Warm up and Warm Down

Warm UP and Warm DOWN are IMPORTANT

Warm up is not only in the pool but out of the pool too. We talked about this in dry land on Monday. I am expecting the senior development group to be using their time on deck to improve strength and flexibility with the dynamic exercises we went over with you. Warm-up is one of the most important elements of an exercise program. It is particularly important to prevent injury. The objective of the warm-up is to raise total body temperature and muscle temperature to prepare the entire body for vigorous activity. There is an important difference between warm-up and stretching. Many people stretch and call it warm-up. This is incorrect. It is important to warm-up before stretching. If one stretches the muscles without prior warm-up, the muscles are cold and are more prone to injury, such as muscle tear or strain. Before exercising, begin with a warm-up period to raise the body temperature. You want to get the heart pumping and increase blood flow to the muscles before stretching.

At meets- Warm up
As we are moving to higher levels of swimming it is important that we understand what we need to do before we race. I am going to try and help you set up a warm up that will help you be ready to swim fast! I believe that your warm up should include: swim, kick, drills and some speed play. We will be talking about this more at the up coming meets.

At meets- Warm down
We are starting to gain muscle in our bodies and with this the importance of warming down increases. Warming down provides benefits to the body.
1. Returning heart rate to normal
2. Preventing blood pooling: Along with your heart beating at a higher than normal rate, it's also pumping out more blood. After your race you need to allow the body to cool down so blood will not pool in different parts of the body rather than redistributing.
3. Preventing muscle pain: Your muscles work hard for you during your races. They are tense when you are done and therefore need to be stretched out a bit afterward. Allowing the time to do so can prevent muscle soreness later on.
4. Replenishing your fluids: A lot of natural water can be lost during your workout so it is important to drink some fluids after your workout is complete to help rehydrate the body.

Saskatoon- Saturday Finals and Sunday

The group continued on its successful way. We had great swims from the whole group. The 400 Frees were super fast with Connor getting under 5:20 and Kevin and Brendan improving their best times. Connor got within 2 seconds of his 13 year old A time in the 100 Br.
Sunday was a long day for some of the group. A few had a 400 IM, and 1 or 2 200's stroke. Rather than place emphasis on the results I am going to say that it was nice to see that even though it was the end of our first heats and finals meet I saw everyone putting in 100 % and trying to work on the things that we had learnt about already in the meet. Also the trip to Fudruckers may have been in the back of their minds.

Way to go group! Congrats to Robyn, Ryan, Kevin, Connor, Brendan and Calvin for a great first meet!

Saskatoon- Friday Finals and Saturday Heats

We accomplished what we set out to do every finals.... SWIM FASTER. Every finalist was faster tonight than in the morning. Ryan saw the biggest drop in his 200 IM.

After a long night, we came back and swam amazing 400 frees. Ryan and Kevin got their Youth Recognition times in the 400 free, Robyn followed it up with her 12 year old B time and her first time under 6:00. Calvin swam a big best time and now is only 2 tenths away from his 14 year old B. We saw other best times from Robyn and Connor in the 100 Breast. Robyn, Kevin, Brendan and Connor in the 50 free.

Saskatoon- Distance and Friday Heats

It has been a great start to the meet.
Thursday we had Brendan and Connor in the 1500 free. Brendan took over 2 minutes off his best time to finish in 21:45 and it was Connors first ever and he finished in 22:02. The boys were 1 and 2 in the 11/12 boys.
Friday Heats:
There were a bunch of really great swims this morning. Robyn took 15 seconds off her 200 IM and 6 off her 100 free. Calvin took off 13 off his 200 IM and 5 off his 100 free.
Ryan and Kevin are dominating the 10 and under boys. Both had best times in the 200 IM with Kevin taking off 11 and Ryan 4. Kevin was the lone 10 year old in the 100 fly and he beat his best time by one second. Both were in the 200 Back, with Kevin under 3:00 (11 year old A) and Ryan taking off 7 seconds.
Our 11-12 boys swam tough this morning after their 1500's. Both right on Best Times in their 200 IM and 100 Fly's. Connor was a best time in 100 Free almost getting under the 1:10 barrier. Brendan was under 3:00 in his 200 Back right on his best time.
I am already noticing that we need to work on our skills more! Streamlining 101 to follow the meet!

