions. You may have heard how I quit a 7-figure job at Entertainment Tonight to start a music career. I used to work with Olympic skiing champion Billy Kidd and on the air I asked him his secret for becoming a true champion. "Falling....a lot", he said.
"The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live". - Leo Buscaglia.
"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Virtual Club Championships
I think some people think I am silly when it comes to VCC. I love this program though. It is a team effort to score points, and a way that teams from all of USA Swimming to compete against each other.
I think it is my competitive drive that makes me love the program so much. I like the idea of competing against other teams. The idea that fast times score more points, creates a game between swim clubs throughout the duration of a season. High School swim was always fun because we put points to a swim team, and the same goes for dual meets, tri meets, and college meets.
I always am looking at the score a few days after a meet to see how many points we scored by the improvements that we made. With CSSC, we have actually done some great things, as we have now surpassed the clubs best score outside of 2003 (this year is skewed as 17 and 18 were separated groups, so there was more opportunities to score for older swimmers). The program has only existed since 2003, so I think that CSA's success mainly came pre-2003, but we can say that our team from 11 - 18 is now at one of this club's best place in the most recent future. Although this is great to have accomplished, it is only skimming the surface of what we want to accomplish, as we hope to develop a top level club in relation to the entire country. Hoping that this year we break into the top 200, but we have some work to do to accomplish this.
Yes, I think about VCC a lot, but it is because it is the game when it comes to this sport, and I love the competition of trying to be the best.
I think it is my competitive drive that makes me love the program so much. I like the idea of competing against other teams. The idea that fast times score more points, creates a game between swim clubs throughout the duration of a season. High School swim was always fun because we put points to a swim team, and the same goes for dual meets, tri meets, and college meets.
I always am looking at the score a few days after a meet to see how many points we scored by the improvements that we made. With CSSC, we have actually done some great things, as we have now surpassed the clubs best score outside of 2003 (this year is skewed as 17 and 18 were separated groups, so there was more opportunities to score for older swimmers). The program has only existed since 2003, so I think that CSA's success mainly came pre-2003, but we can say that our team from 11 - 18 is now at one of this club's best place in the most recent future. Although this is great to have accomplished, it is only skimming the surface of what we want to accomplish, as we hope to develop a top level club in relation to the entire country. Hoping that this year we break into the top 200, but we have some work to do to accomplish this.
Yes, I think about VCC a lot, but it is because it is the game when it comes to this sport, and I love the competition of trying to be the best.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Excuses
First of all no one likes excuses, but they are always there. Coaches hear them all the time. For the most part, I write them off, and just go with the flow. I coach a level where they enter the group with many excuses and I hope that they leave not making the same excuses. My group is a development stage, not just in ability, but in how to be a senior swimmer.
Senior Swimmers though, we still hear the complaints from and the excuses coming. Then they come up with their goals and forget to go over the aspect of goal setting, of what it is going to take to get to that goal.
For a whole season, a coach trains their group and then there are excuses that come up (hey, things come up and things happen). Sometimes a coach hears excuses too many times in the course of season, and they get tired of hearing them. Then when a swimmer doesn't achieve their goal that season, and the coach gives them the excuse (I am going to use that term for sake of comparison, as we don't really consider it an excuse) because you missed so many practices. The normal response, "but I had an excuse for the times I missed." Sorry, but the excuse isn't going to make up for that practice missed. We are talking about physiological development that is planned out for the correct amount of rest to work ratio according the time of the season. An extra day of rest shifts the ratio. Doing some running on your own, when the group is doing speed or anaerobic development isn't going to help out as it isn't the plan for the particular day on the energy zone targeted. Slacking off on a workout and not achieving the right intensity and not working the specific energy zone targeted to be hit for the day can also throw things off. It is a science, and every missed practice adds more to the margin for error. It doesn't mean that you won't have a good season if you miss practice, but you alter the plan thus creating a larger margin for error for what the coach hypothesizes will come out of the work through the season.
The best thing to do begins with the goal setting stage. Establish goals, but also determine what kind of commitment and work ethic will be needed to accomplish the goal. Write it down, and then when the season is up, you need to honestly look at the time and effort put in to see if you met the expectation of the goal that set.
Senior Swimmers though, we still hear the complaints from and the excuses coming. Then they come up with their goals and forget to go over the aspect of goal setting, of what it is going to take to get to that goal.
For a whole season, a coach trains their group and then there are excuses that come up (hey, things come up and things happen). Sometimes a coach hears excuses too many times in the course of season, and they get tired of hearing them. Then when a swimmer doesn't achieve their goal that season, and the coach gives them the excuse (I am going to use that term for sake of comparison, as we don't really consider it an excuse) because you missed so many practices. The normal response, "but I had an excuse for the times I missed." Sorry, but the excuse isn't going to make up for that practice missed. We are talking about physiological development that is planned out for the correct amount of rest to work ratio according the time of the season. An extra day of rest shifts the ratio. Doing some running on your own, when the group is doing speed or anaerobic development isn't going to help out as it isn't the plan for the particular day on the energy zone targeted. Slacking off on a workout and not achieving the right intensity and not working the specific energy zone targeted to be hit for the day can also throw things off. It is a science, and every missed practice adds more to the margin for error. It doesn't mean that you won't have a good season if you miss practice, but you alter the plan thus creating a larger margin for error for what the coach hypothesizes will come out of the work through the season.
