:: Jessie's Dog Blog

Wednesday, February 22nd

The official indoor short course yards season is winding down as we had our last State qualifying meet this last weekend at the North Jeffco "Last Chance" meet (click here for the MEET RECAP).

We have really improved this year as TOP DOGS continue to fall and we had many more Silver and State qualifiers:  This year, we have 20 athletes competing in 82 events at Silver State.  That's more than double what we've had in the past.

It's really cool to have such improvement over prior years, and congratulations to all those who qualified for the scy championships.

Sunday, February 5th

Big week for high school swimming as our GW teams had their big meets:  dual meet vs. East, B-League, and A-League.  The first two were victories, but we just lost the A-League Championship to East HS in a close match-up.  Several girls you know are on the GW team including a couple of the team's state qualifiers.

Monday, January 22nd

In addition to swim great swimming, everyone honored Rich Abraham and George DiCarlo as the inaugural inductees into the Colorado Swimming Hall of Fame.  Click here for the re-cap: HALL OF FAME.

Sunday, January 15th

When the GW Girl's season gets going, things get very hectic...such has been the last month.

Our Swim Dogs are really stepping up this season, and our meet performances have been awesome.  In every meet, we keep establishing new TOP DOGS:  Mable and Matt M. are awesome...and their TOP DOG chains have got to be full of Dog Tags!  Claire B is really going fast as a new 10-year-old, too.  Click on MACS Invite to read more about our recent meet.

We don't require meet participation, but we feel that competition is an important part of the sport.  Many of our athletes want to swim in high school (or beyond), so the sooner they can get the competitive experience, the better.  All of our coaches still compete in Master's meets!

Tuesday, December 13th

Coach Mark dove into the pool this weekend for for Golden Phoenix Open at the School of Mines.  While his times weren't great, they were respectable for a 51-year-old.

12 Swim Dogs participated in the meet establishing 10 new TOP DOGS records. Thanks to everyone who helped out timing and to Jon Sarche for officiating for both morning sessions.  And, thanks to everyone who cheered for me (see Matt M. above)!

Sunday, December 4th

The indoor season is hitting its busiest time as we've had several Swim Dogs meets and the GW Girl's season is in full swing.

On December 3rd, we hosted the Aurora Sea Dragons:

What a fun meet yesterday vs. the Aurora Sea Dragons!  It had to be the largest meet ever at GW with 82 Sea Dragons and 45 Swim Dogs...what a great turnout.  Lots of good races, and thanks to the GW Swim Team for helping out.  We raised over $1,000 for the program, and we will continue to improve the facility.  Click here for the SEA DRAGONS MEET RECAP.

Over the Thanksgiving Weekend, several 10 & Unders participated in the Thanksgiving at The Rock:

Wednesday, November 9th

Has it really been over one month since I last blogged...that's and OUTRAGE!  I guess things have been pretty busy:  two meets, the start of the girl's high school season, and a well-needed vacation in Mexico have kept me hopping!

The meets have been great, and I've been extremely happy with the Swim Dog's attendance and performance.  We had 57 swimmers in both the Suburban League Relay Meet and Suburban League Qualifier both held at DU (click on the links for meet re-caps).

The relay meet is always fun, but this year's SLQ was especially good due to some excellent swims:  13 TOP DOGS, 22 Silver State Qualifiers, and one State Qualifier (Matt M. in the 100 back).  The highlight for me was Taylor's swim in the 100 fly where she took off 5-seconds and nearly made a 4A High School Girls State qual time at 1:06.56 (1:06.3 is the cut).

Our season has started off very well, and I am looking forward to the winter!

Monday, October 3rd

What a long weekend in Vegas swimming in the Slam the Dam Open Water event at Lake Mead.

It was a really fun swim.  I headed out for Vegas on Friday morning and from the airport, I rented a car to head out to Lake Mead to scope out the race.  Once I checked into the hotel, I just had a good dinner and pretty much went to bed as I had to get up at 4am the next morning...a difficult task in Vegas!

On Saturday morning, I got up and drove out to the lake.  Surprisingly, it was raining, and they even threatened to cancel the race due to potential thunderstorms and wind.  But that didn't stop the hearty soles from letting it be known that they wanted to swim!

