Off the Deck

I can’t remember during which meet broadcast it was, but Rowdy Gaines once said something to the affect of: swimming is a small community — eventually you meet everyone.

I have found this to be very true. You might “know of” another swimmer for years, but ultimately one day your paths will cross. Case in point number one: I was lucky enough to meet Rowdy several years ago in Auburn.

Case in point number two: Coach Andy. A few years ago, after my latest officemate (don’t get me started — I think I had something like eight in less than two years. After one new hire lasted only a day, I started to feel like the facility’s Kiss of Death. Anyway, I digress…) moved in, she told me that her brother-in-law swam.

At the time, I didn’t know Andy personally, but I was familiar with some of his impressive swim accomplishments, had heard of the team he coached then, etc. Fast foward a few years, and now he’s one of my coaches. Small world indeed!

While it’s always nice to expand your swim-network, I feel incredibly lucky to have that same new contact turn out to be such a fantastic coach. Combine a vast knowledge of swim technique with humor and the patience of a saint and you have Coach Andy.

Best of all? Coach Andy has that rare ability to translate highly technical information into easily understood “sound bites” — the true hallmark of a swim coach. Applying one of his tips during pratice brings immediate, tangible improvement. And because he keeps things simple and to the point, his sound bites stick in your head.

My current favorite sound bites are “kick up as much as you kick down when dolfining” and “loose, noodle arms” during the recovery of free. Yay! I look forward to learning tons more this season — thanks Coach Andy!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

One of the cool tests available at the “Expedition Health” exhibit at the local natural history museum is to compare your height and arm span. Most humans are equal, meaning that their wingspan is equal (or very close) to their height.

But not me. Nope, I’m never one to be clustered on any mean-line. My little dot was way out there on its own on the graph, because my arms are two and one-half 1/2 inches longer than my height. Apparently, a longer wingspan is even less common among females than males.

I guess I should have suspected this all along. Clue #1) I can never find shirts with sleeves that come close to grazing past my wrists, and Clue #2) My stroke count has always been lower than that of the Math Savant, who towers a good foot-plus over me.

Learning about my monkey arms also had a redeeming value for me. Earlier this summer, after watching a World Tri women’s competition on TV, I finally understood why everyone and their grandmother always ask if I do Tris — my build would blend right in with a Tri race, not so much with a swim final. But hey, maybe my simian arms have helped keep me in the mix with larger swimmers all these years.

The true take-home message per my monkey arms however, aligns with what Coach Mark, Coach Andy and Coach Dana have been hammering on me lately: Get my stroke count down!!!

For the record, I am now holding 16-17, down from 20. My goal is 14-15 though, because I can do that count about every 75 or so. And really, the hammering is a good thing because I am dedicated to making this stroke change automatic. I no longer want to exhaust-merely-by-observation the coaching staff and swimmers in other lanes, such as Abby, with my old spinner-style stroke. So, bring it!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Most, if not all, masters teams have a “swimming just to swim” membership component — people who religiously attend practice but never compete.

I’ve never really understood this behavior because I love competing as a swimmer. There are so many reasons “why” it’s fun for me. Just a few reasons include: 1) seeing if training and technique tweaks translate into faster times, 2) setting and reaching goals, 3) trying new events, pools and open water courses, 4) meeting swimmers from around the world, and 5) registering for events motivates me and gives me focus at practice.

This morning though, I realized that I might be the “swimming to swim” sort of person, but in another realm — running.

Since I began running about two years ago, I’ve run at least once, more often two to three times a week, weather/health permitting. Yet, in that time, I’ve only done one local 5K race and the Aquaman combo at the recent “Tri My Way.”

Even though I felt like an alien at both events, I had a lot of fun. And goodness knows there are way more opportunities to run rather than swim a race. So why am I not running more races?

The logical answer might be “time.” I’m not sure I can swim, run, lift weights, and of this year, paddle, and excel at all of these activities. Therefore, being a swimmer first and foremost, something else, let’s call it “running,” often has to take a backseat.

