Paul's Prattlings

December 27, 2009

Can it be that over a month has gone by without a new installment of Paul's Prattling?!?  I don't know about you, but I am going into withdrawal!

Here are a couple of articles that I wanted to pass along, the message to non-masters is something to pass along to anyone you know who can't figure out what we are all about...the article on over-training has absolutely no relevance to anyone we know so go ahead and ignore!! :)

November 20, 2009

Mr. Mills has some great breaststroke drills, check out:  Breaststroke - Underwaters

Interesting article from Gary Hall Sr. and since were heading into Thanksgiving some nutrition info!

We had some nice press from the AZ Republic, check it out!   And there was a nice write up on team member Ryan Stokes in Fitness Plus - which you can check out here on Page 7.

Flu season is in full swing, don’t swim sick - read more    (please please read more )

November 1, 2009

Some more great videos from GoSwim:

Freestyle-Active Gliding:

Great flip turn tips

Five hardy (brain damaged) souls (Coach Mike, Tory, Steve, Brad & Marlo) completed the “Narwhal Triple Bypass Challenge” this Wednesday: swim all 3 workouts in a day for 10k total. Anyone have a good pyschiatrist we can refer them to?

	Round ONE 7 x “500’s” swam as: 5 x 100’s swim/kick/swim/scull by 25’s @ :20 rest 500 @ 800 negative split 5 x 100’s @ 1:45 descend 1-5 500 every 4th length kick 10 x 50’s @ 50 strong pace 500 every 4th length non-free 20 x 25’s @ :30 choice/recovery
	Round TWO Warm-up 5 x100’s (25swim/25kick/25swim/25scull) 3 x 1000’s #1 “Team pursuit” #2 solo #3 broken :10 at each 100
	Round THREE 5 x 200’s @ 4:00 10 x 100’s @ 2:00 20 x 50’s @ 1:00

October 8, 2009  (ish - I had to consolidate )

First the random stuff

Tarps: we are starting to cover the pool at night (and uncover in the morning) we may call on you at times to give us an extra 5 or 10 minutes to assist so heads up!

Old suit donation: If you have any old suits please bring them by the pool. There is a gal we know who shreds them and uses for stuffing in Quilts for homeless folks…she needs more as winter is approaching.

Meets:

We have a fair amount of people interested in swimming at the Ron Johnson Masters Invite  at ASU November 21-22. The event is run short course meters and includes an 800 & 1500 free.  This is a GREAT opportunity for our triathletes who are preparing for upcoming races to get a test swim in! Pull Laura and/or I aside if you are interested and we will talk in more detail about registration.  More details can be found at:

November 21-22 Ron Johnson Masters Invite

Postal Swims:

We had a great response to our “unofficial 15 Minute Postal” Swims last week and the question is "do we want to make it official and possibly add in the other 2 Postal Events (3000yd and/or 6000yd)?"

Check out the links below and let me know if you are interested (we’ll set up the timing system and have lap counters). We will need to have people register with USMS - we have the forms at the pool (and look! there is a handy link on the left side too!).

We really want to encourage our triathletes who are preparing for races next season to try some of the open water races as well as swim the 800 or 1500 at the Ron Johnson meet.  You can’t replicate race conditions in workout and these are safe places with minimal pressure to “test the waters’!

2009 USMS 3000-Yard and 6000-Yard Postal National Championships
Tuesday, September 15, 2009-Sunday November 15, 2009

15 Minute Postal
Thursday, October 1, 2009-Thursday December 31, 2009

Training:

“Recovery based Training”  will be a tough read for the “more is better” campers among us (Coach Mike, you hear me?)! Seriously though...listen to your body. We have some people making HUGE improvements but are getting very broken down... pushing through is not the answer!

The month of October is backstroke and freestyle flip turns month. We will be pulling small groups aside of people who are at about the same ability level and spending 15-20 minutes working on one of these.  Check out a couple of great videos (by the way, for anyone who happens to like any of the GoSwim DVD’s he has offered our team a discount, just click on the link to his website at the left hand side of the page):

Glenn has just posted a great new video clip oh head position  which everyone should watch, check out the “Freestyle-Eyes up catch” drill, and in honor of October - Flip Turns: and Backstroke:

More Random Stuff  (and Paul can get kind of random)

By the way…thanks to everyone’s “spreading the word".  Our official tally last month was 100+ swimmers.  Not bad for a start up! We will be adding additional workouts at the Brimhall pool 11/1 for those folks on the east side. We are in discussions to add the remodeled Rhodes Pool as well (101 & US 60) but that might not happen till spring.

Brimhall Pool: This will help us serve the East side of the Valley and also start getting established before the opening of the new Skyline pool a year from now. If anyone thinks this might be of interest please let us know (our membership allows swimmers to “float” between locations).  If you know folks that live out that way who may be interested please let us know as we are evaluating workout days/times. Location is off of  Hwy 60 & Greenfield.

Last but not least the rumors that there was a drowning during one of my flip turn sessions are greatly exaggerated….shame on those out there spreading rumors!!!

September 24, 2009

No.... not referring to that outstanding hit by Glenn Fry back in the 80’s! The Kino pool heat was turned on this morning only a couple of hours after reporting that we had several iceberg citings at morning practice!

Soooo.... please take a minute to hug a teacher, kiss an Administrator and send Steve Hogan flowers as a way of saying THANKS to the Mesa Public school district for giving such incredible support to this awesome facility!