Blog 1558: Monthly Squad Fees

A reminder that from the March payment, your monthly fees should drop  back to just the squad fee as follows:

Youth & Senior	£50.00
Junior 3 Prestige	£50.00
Junior 3 Plus	£48.00
Junior 3	£47.00
Junior 2 Plus	£44.00
Junior 2	£43.00
Junior 1 Plus	£40.00
Junior 1	£39.00
Development Plus	£36.00
Development	£35.00
Learn to Swim White	£32.00
Learn to Swim Blue	£30.00
Masters	£39.00
Triathlon	£25.00

Can you please ensure that your bank amend your payments accordingly, PARTICULARLY THOSE THAT HAVE RECENTLY CHANGED SQUADS AND HAVE NOT YET INCREASED THEIR PAYMENTS.

Any queries, please contact me on treasurer.lesc@hotmail.co.uk

Helen Akers
Hon. Treasurer

Blog 1551: Camp day 7

The last day on camp :( . Some very sad swimmers who have had an amazing time had their last day on camp today. Tomorrow we fly home. Today started with a 2k kick set for groups b and c and then everyone in for a Pyramid Sprint challenge set. Some cracking morning swims given how tired the swimmers were. This afternoons Cross fit challenge set loomed heavy on the minds and then in a moment of madness I challenge the squad to do a 17 x 50m free relay against their short course times setting them a target of 9:40 to get out of the cross fit challenge. Some amazing swims saw the swimmers come in on time of 8:46 with 12 of the 17 beating their short course pb's and the other 5 beating their long course times. The cross fit was scrapped and replaced by the harlem shake and some recovery stuff, even I joined the swimmers for a paddle. This has been a massive learning curve for the swimmers and they have all taken a lot away from it. So here's to the next one and many more to follow.

Blog 1543: Camp Day 6

Another great day on camp today, 30 degrees in the sun music playing on pool side - yes call me maybe got an airing! A lot of tired swimmers pushed through and still managed threshold sets, double distance sets, 2k kick sets and the big boys doing the Aurborn puke set, actually managing a greater fluid intake than the world class sprinters at Aurborn. There is a video of it but it really isn't pretty so we'll leave that one youtube. Great chat at the nightly meeting and a massive confidence boost for all the swimmers as the Nova guys were nodding at the hard work our swimmers were putting in. Last day tomorrow and its a cross fit challenge set based around the Navy seal challenge. A trip to the bowling alley last night was good fun even though the balls kept getting stuck and the screens went blank halfway through. Alex Brown was the eventual over all winner on 117 however I'm pretty certain the pins were glued down on my lane!

Blog 1539: Day 5

After a nice relaxing after and evening and lie ins all morning we hit the pool hard this afternoon, with the sprinters doing a no1 threshold set, the IM'er's doing the same set IM and the distance girls hitting a massive double distance set of 10 x 150 of hard turn arounds followed by 12 x 200 with 1200 kick before hand. Everyone was on fire despite being very sore still with Alex making a short course Midland time in a long course pool and Adam holding 35 for 50m Breaststroke 20 times in a row, Nova joined us in the pool today and a German National team after us. The trip to the beach was interesting to say the least as some of the locals were not very fond of clothing. and SuperRob having a comic fall in the sea however Ryan came to his aid.  Ten Pin bowling tonight after dinner then 2 more days of training. The sun is back out after our little spot in the rain and back up in the late 20's.

Blog 1538: Camp Day 4

Very Sore Very Tired!

With the break looming everyone was so happy to get the 5th pool session and 3rd gym session over with. The little ones cracking out a 6.8k set including 8 x 400, whilst the sprinters were grateful for a nice DPS session working on the technique points pointed out on the video review. PB's in the gym all round on the bench press with Callum hitting 3 at 105k, Adam 1 at 100k Spen 6 at 115k, Alex 3 at 50k, with the younger ones doing weighted dips and working well together as a team. Even team manager Sue got in the benching and dead lifiting. This morning we had something we havent seen; Rain during the session only 5 minuets worth and it was nice and warm. Its now back up to 25 degrees and we are of to the beach for an afternoon of relaxation and fun before a meal out tonight and a celebration of Charlies 18th. A nice lie in tomorrow then we hit it hard again through to a challenge set on Friday. The swimmers having been taken out of their comfort zone are really coming into their own with time management massively improved.

Blog 1537: Camp Day 3

Another solid day in the pool with video work being done and a VO2 max set for some very tired sprinters. Lots of locals looking very strangely at us lifting weights as they have no idea what they are doing :). Out the pool the guys have been well behaved and the league of Justice, SuperRob SpiderGreg and Kyeman saving the day once again with some great comic relief. The food has been great and everyone is tucking and filling their faces.

