“HOT Off THE BLOCKS” Rockingham Area
Youth Swim MARCH 2005
MARCH 11, 12 AND 13
Our
year-end banquet will be held at the Executive Court Banquet Facility on
Sunday, April 10th, from
Complete
information and a registration form can be found on the web site.
If
you would like to attend, you must sign-up by Thursday, March 10th!
Congratulations to the following RAYS
swimmers.
They all qualified and swam at the NE 12 and Under
Age Group Champs last month.
MANDY AVELLA
NICHOLAS BERGSTROM
ANDREW KALIL
ALEXA MACK
SHELBY MCKENNEY
FURTHER CONGRATULATIONS GO OUT TO ANDREW WILLBRANT
WHO TOOK
@ THE NHIAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPS LAST MONTH.
WAY TO GO ANDREW!!!!
*Congratulations also to the following RAY'S
swimmers for making the finals
at the
Megan McEacharn, Erik Hayes, Erin Holland, Herbert
Darling, Kristin
MacDougall, Sam Herman, Paulina Ziolek, Stephen
Pellicia, Megan Dewitt,
Ben Clark, Erin Hersey, and Andrew Willbrant.
RAY'S were well represented in all events!
Coach Carol
MORE RAYS RECORDS HAVE BEEN BROKEN. OUTSTANDING JOB BY THE FOLLOWING SWIMMERS. .
.
9/10 GIRLS ALEXA MACK 100 BREAST
11/12 GIRLS RACHEL FLINN 50 FR; 500 FR; 50 BK; 100 BK; 100 IM; 200 IM
11/12 GIRLS MICHELLE KALIL 100 BREAST
13/14 GIRLS ZOE NIKITAS 1650 FREE
13/14 GIRLS RACHEL FLINN 10 FR; 200 FR;
500 FR; 100 BK; 200 BK; 400 IM
OPEN WOMEN’S RACHEL FLINN 200 FREE; 500
FREE; 400 IM
8 & UNDER BOYS CHAS DEWITT 200 FREE
9/10 BOYS ANDREW KALIL 200 FREE; 500 FREE; 100 FLY
13/14 BOYS MARK BACIGALUPO 100 BACK; 200 BACK; 200 FLY
OPEN MEN’S ANDREW WILLBRANT 1000 FREE
Great Job kids J Keep up
the hard work!
NUTRITION 101 – THE EIGHT LESSONS
Lesson 7 - Drink Early and Often.
There are 2 reasons to drink fluids: (1) to stay
hydrated, and (2) to provide the body with fuel.
During Workout - Regardless of age or
length of workout, all swimmers need fluids during practice to stay hydrated.
Easily accomplished with a couple of sips from the water bottle every 15-20
minutes. As swimmers progress, workouts get longer and tougher. It’s well
established that exercise beyond 90 minutes benefits from a supplemental fuel
source. The sports drink can provide it. But we still have hydration to think
about. Drinks that are too strong, or “concentrated,” can provide the fuel but
also inhibit fluid absorption and often lead to cramping.
Years of research tells us that drinks that are 6-8%
carbohydrate by weight provide the perfect balance. Enough carbohydrate to
provide a fuel source during long exercise, but not so much that will inhibit
fluid absorption. A couple of sips every 15-20 minutes keeps
the body fueled, helps prevent unnecessary tissue breakdown, and maintains
hydration. Today, only Gatorade and Powerade meet the 6-8% criteria. Most other
drinks are too strong to be effective during
workout.
After Workout – Water is an
excellent choice to replenish fluids after practice. It’s always wise to drink
at least one cup. But after a tough
workout, replenishing fuel stores is equally important. Competitive swimmers
need a little over 1 gram of carbohydrate for every kilogram they weigh
(lbs/2.2) each hour after workout. And they need it within the first hour.
Oftentimes, a sports drink that is easily digested and
quickly absorbed, such as Gatorade or Powerade can provide a convenient way to
get some of this fuel within the first 20 minutes. Accelerade,
a newer drink on the market may also do the trick. Endurox, perhaps, but beware
of the high protein drinks, as they often forgo the carbohydrate, and
carbohydrate is what you are trying to replenish within that first hour after
workout. A little protein won’t hurt, in fact a little bit of protein may
actually help by supporting tissue repair and re-building processes. But too
much protein, especially when it comes in
place of carbohydrate, may actually be detrimental to the
post-workout recovery process.
