A Day in the Life: John Criste, Day 3

IRVINE, California, January 11. DURING his third edition in the "A Day in the Life" series on SwimmingWorldMagazine.com, Irvine Novaquatics' John Criste brought a strong entry that talks about a pair of sets commonly used in his club. He also wrote about the psychology of taking everything one 50 at a time, and how important sleep is for a swimmer.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007, Day 3
Sleep is a valued part of any swimmers life. We all know that those 5-8 hours of sleep we get as swimmers each night are most definitely not enough rest for the strenuous activity we put our bodies through each day. That is why it is always a good idea to try to fit in a nice power nap before practice. I always try to take a 30 minute to one hour and a half nap everyday; that way my body is somewhat rejuvenated from the day's previous activity and ready for some serious work at practice.

Today's practice started out with our lower body weight training. It is nice to focus on upper body one day and lower body another. I feel that separating the upper from lower body helps me focus on the specific weight training exercises of the day; allowing me to put forth maximum effort each time I start an exercise, while giving the other muscle groups rest. We have only been weight training for three weeks (starting after we came back from the Kerr McGee Pro-Am meet) and I already feel a great difference in my strength in the water.

I'll admit that I was very skeptical in starting weights. I always thought weights ended swimming careers; not that I'm necessarily wrong, but [Irvine Novaquatics' head coach Ron Turner] explained that as long as I lift correctly and keep my focus on strength in the water, rather than muscle size, I would have no problems. After weights, I'm always anxious to get in the water and see what the cards hold for practice.

Lately, Ron has been giving us the workouts printed on paper so we can keep them at the end of the lane. This presents a challenge; you can't mentally break yourself down the moment you read the main set of the day. It is distressing to read an extremely hard set on paper knowing you're going to have to swim it in about 40 minutes. I do my best to start practice with the best possible attitude; it builds me up to the main set rather than breaking me down only thinking about how tired I will get.

Ron and Coach Vadim Tashlitsky (or as we call him "V") are always telling us to take every swim one 50 at a time. By giving us the entire workout at once, coaches are teaching us to learn the value of concentrating on one 50 (or one swim) at a time. This also translates to a meet: only worry about one event at a time, with each event worry about one 25 or 50 at a time, Ron's very valuable words of wisdom.

Take tonight's (short) set for example:

4 x 50 on 1:00
• race pace

Although it may not seem like much, these four 50s are one of my favorite sets. I challenge myself to make progress every time we do the set; there is always something more or something better I can do. Today, I held my fastest times on all four 50s, an accomplishment I was proud of. Another set we did today is the "Degrees of Sculling," an exercise Ron borrowed from American Record holder Jeremy Linn.

1. Light scull with a light kick
2. Fast scull with a fast kick
3. Barrel roll to the right, back to 2
4. Barrel roll to the left, back to 2
5. Flip onto your back, keep knees and toes out of the water (in a sitting position)
6. Spin clockwise, back to 5
7. Spin counter-clockwise, back to 5
8. Push out into streamline, barrel roll to the right, back to 5
9. Push out into streamline, barrel roll to the left, back to 5
10. Front flip, back to 5
11. Back flip, back to 5

It seems like a mouthful, and it is, but it is probably one of the best core exercises that can be done in water; you are constantly using your abs. In order to get from one degree to the next you can only use your abdominals and forearms with the sculling, making it extremely difficult after five or six minutes.

It has been a long day, and I still have more homework!

GO NOVA!

John

P.S. Just in case anyone has a question about a term I used in yesterday's entry: a burpee is when you bend down from the waist, touch the floor with your arms, push your legs out behind you, into push-up position, bring your legs back in and jump up as fast as possible.

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