Only in Southern California

I am a nut for the Olympic Games. For so many athletes the ultimate goal is just to participate in this one international competition that only occurs every four years. There are very little to no financial incentives, it is simply the thrill of the challenge. The empowerment of knowing you can rise up over others and compete for the top place in the world is quality very few people can rightly posses. If you want to get close to the Olympics, no matter what the year, there is really no other place like Southern California. The area is the home to many of the best training centers in the world. It kind of boggles my mind how, in my typical week, I rub elbows with all sorts of world class athletes.

Southern California has been a swimming mecca forever. The competition level available here is the top at all age levels, from age group through masters. Growing up on the East Coast, there was the occasional swimmer to rise through the ranks and make it to the Olympic Trials, but it was an experience for so few that it all seemed unreal. There were not many examples of the path to the sport's ultimate goal, for that reason the education to lead athletes along the best path was not readily available. Los Angeles is a different story however. There are meets taking place year round with top levels of competition. Many club teams have taken multiple swimmers from average athlete, to Olympic Trial competitor. Just hopping in the pool for a master's swim practice you can find yourself surrounded by many folks with impressive swimming resumes. Swimming in Southern California keeps me on my toes, and training amongst so many top athletes reminds me that I could have achieved so much if only my health had been on my side.

Southern California isn't just a swimming mecca, it is also a haven for water polo. During the weekends, when I want do a pool workout of my own design, I stop by the local pool for a little lap swim session. The key element happens to be that the local pool is the U.S.A. Water Polo National Training Center. I've shared the water with the USA Olympic Women's and Men's Water Polo Team training squads. It is also interesting to note that many of the women happened to have attended USC. Thankfully they haven't taken up to stealing my towels again... It is inspirational to observe the team workouts in their run-up to Beijing. The passion and drive they emit makes you want to go out and work harder in all your everyday activities. I don't even know much about the rules to water polo, but it will be riveted by the games none the less.

The days of the week I am not in the pool I head to the gym. To satisfy my curiosity about what would of happened if I had stuck with gymnastics over swimming, I hit up an adult gymnastics class a couple times a week. I am just there to learn some new tricks, but many of the team girls training there have Olympic aspirations. After all, the name of the gym is All Olympia Gymnastics. The name derives from the fact that the head coaches are former Olympians (does that term make sense? are you a former Olympian or always an Olympian?) from Eastern European countries. Perfection is key in this gym. Watching the girl's team train is an illustration of the best form in action. Just getting a skill around isn't enough. The highlight is watching USA Gymnastics National Team members Mattie Larson and Samantha Shapiro train. While Samantha happens to be too young for an Olympic bid, Mattie has made it all the way to the final Olympic Team selection training camp. Her floor exercise at the Olympic Trials really got the media and audience's attention. I've been trying for a long time to do things as effortlessly as she makes them look. Her mom is wonderful as well, always inquires about how things are going. That family is riding on cloud nine right now. Go Mattie!
Check out her rocking FX:

Tired of Tendonitis

Beginning about a month ago my left shoulder began giving me trouble. Actually, it wasn't so much the shoulder as the clavicle (collar bone). Having previously gone through two years of extensive physical therapy on the shoulder during my teenage years, I was prepared to handle it. I starting with icing the shoulder (unfortunately I am allergic to ibuprofen), but it still seemed to feel worse over time. I think a lot also had to do with the fact that I kept poking at the area. Sitting at work I kept cracking my sternum and shoulder. I finally made it to the doctor yesterday to see if my feelings of a manageable tendonitis flare were correct, or whether the problem was worse. X-rays confirmed no issue with cartilage and my pain was diagnosed as sternoclavicular tendonitis. Pretty much the joint where my clavicle meets the sternum is extremely pissed off. It has caused a lot of discomfort in my shoulder, pulling it forward and causing huge knots in my traps and neck as well. Now at least I also have some anti-inflammatory drugs to take that don't cause me to bust out in severe hives.