I teamed up with a great gal from Vegas who volunteered to provide my kayak support.  Charlotte (pictured above) is also from Oregon, and she was a great teammate.  She had never paddled for anyone before, so I think she was as nervous about the swim as I was...but she couldn't have been better!

The 8K started about 10 minutes late, and the start was a bit disorganized.  There were supposed to be three waves of swimmers, but instead, everyone just headed out.  I think I got about a 20-second disadvantage to most of the swimmer.

Thankfully, I got out relatively quickly and settled into 12th place (of about 60 swimmers) with a nice, relaxed stroke.  The race headed east into a bit of a head wind, but we were protected by some small islands, so the chop was not too bad.

As we turned the corner at 2-miles, the race moved south, and the wind now came at us from the side making for some odd swimming.  I tried to keep my stroke as smooth as possible for the stretch run I had planned for the last 30-minutes of the race.  I continued in about 12th place.

At the 4-mile point, I picked up my stroke rate and tried to catch a couple of close-by competitors...I think I passed them, and finished in 10th overall with a time of 2-hours, 12-minutes, and 33-seconds.  I was 10th place overall and 2nd in my age group.

After a 30-minute rest, I was back in the water for the 1.2-mile swim.  The start was even more hectic, as I think there were about 100 competitors.  I tried getting out quickly again, but my shoulders were so sore, I was having a hard time getting going.  Once we headed down wind, I got my stroke together.  Unfortunately, we had to turn back into the wind, and the swim got tough.  I think I finished in about 20th overall in a time of 29-minutes.

This was really a fun competition, and I owe a bunch to Charlotte and her friend Trevor for all the support!

Sunday, September 25th

It was a great turnout for the 2011 Swim Dogs Family Classic at George Washington HS on Saturday morning, September 24th.  Near 100 swimmers participated ranging in age from 5-years to 75-years!  Santa Claus was spotted, so I hope you were all good!

  Click Here for more pictures=> Meet Recap

Monday, September 19th

The first few weeks of practice have been quite amazing.  We've had an excellent turnout, and it's great to see so many people stepping up to the Three Cs philosophy:  Commitment, Consistency, and Competition!  There's been a bit of resistance, but for the most part, things are going great!

We've also liked everyone's commitment to team gear!  We sold team suits to 70% of the team with some people purchasing both the purple and green suits.  We're going to look good at our first big meet!

For those of you who missed, out, Dana will be place another order in November...look for a couple of additional items that will be great holiday gifts!

Saturday, September 2nd

The highlight of the first week of the new season had to be the starting block (see pictures below).  I was afraid that a few swimmers would be a little scared of the extra height, but no one complained and EVERYONE was excited.  They are truly amazing!

We had a really nice turnout this last week.  It was a little scary at Monday night's Late Group, but things settled in nicely, and we had great practices all week.  In keeping with the Three Cs theme, we are raising the bar for the Swim Dogs this season, and we had some massive practice...10 x 300s as a main set, which is so unlike us.  But you Swim Dogs really enjoyed it.

Welcome back everyone and make sure you say hello to our new swimmers.  We added about 10 this season.

Thursday, August 25th

The new starting blocks were installed today!!!

I test dove each block, and they are awesome!  I was able to go about five feet further on my "Plunge for Distance" which is significant.

The blocks are a foot higher than our old blocks and they include side rails and the track-start "wedge," making our pool one of the fast in the state.

Practice on Wednesday night was a blast as EVERYONE loved the new blocks!

Sunday, August 21st

Most USA-S teams take the month of August off:  Not the SWIM DOGS!  This has been huge month for swimming as we are welcoming back many returning swimmers.

54 Swim Dogs competed against the Stapleton Stingrays on Saturday, August 20th.

Special thanks to Rebecca, Teri, and Kara and several parents for stepping up at meet officials, organizers, and timers.  We cannot pull of these meets without the help of the parents!

The preliminary results show the Swim Dogs overpowering the Stingrays by a score of 713 to 284.  The Miaos continue to impress everyone by setting six new TOP DOGS records between Mable and Matt.  It was also fun to see our newest (and oldest) swimmers competing and improving!  Way to go Heather and Josh!

