Seven Wonders of the Swimming Pool World

For a holiday read, I thought I'd include this link from SwimSwam.com.

http://swimswam.com/the-7-wonders-of-the-swimming-pool-world/

Enjoy!

A Holiday Message from Ed Regarding Timing/ Team Names

Hello team, and hope your holiday weekend is going well and with fun. As we begin to practice more regularly, you may notice that many practice sessions list target times by which to  complete a set. How does one check the time without a clock or watch? If we had a regularly coach supervising our practices, he/she would be using a stop watch to start our sets, but since many of us practice alone, how do we do it? Frequently, during the "Bubble months", there are  deck clocks provided by the high schools and XCell which can be aligned for viewing as one swims. During the summer open air swimming, the clocks aren't on deck, so we swimmers are on our own. I have chosen to use a swimmer's watch for my workouts and would recommend that as an option (http://swimovateusa.com/). Others choose to use a chronometer and keep up with the splits that way. Any way, deck clock, stop watch, chronometer, or swim watch, consider how you wish to improve your skills and have fun at the same time by using a timing device.

 

And, should anyone else propose it for consideration, if each member of the team made a $10-$15 contribution towards a deck clock, we could purchase a clock for team or individual use during practice.

 

Some name nominees: Manatees (all shapes & sizes); BUMS (Burke Masters Swimmers); FROGs (Forever Relying On Grace); Stingrays.

Keep them coming. Plan to choose by October practice.

 

Hope to see you on the deck on Monday!

 

Ed

Another Meet Opportunity: 41st Annual Sunbelt Meet

The 41st Annual Sunbelt Meet will be held in Charlotte from January 31-February 1, 2015. More information for this meet is forthcoming, but go ahead and put it on your calendar!

REMINDER: Practice Dates

Good morning!

NEXT SWIM PRACTICE MONDAY, SEPT.1 @ 5:30 PM. We know some of you may be out of town enjoying one last summer vacation, but if you happen to be in town, come on down to the pool.

 

NO PRACTICE SEPTEMBER 15: pool closed for raising the bubble.

 

Future practice dates:

OCTOBER 6&20

NOVEMBER 3&17

DECEMBER 1&15

 

Enjoy the Holiday!

Master's Meet Opportunity!

Good afternoon!

Anyone who has registered through USMS has the chance to participate in the 9th Annual Steve Barden Memorial Meet in Asheville on September 6. Check out more information on the meet here: https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1561&smid=5762.

The deadline for entries in Wednesday, September 3 at 11:59pm. Warm-ups are at 8am with a meet start at 9am.
 

Some TIps for Getting (Back) in the Water

Good morning everyone!

Check out this post on SwimSwam for 5 tips on getting in, or in some cases back in, the water after time off.

Have a great day!

UPDATED: Inaugural Practice a Success!

Our first group practice held last night went well considering it was our first. The pool staff is getting used to the idea that there will be 2 teams practicing on the 1st & 3rd Monday nights: our team and Linda Kidd's XCell US Swim team. For future reference, we will practice in the 4 lanes closest to the building (1-4) while Linda's team practices in the outside lanes (7-10). That leaves the 2 center lanes (5-6) open for any lap swimmers not affiliated with either team. Our team will start @ 530 while Linda's starts @600. Given that  we have about 18 folks on our roster now, we must share lanes. This means we must either circle swim if we are more than two swimmers to a lane, or, in the event there are only two swimmers, divide the lane in half.

Our first Saturday clinic went very well. Linda Kidd taught us some workout jargon. She hopes to have workouts available at the pool desk after her daughter's wedding in late August. If you missed this clinic, ask a teammate at some point or at a practice to help explain any questions you may have.

One very important caveat that Linda stressed was that swimming form was more important than speed and distance. For less experienced swimmers, she recommended working on 10 laps (250 yards) until one can complete that without exhaustion. Focus on stroke form to reduce the likelihood of injury. Remember, one lap is 25 yards.

We are excited to say that we will have some space on the bulletin board across from the women's locker room. Look for postings about our team there in the coming days and weeks!

Our next practice is scheduled for Labor Day evening. If you are in town, please come on down and join us!

The Bubble will go up the week of September 15, which means our 3rd Monday practice will be cancelled as the pool is closed. During the closed week (hopefully shorter), Valdese pool members may use the Morganton pool(s) without cost.

We need to make a decision about a team name by October. Any recommendations are welcome. Several have already come in, and they will be posted on the blog shortly.

See you at the pool!

Practice Schedule

Good afternoon!

After looking over the feedback given regarding practice times, we have set a time of 5:30-7pm on the first and third Mondays of the month for our practice times.

That means our first group practice is TONIGHT at 5:30pm! See you all there.

