Closing Remarks

It’s very weird to think that yesterday was my last day working on my senior project, my last day to officially be doing work for Hawken.  I will soon be heading off to college, but realized that coach Tim, being the most influential coach of my entire swimming career, will remain an important figure in my life.  I get a little sad as I stand in a circle with the younger swimmers to begin the pre-practice stretching and dryland.

Working with coach Tim has made me more aware of several swimming concepts to help out younger or developing swimmers, but most importantly he has taught me to be more aware of my own swimming technique.  Whenever I come up for a breath and see him flailing his arms at the side of the pool, motioning for me to pop my head out of the water and listen to his feedback, it reminds me of how I stood in his position for three weeks.  I too served as a coach, a mentor for the developing swimmers, a group of which I was once a part.  Furthermore, I have recently reached a new level at which my body can push through the pain that comes with working through a hard practice.  Stepping into the coaches’ shoes for several weeks has made me realize that it is wasteful of the coaches’ time to stop at the wall and pretend to adjust your goggles; why not push yourself a step farther.  You’ll feel much more accomplished at the end of the set.  And that’s what’s been most fulfilling for me.

Bye swimming pool, it's been a fun three weeks.  Haha just kidding, see you tomorrow morning at six!

Back at the CSU C.T. Branin Natatorium

Coach Tim tells me that he bases a lot of his practices off of the Stanford University Men’s Swimming program.  Stanford uses a general structure that spans over six day periods to train and target various muscle groups.  This general structure is broken down into four color zones: white (heart rate 130-150), pink (heart rate 150-160), red, (heart rate 170-180, or the anaerobic threshold) and blue (heart rate 180 or higher).  The white zone incorporates the most endurance-based work, while the blue zone is highly explosive and speed-oriented.

Today was the first day back at the Cleveland State University natatorium, the dreaded 50-meter long course pool!  We had to go back to Gilmour for a month because the bottom of the CSU pool was being re-painted.  I kept these power concepts in the back of my mind as we did various sets.  I actually hopped in the water for this practice because I wanted to apply the skills I’ve learned over the past couple of weeks to my own stroke.  One thing this project has taught me is to be mindful of some of the things I myself might be doing incorrectly!

We warmed up using paddles and a pull buoy while doing IM, something I’ve never really done before.  It felt awkward at first but the main purpose was to “develop a rhythm,” as Tim said.  The main set was a 200 IM followed by 4 X 50 freestyle, four times through.  “I want you working pretty hard on the IM, but much harder on the 50’s.  The goal is sort of like a recovery set, and your 200 is the recovery.”  Being a butterflyer, however, meant that I had to do most of the 50’s butterfly.  Rhythm, I noticed, was especially important, because I felt significantly slower and more tired once I lost my rhythm.  Then, after I thought the grueling part of practice was over, we had to do the entire set again, this time a 100 freestyle and 4 x 50 IM, four times through.  You know you’re a swim nerd when you feel invigorated by horribly hard practices! (Believe it or not, this felt like one of Tim's easier practices.)

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!

Endurance Work

Bill Bare runs GLSS, the team for which I am serving as an assistant coach.  Bare appointed coaches Tim and John as additional coaches to provide a strong foundation for what would eventually become one of the area’s top swim clubs.  I had the opportunity of meeting with Bare today, who introduced me to an app called Ubersense.  This app allows coaches to film their athletes beyond traditional video functions.  Ubersense can slow down the video, edit and trim the video, and even draw over the video, to highlight any problem areas the athlete might need to work on.  I was able to use this new app during the main set, 4 x 450 (18 lengths, four times) working on negative splitting and conditioning. 

“It’s about how fast can you go for how long.  And once you get tired, go faster.”  

~Tim

Caleb is a young swimmer who has trouble angling his hand to enter the water correctly while swimming freestyle.  It will take him a bit of time to get used to angling his hand in its proper position, since this is a technique Caleb developed when he first started swimming, but the goal is to have kids visually recognize what they need to work on with the help of Ubersense.

The draw tool lets you see problem areas more clearly.

Visitation

Ms. Samet stopped by yesterday, just in time for afternoon practice.  Since coach John had already arrived but coach Tim hadn’t, I asked Ms. Samet to take a seat in the bleachers while the swimmers and I did some pre-practice stretching out on the pool deck.  Coach Tim arrived several minutes later, having just gotten back from his trip to Chicago.  The three of us, coach Tim, Ms. Samet, and myself, expressed our enthusiasm for my project, and that working with the kids has gone “swimmingly,” according to Ms. Samet.  Ha ha!  I was glad she was able to come in and talk to coach Tim, the most influential coach I’ve had in my entire swimming career.  He has taught me the importance of developing “posture, line, and balance”* in the water, before swimming fast.  Coach Tim is a Hawken graduate himself, and as it turns out, he worked with the famous Jerry Holtrey for his senior project.  Having the opportunity to carry on the swimming legacy makes me wonder if I will have an impact on another swimmer’s life like coach Tim has had on mine.

*Credit to Richard Quick, former Stanford University head women’s swimming and diving coach, for this phrase.