Announcements
One of the swimmers has suggested that we set up a weekend mini-swim camp
focused on stroke improvement. If you'd be interested (for a small fee),
please let me know your availability, preferred format (e.g. 1x2hr session,
2x2hr sessions on consecutive days, consecutive weekends, a month apart, etc.)
and if you'd prefer this be held in the summer (Saturday and Sunday morning pool
time usually available), or the fall (Sunday morning pool time usually
available). If there's enough interest, the coaching staff will work out a
proposal with Steve Baird (Carleton Aquatics Coordinator).
The web page has been updated to include links to the latest Ontario,
Canadian and World Masters records (see:
http://lynnmarshall.tripod.ca/).
If you have any suggestions of other things to add, please let me know.
In case anyone has been avoiding Saturday morning workouts
due to the large number of people who attended during the winter, keep in mind
that Saturday mornings are normally lightly attended over the summer.
Please remember that for the rest of the summer,
the Early Birds (MWF morning group) will run from 7:30-8:30am ONLY.
The 8:30-9:30am group will recommence in mid-September.
If you are interested in private lessons (stroke technique, etc.), please
see me.
Triathlon Race Reports (as usual,
please let me know if I've missed anyone!):
OAC Triathlon, Saturday July 7th (1200m swim, 22k bike, 7k
run): 208 individuals and 28 teams
Renee Robert (Early Birds): 152nd overall
and 3rd in women's 45-49: 1:59:35
Danielle Claude & Lara McKendrick
(Early Birds) and Patti Anderson "Tri-Babes": 10th team overall and 3rd women's
team: 1:41:20
Sheila Kealey (who plans to start swimming with us soon!):
13th overall, top woman overall and 1st in women's 35-39: 1:28:10
Carleton "Alumni":
Marc Pelletier: 4th overall and 1st in men's 40-44: 1:22:00
James Young: 8th overall and 3rd in men's 35-39: 1:26:37
Andy Robert: 177th overall and 7th in men's 50-54: 2:06:39
Early Birds (Morning Group) Summer Session
Notes
We'll be doing the "start of summer session" time trials
during this coming week (week of July 9th). If required, due to
numbers, we will continue time trials the following week. Please decide
what event(s) you'd like to swim, and let me know what day you'd like to do you
time trial(s).
Swimming Etiquette
Rule #7: Be courteous to the lifeguards.
The lifeguards do a great job helping with set up and take down for
Masters. Please be courteous by helping with the Masters equipment (lane
ropes, flags, kickboards/pullbuoys, etc.) when required. Also during the
summer there is sometimes no one in the pool right after us (Saturday mornings
and some evenings), so please exit to the change rooms quickly so the lifeguards
can leave, too!
Goggles
Here are some suggestions from various swimmers about places in Ottawa to
buy swimming goggles:
Sports 4: lots of choice at 149
Bank (also located at 400 Earl Grey, Kanata)
Elgin Sports: 250
Albert
Lacroix Source for Sports: 1-43
Roydon (by Costco) (also located at 2062 St-Joseph, Orleans)
Sports Experts: Bayshore Shopping
Centre (also locations at Place D'Orleans, St Laurent, Rideau Centre &
Promenade de l'Outaouais)
Running Room: 911 Bank (not as
much selection as there used to be; also locations at 160 Slater and 1568
Merivale)
If you know of other places, please let me know. One experienced
swimmer suggests avoiding goggles with anti-fog coating as it often starts to
peel in places making the lenses hard to see through.
Prescription Goggles
Mike B (Early Birds) reports that he also had no luck with Speedo
prescription goggles, and he prefers to wear contacts with Swedish goggles (the
small ones with no foam).
Dear Coach: Why can I make 200s on
4:00 with no problem (and with 10 seconds rest), but more than one on
3:55 is impossible? Ran out of Steam
Dear R. Steam: While the difference between 4:00 and 3:55 may not sound
like much, it is a 2% difference. Keep in mind that improving your best
time by 2% would be a very significant improvement, so it's not too surprising
that changing your pace time by 5 seconds isn't as easy as you'd think!
Your body will attempt to adapt to the training that you do, so you need to
approach improving to a 3:55 pace time in a methodical way. Of course,
working on your technique is key! You can also do sets of 200s on 4:00
where you aim for 15 seconds rest (instead of 10). You can try 200s on
3:57.5 (if you can handle the pace clock math ;-) !). Also working on your
sprint speed (e.g. 50s with a longer rest), as well as general aerobic training
(longer swims, different strokes), will also help your body adapt to the harder
training pace times you are aiming for. Note that it will take some time
to reach a 2% improvement (world class swimmers are happy with improvements in
the 0.0005% range)!
General Information
Your input to this weekly newsletter is most
welcome, especially for the race results and "Ask the Coach"
sections! To be added or removed from the receiver list, just let me know
(lynnmarshall@sympatico.ca).
Keep on Swimming!
Lynn
