A Day in the Life: Blythe Murray, Day 3

After wading my way to the pool, I found out that this morning we were going to work on our starts and turns. The team was divided into two groups. Tommy Hannan, one of our great assistant coaches, worked with us on turns while Whitney worked with the other group on starts.

With Tommy, we worked primarily on our short axis turns. We focused on getting off the wall fast and having a tight tuck. Tommy made an interesting analogy that I'd never really thought of before; he said that the turns are very similar to starts in that both require quick reaction time. As soon as your hands hit, you should respond immediately to get off the wall as fast as possible. It's interesting how ideas can click with some people when they are worded differently. I think I finally understand now what my previous coaches had been trying to convey.

Whitney had the girls and I thinking about our entry. He wanted us to have compact, "spear-like" entries off our starts. The idea behind the compact entry is that you decrease the resistance (i.e.: air bubble or drag) and maximize the momentum of the start itself. He emphasized that the entries and streamline glide are the fastest part of any swim and how it is crucial not to kick too early, as it may actually slow you down.

Practice was great, but the highlight of the morning was some good news about several of the swimmers we've been recruiting. It seems our effort in recruiting several fast girls paid off. This is really exciting for me. Even though I won't be around next year (I am the lone senior girl on the team), I love this program and this group of girls. They really do deserve the best. It feels good to know that I was able to help successfully recruit for this team.

After practice I sloshed up to my tax class, after which I was able to head home for some lunch and a quick nap.

The afternoon practice consisted of spinning and swimming. I'm still pretty sick, so I got to swim with the sprint group and do less yardage than I would normally. The good thing was I got to stay in for the whole practice!!! The swimming part of workout was focused maintaining a quick turnover rate. After swimming, we got out to spin.

Spinning is a new concept to our team this year that Whitney brought with him. We have a room filled with yellow stationary bikes. We have a trainer come three times a week and lead the group in a workout. The room we bike in gets ridiculously hot, so everyone is just pouring sweat, and you have to drink a lot of water so you don't cramp up.

Today's workout had a lot of standing sprints. This is similar to when you race your friend on normal bikes, and you pedal fast and hard enough that you are actually off the seat and standing on the pedals. Each spin day, a girl will make a different CD, and today we had the Top Gun Soundtrack blaring. Because I'm sick still, I took it easier than the rest of the girls but still got in a good aerobic workout.

After workout, it's off to training table and then up to campus for my two-hour evening class. Normally I wouldn't even consider taking an evening class, but one of the required classes in my major is only offered at night or during practice time. Scheduling your classes can sometimes be a little stressful and as an athlete it's important that you are organized. Organization not only helps in scheduling but also with class work.

Speaking of class work, I have several tests I need to study for tonight so I'm going to head out.