IMPORTANT- Change of Date

Good afternoon everyone!

The next meeting of the adult swim team will be this coming Saturday, August 16 at 10am on the pool deck.

Coach Kidd had to reschedule her first clinic with us due to personal reasons. We apologize for the short notice. Please contact Ed to so we have a good count for how many to expect this Saturday morning.

If you are unable to attend, we can work with you on reading workouts at a later practice, clinic, or a teammate can help you out when you see them at the pool. We hope to have a roster together Saturday.

In the event you missed the swims at this past weekend's long course nationals as the U.S. team prepares for Pan-Pacs, check out an article by Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer about a young lady from Charlotte participating as a member of the U.S. Pan-Pac team.

Have a great day, and see you all Saturday.

Important Message from Ed

Attention swimmers,

We are off and running with lots of talk about our team and excitement about getting started. If you have not registered your preference for a swim practice time, please do so ASAP:

Monday evening 0530-0700

Saturday morning 0830-1000 or later.

We may end up alternating times, just depending on how many want to practice.

 

NOTE: our next meeting will be Saturday morning, August 23 @ 1000 on the pool deck. Linda Kidd will meet with us to educate us on "How to read a workout sheet." She stated to me that each coach typically has her own jargon, and therefore, she wanted to teach us hers. She has graciously offered to keep us in workout sheets as we start our team. Also, NOTE, she will begin a series of monthly clinics on Saturday mornings in September. Each clinic will focus on an aspect of swimming (e.g., stroke, turn, etc.) & cost a $10 donation (minimum) to the US Swim team (youth) coached by Linda. The clinics are open to all ages.

 

Finally, I encourage you to continue to recruit members for our team. Several of you have already done so, and I am excited about our growth in size. I will attempt to send a team roster out over the weekend. Please advise me if you do NOT wish your contact information listed.

 

Be sure to check the blog regularly for workout information and other tidbits.

Good swimming!

Ed

North Carolina Master's Article on Race Pace Training and a Workout

If you are looking at improving the quality of your workouts, check out this link: http://www.ncmasters.org/nl/jul14-article2.pdf. There have been a lot of successful swimmers using intense and Ultra-Short Race Pace Training, the most widely known of which is age-group swimmer Michael Andrew. If you are interested in more of the research into USRPT, check out http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/swim/bullets/47GUIDE.pdf or anything by Dr. Brent Rushall.

In the meantime, check out the NC Master's Workout of the Month provided by Mary Sansbury. The "Bears in a Bed" is something I do a good bit with the high school swimmers. The 100s are a little long for USRPT according to Rushall, but it still is a good workout to try. If 3000 is a little long, you could cut back to 50s and 75s still sprinting various parts of the distance while increasing the repetition before the active recovery.

Workout of the Month

The 200 pulls are active recovery. "Bears in a bed" is a fun way to get the heart rate up. Mary's swimmers named this set. Sometimes when there are several swimmers in the lanes, they will swim underneath each other. WARM UP - two times: 150 swim 150 drill/kick by 25. Drill set: BEARS IN A BED With fins, hold on to the wall and kick as if you are trying to push the wall (make the pool longer). Do this for 10 seconds. Release the wall, submerge and push off right into a 25 yard sprint. As soon as the first person (or two people) leave, the next start and to the same. The first sprinters push off from the opposite wall under the sprinter(s) coming in and swim back easy. Main Set: 3 x 100 - 1st 25 fast 1 x 200 pull 3 x 100 - 2nd 25 fast 1 x 200 pull 3 x 100 - 3rd 25 fast 1 x 200 pull 3 x 100 - 4th 25 fast 1 x 200 pull Total yards: 3000

Help Us Choose a Name and Practice Times

Currently we are looking for a name for the group. In the past, the Master's group was known as the BUMS (Burke-Unifour Master's Swimming). If you would like to re-adopt that moniker or have suggestions for a new name, please contact Ed.

We are trying to find a time to have our bi-monthly group practices. The Aquatics Director at Valdese has suggested either Monday night from 5:30-7pm, or Saturday from 8:30-10am. Please let us know what is best for you, and whether you prefer to meet the first and third or second and fourth weeks.

Welcome to the Team!

Good morning, and welcome to the Burke Adult Swimming blog. We are a group of adults who embrace swimming as a fun way to stay fit, enjoy the company of others, and occasionally compete with other adults. No prior swimming experience is necessary, and swimmers ages 18 and up are welcome to participate.

We practice independently with two group practices a month at Valdese. A more specific schedule is forthcoming.

Members of the Valdese Rec., Morganton Rec., or Lenoir Rec. are welcome to participate. Contact the Valdese Rec for more information.