Pre-Florida Training

It has been quite a busy month. Not only did we have the Christmas break (and all the cookies that go along with it) I purchased and moved into my first house. It has monopolized a majority of my time and I feel as though I have neglected my loyal blog readers (Mr. E). Don't worry ... I will make it up to you.

We arrived back on campus on the 28th and our pool was a bit chilly and remained not super warm until our last practice this morning. It inspired the rallying cry "Florida on Friday". (as we are taking our training trip to Cocoa Beach from the 2nd - 10th ... more on that in future posts).

I was fairly pleased with the overall conditioning of the team ... a few could be in better shape, but the majority showed up ready to go. We finished out the mini-training camp with the not so famous set ... "Swim until you die"

Here is how you do it ... swim a distance (for us it was 100's) at a starting interval (for us it was 2:00) and subtract :01 from the interval after each one until failure.

Here are the intervals / send offs for all my coaching homeslices (mike laubacher) Hope the spacing is okay.

(X:XX) <:YY>
X = interval
Y = send off

2:00<:00>
1:59<:59>
1:58<:57>
1:57<:54>
1:56<:50>
1:55<:45>
1:54<:39>
1:53<:32>
1:52<:24>
1:51<:15>
1:50<:05>
1:49<:54>
1:48<:42>
1:47<:29>
1:46<:15>
1:45<:00>
1:44<:44>
1:43<:27>
1:42<:09>
1:41<:50>
1:40<:30>
1:39<:09>
1:38<:47>
1:37<:24>
1:36<:00>
1:35<:35>
1:34<:09>
1:33<:42>
1:32<:14>
1:31<:45>
1:30<:15>
1:29<:44>
1:28<:12>
1:27<:39>
1:26<:05>
1:25<:30>
1:24<:54>
1:23<:17>
1:22<:38>
1:21<:59>
1:20<:19>
1:19<:38>
1:18<:56>
1:17<:13>
1:16<:29>
1:15<:44>
1:14<:58>
1:13<:11>
1:12<:23>
1:11<:34>
1:10<:44>
1:09<:53>
1:08<:01>
1:07<:08>
1:06<:14>
1:05<:19>
1:04<:23>
1:03<:26>
1:02<:28>
1:01<:29>
1:00<:29>
:59<:30>

GCC recap

The snow and ice made for a long drive back (hence the non-update lasts night).

Ahsley had a very good showing swimming back to back in the 400IM and 100fly. A good way to finish up the first semester.

Amanda didn't come away with an 'A' cut ... but did secure season best times in all 3 events. The 100 back was a soild 'B' cut, as well as a meet & pool record. The 200 back was good for the first 100, but the lack of being able to train caught up with her.

Both Ashley and Amanda agree that this would be a good meet for the team, so if the academic calendar works out in our favor (with an extra week before finals...not like this year) we will see if we can bring everyboday.

friday-night

Long drive today with a pit stop to eat a good lunch at the RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Roadhouse in Clarion. I enjoyed way too much food while Ashley got some chunks of chicken (no really, they were literally chunks) and Amanda got her traditional rib meal (see NCAA trip posts)

We arrived early enough to check in and relax for a short spell before going to the pool. Even with just 2 swimmers GCC gave us a seating section. not the best seats in the house, but i was expecting to cram in somewhere so no complants. We had to wach some diving finish up (oh the fun that was) before the pool opened up. Once it did both Ashley and Amanda were in there ready to go.

Meet started on time and for the swim dorks (like myself) out there we witnessed a really soild swim by the GCC men's 200 free relay. Breaking their school record from 2006 (which was the national title swim - i think)...the anchor split a 19.56.

Ashley was first up in the 200 im (after some rather lenghty 500's) and had a pretty good swim. A tad slower than the IUP swim, but everything (except breaststroke) looked really sharp. She should swim pretty well tomorrow in the 400 im and 100 fly (doing the tough gal back to back!)

Amanda had the 50 free and her dive/streamline/head position was pretty not good...but still managed a soild 24.9 ... missing the 'b' cut, but for with it being her first race in awhile I am okay with it. I am confident she can do well in the backstrokes tomorrow.

The 'a' cut in the 100 is 58.09 and she will have to be a 28.19 or faster to make it happen tomorrow ... the 200 is a 2:05.99 ... she will have to not die like a champ to make it happen. Should be fun to watch.

DINNER ... yesssss, was at "my brother's place" ... and speaking of my brother, this restaurant was one of my favorites when I was in Grad School & coaching SRU ... and I have a great story involving my brother at my brothers place. problem is it is PG-13 so I wont be able to share it. If you MUST know...email me.

bed time.

Will update y'all tomorrow night when we return to Lock Haven

~don't forget to check the results tomorrow on GCCinvitational.com

( I will also fix whatever spelling mistakes/typos tomorrow night)

GCC Invite

We are headed to Grove City College this weekend. Amanda Terray had an academic commitment during the IUP invite and couldn't attend, so this will be her 'mini-rest' meet. Ashley Gardner is looking to take advantage of the extra opportunity to get some racing in.

We (when I say we I really mean them) will be swimming at 6:00pm friday / 10am saturday & again at 6pmish on Saturday. I won't get to blog saturday's events until we return to Lock Haven.

For results (including LIVE TIMING) go to:

http://www.gccinvitational.com/

54 minute practice

After a long Thanksgiving break we have been back in the pool training hard. The women wanted to support the men's basketball team at this evenings game. In an effort to have 100% participation I told the team that if they all go we will have a 54 minute practice. I am sure most were expecting to do 54 minutes in the deep end, I opted for a little different approach.

Here it was...

All @ 1:00

5 x 50 warm up
2 x 75 fast
4 x 50 im order
3 x 75 fast
3 x 50 5 / 3 / 1 breath
1 x 25 easy
3 x 75 fast
1 x 25 easy
6 x 50 kick
1 x 25 easy
2 x 50 AO dive
1 x 50 easy
2 x 50 AO dive
1 x 25 easy
4 x 75 fast
2 x 25 easy
5 x 50 kick
1 x 25 easy
3 x 50 AO dive
2 x 50 WD
1 x 25 WD
1 x 50 choice

2800