Click here to see the Overall Meet Results

Click here to see the Meet Results by Athlete

Last week, Rebecca and I traveled to Mission Viejo, CA to compete in the Southwest Zone Masters Championship.  Both of us had some pretty good results, but the highlight had to be watching Gold Medalists Janet Evans (pictured above) and Brian Goodell compete.  Rebecca even got to talk about Swim Dogs with Janet during the meet warm-up.

Monday, August 8th

It was a big week for swimming!

First off, thanks to all the Swim Dogs for coming to the season-ending party at Serioz on Thursday night.  We finally had a practice without threat of lightning, so it was altogether a good way to end the season.  Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Coach Kara who's off to college at Tulane University.  Thanks, Kara, for a couple of great years as coach, high school team captain, and swimmer!

Then on Saturday, several of the Swim Dogs participated in the Mile High Masters meet at Lowry.  Coach Dana led the group that included Coach Mark, Coach Kara, Coach Seth, Rebecca, and several newbies.  The highlight of the day had to be Ryan's American Record in the 800 and 1500M freestyle events (in the same event!).  Very impressive that Ryan swims backstroke.

On Saturday evening, Mark and Dana headed to Ft. Collins for the informational dinner for the Horsetooth Reservoir 10K swim which took place early Sunday morning (10K equals 6.4 miles).

Jeff and Dana paddled a kayak along side of me and led the way for 2 hours, 45 minutes, and 46 seconds.  I finished 23rd out of 80 overall (16th male), and I am proud to say that no one older finished ahead of me.

Kai, Annika and Teri Moen also participated in the shorter events at Horsetooth, and they really represented the Swim Dogs well.  In the youth 1K, Kai was second and Annika was fourth.  In the adult (non-wetsuit) 2.4-mile swim, Teri was second.  Way to go Swim Dogs!

Saturday, July 30th

Click the picture (left) to see the video of Coach Ryan!

Saturday, July 9th

A few cool things happened for Swim Dogs this week:

#1:  Rich Abrahams (picture above from his college days at Northwestern) will be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame this fall!  Rich is a tremendous masters swimmer with 37 World Records and 10 Gold Medals in FINA World Championship events.

#2:  Coach Ryan (picture above) participated in a meet at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, and she was the first swimmer EVER in her classification to complete a 1-mile swim!  It was, of course, an American Record!

#3:  The Swim Dogs are coaching a group of disadvantaged middle-schoolers in Montbello through the PlaySmart Denver Summer Camp.  Rich, Heidi, Dana, Seth, Kyle and me are coaching about 70 boys and girls at the Montbello Rec Center and the Green Valley Ranch Rec Center.  It's lot of fun.

#4:  Kai and Annika Moen were the first age-group Swim Dogs to make it out to the Chatfield Gravel Pond to participate in a Saturday morning practice.  The water temp was 75 (just under what it is at GW) and the made it all the way across the lake and back.  Nice job Moens!

Tuesday, June 28th

Wow...it's been a month since I last blogged!  That's hard for me to believe, but it's a fact.

The summer is off to a great start, and I am really having fun coaching the "scaled down" team.  It seems that most of the swimmers who are with us this summer are actually interested in swimming.  That's not always the case.  Plus, we have a few new swimmers, and I am excited about watching them develop.  It's all good.

We had a meet at Pier Point at the beginning of the month, and four of our new swimmers stepped up for the first time in a USA-S meet:  Sofia, Gabriele, Bella, and Maria.  They all did great!  We tried to swim in another meet out at Lowry, but we got our entries turned in too late, and the meet had closed.

There was also a master's meet at Lowry in early June, and Heather S. competed for the very first time in her life (see photo).  She did great, and I think she enjoyed it much more that she thought she would.  Nice job, Heather.

Coach Ryan has been at the Olympic Training Center for the last week as she prepares for the PanPac game in Guatemala in November:  How exciting for her.

I am already missing Coach Kara...she's been with us for two years now as she is preparing to leave for school at Tulane in New Orleans:  How exciting for her, too!

I've been training consistently over the summer, but don't have any established plans for racing.

Probably the most exciting thing is that I purchased my tickets for next summer's Olympic Trials in Omaha, NE.  Right after The Trial, USMS is holding it's Summer Nationals in the same pool, so I am planning on being in Nebraska for two weeks next summer!  Yikes.

