Nearly next year

We have the pool for 3 hours again this Saturday so will again be splitting it into two 1.5 hour sessions, starting at 7am and 8:30am the same as last week.  The session will not be as challenging as the Christmas swim and we will be swimming less total distance.  However, there will be much more variety in the sets with some technique and different strokes thrown in alongside the aerobic front crawl main sets.

This session marks the end of our aerobic/technique block leading up to Christmas and next week we will start the pre-season training.  We will start to add in some more faster swims during the pre-season with time trials at the end of January and March.  Please remember to try and hold your technique as we add in the extra speed and use Doug’s TUF mnemonic, for Technique Under Fatigue, to help you remember to do this.

And finally, I can’t let 2016 end without mentioning probably the greatest swimmer any of us will ever see in our lifetime – Michael Phelps.  You can watch some good clips from his interviews over his career here:

See you Saturday!

Rob

Christmas Swim 2016

Back by popular demand is a variant of the Christmas Swim we did last year – a mix of 100s and 50s with a festive variety of some easy and some challenging turnarounds and efforts.  But it’s bigger and better than last year as we have one and a half hours for each session!

Note that the session is designed to be a challenge for those doing a single one and a half hour session.  I know some of you indicated in my poll that you’d like to do two sessions.  If you are planning to try more than one session please do be considerate to your club mates by only doing so if there is space, and consider moving to a different lane, as it looks like we will have a very full pool, especially in lane 1.

Key things to note:

• The first session will start promptly at 7am and finish at 8:30am
• The second session will start at 8:30am promptly and finish at 10:00am

As it’s even bigger and better than last year there are now five things that I would like you to do:

1. Bring a drink and any nutrition you may need to swim for one and half hours, including some fast-paced swimming.
2. Arrive promptly and don’t faff or add any extra rest into the set (except for the Brucey Bonus rests), otherwise it won’t fit in the time available.  If you are really struggling and can’t make every turnaround just miss out a 50 and join in on the next one.
3. Pace yourself.  It is the longest session we have done this year, and everyone that comes regularly should be fit enough to complete it, but plan on swimming the second half faster than the first half so go out at a steady pace.
4. Technique, technique, technique.  When you are finding it tough, or even when you are not, please do try and focus on swimming with good technique and doing as perfect a stroke as you can.  Try and stay relaxed when you think about your technique.  You should swim as efficiently as possible, keeping those elbows high at the catch, breathing out all the time underwater and maintaining a good body position.  It will require some mental effort to do this as well as physical effort.
5. Smile, relax as much as possible and enjoy it!

See you Saturday,

Rob