Try a new "Multi Tool" swimming Drill

Regina Masters Swim Practice Thursday 3rd Dec

Its been about a week, so i'm putting a couple of practices up for you to peruse.

90min practice
Warm Up
4x200 as odd - 50 fc/100IM/50Fc even- 50IM/100Fc/50IM
8x50 Kick (no board)

Main Set
2 sets
1x400 Easy F/c (work on tech and early catch position)
4x25 Sprint
4x50 @ 200m pace or faster
1x400 Easy choice

Total 3300 90mins

Excerpt from Regina Leader Post - Facitities planning

Rather than use my own words, I'll use an excerpt from the Regina Leader Post regarding the proposed facilities.

From the Leader Post

"Some key plan highlights include:

• Establishing a capital reserve to support community-group-led projects.

• Keeping open all eight of the city’s existing indoor ice arenas, as well as the six new arenas at the Co-operators Centre. The city would handle scheduling.

• At the Lawson Aquatic Centre site: adding a new indoor leisure aquatics facility, then using the existing for competition/training; adding outdoor aquatics.

• Enhancing the North West, Sandra Schmirler and South Leisure Centres. As the South does not have an aquatics facility now, adding one there is a goal.

• Replacing Wascana Pool with an outdoor aquatic park with pool, comprehensive spray pad, accessible playground, concession and support spaces.

• Both repairing and enhancing the existing Regina Performing Arts Centre.

• Adding 10,000 sq. ft. to the 13,000-sq.-ft. Neil Balkwill Civic Arts Centre, and addressing issues of access/parking.

• Establishing a new Heritage (Core) Community Centre and consulting the community regarding the Pasqua Recreation Centre, which requires repairs.

• Building the North West Link pathway — potentially as early as next year.

• Planning for replacing the Regent Par-3 golf course with other recreation.

• Keeping Dewdney and Maple Leaf pools open until the community indicates the facilities are no long needed.

• Having fewer, but better quality, outdoor rinks, with a rink within three kilometres of most homes, and developing three outdoor pleasure skating sites.

A potential Mosaic Stadium replacement is not within the scope of the plan."

So there you have it. interesting no?

I've been to pools all over the world, and i will put the Lawson Aquatic Centre as on of my favourites. It is a very fast pool ,the deep tank - short course particularly so, it has relaxed feeling about it and let shows' it self off as a "Cathedral" of sorts. However the pool is getting old. Well lets be honest the whole City of Regina infrastructure of building and leisure facilities are old. The last pool to be built in the City was the Sandra Schmirler Pool in the South East in 1989.

The increased recreative needs of the general public and the increased needs of sports teams with the near professionalism (in commitment - not pay) of all amature youth sport (not just aquatics), and yet the ever squeezed timetables of the facilities seems to put public needs against (sometimes aggressively) the sports groups. neither one wants the other one there and in recent times the coach of a high profile team was heard advocating "lets just kick them out, so we can take over". This attitude does not serve us well. Surely as a famous Beatle once said, "we can work it out".

So that brings me to a recent meeting I was able to attend as part of ongoing consultations with user groups and the City's facility planning. The City disclosed with the user groups (swim teams, diving, water polo, synchro) what it considers its plan on building new facilities and the time table for which it feels it can get them all built ( find the newspaper report here). Remember we were just at the aquatics meeting, there were other meetings for other sports groups (football, hockey. soccer etc) who are all wanting facilities.

I came out of the meeting with mixed feelings.

I am a natural sceptic, but I got a good sense from the City Staff. This is a vast undertaking by the City, a comprehensive overhaul, rebuild and new build of facilities in the City of Regina. They seemed to have taken on board issues from previous "town hall" style meetings. The cost alone is going to be staggering, $40 million minimum for a replacement of the Lawson Aquatic Centre, plus a replacement for the Wascana pool, plus additional aquatic upgrades and replacements and additions. I for one am glad it will be happening, and the City should be complimented of doing so.

The other feeling was of disappointment. when the city was disclosing its plans it was like a kid being told it was getting a bike for Christmas, in August, "we want it now" was what I heard from various corners of the room. Granted the pools are dated, and it would have been nice for this to have happened 1 year, 5 years, 10 years ago. But lets be fair here, the Lawson has about 15 years of life left. The very fact that the pools will be built should make us feel 'warm and fuzzy', but oh no not us, we need this facility now. This statement could be read the following way. We need this facility now, because I won't get to be coaching at it/my kid won't be swimming by then etc. Do they realise how much money and time will have to go into this development - from the green light to the first splash would be 3 years, so having a time table of all jobs completed by 2020 is fair.


I have lots more to say on the subject, but that will have to wait

read the newspaper article here

Masters Training session Thursday 24th Nov 2009

I did the below training set with 3 groups yesterday 2x Regina Masters and 1x Level 10 Fitness. The results were great- we had swimmers hitting times for either 4x100 or 6x100 that they had only had done on a one off swim before.

Only issue we had was that the Pool Temp was high in the second two practices and swimmers were starting to over heat.

terrific over all though.

Warm Up
8x75 as odd - Fc/ch/Fc even ch/fc/ch
8x25 Kick (various body positions - See Natalie Coughlin Vid)

Main Set
the goal is to try and discipline a "turn a round time" of 15 sec from target time. swimming a 1:45.0 with 15 sec rest = 2:00 turn around.

6x100 all at 400pace (or faster) Rest 15 sec only
1x150 easy recovery
6x100 all at 400pace (or faster) Rest 15 sec only
1x150 easy recovery.

If the set is daunting...it is. so the possible alternatives are as follows if you cannot manage 6 in a row.

either
3 sets
4x100 @400pace on 15-20 sec rest
1x100 easy recovery

or
4 sets
3x100 @400pace 15-20 sec rest
1x50 easy recovery

Swim down
1x4000 Choice

Total 2,800 in 60 mins

Rotation and kick in freestyle - Natalie Coughlin

Here I am again today, I feel quite enthused today, so I'm adding a video from Natalie Coughlin - 10 time Olympic medalist and recent Dances with Stars contestant. The video quality is very good. You can see the smooth rotation of her stroke and the tremendous use of the kick. Notice the "early catch" from the Thorpe videos on the earlier post.

enjoy



Now go and practice - what else you gonna do?

Early Catch Freestlye Demo by Ian Thorpe

Hello all, here is another first for me. embedding a video clip in a blog. hope it works.

here are two clips of 20sec and 17 sec of Former Aussie Swimmer and Olympic legend Ian Thorpe. For all those you have been swimming with me before know that I advocate a "early catch" or High elbow insweep on Freestyle. you can see here to what extent Thorpe was able to attain this.

Enjoy






Now go and practice - what else are you gonna do?