I kept out of the pool for a week while trying to rehab the shoulder/clavicle. I kept my workout going by running a lot. I've run many in mile in my day without issues, so I wasn't going overboard, at least I thought. It seems that now my right achilles tendon has decided to join the tendonitis club. I've had plenty of tendonitis issues with that foot, in the top of the foot and ankle, but the achilles has never before been too sore to function. Although, the tendon has always made me twinge a bit when doing calf raises. As of yesterday though the tendon is too uncomfortable to even attempt to stand on the tip toes of my right foot. I couldn't even stand the pressure of my shoe on my heel throughout the day. Not wanting to face the same fate as University of Georgia gymnast Courtney Kupets I have now decided to take a break from everything.

Right now I have too many issues that need to heal. I also have a lot going on with planning a move into a new house. Hopefully it all won't take too long to straighten out and I will come back stronger than before. It just isn't worth it when you have to compromise your technique for injuries. It causes much more harm than good.

Leaving the Gym

This is one corner of the gym where I spend my Tuesday and Thursday nights each week. I snapped a quick pic when we all cleared out to close up for the night. This place is the training ground for some AMAZING gymnasts. So much extension and artistry it is very inspiring. Two junior elites on the National Team call this place home. However, one is now old enough for senior eligibility and thus is in potential running for the 2008 Olympic team. Rumor is that she impressed the national directors during a recent training camp. I hope she can put together a fantastic year and really give it a shot.

Bad Hands

One of my favorite things about gymnastics is swinging around on the uneven bars. Unfortunately combining another one of my favorite things with the uneven bars does not make for the best situation. While weight lifting, working on cars and swinging on bars has built up tough calluses on my hands, swimming seems to keep a lot of moisture in the skin, like pockets of water under the calluses. That makes for a lot of bad rips. I file down the skin but it only slightly prolongs the period I can swing before a rip. I would absolutely love to be able to spend more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time playing on the bars. I can only do so many kips before missing a piece of skin from my hand the size of a quarter, much less attempt to do a toe-on shoot to the high bar or even a giant. Maybe I need to more finely sand the leather on my grips... they are pretty rough.

I attempted to get a picture of my palms. However, it is rather difficult to get the camera to focus and have two free hands to photograph. I settled for one hand, but the details are still fuzzy. The shadows of old healing rips can't been seen too well and my latest rip, underneath the middle finger, doesn't look like much. It is sufficiently deep though as a rather thick bit of skin came off. I know... so lovely right. Sometime I wonder if people notice when I shake their hands.

You Said the Main Set was How Long?

I was reading this blog on Floswimming.org and it got to me thinking that I really need to write down my views/experiences in swimming training. I have been through a lot and I believe my experiences combined with my education have provided me with a different perspective than others in the swimming world. I think there is a lot left to be explored in training methods. Coaches streamline their programs around a chunk of athletes and do not leave room for change to develop new methods, they stick with only what the past has proven to work for a few. While the blog I mentioned discusses the need to fluctuate yardage I believe entire program structures could use more new advancements/more individual alterations.

So far in my lifetime I have trained with some of the most renowned swimming coaches in the United States. I have been apart of two NCAA programs that have achieved admirable greatness in the pool. The swim teams belonged to the schools of Kenyon College and the University of Southern California and, while I was in attendance, were under the guidance of coaches Jim Steen and Mark Schubert respectively. They were both coaches with their own outlooks on training. They each had tightly structured programs based on proven advances in swimming performance. While different in some ways, for the most part, the format of the two programs was extremely similar. Training involved short stretching sessions before practice with two practices a day most days, specific sets allocated for particular days ranging from fast quality work to slower recovery sets, weight lifting program tailored for swimming needs and the use of equipment to supplement sets in the pool.

