Day 1: Explode off those walls

6:00 AM.  Location: weight room.  The combination of the rain and humidity make my athletic shorts and Hawken Swimming 2013-14 t-shirt glue on to my sticky skin.  My coach, John, instructs us to do the usual.  I grab the 45-pound bar and attach five-pound weights to each side.

“Today we’ll be doing hang power cleans,” he says.  “Ten sets of ten, with a minute rest in between each set.  Explode!  Work like you work every flipturn in the pool.”

I pick up the bar to test its weight.  It feels lighter than usual – perhaps I am becoming better at these.  Explode, I think as I pull the bar from my shins to over my shoulders, flicking my wrists back in the process.  Explode.

In between practices, I delve into Craig Townsend’s Mind Training For Swimmers.  Townsend describes something he dubs “The Zone” and I am intrigued.  Did you know that when a swimmer is in “The Zone,” or of the correct mentality, swimming becomes virtually effortless?  The subconscious drives each stroke, each kick, each breath of air, as opposed to the conscious mind.  When a swimmer doesn’t consciously think about perfecting his or her stroke, but lets it happen naturally, it will become much easier for the swimmer to develop good stroke technique long-term.  I keep this in the back of my mind and start to develop ideas about what I want to focus on with my swimmers.

5:15 PM.  Location: pool, 10-meter mark.  My second coach, Tim, tells the group we will be working on flipturns today.  Tim tells me that the most common mistake developing swimmers make is to push off with their toes as opposed to a flat foot.  Pushing off with a flat foot maximizes efficiency.  Often, I do a demonstration for the younger kids.  Without kicking and using pointed toes to push off the wall, I am only able to get past the flags, which are five meters away from the wall.  I try doing a freestyle turn again, this time with flat feet, and am able to explode off the wall and get to the red marker on the lane line, 10 meters away from the wall.  Once the kids understand and push off the wall with flat feet, all of them are able to get to the red marker as well.