Sunday, May 29th

The Lowry pool opened this last week, and I had the pleasure of being one of the first to swim in it for the season.  On Monday, the pool was bit cold at 76-degrees.  On Wednesday, it had warmed up nicely to 78.  On Thursday and Friday, I think it was up the to the summer's temperature at 80-degrees.  That will make for nice "cooling off" from the summer's heat.  I am looking forward to Monday's practice with the Swim Dogs!

I also had my first open water practice of the season out at the Chatfield Gravel Pond on Saturday.  The reported temperature was 56, and I was not too enthusiastic about my swim or how far I'd get.  But, what a great experience!  I did my first 20-30 strokes fast to get my heart going, and then I concentrated on getting my breathing under control.  It's didn't take too long to acclimatize to the cold water, and I loved it!  I actually made it all the way across and back for about 2,000 yards.

If that wasn't enough excitement for the week, I was also named the DPS Coach of the Year for Swimming:  That's Two years in a row!  It's nice to be recognized by my peers.

Finally, the highlight of the week had to be the phone call I received from DPS Athletics on Friday:  They have approved and are helping to fund our starting block project!  Look to have new blocks in place by the end of the summer!  Our new timing system, scoreboard, and blocks will make us one of the best facilities in the city!

Thursday, May 12th

Summer Swim Dogs is now under way, and I am really liking the smaller practice group.  With the smaller group comes better focus and more improvement...I can see it!

We have also been working on SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Oriented).  They should also be positive.

"I will break 1-Minute in the 100 Free by the end of May," is a good example.

Goals can be results-, process-(100% flip turns), and socially-oriented (I will know everyone's name in my lane by the end of practice).

Everyone should have short-, medium, and long-term goals.

Goal-setting helps you stay focused during practice and gives you a reason to keep coming to practice.  I must admit that it has been difficult for me to find my zone after competing and coaching at the World Masters Championships in Sweden last summer...it was pretty much the pinnacle of my career.

Your goals help me, as the coach, put together season plans and even individual workouts.

I have my own swimming goals (usually) and goals for the team.  To achieve success, the team goals should be in alignment with the swimmers.

Ask me (or any of the coaches) if you need help with setting some goals!

Monday, May 2nd

Just got back from the USMS National Championships in Mesa, AZ where I had a pretty good meet.  100+ traveled from Colorado with a few of my mid-day training partners including Rich, Heidi, Chris, and Tricia.

It was HOT down there...and windy.

The team from Colorado came in 2nd to the local Arizona team.  It was fun to see several Olympians swim including Rowdy Gaines and Ed Moses.

Summer Swim Dogs starts today.  It will be nice to have a more manageable team.

Thursday, April 14th

The indoor season is winding down, and our numbers are starting to dwindle as swimmer move to spring sports and outdoors.  I'm ready for swimming outside, myself.

Coach Ryan competed in the CanAm paralympic meet this last weekend in Minnesota and had give PRs in five events including a first-time-ever 200IM.  She did great!

We also had several athletes compete in the USA-Swimming IMX Challenge:

This is what happens after swimming the Long Course Pentathlon!

11 Swim Dogs participated in the Suburban League Pentathlon last weekend and completed the USA-Swimming IM X-Treme Challenge!  Look for more information soon, but congratulations to: Claire B. Mallory L. Carolyn M. Chloe B. Dylan K. Cami S. Caroline K. Jack K. Cole D. Lindsay D. Mila K.

Tuesday, March 29th

Thursday, March 17th

Lots of excitement around the pool lately!

1.  Four generations of swimmers took down the Boy's 200 Free Relay Pool Record on Monday, March 14th as Chris O'Sullivan (36), Rich Abrahams (66), Mark Johnston (50), and Dan Jurgs (18) swam to a 1:33.37 to better the previous record of 1:34.83.

2.  Coach Ryan was selected as the Colorado Sportswoman of the Year for Swimming and she was featured on the Channel 9 News.  Click here to see the feature: RYAN.  Her "spot" is at 2-minutes and 54-seconds.

Friday, March 11th

The Swim Dogs are really starting to get pretty good as we have an increasing number of swimmers participating in Silver State, and we even scored 80 points at the 14 & Under State Championships!  It's been a long few weeks, but the improvements has been nothing short of amazing.