I was in the "sprint" group at Kenyon. That meant it involved slightly less yardage than other groups and slightly more weight lifting. It also meant little to no stroke work, just freestyle freestyle freestyle. Morning workouts occurred three times a week during the weekdays. It involved a short warm up swim, then a session in the weight room. The weight room program involved some Olympic style weight lifting, some isometric exercises with machines and a variety of abdominal crunches. Personally, I kicked ass in the weight room. I was always the strongest female and put a lot of effort into my work. Most girls slacked off in the weight room and that really did not seem to matter when it came to swimming. The real pool workouts happened every weekday evening and Saturday morning. One day a week in the pool was dedicated to quality work, that meant race distances practiced at race pace. Some other workouts were cardio base training, that meant more yardage with less rest. Every fifth workout or so was a recovery day meaning a bit of a slower pace with more rest. There was not much time dedicated to stroke work, when it did happen it was taper time, which was way too late a point to begin making any stroke changes.

I was also in the "sprint" group when I transfered to USC. However, when swimming for a known distance coach such as Mark Schubert, that still meant a lot of yardage. Morning workouts occurred four times during weekdays. They involved more equipment related sets and stroke work. Kicking, pulling, stretch cord swimming, weight belt kicking and parachute swimming was the norm. We also had workouts every weekday afternoon and Saturday morning. Two days a week were dedicated to quality work. That meant race distances swam at race pace, sometimes including the use of Speedo Fastskin swim suits. Dryland training also happened after every evening and Saturday morning workout. Three days a week were dedicated to the weight room, two days a week we did yoga and one day was pool deck exercises. Once again the weight room involved Olympic lifting mixed in with isometric exercises using some free weights and machines along with abdominal exercises. I still kicked ass in the weight room. The football team respected me and the golf team was scared of me. Yoga also helped me gain some flexibility, but not a huge amount. At USC our time in the pool involved a lot of underwater work. That was a key element really missing from the Kenyon program. I greatly improved my underwater swimming and it really showed in my training times. Also despite a little more time dedicated to out of water work, most people still half-assed it and the body was usually to tired to give it an all anyway.

These are two programs that have produced great swimmers. Both have taken good talent and put them on the top of their game. However, I am not convinced all the time in the pool is necessary. I don't think it the best approach to break someone down constantly with lengthy practices, to only give them rest before the biggest meet in expectations of the fastest performance. I believe it just leads to injuries and bad technique. I feel that cross training out of the water can be just as beneficial, if not more than length pool sets. It has been about 3.5 years since I finished college swimming. Through my current schedule, involving only swimming three time a week, I believe myself to be in better shape now. I swim a mere fraction of what I used to, but I can finish my races stronger than ever. I even often train at slower intervals. It is all owed to the work I do outside of the water. Everything I do has a purpose, a goal in mind, I won't stand for garbage yardage. I won't swim a 1,000 yard cruise just to swim in circles where my body gets acquainted with a situation not pertinent to a race. If I want pure cardio work, I go for a run.

My solution is a mix of swimming, gymnastics, running, yoga and weight lifting. Working on basic tumbling skills and gymnastics conditioning is the perfect compliment to swimming. Perfecting my balance, muscle control and flexibility have given me a better body awareness in the water. I am tuned into a balanced body position and it is very apparent if my hips or back get out of alignment. Practicing handstands, press to handstand, balance beam, handsprings and flips have enlightened me on keeping my body tense in the right places to efficiently transfer power. Intense yoga also helps with this. The direct effect of efficiently producing power is not as apparent with yoga, but it does help with muscle control for balancing and flexibility. Also gymnastics conditioning such as numerous straight leg lifts to the bar, pull ups and dips build an extremely solid core. I believe in strengthening through actively engaging muscle groups rather than total isometric weight lifting. Power in swimming is never generated by one muscle at a time, it is the whole package working together. I think it should be trained that way. That is why I love Olympic style lifting, dead lifts, squat thrusts, etc. It involves generating power through efficient technique and works all sorts of areas of the body at the same time.

My ideal training facility would feature a 50 meter pool, a spring floor, a set of uneven bars, a balance beam, a tumble track, a treadmill, a weight bar and plates. Swimming would never involve much more than 5,000 yards (or meters) at a time. A lot of time would be spent on flexibility, active and static, and muscle control. Maybe someday I will put together a training program and get some people to try it out. It would be intense, but in a different way. I think Dara Torres would dig it.