 |
OLYMPIAN SWIM CLUB |
|
| Link | Link |
| HP Training Calendar | HP Meet Sign-up |
| 2008 Olympic Selection | Other Team Selections |
| Swimmer of the Month | HP Blog |
| HP blog added |
April 25, 2008 |
|
HP now has a blog. Click on the link "HP Blog" at the top of this
page. |
|
| April Pool Report |
April 17, 2008 |
|
Welcome back after a nice (but short) break. This is our last cycle
of training for the season and training we shall do! We have about
12 weeks until our National meets and in that time there are several
good racing opportunities to keep you sharp. April we have the OSC Double Double. This meet is ideal to start off the season. The meet is Saturday and Sunday with both heats and finals that won’t keep us at the pool too long. Everybody should be aiming to go a best time in at least one event. In May we are going to swim 2 days of EKI (Friday and Saturday) and keep our Sunday off so that we can come back to a full training week following the meet. At the end of the month Mel Zajac will be our first bit of rest in the cycle. Three swimmers have been selected to attend the Grand Prix Meet in Charlotte North Carolina, Bobbie Mielnichuk, Joshua Au and Lori-Layne Kremer. This meet is a Swim Alberta initiative and will follow Mel Zajac. In June we have the OSC Blue vs. White meet but other than that it will be a time to train and focus on maintaining a high academic performance. July is basically rest and get race ready… What can you do now to be ultimately prepared to swim fast in July? Here are My Top 10 Things… 1. Early in the season focus on your level of effort, both physically and technically, times will come when we shift our focus to race work. 2. Eat and Drink like an athlete. Balanced diet, sports drinks and post workout recovery foods. Watch your weight, no sharp increases or decreases during hard training! 3. Injury prevention. Stay on top of your daily rituals of injury prevention. If you have had an injury in the past, get your tubing or stretching exercises updated and do them as prescribed. 4. Encourage a Teammate. Take the time to cheer on a teammate in workout, the enthusiasm will spread but it will take a few times to get it started and a consistent effort to keep it going. 5. Put your Goals in your Face. Have a goal and stick up somewhere you always look. Don’t hide from your goals, face them head on and ask yourself if you trained towards them today. 6. Have your equipment on hand. Be ready for anything and be able to do the task correctly. Not having equipment is like only doing part of the set… don’t miss out! 7. Attend EVERYTHING! Improvement is based on a cumulative effect. Progressive fatigue leads to changes in body composition, fitness and reliability. Progressive unloading leads to optimal performance. Unscheduled unloading lessens the effect of an optimal performance. 8. Unload Stress. Stay on top of your school work, family responsibilities and anything else that can unload stress. Although it may not be noticeable right away, external stress can sap energy, lead to injuries and dampen motivation. 9. Love your sport. When you enjoy something it can automatically raise your effort level significantly. Conversely, if you are begrudgingly slogging through workouts you will not be at your optimal level. 10. Race like you’re shaved at every meet. Believe every time you dive in for a race it is a chance to be faster than ever before. Practice the commitment and effort you want in your peak meet events at every meet from now until the end of July. Much can be said about effort… Here are a few thoughts from the pages of history. You are responsible for making your goals a reality: "You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however." -Richard Bach Consistent effort makes the change: "It's the constant and determined effort that breaks down resistance, sweeps away all obstacles." -Claude M. Bristol Talent will only take you so far: Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence is the key to unlocking our potential. -Liane Cardes Pure determination: "It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary." -Sir Winston Churchill Train faster than you aim to race: We aim above the mark to hit the mark. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, attributed, no source Elevate the team, elevate yourself: "You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself." -Harry Firestone It takes work to achieve your goals: "One that would have the fruit must climb the tree." -Thomas Fuller If you know how to do something technically better, it is up to you to change it: "Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." -Johann von Goethe |
|
| Optimal Sleep |
March 28, 2008 |
|
Here is an interesting article on "sleep" by Dr Mark R Rosekind: Peak performance requires optimal sleep and alertness. |
|
| Meet Information |
March 13, 2008 |
|
