So since at least two people on this board are interested in my adventures in joining my University's team I thought I'd create a thread (much like ande's swimming blog) to detail all of it. Yeah.
Since the season doesn't actually start regular practice for another week and a half, this is mainly an intro post - and I'll update it with what happens when I go meet the other girls on the team and such! Stay tuned! It'll be better than any general hospital or passions!
Today I actually swam for the first time (since my freshman swim test last year) in the University pool. It was huge. And cold. Over the summer I got used to swimming in health club pools with water hovering around 80-85. Not exactly the most comfortable water at times, but at least nice and warm. The Ratner pool here is...freezing by those standards. I'm guessing the water temp is 75 at the warmest. Gives new meaning to the term "warm up".
I was really nervous when I first got in - the girls and guys returning members were having informal practices and I was sort of afraid they'd notice me. Although, I don't think they did. Or maybe they did and I just didn't hear what they said about me. Haha.
I also swam a 600 for the first time in a long time. I mostly stuck to 400s and below in my summer workouts (yeah, I know, I'm a little bit of a wimp). Unfortunately, that couldn't last. The coach suggested when I met her that I get in the water and swim 6-800 straight every day this week as part of my workout. It kind of hurt. Actually, it was one of the odder experiences of my life. For the first 200 or so my chest was tight from my asthma and I was freaking out about the distance (I was also really cold). Then all of a sudden I started to get really into it and just kept on going. I probably could have done 1000 if I wanted to.
The workout was cut short - only about 2300yds - because I promised my friends I'd come home and cook dinner for them tonight. And that's where I leave it tonight.
Background: For those who didn't see my posts on the board throughout the year, I'm a soph. in college who has been going through the prepartion to join my school's team. I attend the University of Chicago (a div 3 school) and was a competitive swimmer for seven years before high school. Burnout put me out of the water for almost 5 years, however, and I'm only recently getting back into it.
Originally posted by hmlee
There is no 50 back event in this meet, so if I'm in anything it's likely to be the 50/100 free or the 100 back. We'll see.
Is there ever a 50 back? I know in Division I only 100 and 200 yard events are contested in the non-free strokes, but I suppose DIII could be different.
Hopefully you'll get to swim something. Even if you're not in the scoring heat lots of times the coaches will agree to have a few exhibition heats. These are nice for a couple reasons: it gives more swimmers a chance to race, and it gives swimmers in events that are close to each other a little more time to rest.
Former Member
Hahha....but then how will I ever get my poli sci reading done?
Morning Practice todaaay:
Woke up...back was feeling not so bad. Got a little bit sore as I was bending to get my suit on and everything...but still wasn't horrible. I think I'm healing! Yey!
We started our dry land training today. Thank god. I'm so happy to be doing dry land in the mornings three times a week...it's nice. I much prefer doing hard workouts in the afternoon than in the morning. At least in the aftenroon I'm awake and I've eaten and I just feel better....
We spent a while going through stretches, and then some ab workouts, followed by plyometrics, and a trip to the weight room. In the future we'll also be adding in medicine balls and cord work.
I was able to do most of everything we had to do today, although a few of the stretches and ab work I had to not do because it caused pain....
Technically we're supposed to hit the pool after our dryland for a short cool down - 500-1000, but the intros today took quite a while and so by the time the other girls and I were done with our weights it was already about 8:05...and we just didn't feel like getting into our gear only to have to get out of the pool by 8:20. So we went home instead.
Well....this afternoon I have a short NCAA meeting and then afternoon practice! We'll see how that goes..hopefully I have a good workout.
Former Member
Any word on the upcoming meet? It's this weekend right?
Former Member
Yes, the first meet is this Saturday at IIT. It's pretty low key, and a pretty small meet in general. I'm still not sure if/what I'm swimming as the coach hasn't finished the lineup yet...she said by wednesday she'll have it done. We have quite a few swimmers this year (20ish) and the meet is small, so I'm not sure if she'll put me in something or not. There is no 50 back event in this meet, so if I'm in anything it's likely to be the 50/100 free or the 100 back. We'll see.
Right now I'm on my lunch break between classes....and it's turned out to be frustrating. I ran out of the ibuprofen I got from the student care center...so now I have none. I went in to see if they would just give me more...but of course they have to make me e-mail the doctor first to see if I should continue on the ibuprofen. Joy. I don't think the athletic trainers have any to give me...
Yey for a painful swim this afternoon....sigh.
Former Member
Pick up some Advil at the bookstore or a local mini-mart if the trainers are short on supply. Anyhow, I hope you get a spot in the meet this weekend. I think it will do you a lot of good to get into some competition early in the season.
