Recovery Day

Coach Tim likes to do what I call “bridge” sets that fall in between the warm-up and the main set, to get the kids’ heart rates up and to focus on a crucial component that will lead to fast swimming during the main set.  One of his favorite sets is the two-turn 50’s, where swimmers start in the middle of the pool, swim to the wall and do a flip, swim to the other wall and do a second flip, and then return to the middle.  The ultimate goal is to become mindful of flipturns so they become second nature when swimming a main set.

“The likelihood of that happening is…close to zero though,” coach Tim explains.  “You can only teach them one or two things a day.  Otherwise what you say will go in one ear and out the other.”

And that’s where I come into the equation.  It’s especially important for me to give feedback on things that have already been explained to the young swimmers as a means of reinforcement.

“Today’s going to be a recovery day, working on hard efforts, but not all out, in the 140-150 heart rate zone.  We’ll be doing 12 x 300 [12 lengths of the pool], and the odds will be IM, the evens will be easier recovery freestyle.”

12 x 300 doesn’t seem like much of a recovery day to me!  Then again, it’s a coach Tim practice.  He must be doing something right, being the 2012-2013 age group Coach of the Year!