Mable, Kai, Johan, and Isabelle all did great at the State Meet in Ft. Collins, and three of them even made it into the Top 10 with Mable getting as high as 7th place.  All four swimmers set Top Dog records in the process.

In addition to all the meet stuff, Coach Mark also put together a "Super Sessions" coaching clinic at GW for 24 local master's swimmers and coaches.  "Super" masters swimmers Rich Abrahams and Bob Strand led the group.

Monday, February 21st

25 Swim Dogs participated in this weekend's Last Chance meet in Arvada, and it was exciting to see all the new qualifiers for next weekend's Silver State meet.  We also had several State Meet Qualifying times.  Click here to read more:  North Jeffco Recap.

Friday, February 18th

Update From Coach Lindsay:  I moved to El Paso in November and am contracting with the Army and am currently at Fort Bliss working for the Army Center for Enhanced Performance (ACEP). In simple terms, what I am doing is taking skills from sport psychology and applying them to the Army. More specifically, we work with Soldiers, DA civilians, and families gain a mental edge. The Army trains Soldiers to be physically, technically, and tactically strong so we step in and train their minds like they already train their bodies. We teach them tools to perform better and more accurately in high pressure or, in the case of families, stressful situations. We teach them how to concentrate on the appropriate targets, have confidence going into new situations, think effectively, set and achieve goals, and control their physiology in order to act (perform) on a dime. The goal of the program is to develop mental strength for life. Because of this, the skills that we teach and work with are generalizable to not just the Soldiers and the training they do, but to their family life as well.  Hope all is well!!

Sunday, January 23rd

80 local masters swimmers participated in the Inaugural Colorado Swimming Hall of Fame Pentathlon & 2.4-mile Ironman Swim on Saturday:  Proceeds of the meet will go toward establishing The Hall.

Click here to read more about the HALL OF FAME meet.

The meet was really fun, but we have to get more Swim Dogs involved in the future!  This is a great way to measure your improvement in the pool.

Thanks to the GW Girls for stepping up as meet hosts!

Sunday, January 16th

Has it really been three weeks since I last blogged?  That's hard to believe, but it's true.

The middle of the high school season is very taxing.  In order to accommodate everyones' schedules, Dana and I seem to coach nearly every hour of the day.  If there's no school, we have one practice from 9 to 11:00, another from noon to 1:30, 4:00 to 5:30...and then it's Swim Dogs!  They make for very long days.

As the winter season has started, we've begun letting some new swimmers into our program.  Many of the newbies are from our neighborhood summer club, Virginia Vale.  It's great to have the support from the local community.

We're looking at some new meets this winter.  Our next meet, a Suburban League Qualifier, was cancelled, so I am looking through the meet calendar to set up some other meets.  Looks for updates soon.

Wednesday, December 23rd

The holiday break is just getting underway, and we've had a couple of really fun practices thanks to Coach Dana!

Dana's practices were "12-Days of Christmas" oriented with the culmination being the sleigh-ride relay (shown above).  Everyone wants to be Santa!

Thanks to everyone for bring lots of special holiday treats to the Swim Dogs coaching staff!  We all appreciate the goodies.

Tuesday, December 14th

The pool has really been hopping lately with all the GW girls and Swim Dogs teams competing for water time.  It's exhausting...but fun most of the time.

This last weekend, several older kids competed in the Golden-Phoenix meet at the School of Mines.  Most of our swims were PRs, which was pretty cool.  Click here to read more: MEET RECAP.

After the weekend, we were all ready to get back into the pool and were welcomed by 74-degree water, so we had to cancel Monday's practice.  This does not happen too often, but it does happen to 40-year-old pools.  Things should be back up to normal by Tuesday.

I am not sure how many of you are reading this blog...so if you are, please send me an e-mail and give me your comments about the blog and the website in general.  What more would you like to see here?

Sunday, December 5th

The Swim Dogs are back from their holiday vacations, and we are swimming fast again with this weekend's Winter Sprinter and Eliminator:

About 50 Swim Dogs participated in the meet with 35 of them swimming in THE ELIMINATOR to determine the true Top Dog.