Hello All, Its that time of year again - Meet Sign Up forms are due to be passed in to the office in about a week (March 19th). I have attached the form in a word format so you can email it into Sophie if you choose that method. A few notes on the meets of choice... OSC Double Double and EKI are both in season meets as they are so early in the competitive cycle this season. We will be using the month of April to get back to basics and May to bring some intensity to our training. Mel Zajac is in Vancouver at UBC Pool again this year but it is running on a different format. The meet starts Thursday afternoon with Preliminaries and then alternates Morning Finals and afternoon Prelims until Sunday Morning Finals... we will fly out on Thursday and home on Sunday. Cascade Speed Meet is on the calendar this year. I put it there with the intent of only using it for swimmers who need to 'race again' in the cycle going into the championship month of July. Swim Alberta is selecting a 'Youth' Team going to England for British Youth Nationals. Performances must be swum between April 1st and June 8th, 2008. If any swimmers require 'another attempt' at a performance they can use the Cascade Speed Meet as an opportunity. We will not be team traveling or accommodating for this competition as it would be far to cost prohibitive for a small number of kids to go down. Blue vs. White will be run on the same format as last season at Fountain Park. Come out, swim Fast, and try to win the meet! Provincials are in Edmonton and will be run on a very similar format to last season. The Age Group and Senior Kids will get to 'mix' all weekend, its a very valuable meet for our program. Senior National in Winnipeg are before Age Group Nationals this year. I will be going with the team to Winnipeg and either Chris or Dave Mac will be coaching the swimmers in the P and HP group, who do not have Nationals, for the week we are gone. Age Group Nationals in Calgary will be run in two pools again with the team staying at the same hotel (Best Western Down Town). We are thinking of taking our 30 swimmers down in rental vans (not 15 passenger) for the sake or ease of moving the swimmers between the pool and hotel. A bus rental will limit our ability to 'shuttle' swimmers. There is also no information on Open Water Nationals so far but I am sure that something will present itself in the pursuant months. It will likely be at Sylvan Lake again on the Monday following pool sessions. Far Westerns is a meet to further swimmers' competitive opportunities. Over the past few years we are seeing faster and faster swimming the longer we go into the summer months. This was most evident with last season's cycle - Provincials, AG Nationals, Nationals, Western Canada Games, North American Challenge Cup. This season for those who are not selected to Provincial or National programs we can offer an August competition in San Jose. In the works but not on the calendar thus far are two opportunities to do a visitation with the National Training Center in Vancouver and Montreal. I will be setting up something with the coaches of those programs for a select group of our swimmers to train a few days with the National Centers. Selection for visitation will be done off Olympic Trials and will likely be TOP 16 performance at the meet. The visitation will coincide with the two Bell Grand Prix meets (Mel Zajac and Quebec Cup (June 26th to 29th). Once I get final approval from the Center coaches I will be able to provide more information on the visitations. As we are already working on travel and accommodation bookings for these meets I would appreciate you letting the office know by March 19th your availability for these competitions. If you have any other questions regarding the meet selection please email me or call me at 439-0777. Thanks, Carl Simonson Olympian Swim Club kingcarl@olympianswimclub.com 780-633-0525 780-455-8837[fax] www.olympianswimclub.com |
|
| Choose your own adventure... |
March 3, 2008 |
|
I had a talk with my group the other morning because I woke up
thinking about those old novels I used to have when I was growing up
– Choose Your Own Adventure. These were the books that at the end of
every little segment you got to pick in which direction the story
would continue, “Would the hero go into the cave and slay the
dragon, or would he chicken out and run away.” Depending on the
choice, you would turn to a different page and read a bit more
before the next series of events and in turn the next choice. They
were simple books but kind of interesting because you could read
them a few times with different outcomes each time. Training is quite a bit like these books. You all have picked the theme of Swimming, no different then picking up a Fantasy novel vs. a Sci-Fi novel. The story begins when you walk on deck, then before you know it you are at a point where you have to decide how you are going to continue. Do you swing your arms and mentally get ready for the day’s session or do you curl up into a ball and wish you were somewhere else… Warm up begins and another choice is upon you, do you approach it with your best skills and technique or do you slop your way through the meters hoping workout doesn’t get any harder than this because you are already too tired. The Main Set has so many twists and turns, it’s a real page turner. Do you choose to go slow hoping that nobody notices or do you attack it with your best effort and train in concert with how you intend to race? There are so many choices that you HAVE to make in every workout and in fact in everyday of life. The reality is that if you choose not to make a decision it in fact is making a decision and probably not one you are going to be happy with in the last few pages. It can be a bit maddening to see somebody train in the same pool as you, attend the same workouts as you basically do all the same stuff you do but still get ahead come race time. The answer lies in the subtle nuances of your choices versus their choices. It