**Remember…
1. Carbohydrate is the primary fuel source during tough
workouts. Protein is used as a fuel source during exercise only when
carbohydrate and fat are not present is sufficient quantities. This can happen
during long/tough workouts when the body uses much of its stored carbohydrate,
and it must find an additional source. If an additional carbohydrate source
(ex. Gatorade, Powerade) is not supplied, the body taps into stored protein, aka your muscles. This is
why we drink carbohydrate-electrolyte solutions during workout…to spare muscle protein. And this is also why it is important to replace
carbohydrate stores lost during a workout…so you start the next workout with a
full tank of gas!
2. Following exercise, the body is very sensitive to the
hormone insulin. Insulin is that
hormone that rises every time blood sugar rises. In other words, every time a
swimmer eats carbohydrate, which causes blood sugar to rise, insulin goes up.
Well, it’s insulin’s job to remove sugar from the
bloodstream, and it does so by facilitating its storage as glycogen. Glycogen, the storage form for carbohydrate, is what
the body taps into for fuel when exercise is very intense. This can happen
quite a bit during a tough workout, which is why it’s important to see that
glycogen is replenished before the next practice.
During the Day – Staying hydrated
during the day is just as critical as hydrating during and after workouts. Most
swimmers can do this by incorporating a variety of fluids into their daily
diet. Water, fruit juice, milk, soups, etc, etc. Water is always an excellent
choice, but other drinks, including sports drinks (defined as 6-8% carbohydrate
by weight) are okay too. Just remember that variety is the key to a healthy
diet. If you use a sports drink during and after practice, it may be better to
drink water and juice during the day to stay hydrated. Juices are often
healthier than sports drinks in that their sugars are natural. Always keep in
mind that juices and sports drinks contribute to total caloric intake.
USASWIMMING.ORG
F a q
Is swimming the only sport or activity my child
should be involved in?
Young children often appear to be “sponges”
that “soak up” everything around them. Sport is a wonderful arena to develop
children’s mental, social, motor, and physical skills. However, psychomotor
skills and body awareness are enhanced through exercise. Some researchers have
speculated that children involved in many different types of activity or sport
during their development will be capable of performing more effectively later
in life. These concepts have not been fully researched, yet they remain components
of training programs around the world. It is important that children are
involved in a variety of activities or sports. Each sport or activity brings
new challenges to the youngster. Diversity in their activities impact children
in varying ways. This diversity can come through individual versus team sports
and different types of sports, such as swimming, basketball, or golf. For
example, gymnastics or dance will facilitate a child’s kinesthetic abilities
(knowledge of position of their body in space). Participation in swimming
develops aerobic capacity, kinesthetic abilities and motor skill development.
Participation in other sports or activities may also greatly enhance the
overall development of children.
USASWIMMING.ORG
Elements of Speed: Sprinting
BY BONNIE MOSS
Special Splash Correspondent
Sprinting
Sprinters. They’re labeled like blonds. They just seem to have more
fun, don’t they?
They’re a different breed all right, but while it sometimes looks like they’re
goofing off with their starts and turns while everyone else is doing 400 IMs, it’s really just a big facade.
Endurance
Most
swimmers don’t use the words endurance and sprint in the same sentence. But
even the fastest men in the world still need endurance by the end of race to hold
their speed, so it’s important to work on sets that focus on the endurance to
maintain sprinting capacity.
Strength
Core, core, core. The buzz word is all the rage right now and for good
reason. A strong middle section (abs, hips, lower
back) is the body’s powerhouse, as it directly affects overall strength and
stability. That’s because virtually every exercise you do starts from the
center of your body. The stronger your powerhouse, the more explosive you will
be off the blocks and walls, which is primarily what makes or breaks a sprint.
Technique
There is something to be said about a swimmer with a pretty
stroke. It’s fun to watch because it looks effortless, as though the swimmer is
simply gliding over the water’s surface. It’s also fast. That’s because in most
cases, a pretty stroke means a technically correct stroke, which makes for fast
swimming.
Flexibility
Probably one of the
most overlooked and underappreciated foundations of training
is stretching. Some fitness experts don’t recommend 'active stretching'
(yoga) for elite competitive athletes because they believe you need tension in
your muscles to perform well. A little ‘spring’ is important for fast-twitch
muscle fibers, the kind used in sprinting.
Sprinters
Sprinters have to be very mentally prepared because there
is no room for mistake,” Olympic gold medalist Jason Lezak
says. “Distance swimmers can
often recover from their mistakes. I think sprinters have to believe they are
the best.”
Basically, you have to believe that you are a sprinter so that you will
naturally assume the responsibility of fulfilling that role. A sprinter’s
mentality is a self-fulfilling progression: when you feel confident, you train
a little harder, you become a better sprinter, you become more confident. The
result from this cycle is that it’s now easy to swim fast.
Newsletter compiled by Janine Bacigalupo
jlb1979@adelphia.net