In the Men's Division, Seth took on his dad (Sam) and Jackson for the title.  In the Women's Division, Teri edged out Julia for the crown.  Seth then beat Teri for the overall title.

The rest of the Swim Dogs are swimming fast, too, as 20 Top Dog Records were set in the meet. 

Coach Ryan did a great job.  It was cool to see her swim.  She's off to Toronto on Wednesday to compete in internationally. 

Practices continue going well, and I finally think we have our numbers figured out.

Sunday, November 14th

This was a very fun week for me as I turned 50-years-old and got to celebrate my birthday with my favorite people:  the Swim Dogs!  Thanks for the birthday cake and the song on Wednesday and also thanks to all of those who surprised me at PF Changs on Thursday!

It was really a double celebration as I also got surprised by the GW Girl's team with a great cake and song.  Thanks everyone!

On Tuesday, we had a special guest at practice, Pete Alfino, Head Coach of Mile High Multisports.  Pete is a local coach of elite-level triathletes, and he talked to us about the sport of triathlons:  Swimming, Bicycle Riding, and Running.  Pete's wife recently took 3rd place in the Hawaii Ironman event!  Pete also showed off his wife's $5,000 bike and gear.  OMG...that a lot of money for a bike!

We also got to work on some open-water swimming skills:  Swim through a group of people who are splashing you as much as they can with kick boards!

We also got a much-needed day off on Thursday in honor of Veterans Day.

Monday, November 8th

A fun week culminated by the Suburban League Qualifier on Sunday at DU.  These League meets are really fun and perfect for the Swim Dogs!

In addition to having lots of fun, we had some pretty good performances too with 19 Top Dogs, 9 Silver State, and four State Qualifiers.  Quite amazing!

The practice week was good too as we are transitioning from straight conditioning into a more race-focused part of the season with race strategy taking a bigger role in practice.  Here are some basic race strategies by event:

• 50:  All-Out, Controlled Chaos...kick as much as you can

• 100:  Relaxed-fast first 50 (within 1-second of best 50) build the energy in the second 50

• 200:  50 with energy, relaxed 2nd 50, descend 3rd to 4th 50

• 200 IM:  Relaxed fly, descend back and breast by 25, build 25 free, last 25 all out

Hope this helps?  I've gotten lots of good feedback on the race strategies.

Tuesday, November 2nd

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted...busy, busy, busy, I guess.  The GW Girl's season is underway with lots of new girls swimming this year, and I went on my annual fall vacation to Mexico to hang out on the beach with my parents.  It was a nice vacation, but I don't feel refreshed at all!

I also learned what I'll be doing once I retire.  The picture below was taken inside Senor Frogs in Mazatlan, Mexico.  A DJ converted his VW bus into his dj-booth!  I suppose I will do the same!

Unfortunately, while I was gone, I missed the Suburban League Relay Meet (click to see the meet recap).  It sounds like it was TONS of fun even though it was rather hectic.  Thanks to everyone who help organize our newest and youngest swimmers!

Coach Dana also put on a lifeguard training class while I was gone and several Swim Dogs received their Red Cross certifications and will be looking for employment next summer.

We also said goodbye to Coach Andy who's moving over to the MACS team.  Good luck to him!

As his replacement, we've hired Ryan McLean who many of you know from her visit to Swim Dogs a few years ago.  She's already started working with us, and she's going to swim with us too!  Ryan recently set a few National Records in category in Paralympic swimming.  Please welcome Ryan to the team when you get the chance!

Monday, October 18th

A couple of cool events this last week at Swim Dogs:  USMS Postal Swim and Fun Friday with Swim Baseball!  We also had our first "accident" at the pool (story below).

USMS 3K & 6K Postal Swim:  Six masters swimmers participated in the event, a choice of a 3,000 or 6,000 yard timed swim, at our pool on Saturday.  Among them was our own Kristen B., who swam the 6K...way to go Kristin.  She's the first Swim Dog EVER to complete the event as she also did the 3K a month ago.  To stay away from boredom, she swam to her favorite music with a water resistant MP3 player.

Thanks to all of the Swim Dogs (Madeleine, Sonja, Danny, Annika, and Tate) for helping out with counting and timing.

Fun Friday and Swim Baseball:  We had a new treat on Fun Friday, Swim Baseball, which we had never played before.  After ironing out some of the details, we got things figured out and had a great time.