may seem like the same workout but what are they thinking about while training and what is your focus? I see it all the time where two swimmers hit the wall on a pace set such as 100m repeats. They both go the same time; hence they both must be doing the same thing? Wrong! Swimmer #1 has chosen to focus on even pacing the swim and working to speed through skills and distance per stroke. Swimmer #2 is simply fixated on getting to the time. When it comes to race time swimmer #1 seems to be able to hold pace in the event and swimmer #2 just keeps slipping back each 50m of the race. Choices were made and the story continues… The great thing about those old books was that if you got the feeling that things weren’t heading in the right direction you could always go back and choose the different path. You can do the same in workout and life as well but in order for you to know things are not on the right path you need to know what your right path looks like. Life, like the books and swimming is a series of choices that we make or don’t make that lead us to the conclusion of our stories. Be conscious of the choices you make along the way and have a clear idea of where you would like to see yourself and the end of your personal story. Choose your own adventure but choose it wisely! Coach Carl |
|
| “How many times do I have to tell you!?” |
January 22, 2008 |
|
Ever heard that before? I think at one point in our lives we have
all heard somebody ask us that question. More often than not it’s
Mom or Dad at their limit of patience, baffled why the milk was left
out, or something of that nature. It is however and interesting question. How many times do you need to be told before you will actually put the milk away? I believe that it’s not a matter of remembering to do it, but more so an understanding of why it’s important. If I don’t put the milk away it will go bad, if it goes bad then there is waste, waste costs money, Mom and Dad work hard for money – hence, put the milk away and avoid the stress. In swimming I could ask the same question of any swimmer when it comes to something technical, tactical or even Dryland related. “How many times do I have to ask you to stand up straight?” or “How many times to I have to remind you to breathe on a certain pattern”, the list is endless. What is kind of interesting about the question is your answer. Do you ever wonder why that one kid who you were able to beat consistently is now blowing away your best time? It may be that for them the number of reminders before solidifying the answer was far less then you and therefore they have moved on to something else that is taking them past your performance. In our world of swimming there are BIG corrections and little corrections. You have to have the BIG things done right before being able to move on to the little things. If you are still being told to streamline properly or maintain a lower head position, you are not ready to make those slight changes in your stroke or strategy yet. It’s a matter of mastery of the basic before the advanced. So, how many times do I have to tell you to…? |
|
| Where are you going and how will you get there? |
January 17, 2008 |
|
Hawaii is as good a place as any for our purposes here. So we are
planning to go to Hawaii, Maui in particular – let’s say Kihei beach
somewhere. Nice place to spend a vacation, a great reward for a few
months hard work. Is this where you really want to go? Well, it will
do for now but you should ask yourself where your dream destination
is before getting started. How do I get there you ask? Well let me tell you it’s a heck of a lot more difficult then just thinking about it. There are piles of steps you need to take. We can start right at the beginning. First and foremost you will have set a date for your trip. This will serve two purposes, firstly to give you a time to tell the boss you will be taking some vacation and secondly to give you a target for saving up enough ‘scratch’ for the trip. Now that I think of it there might just be a step before that one. How much is it going to cost me? Can I save up enough in 2 months, 6 months or will it take over a year? It will likely depend on the amount you can tuck away and how much you earn. I guess there will be some personal budgeting required before any vacation is booked. You are going to need to do some investigation work too. How much are flights, accommodations (5 Star hotels or can you setting for something off the beach?) and what kind of spending money are you going to need. Is there somebody who has done what you are planning that you can learn from? Why not get in contact with them and save a few hours online. The better you plan and the more information you have the more enjoyable your trip will be! All this work just to take a vacation you ask? It’s certainly a lot better then finding out you have vacation booked but can’t afford to go anywhere! So you have your vacation all planned out. The boss knows you will be gone for a couple of weeks in about 6 months, you have your budget all sorted out because you have figured out all the expenses for your trip. Now the real work starts happening. You are going to need to take that big step and start really committing to your vacation. You have to book tickets, hotels, and ground travel. This will take up most of your saving but don’t worry its all worth it! So the day is almost here and still there is more planning. You have to