The best thing to do begins with the goal setting stage. Establish goals, but also determine what kind of commitment and work ethic will be needed to accomplish the goal. Write it down, and then when the season is up, you need to honestly look at the time and effort put in to see if you met the expectation of the goal that set.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Backstroke Entry
For years I have had some decent backstrokers. Although even my good
backstrokers tend to have a over reach in their stroke. This over reach
creates wasted motion, and possible push outward creating a side to side
path in the water, and also a side to side motion created by setting
the swimmers "mast" or lead arm, in an angled position.
At Sectionals I talked to Phil about what he was doing, and he mentioned one thing that he was going to start trying more often. It came from Kohlton Norys who swam for Phil and now is training at Auburn University. He mentioned that in his first year at Auburn that noticed an 8% over reach on his backstroke entry. That utilized a skill they do a lot for backstroke at Auburn which is doing backstroke kick in "rollercoasters." This position was very much close to what I call "Superman" position, so I decided to start doing backstroke kick in superman and have the fingers lifted upward towards the sky and palms facing backwards.
This position is the actual feel to the correct backstroke entry. The thought process is that we do some much kicking in streamline that the swimmers get use to bringing the arms to a streamline position with one arm, thus resulting in an over reach. So I have now started to use this both my age-groupers and my masters swimmers. It has helped slightly with the over reach for some, but some swimmers do need some more repetition as the entering in a streamline is so engrained. It has also allowed me to focus on the flexing of the tricep to create straighter arms during the "Superman", which in turn, has resulted in better streamlines, as they have begun to incorporate the straighter arms into the streamline position.
I am curious to see what happens to the backstroke through a season of utilizing this method, and can't wait to see the results in three to four months.
At Sectionals I talked to Phil about what he was doing, and he mentioned one thing that he was going to start trying more often. It came from Kohlton Norys who swam for Phil and now is training at Auburn University. He mentioned that in his first year at Auburn that noticed an 8% over reach on his backstroke entry. That utilized a skill they do a lot for backstroke at Auburn which is doing backstroke kick in "rollercoasters." This position was very much close to what I call "Superman" position, so I decided to start doing backstroke kick in superman and have the fingers lifted upward towards the sky and palms facing backwards.
This position is the actual feel to the correct backstroke entry. The thought process is that we do some much kicking in streamline that the swimmers get use to bringing the arms to a streamline position with one arm, thus resulting in an over reach. So I have now started to use this both my age-groupers and my masters swimmers. It has helped slightly with the over reach for some, but some swimmers do need some more repetition as the entering in a streamline is so engrained. It has also allowed me to focus on the flexing of the tricep to create straighter arms during the "Superman", which in turn, has resulted in better streamlines, as they have begun to incorporate the straighter arms into the streamline position.
I am curious to see what happens to the backstroke through a season of utilizing this method, and can't wait to see the results in three to four months.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
To do the "extra" to be successful
There are so many kids in our country. There are so many kids out there who do sports. Most of the kids make up the majority of our population. To be an athlete though, puts you in a small niche of people in this country. I am not talking about a child who participate in sports, but an athlete that makes sacrifice to be at the top of the game. I stress to my swimmers that when they choose to be an athlete, it is not a choice that one should take lightly. It means that you will push yourself to discomfort in your training, and it means that you will persevere through the good and the bad times. It means that you will be the one that decides that not going to watch that high school football is worth it to continue on your training plan. It is when you sacrifice activities that your peers will be doing to put the extra time into practice or get sleep to allow your body to recover.
Dr. Phil Black calls these people the extraordinary people who do the "extra" to strive to be successful. He mentions that these people see fatigue as "the front door to future success that many others will never enter." He also mentions that these are also the people who, "sacrifice comfort and replace it with discomfort." This note that I am mentioning though he does have a qualifier before it, and it is, "...for only those who dare to strive for the highest level of achievement."
To be an elite athlete is not easy, otherwise there would be a lot of them. Many don't even realize the fatigue and discomfort that others reach to be where they are, and allow themselves to accept that just reaching fatigue and discomfort occasionally is all that it takes. This is what separates the top from the middle. It is more than just showing up, it is more than just pushing hard; it is about pushing yourself to the next level of fatigue and discomfort.
The development of muscles is the breaking down of those tissues in the muscle. That in itself sounds painful and not very comfortable. How can athletes think it only takes some work and the occasional practice where they reach that point of fatigue and discomfort.
