A Day in the Life: Andrea Hupman, Day 2

HONOLULU, Hawaii, December 11. IN her second entry in the SwimmingWorldMagazine.com "A Day in the Life" series, Northwestern junior Andrea Hupman continues to write about Northwestern's training trip in Honolulu. While she related what it was like getting adjusted to the huge time difference and some technique work the Wildcats focused on, the biggest part of the day proved to be the van break in. This experience stands as a reminder that when traveling – make sure to stay safe. Even in the paradise of Hawaii, some bad things can happen to the greatest of people.

Sunday, December 10, Day 2
Aloha! Our coaches started the first full day of training trip in style with a 6 a.m. workout. I was hoping that the time zone change would help in waking up early, but I have apparently adjusted already to local time. Waking up early wasn't too bad though; I had an outdoor pool and a sunny sky to look forward to.

Swimming outside is a fun change. I loaded on the sunscreen before practice started because I want to avoid burning, especially on the first day. Being a freestyler, backstroke is a little challenging for me. I tend to zig-zag a lot, but I'm getting better. The sunrise was really pretty. I liked watching the sun come up, until I realized that it would only get in my eyes for backstroke and breaststroke. Thankfully, mirrored goggles and swimming mostly freestyle prevented the worst of the problem. So I suppose the sun is okay. 😉

The biggest news of the day was that one of our vans was broken into during breakfast. The lock on the driver's door was entirely removed. A few of the girls had wallets, iPods and cameras taken. They were pretty upset. But everyone on the team and the coaches have been really helpful throughout it all. They're getting things back in order. I even saw smiles from the girls later in the day. It's a big reminder to always be careful, especially when traveling.

Between practices I napped. I meant to go to the beach, but accidentally slept too long. The sleep felt really good though. It probably helped me feel better for afternoon workout, which is good since we got some good work in.

The heart of our practice (long course meters) looked something like this:
8x{100 kick moderate @ 2:00, 50 kick all out fast @ 1:00}
200 drill (100 underwater recovery, 50 2 strokes under/1 over, 50 technique)
15×200 @ 3:00 descend by sets of five
100 easy
6×25 run and dive sprint in the diving well
200 easy

The underwater recovery drill we did is one of my favorites. It helps me focus on my catch, how I dip my hand under the water and get a good hold of the water. I tried to carry this idea through to all the 200s. The 25s were probably my favorite part of the workout. They were both fun and useful. Diving in the water with a lot of momentum helps you feel how your body position affects your speed. I'm looking forward to more work in the pool and some fun time outside the water tomorrow.

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