But I think there is more to it. I run primarily because it’s a fun outdoor activity I can do almost year-round. It clears my head. I get to watch the seasons change. I see a variety of people, flora and fauna. Lately I’ve even stopped timing myself, prefering to run until I feel that I am done for the day. And I choose paths based on a “I wonder where that goes” or “that looks pretty” basis.

I expect the “swimming to swim” crowd has similar reasons for choosing to attend practices but not compete. I need start asking them — now I am really curious to know what motivates them!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

I’m a big believer in setting goals. Small to large, short term or long term, swim related or other, it doesn’t matter. I really enjoy reviewing, assessing, brain-storming and planning.

As we head into fall, I have an unusual, but swim-related goal: master the made-from-scratch brownie. The simple explanation? Enough with being “store-bought girl.”

This past season, my team potluck contributions have been individually wrapped chocolates, Izze (refreshing, fizzy-fun fruit drinks), and store-bought cookies (although, as they were “imported” to the west from NY, I’d like to think they were a notch above mundane.)

Thus, I’ve decided it’s time to step up and find my “signature” baked good to bring to swim team events. And what better season than brrrr-y-cold fall/winter is there to be inside wrangling with an oven?

Brownies were not a random choice, but a process of elimination end-result. Here’s the breakdown:
1) brownies are yummy
2) brownies are crowd-pleasers
3) brownies can easily be made from scratch
4) brownies can be made simple or elaborate
5) brownies offer endless variation per batch via batter, mix-ins, etc.
6) brownies can easily be decorated or embellished
7) brownies can be “healthy-ed up” without sacrifcing taste or texture

I know enough from past baking failures to keep a few points in mind as I proceed this fall/winter. First, I’ll need to tinker with a few batches to grasp the basic brownie concept. Second, until I am confident I can churn out specatular bownies every time, having a back-up item on hand is probably wise for event contributions. And third, I have to remember that personal taste is what it is. Some people are just not going to like any type of brownie I make. So, I need to focus on doing my best and letting the rest go. Hey, not a bad approach to many other goals in life….hmmmm…!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

One of my faves shows (especially now that they’ve gotten rid of the stupid “live in big house together and go through elimination challenges each week” element) is Last Comic Standing.

This year the format is comedy routines, straight up, and there is a nice variety of comedic “styles,” ranging from impressions to several un-related quick-laugh jokes, to spinning a story towards a big punchline. Ron Wood Jr., one of the comedians still in the running as of this week, leans towards the “weave many jokes around one topic” genre. You can imagine my surprise when he did a routine based on swimming.

Heck yeah, Michael Phelps is as close to a household name as any swimmer is going to get. But I think going out on stage with swimming as a stand up foundation is a sign that the sport may has reached a new national awareness high.

After all, Last Comic Standing is a competition. So, one would assume that to get the most laughs and thus stay on the show until earning the big win, comedians would choose material that lots of viewers (i.e. “competition voters”) would know of and identify with.

So again, I was surprised Ron Wood Jr. chose swimming. It seemed to have worked though, because the monolouge carried him safely though that elimination round.

Today, more than a week later, I’m still wondering why he was thinking about swimming in the first place. Beijing (and thus peak swim media coverage) is long past now. And, while trying not to be judgemental, I must confess that based on his appearance and assumed lifestyle (I’m thinking comics have a lot of late nights that involve hanging about in clubs, drinking, smoking and eating fast food), that Ron himself is not a swimmer.

Hmmm, maybe I could drop him an email to find out. He might even perceive it as “fan mail” and get a morale-boost out of it. Or it could inspire him to talk more about swimming next week…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Today while teaching myself how to use Google Earth, I was trying to think of locations to use as test-cases.

Of course, my first thought ran to “pools.” So I checked out one of my faves of all time, the 50 lcm x 25 scy outdoor pool where I spent all of my age group summers. (What can I say. It’s one of my “happy places.”)

From there it was an easy leap to wonder if my old team now has a website.

Yep, they do.