pack for your two week extravaganza. Did you get all your Hawaiian Shirts packed, the extra shorts, bathing suit, and sunscreen? Yeah, there are some things you just don’t want to leave behind. Think about it long and hard because what you bring with you will be all you have, buying something on short notice in the Hawaiian Islands is not a good financial bet, trust me. You will need a plan to get to the airport. You need to be there early enough, can somebody drive you, do you drive and park (big expense) or can you catch a cab? So you are at the airport right on time. Do you know what gate to go through, hate to get on the wrong flight and end up in Regina or something – yikes! Well, I hope you enjoyed your vacation, was it really what you wanted? Was it worth all the work? I hope so, it you just decided to go to Maui because that is what everybody else was doing then perhaps it wasn’t the trip for you. All the same I hope it was nice. There are over 3 million people from all over the world who visit the Hawaiian Islands every year. For everybody it takes this much planning (or more) to enjoy their time away. In swimming there are fewer then 500 people who achieve the Senior National Standard. Not because it isn’t a desirable ‘location’ but because most can’t imagine committing to the work that is necessary to achieve that dream. Fewer then 40 swimmers will go on to the Olympic Games for the very same reason. Some will believe that they have done ‘enough’ to get there only to realize, when its too late to change, that their plan was never really pointing them to the right destination. It really is about how much you are willing to ‘invest’ towards your dream and knowing what exactly to spend it on. The more challenging the ‘location’ the more commitment it requires. This is true for any goal you run into. Imagine planning a year long vacation to India. It would require a heck of a lot more of everything. No different for your goals in swimming – the higher you aim, the more it’s going to require of you to achieve it. But don’t be afraid to go for that dream vacation, in the end if it’s really what you want, its well worth the work! The greatest achievements were at first and for a time dreams. The oak sleeps in the acorn. -James Allen |
|
|
World Swimming Pictures |
November 27, 2007 |
||||
|
|||||
|
World Swimming Pictures |
November 8, 2007 |
||||
|
|||||
|
HP Calendar Updated |
October 30, 2007 |
| The HP Calendar has been updated for November. | |
|
HIGH PERFORMANCE - Welcome Back |
October 2, 2007 |
| Welcome all back to another year with the Olympian
Swim Club. We have a few new members of the HP group who are all
fitting in terrifically and have certainly added another dynamic to
the training and personalities of the group. I am very encouraged to hear that every member of OSC who went on to the UofA has indeed made the team – Carly Perreaux, Lindsay Morton, Cari Harr and Bryce Fisher (although I think BF will be out of the water for awhile…). This year will be another one with challenges, victories and failures. I think it is important that everybody be ready for all of the above. We have certainly had our fair share of victories over the past few seasons but its important to remember that it was some very hard work and often some very tough, emotional moments that pushed us to that level. I have to apologize right out of the gate to the group for the huge challenges with our pool time. It has been an ongoing saga with the City of Edmonton since first hearing that our facility (PHFLC) was closing last July. It was not until late September (very late) that we had our first returned phone call from the City booking department. I would like to thank Cecilia Lavoie for going above and beyond to get the Edmonton Journal involved in the process and bringing OSC’s plight for pool time to the forefront of the City’s agenda. As it stands right now we have a very good schedule of combined pool time between NAIT and Kinsmen. We have a great balance of Long Course and Short Course time and a perfect number of lanes for the group size. Please be patient as our current schedule will only hold until December 24th – then the negotiations begin again for the Christmas Training Camp and New Year. We are working to get this done by the end of October so hopefully there wont’ be any short notice on potential training changes. I would like to say that although this year is an Olympic Year it shouldn’t change your goals at the fundamental level – The Pursuit of Excellence. You should simply still pursue excellence in every aspect of your training, racing and experience in swimming, regardless of whether that takes you to the Olympic Trials or not. Make your goals personal and important to you; make them have value so that they motivate you daily! I was very proud of the HP swimmers at the club banquet this past week. You all ‘cleaned up’ really quite well and represented the highest level of our program very well. I look forward to working with all of you this season and do hope that if you have any questions as the year goes on that you will get in touch with me. My role is to help develop the club and the HP program and I will do what I can to achieve in both those areas! Carl Simonson |
|
|
Welcome to the new High Performance Webpage |
August 18, 2007 |
| This page is reserved for specific news and reports for the High Performance group. | |
Please Support Our Sponsors
|
|
|