Originally posted by hmlee
Oddly enough though, at this meet I don't think they're even running events like the 100 ***...I'm not sure why.
The short answer to this is there are a few different possible meet programs. The coaches agree which format they'll use a couple weeks before the meet. Sometimes 100s of the strokes will be contested, other times 200s will. Sometimes both distances will be swum. Relay distances, 200 vs. 400 IM, and 1000 vs. 1650 free are similarly affected.
Former Member
Morning practice today!
Dry land...woot!
Got up this morning...didn't feel too bad. Took my ibuprofen and got ready. I was actually sort of well rested...had almost 6.5 hours of sleep (despite my roommates being loud when some of our friends came over...). It was nice.
We went through our dry land routine this morning...stretching, ab work, plyometrics, then some reaction time training. We were put into a squat position, and then upon the coaches start command had ot jump up into our streamline. Yey for practicing starts. I was only able to do half...because squats arn't exactly my best friend right now.
After that we hit up the weight room...lifed for a while. Then we all went to the pool for an easy 1000-1200yds to stretch out after the weights. My shoulders and legs are a little tight still after the lifting...I hope that they loosen a bit before afternoon practice today.
Techncially, we were supposed to get the lineup for Saturday's meet this morning. However, the coach hasn't done it yet because apparently 8 people missed practice on Tuesday, so she doesn't know who is and isn't swimming. I still don't know if I'll swim. I figure I'll leave it up to her, for the most part, unless she decides to stick me in the 200 fly or something crazy that I can't do.
That's it for this morning!
Former Member
Well I always try to find something positive in every event. Not participating in the first meet might be a strong incentive to work as hard as you possibly can to overcome your injury and meet the goals set forth by your coach. Through all of this I would try to remember that this is just a sport and that sports are supposed to be about fun. There is no money on the line here, just a chance to share some smiles with your teammates.
Former Member
Yeah...I know. I'll still go to the meet and cheer on my teammates, but I definitely feel kind of sad about not swimming in it. Sad..sometimes I don't even feel like much of a real swimmer.
Here were the workouts for Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning...
Wednesday afternoon:
Warmup:
200 swim
400 pull w/ snorkel
400 swim w/ paddles
Main:
2 x
200 free
200 stroke
200 free
2 x 100 stroke
200 free
4 x 50 stroke
(there were intervals for the main set, but i don't remember what they were)
Cool down:
300 swim.
Total for wednesday: 3,700m in the afternoon, 1,000 yds in the morning
Thursday workout:
Warmup:
200 swim alternate 25 free / 25 back
400 pull w/ snorkel
400 IM (first 100 kick, second/third 100 drill, fourth 100 swim)
Main:
10 x 150 (100 pull, 50 sprint) also on interval...somewhere around 2:30
6 x (75 on the 1:20, 50 on the 1:00, 25 on the :40)
Focus on technique / w/ building
Cool down:
200 swim
Total: Around 3,000yds
Former Member
Well, was busy yesterday and didn't get a chance to update. Since then I've had two practices (yesterday afternoon's, and this morning's)...
Something funny happened to me yesterday...after I got out of the pool (finished a little early, as usual, because of my injury) I was in the varsity locker room. Well....I didn't something kind of silly. See the varsity locker room is set up in an interesting way. It's an area off of the main women's locker room. The door to the varsity room is just an unlabeled door with a place to swipe your ID and a keypad to punch in a code. Feels very James Bond like.
Anyway......within that area is the varsity locker room which is a smaller locker room with three other rooms of lockers. One of them is the swimmer lockers, the others rotate between the sports...right now they're for soccer, volleyball, tennis. Anyway...the door to the swimmer locker area also has an ID swipe place (I guess to keep those soccer players from stealing our goggles! Haha...). So I was getting dressed, and I left our little locker area to use the mirros in the varsity locker room. Aaaaaand......I locked myself out. So I was the only one and I had to hang around the locker room for a good ten minutes until the rest of the team had gotten out of the pool. Kinda silly.
Today's practice was uneventful, ended up getting out after a hard set because we had had a long pull set previously, and it seems that the combination of long pull sets + sprinty sets kind of kills my back faster than other stuff.
The only other thing of note is an update from my coach regarding this Saturday's meet. I won't be swimming. She decided she didn't want to swim me until I was able to get in more start and turn work (which I haven't yet been able to do). I know she's just looking out for my health, and she wants me to be able to perform well when I do swim, but I still feel kinda crummy about it...
I'll post the workouts from Tuesday/Today a little later, as I have to hurry to get to class right now!