It was interesting to see how the team has changed since my childhood. Foremost, they have fewer practices but use more pools. And it all seems very formal now. (Maybe this is just because you can put any manner of official-type files on the web today? Back in the day we were all about mimeographs, word of mouth and phone trees.)

Most stunning though, was the records page. I was amazed to see that we still held so many records. I mean, we’re talking 30+ years later. And we’re the only “era” in the books. The remaining records are “modern,” having been set within the past few years.

When I was growing up, I was aware that my area was strong in swimming. And I knew that both of my teams (age group and scholastic) were powerhouses: we won a lot of titles, high point trophies, set a lot records and sent a lot of swimmers to States, JOs and beyond every year.

Absolutely, we trained hard — doubles most days of the week and dryland. But this was the training protocol of the day, we really weren’t doing anything different from other teams.

Until today, I always took my age group team situation — training and results — for granted. Back then, we just swam. Sure, we always made finals, won events, set records and more. But it just seemed like “goal-setting and achieveing” in one area of your life.

And I’ve always assumed that every subsequent age group team in my hometown was just like us — dedicated, goofy, close as close can be and talented.

Today, several decades later, it’s just starting to sink in — we had lightening in a bottle. What amazing good fortune to have grown up and trained together under the cicumstances we had.

It’s an honor to have shared the lanes.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

In a perfect world, swimmers and triathletes would play nicely together all the time based on a shared appreciation for training in water.

Except that swimmers and triathletes don’t seem to have a mutual passion for open water, let alone pools.

Yep, a distinct line in the sand persists between “swimmer” and “triathlete” when it comes to water. Bottom line? Swimmers are obessed with the stuff. To the point of a “huh, I wonder if I can swim there?” mindset. (Yes, I confess. I’ve been known to eye even large fountains to assess depth, water purity and more.)

Triathletes, on the other hand, seem to have different obessions. (Please note the use of the plural.) Examples include but are not limited to: aerodynamic bikes that cost more than my car, the ubiquitous IM logo tat, online coaching, VO2 Max rate tracking and “training” in general.

Absolutely, I know and count many triathletes as friends. I even have successfully swam practices with several. But from a swimmer’s perspective, they do have some quirks about their water training approach.

Such as never crossing a certain yardage threshold per swim. Lack of speed variety. That all-free-every-practice thing. Slapping on a ton of gear (did you catch that particular obsession hint from above?) for an entire practice. Wearing wetsuits despite freakin’ hot air and water temps. Not training in open water despite it being their race medium.

Is it any wonder that sometimes I use the “tri-geek” term?

I know, I know. But it’s not meant maliciously. And I can’t help myself.

But I digress. Here is the real point of today’s post: there is a hilarious Xtra Normal clip on the web by Chris Derks that brilliantly and pitch-perfectly captures the failure of swimmers and triathletes to see eye to eye when it comes to all things swim.

Check it out at: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6514689/

I don’t want to spoil it, but I must share my fave aspect: Tri-girl’s fall back to lack of water training is always a fast bike and looking good.

Enjoy!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Maybe I am a bit ad-centric lately, but I can’t help it – this week’s People magazine includes a Merona (a line of clothing at Target) ad featuring swimming.

For real. I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either. In fact, a lot about the ad doesn’t make sense to me:

–What exactly are they trying to portray? It’s not a “race” since there’s more than one swimmer per lane, and men and women are mixed in together. But they’re all doing butterfly. So maybe it’s practice? But then why are there a bunch of people dressed to suggest “meet official” (think: all white) lining one side of the deck?

–Speaking of those white outfits, surely these pieces are not actual items from the “spring collection” for sale at Target. (Can you say “dowdy?”)

–O.K., so maybe the ad is using the white official-looking outfits as a visual trick to highlight the two people in purple and khaki. But what the heck’s going on with those two? Why are they ignoring their swimmers? Are they checking each other out? Are they congratulating each other on their similar style sense? Do they coach the same kids (thus the matching colors) and are so confident about their swimmers they don’t even need to watch them? Seriously, it’s kind of weird…

–Why are the flags running the legnth of the pool instead across? Is backstroke not part of this particular swim-scenario?