Blog 1536: Day 1 and 2

Close of day 1 dip in the pool

Great first day on camp, awesome team spirit and behavior, the guys are doing the club proud. It is windy out here but nothing to do with nature more the airplane food. Evening meal followed by a great chat on nutrition with everyone picking up a few bits. Credit to the young girls Lauren, Megan and Chloe who were the only ones to remember washing up liquid at the shop.A Massive Challenge set to start the week with descending 100's by 1 second each with Sam Parker making 56 and finishing on a turnaround of 1:15 making up the main park of a 7k welcome to the pool for the swimmers. Adjusting to the salt water has been a massive learning curve with the swimmers getting used to the taste of it. Vaseline supplies are rapidly running out as the swimmers are using this to prevent the salt chaffing against their costumes and Sue has had to buy the local chemist's total supply.

Blog 1535: Day 1 Camp

All arrived in one piece, Rob has been the star so far walking into tables and chairs and if you ever get him to do his E.T. impression its well worth it. The WiFi is quite poor so I will update with pictures when I can. The day consisted of traveling, booking in and finding our bearings. After a trip to the shop we all went to the pool in afternoon temperatures of 27.5 degrees where the king of belly flops was crowned - I'll let you guess who won :). Off to dinner now and a camp meeting afterwards. Then early to bed for a nice 7k minimum session in the morning.

Blog 1533: Entering Galas

Upon my return from camp myself and Debbie will be running a meeting on how to enter galas and when.

NO swimmers are to enter any galas that are NOT on the gala programme or that have NOT been sanctioned by their coach under any circumstances. This is a very dangerous practice as swimmers will lack the guidance and support of their coach and if they have a bad swim this could take years to overcome mentally. There are more than enough opportunities for swimmers to compete and we as qualified and experienced coaches will add galas we see fit to, to the gala programme.

Blog 1532:Updates, Photos and Publicity

Parents please keep us ALWAYS informed of any change in contact and medical details.

  In addition let Sue Parker, our Welfare Officer, know if you have any objections in the future to your child's photo or possibly name being publicised.
welfare@longeatonswimmingclub.org.uk

Thank you

Blog 1526: Aim and Fire!

Aim and fire, strange to be talking about shooting on a swimming club's blog but nothing could be more appropriate after this morning's session. When shooting you take aim first then fire at your target, if you don't you might as well point your gun into the sky and see what happens, wishing for the best, shooting aimlessly without purpose or direction and just seeing what happens. The same is in swimming, you must have a target to aim for.

With the clubs philosophy of intensity rather than just yardage, a lot of the work we do has to be at certain target times. These are not at your personal best pace but faster,and are normally County, Regional, National or Bristish Championship qualifying times.  Intensive training has been proven to be more succesful than yardage based training with less injuries and greater focus on holding technique and skills at pace that is then reflected in races.

This morning I was suprised to say the least at the number of swimmers who had no idea what their own personal best time was or what their target times should be. These are basic requirements of training particularly if we are going to persist with intensive training rather than yardage based training. This is where log books and crib sheets come into place. Crib sheets are a laminated piece of paper or card that you can write your pbs down on and your target times, to keep at hand on poolside during training sessions and record times you do in sets straight away (a 2B pencil will work). Log books are used to record the times you have done each session and when the session is repeated measure your improvement.

There are lots of areas which will improve you as a swimmer, the 4 I like to focus on are :-
Training Correctly - ensuring you train the skills and the correct pace.
Nutrition - eating and drinking right to fuel the body and help it recover.
Pyschology - being of the right mind set to succeed.
Admin - recording data and monitoring your own improvement through goals and targets.

If you do what you have always done you will get what you always have got!

Blog 1523: Leicester League round 2

Long Eaton travelled to Enderby on Saturday to take part in the second round of the Leicester League competition. After the first few races it was clear that this was going to be a tougher gala than the first round, and it is all credit to the swimmers that they responded in such a positive manner by taking on the challenge of swimming against quality opposition. Consequently many swimmers swam faster than they did in the previous round, with some achieving personal best times. Coming third in the gala was a very pleasing result, and once again we were really impressed with the spirit of the team and the efforts that all the swimmers put into the races. Thanks to all the officials, team managers and parents for their support and positive comments. Yet again it was another gala where we were very proud to witness the achievements of Long Eaton swimmers.

Bob and Kaye.


Final Gala Results: Leicester Penguins 257 Leicester Sharks A 245 Long Eaton 191 Leicester Sharks B 172 Wellingborough 115 Braunstone B 84