Off to Finals we go!

Meet Planning

Due to the variety of levels in this group, I am asking that you can give me some kind of idea what meets you are planning to attend. I have emailed to all of you an excel sheet that you can either print off and fill in, or fill in and email back to coach_kellie@silvertide.ca I hope that this will help me plan the season to meet the needs of all the swimmers in the group. Please note that this will not be the means of scratching from a meet, you will still have to watch for the meet info sheets and let Matt know of any cancellations by the deadlines.

If you have questions about the qualifying meets ask your swimmers or me for help. Most of the qualifying meets are either a B level or above.

Climbing the Ladder

The group has started the goal setting for the year (those who were at practice Friday) and we had some education on the levels of swimming. We are focusing in on the B, A, Age Group National and Youth Recognition Standards. Each person in the group has goals that correspond to these standards. We now know about the teams that some swimmers in this group are going to be aiming for such as the 13/14 Dual Meet in Kamloops and the 12 and under North/South Alberta Dual Meet in Edmonton both which are selected at short course provincials.
On the road to these goals I am going to keep reminding you to work on technique, streamlines and turns on every length and off every wall each and everyday.
The last 2 weeks have been about getting endurance and aerobic work into practices. We will continue to increase the aerobic component and add more and more quality work into each practice.

Great Job! Lets Keep it Up!

Trivia #2

What Olympic Qualifying event happened on Sunday? Who were the top Canadians?

Trivia!

There were 3 world records broken over the weekend! What were they???

Congratulations Ryan! The 3 world records were 800 Free at 8:09.68, the 1500 Free at 15:42.39 and the the 800 again at 8:08.00 by Kate Ziegler. These were short course records.

GOAL Sheets

I will be handing out goals sheets for you this week. Please complete them and bring them back to me when you are done so we can go over them.

Practice Changes

If you are not attending Saskatoon, there will be no practice Thursday. Friday and Saturday will be the same swim times, but dryland will be cancelled friday and saturday.

Upcoming Group News

Meets are approaching!
We have Josie at 10 and under series this weekend.
Robyn, Ryan, Connor, Calvin, Kevin and Brendan at Saskatoon the next weekend.

The rest of you are attending our own meet in the beginning of November.

We need to keep working on our skills (streamlining and kicking) each and every day!

Punctuality

It is extremely important for you to try to be at practice 15 minutes before the scheduled time to get in the water. I know that this is hard for some of you during school days but there should be no excuse on Saturday morning.

These 15 minutes are a great time to work on you flexibility that we have all noticed we need to work on.

That being said... Most Tuesdays I will be having Matt start your practice as I am going to be subbing every Tuesday in Leduc/ Beaumont.

I also appreciate all of you that have been letting me know when you are not going to be at practice each week.

Thank you.

If I am subbing...

Hi Senior Development!
Just a reminder if I am subbing in Leduc or Beaumont and might be a few minutes late for practice. If that happens, Matt will get you started on warm up.
I will always be there before warm up is over.

After Practice Snacks

I am going to encourage all of you to pack a healthy snack to help you recover after every practice before dryland or in car on the way home.
Also for our Saturday morning I am insisting that you find some thing that you can eat before you get to the pool that way you will have the energy to get through our 2 hour practice.
We did have a few this week who did not eat before they showed up.

Dryland

All of you need to have proper runners and clothing (shorts and a tshirt) for all dryland sessions. We are in the gym sometimes and we can not be leaving water all over the gym.

National Time Standards

Here are the new 2007-2008 National Time Standards
http://www.swim.bc.ca/admin/docs/Time%20Standards/National_Standards_2007_2008.pdf

Swim Alberta Time Standards are avaliable at
http://www.swimalberta.ca/swimmers/index.htm

Welcome Back!

Hi, to all Senior Development swimmers and families.
I want to thank you for making my first two weeks with Silver Tide great!
I am excited to see what this group can do over the 2007-2008 season.
If you ever have any questions do not hesitate to ask.
We have a number of meets coming up quickly before Christmas. We need to pay attention to the website and make sure to follow those cancellation deadlines!