–Is it just me, or do all of the swimmers look like they’re laughing?

Huh. Should I just suck it up and write this ad off via a popular mom-ism (“some things are just meant to be enjoyed, not understood”) because any reference to swimming in pop culture is good for the sport? Or should I start offering myself as a “swim consultant” to marketing firms? Choices, choices, choices.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Lots of times something’s happening within my swim world and I want to post about it right away.

Other times, like today, I dig into my slush file (a folder of odd clippings and scraps of paper with brief notes to myself. Neither category is particularly time-sensative, thus the beauty of a slush file) and pull a topic, such as Michael Phelps and Under Armour.

During the Winter Games this past February, a brief article appeared in USA Today noting that Michael Phelps had signed his biggest endorsement deal since his pot-smoking publicity fiasco. I suppose the Under Armour annoucement appeared in print then because anything on MP is an easy way to remind readers who are currently jazzed about the Winter Games that the 2012 London Summer Games will be here soon enough.

In any case, the clip mentioned it’s a mutli-year deal, and would focus on gear worn during MP’s dry land training sessions. In fact, one of the company rep’s quotes mentioned how the first commercial probably would “surprise” some people by how hard MP works outside of the pool.

First of all, what commercials? I haven’t seen any, and two months have passed since this particular announcement. A careful re-read of the article clarified at least that last bit: the first commercial would air during the “NFL Scouting Combine.”

What? O.K., although I didn’t know what that was off the top of my head, it still didn’t sound like something that would have a huge audience. Especially one that would care about, let alone know, anything about swimming.

Of course, I had to do some ‘net research. Turns out that the “NFL Scouting Combine” is an annual event. One website’s catchy description of the event? “A “job fair for NFL players.” Guess who the main 2010 sponsor is? Yes, that’s right — UA. Oh, and it’s already over — it ran Feb. 24-March 2.

So…again, I’m sitting here thinking, “how many people saw that commercial?” And how many of them were swimmers? Did any of the non-swimmers then run out and buy UA gear?

My second meta-thought about the MP-UA commercial is what kind of perception does the American public at large have about swim training? Do they think we just whip out records as long as we have a tech suit on?

Hello?!? MP is a professional athlete. I don’t care what sport you chose — any professional athlete today is going to do a lot of cross training — weights, pilates, yoga/stretching, running, cycling and more — whatever it takes to be in tip-top condition and gain an edge over their competitors.

Hmmmm…if it’s a multi-year deal that extends past the 2012 Games, maybe we’ll see ads via more mainstream souces as we get closer to trials and the Games themsleves?

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Two interesting and related swim-remarks were made to me this week by two different people. The first: an illustration of “swimmer intelligence” via a list of average GPAs for various male sports teams from their alma matter. Of course, swimmers topped the chart.

The second: “swimmers tend to be introverted.”

Both statements are pretty true if you think about it. While growing up, the majority of kids on my age group and scholastic teams fell into one of two extreme categories: 1) super bright over-achievers, and 2) natural athletes. Those in the first category could zip through homework and easily apply new technique info to their strokes. And thanks to their busy minds, they were able to amuse themselves during kazillions of yards and meters. The natural athletes, on the other hand, didn’t care enough about school to bother with homework, and had innate sense of their body in the water. They just sort of mentally blanked out during practice and let their bodies swim.

I don’t think much has changed since I’ve become a masters. After all, why swim unless you enjoy it or have such a flair for the sport?

The introversion part rings true too. In general, the following characteristics seem to apply to a lot of swimmers: hard working, focused, goal-oriented, “over-thinker,” organized. “Life of the party?” Not so much.

But the real question is which came first — the formed personality that found an outlet in swimming, or do the demands of swimming (long hours, early mornings, constant study of technique, clean diet, set and break PRs, etc.) shape its devotees into bright but slightly warped indivduals?

Hmmmmm…..

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist