Trial Training Changes

We have the opportunity to use the pool for an extra hour after our normal time on Monday evenings. It seems too good an opportunity to ignore, so we have booked it for the months of September and October as a trial to see if we can make good use of it. Monday 1st September will be first extended session.

We're planning a format that we hope will satisfy a few requests we've had, which include longer training sessions, more coaching / stroke correction and time to practice other specific things like dives & turns. We'll start with the plan below and review it after a few weeks based on feedback we get, so please speak up if you have suggestions or observations we may not have accounted for.

For the first hour, the session will be as normal, so you don't need to change your Monday swimming habit if it doesn't suit you.

After the first hour:

·        Lanes 1, 2 & 3 will train for an additional 30 minutes, i.e. Deryn's programme will last 90 minutes. Swimmers from other lanes who want to train longer please let Deryn or Tony know so we can work out how to do it.

·        Lane 4 will be for anyone wanting to swim their own plan.

·        Tony will offer stroke correction in lanes 5 & 6. Each session will have a theme (announced beforehand), and the aim is to identify specific improvements desired and explain the drills for that.

·        Lane 7 will be available for dives, turns or other specific practice (because the starting block lines up with the lane).

This is just a trial so please let Deryn, Tony or any of the committee know your thoughts on how to do it better.

Club Night Results Are Up

It was a small but enthusiastic group that showed up to race on Wednesday. Even though numbers were down a bit that didn't stop the records from tumbling. There were 2 new ladies records, 6 for the men and 1 new relay record.

Interestingly, most of these records aren't events no swimmer has tackled yet, these are records broken, meaning we are getting faster.

Lane Etiquette - Keeping Us All Safe

Here's some suggestions on lane etiquette that will help to keep us all safe, skull-fracture free, and simply make swimming in a busy lane more enjoyable.

The lanes are getting busier and things would flow better if we agreed on some lane etiquette. A couple of things are generating a bit of discussion, so here’s a reminder for the old hands and guidance for others:

Turning:
Different swimmers approach the wall differently, which sometimes makes it tricky to avoid collisions, so…
Veer right as you approach the wall. Turn on the RHS of the lane and push off straight.
The out-going swimmer needs to know they can push off straight and hard without fear of collision, and it’s easier for the incoming swimmer to judge when to cross the lane.
This applies to all types of turn; flip turns, touch turns, stand-up-and-walk turns, etc.

Toe tapping:
Nobody minds an accidental touch on the feet from the swimmer behind, but continually being tapped on your feet is usually annoying, so…
Let’s agree that touching the next swimmer's toes generally means you are faster & should really go before them; kind of like saying “excuse me”.
If your toes are touched, stop in the LH corner at the end of the lane and let the following swimmer past. The person following can turn as above without interruption.
If someone stops to let you ahead, go ahead. If you didn’t mean it, swap back at the end of the swim.

Spacing:
To reduce unnecessary toe tapping, leave 3 – 5 seconds apart.
If you're faster but don't want to be in front, swim slower. Leaving a huge gap and swimming faster than everyone else makes it harder for the swimmers behind; perhaps go last.

Stopping:
If you stop at the end of the lane during a swim, keep to the left hand corner (as you approach the wall). Incoming swimmers will be veering right to make their turns.

And now, just for fun follow the link below: 

how swimmers react to getting to an easy main set