This is the biggest lesson for swim coaches Pre-Senior and above need to make sure their athletes understand. The unfortinate part is most of the kids will be so caught up in this society of so many distractions, will be unable to sacrifice what is needed to be most successful. Others will choose not to because they are afraid of what their highest success actually is.
So for those who wish to swim at the highest level, you need to ask yourself, Am I willing to make the sacrifices? Am I willing to do the "extra" required to reach that highest level?
Dr. Phil Black calls these people the extraordinary people who do the "extra" to strive to be successful. He mentions that these people see fatigue as "the front door to future success that many others will never enter." He also mentions that these are also the people who, "sacrifice comfort and replace it with discomfort." This note that I am mentioning though he does have a qualifier before it, and it is, "...for only those who dare to strive for the highest level of achievement."
To be an elite athlete is not easy, otherwise there would be a lot of them. Many don't even realize the fatigue and discomfort that others reach to be where they are, and allow themselves to accept that just reaching fatigue and discomfort occasionally is all that it takes. This is what separates the top from the middle. It is more than just showing up, it is more than just pushing hard; it is about pushing yourself to the next level of fatigue and discomfort.
The development of muscles is the breaking down of those tissues in the muscle. That in itself sounds painful and not very comfortable. How can athletes think it only takes some work and the occasional practice where they reach that point of fatigue and discomfort.
This is the biggest lesson for swim coaches Pre-Senior and above need to make sure their athletes understand. The unfortinate part is most of the kids will be so caught up in this society of so many distractions, will be unable to sacrifice what is needed to be most successful. Others will choose not to because they are afraid of what their highest success actually is.
So for those who wish to swim at the highest level, you need to ask yourself, Am I willing to make the sacrifices? Am I willing to do the "extra" required to reach that highest level?
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Breaststroke Body Position; don't duck dive
This just came out last night at practice. I visualized what I see some of the swimmers do, and it made me think of the days when I use to go out and surf. Swimming out and get past the break is sometimes challenging, so there is a method called a "Duck Dive"
I talked about how I want them to hold a downhill position, and that we don't want to duck dive. When doing the "Duck Dive" in surfing the board is buoyant, so the method works very well, but when swimming you don't have a surfboard to lift the body portion of the body. This is why keeping the lungs down to help raise the hips. If done properly though, the hips don't have that far to lift anyways.
I don't always teach in the terms of what not to do, but on occasion I'll mention it to let them know what they are doing because they may not be aware of what they are doing. The "Duck Dive seemed to be a fun way to describe a motion that I wanted to discourage. Hopefully I painted a decent picture for them, and it can be applied as we move on.
I talked about how I want them to hold a downhill position, and that we don't want to duck dive. When doing the "Duck Dive" in surfing the board is buoyant, so the method works very well, but when swimming you don't have a surfboard to lift the body portion of the body. This is why keeping the lungs down to help raise the hips. If done properly though, the hips don't have that far to lift anyways.
I don't always teach in the terms of what not to do, but on occasion I'll mention it to let them know what they are doing because they may not be aware of what they are doing. The "Duck Dive seemed to be a fun way to describe a motion that I wanted to discourage. Hopefully I painted a decent picture for them, and it can be applied as we move on.
New Years Eve Workout
This year I did the same as last year for our New Years Eve Practice. We did the Biathlon again. The Thanksgiving Biathlon has become more of a practice to this one. Due to the miscounting the laps on the Turkey burn-off Biathlon, I had some parents come out and help count the laps running. The swimming portion I kept track of, and the kids did a much better job. There was a clerical error which resulted in most of the swimmers running an extra lap, but the kids seemed to be unphased by it.
The biathlon ended up being 11 laps around the soccer field (this is probably close to 3 miles) they then transition by running to the pool and getting preparing to swim. The swim is 2500 yards. 100 Free, 100 IM, 200 Free, 200 IM, 300 Free, 300 IM, 400 Free, 400 IM, 500 Free.
Some of the swimmers don't like the biathlon, by the majority of them enjoy the challenge of the event. They do feel accomplished, and they like to see where they finish. The Biathlon is great aerobically, but it has become fun because I really try to promote it as a fun challenging event. It is cool to see the swimmer accept the challenge as being fun, and push themselves to do their best. I think that this is one of those big things that my group is to learn and to develop the work ethic to see the fun in pushing oneself and challenging themselves.
The biathlon ended up being 11 laps around the soccer field (this is probably close to 3 miles) they then transition by running to the pool and getting preparing to swim. The swim is 2500 yards. 100 Free, 100 IM, 200 Free, 200 IM, 300 Free, 300 IM, 400 Free, 400 IM, 500 Free.
Some of the swimmers don't like the biathlon, by the majority of them enjoy the challenge of the event. They do feel accomplished, and they like to see where they finish. The Biathlon is great aerobically, but it has become fun because I really try to promote it as a fun challenging event. It is cool to see the swimmer accept the challenge as being fun, and push themselves to do their best. I think that this is one of those big things that my group is to learn and to develop the work ethic to see the fun in pushing oneself and challenging themselves.
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