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The MIST newsletter is now emailed to members. If you do not receive a newsletter, email us to make sure we have your email.

MIST /OCTOBER/ 2011
Buffalo and Cleveland State Meets approaching

     MIST swimmers will be competing at two of the fastest pools in the region this fall: The Erie Community College Pool in Buffalo, October 15-16, and the Cleveland State Natatorium, Nov. 18-20.  There are no qualifying times for the Buffalo meet, held at the site of many USA Sectional and Junior National Meets and the World University Games. The qualifying times for the Braun Meet in Cleveland are AA times. Entries for both meets are due to Coach Schultz  by Oct. 3. Both meets will close out early. We will send our entries in as soon as they will be accepted, but we can’t guarantee our entries will be accepted as these are very popular events.
     Information for both meets (including events and entry fees) is posted on the pool bulletin board and is also available at the following sites: Buffalo - http://www.niagaraswim.org/EventShow.jsp?returnPage=%2FEventsCurrent.jsp&id=160946&team=eznslsc (click STAR10142011.doc); and Cleveland State -http://www.lesd.org/Pagefiles/Braun_Fall_Classic_2011_final_mts_091811[1].pdf

What makes a pool fast?

      Have you ever heard someone remark that a certain pool was very fast? If a pool is just a giant tub filled with water, how could one pool be faster than another? Water depth, gutters, lane lines, water flow, and chemicals in the water all determine how fast swimmers can go. Anything than reduces turbulence will allow swimmers to go faster. The deeper the water, the fewer the waves and there will be less resistance on you. You can capitalize on this by kicking and streamlining 5-6 feet under water after dives and turns. Better, bigger lane-lines cut down the waves from the swimmers in the other lanes, giving you less turbulence to fight. Big gutters swallow the waves up before they can bounce off the walls and make waves. Were you ever on a boat in the channel between Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie? It’s very wavy because the waves hit the sides of the channel over and over, back and forth. A big gutter prevents that from happening in a pool.  The gutters at Cleveland State are big enough to lie in. Finally, a lot of calcium in the water makes it hard and it feels easier to pull. Soft water feels almost spongy and it’s hard to feel the water pressure on your palms and forearms.

Practice cancellations

                There will be no practice on Tuesday, Oct. 4 due to a McDowell home water polo game.  There will be no practice on Monday, Oct. 31 because of Halloween.

Ways to improve your kicking

         Kicking is fundamental to sprinting. No matter how strong you are and how fast you move your arms, you will never be competitive in a sprint event without fast feet.  It is common for swimmers to lament that they just aren’t good kickers, as if it were genetic like the color of their eyes.  You can make your kick better if you want to. So what can you do in practice to improve your kicking?
        First, for flutter and dolphin kicking, point your toes and kick from the hips. When you point your toes, it is harder to bend your knees. Bent knees are bad. Second, when kicking on your back for any stroke, watch and make sure your knees don’t break the surface.  Third, kick flutter and dolphin on your back and side (without cheating and taking strokes), so you feel the kick in every direction.
        Fourth, when you use a board for flutter and dolphin kicking, put your face in the water to bring your legs to the surface and kick with a proper position. Fifth, for breaststroke, feel your feet touch together at the end of each kick before starting the next kick.  Sixth, count your kicks: when you dolphin kick off the wall under water, do as many small kicks as possible (10-20) before surfacing. For breaststroke, do as few kicks as possible per length.  
        Seventh, kicking with short and medium blade fins will make your kick better. Fins which are too long and too floppy will teach you to do a bad kick by encouraging you to bend your knees too much. Eighth, kick sometimes with your arms at your sides. We don’t want to de-emphasize streamlining, but once your streamlines are automatic, kicking breaststroke on your front with your arms by your side (and trying to touch your hands when you bring your feet back) is a strength builder. Kicking fly with your arms by your sides will help you feel the kick starting in the hips, instead of the knees.  Ninth, take kicking seriously. Kicking is not a rest set (it’s a rest for your arms but not for your legs, heart, lungs and the rest of your body), nor is it a time to talk with everyone around you.  Those who work kick sets hard breath heavy and don’t have the energy to talk.
       So yes, you can become a better kicker. It’s not fate or heredity. It’s hard work. But that hard work pays off. We have had many good swimmers who went from good to great by making their kick better and stronger.

From previous MIST Newsletters.....

Race strategy

Most of our younger swimmers race at distances of 25 and 50 yards. For those of our swimmers who compete at longer distances (100’s, 200’s, 400-500’s, 1000’s) race strategy becomes more important. One cannot simply go out fast and try to hold on. It makes far more sense to try to hold the same speed throughout the race (even-split) or increase speed over the back half of the race (negative splitting, also called back-halfing). Ninety five percent of all American and World record swims were either even-split or negative-split.
      To do this well in races, swimmers need to do it in practice with the following methods: 1) on a set of 8 or more 100’s or 150’s or whatever, don’t go all out on the first three. Try to go faster on the last 3 or 4; 2) When doing longer repeats like 200’s or 300’s, work harder and go faster and kick more on the last 50 or 100 yards; 3) Work harder at the end of practice than at the beginning. This last one is hard because when you feel great at the start of practice, you want to race people. Don’t worry, though, if people are beating you in warm-up or on the first set. Build confidence by beating them the last hour of practice when they get tired and you are strong. If you make a habit of doing this, it will be a big confidence booster when you are in a close race but know that you can blow past the competition in the last 2 lengths.
      Think of the better scenario: would you rather lead for most of a race only to lose at the end, or would you rather trail for most of the race, then power past everybody for a dramatic last win?