Eva Claire's Fall:  As mentioned above, we had our first major accident at the pool last week, too, as Eva Claire slipped in the stands, fell, and broke her leg.  The good news:  She chose Swim Dog's Green for her cast color:

Friday, October 8th

Believe it or not, things have already begun to settle down and practices aren't nearly as chaotic as they were the first week.  Thanks to those who moved to the later practice group and to the Tuesday/Thursday/Friday group.  That was a HUGE help!

We finished up our "technique" month in September and now we are moving into the conditioning phase of our training  plan.  This will take us through the month of October and into the winter months.  We will never be one of those big yardage teams, but I think you'll notice the difference in the amount of yards in each practice group.

We kicked the month off with a test set early this week where everyone was required to swim for 20 minutes straight.  I was VERY pleased with how everyone did.  We perform this set about once every three or four months.  It's not only a test of your swimming ability but your mental focus to hang in there for so long.  Pretty much EVERY swimmer completed more than 500 yards which is the longest event in high school swimming.  Even our 6-year-olds went over 500 yards.  That's amazing!  I will be tracking result over the season and you can see how you improve next time.  I will post the results shortly.

Monday, September 27th

The Swim & Bowl Biathlon was a great success with 65 swimmers (31 new Swim Dogs) and over 50 bowlers.  To read more about the event, click: Results and Meet Recap.

This last week wasn't too crazy as we began to manage our Practice Group numbers.  I don't think we ever had more than six in a lane which is perfect.  Thanks for your patience!

We also had our Parent Meeting this week, and I thought that went very well.  Click here to read the Parent Meeting Minutes.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  I will be reaching out to those who did not attend the meeting.

Our team gear is a hit, too, and we're taking orders NOW.  Make sure you try on the gear at the pool and get your order in to Coach Dana early.  Our bulk order will save you some $$$.

We've had a couple of fun practices lately too.  During one practice, the electricity went out, and we had to practice in the dark!

Personally, I have been trying to cross-train a bit which led me to the benches at Red Rocks last weekend.  I happened to be there during the 9-11 Tribute.  A group of about 750 walked around the seating area about 10 times...equivalent to the number of steps at the World Trade Center.

As always, the end of the summer season means DOGS GET TO SWIM, and we were able to get Jessie out a couple of times.  I could take her swimming every day...it's a blast!

Sunday, September 12th

What a week!

We had things under control until Friday when all of our new swimmers and many of our returning swimmers decided to show up for "Fun Friday."  I thought we were even doing pretty well on Friday until we had at least 10 late-comers.  Please come to practice on time!

As expected, the Tuesday-Thursday-Friday group is very manageable, and the Monday-Wednesday-Friday group is large and a bit unwieldy.  But I am confident that we'll be able to figure it out.

While the late group was crowded, it went very smoothly.  Friday was a piece of cake with them.

September is the month for drills, so on Tuesday/Wednesday, we did lots of freestyle drills.  Coach Andy worked on sculling and getting a feel for the water with his swimmers.  On Thursday and Friday, we worked on backstroke (Friday, we also did starts).  It was fun watching Coach Dana work with the water bottles and quiet head position (see below).

Monday, September 6th

It's been a long three-day weekend, and I am ready to get back to coaching!  You know, it's nice to take a break, but I must say that I miss everyone.  It's kind of a letdown when I don't see all the kids and adults in the water...I don't get much person-to-person interaction otherwise.

Look for some new things this season:

• 5:30 start times on Tuesdays and Thursdays

• 90-minute practice option on Tuesdays and Thursdays

• More home meet DUE TO OUR NEW SCOREBOARD!

The Tuesday / Thursday schedule is a test until the GWHS girl's season starts in Mid-November.  If people like the time, then we'll continue it.  We'll also keep the 90-minute practices if we get enough participation.

For the last day of the summer season, we took advantage of the new scoreboard and set up the WIDTH of the pool to practice our breakouts and underwater dolphin kicking.  It was pretty fun seeing how quickly everyone could make it across the pool.  Cami S. and Teri M. seemed to be consistently the best.  Taylor H. did great, too.

Goodbye to a GREAT SUMMER!

Click on the Blogs below for past years and event re-caps: