A Day in the Life: Kelly Zahalka, Day 4

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, January 26. HEADING into the final stretch of her "A Day in the Life" series on SwimmingWorldMagazine.com, Navy sophomore Kelly Zahalka checks in with her fourth entry. Today, she writes about some early morning camaraderie held around the coffee pot, the personnel structure of the Navy and gives a breakdown of last night's practice.

Also, thanks to some of our readers for e-mailing Kelly's coach, she actually had the chance to swim a sprint workout as she has always dreamed of doing! Congrats to our ever-powerful readers!

Thursday, January 25, 2007, Day 4
Thursday has arrived! My favorite day of the week is Thursday because I only have one two-hour class (Electrical Engineering, EE), and I get to eat noon meal with the brigade instead of just the swim team. We swam this morning at 0545. (Thank you to all who e-mailed Coach Morrison telling him it was okay for me to swim a sprint workout; because, guess what? He actually let me swim one this morning!) Sprint practice was fun and the perfect way to start off the day. After a short warm-up, we put on t-shirts and went over to the diving well. We divided into two groups: one in the water with fins and one out on the deck. Rob sent the deck group off for a running dive and then shortly after he sent the water group off. The water group was supposed to try to catch the deck group. We did a few of those, switched groups, and then did a short under/over set with fins focusing on overtempoing our strokes. I had an awesome time with the sprinters!

Everyday after morning practice, I have about 45 minutes to shower, get in uniform, eat breakfast, and "bravo" my room (clean it to the bravo standards mentioned yesterday, in case we have an inspection) before class. My roommate, Jaime, is extremely helpful in the mornings with helping me make it to class on time. As an athlete at the Naval Academy, I depend a lot on the help of those around me to accomplish all that is asked of me. Today, I hurried extra fast because Jaime has one of the only coffee pots around, so people always stop in on their way to class for a little caffeine boost. There was a large turnout this morning. We played some Beyonce, drank some coffee, and maybe even danced a little; needless to say, I was awake for EE lab!

During my free periods after EE, I usually get EI (extra instruction) from my professors, run errands on the Yard, catch up on some work or, if I'm lucky, sleep! Thursdays are the only day of the week when the swim team doesn't have a noon practice, so we go to noon meal formation and uniform inspection with our companies. The Brigade of Midshipmen is composed of 2 regiments divided into 3 battalions each. Each battalion has 5 companies, which are further divided into 4 platoons per company and 3 squads per platoon. I'm in 2nd Regiment, 18th Company, 1st Platoon, 2nd Squad. Formation and inspection go at 1205. We stand in line with our squads and are called to attention by platoon, company, battalion, regiment, and finally brigade. I really enjoy formation because it makes me feel like I'm part of something so much greater than myself when I hear all 4,000 heels clicking together to come to attention at the command "Brigade, a-ten-hut!"

There is never a dull moment around the Yard, and today's formation was no exception. Between battalion attention and brigade attention my squadmate passed particularly loud gas during our usually silent and serious formation. All of the platoons around stifled their laughter in an attempt to maintain proper military bearing, but a few giggles could still be heard. Since every day is so regimented, being able to laugh, even if it is over something immature and childish, is a necessary trait for all midshipmen.

I had a glorious two-hour nap after lunch, and then it was off to practice again at 1545. Tonight, our focus was stroke work at the mid-distance level. I swam in the IM lane. Our practice was as follows:

Warm-Up:
1000 loosen (100 straight arm free/ 50 rotation kick on back/ 50 underwater recovery free/ 50 breaststroke with fly kick)
3 x { 100 kick (50 surf/ 50 choice) @2:10
2 x 50 free over kick @:45
50 fly (4 kicks, 1 pull) @1:00
2 x 50 free (25 build/25 sprint 1 breath) @:45

Main Set 1 (my group did IM Order by round):
4 x { 100 cruise (1st 100 of a 200 feel) @1:35
2 x 50 fast @45
75 drill @1:30
3 x 25 (1 underwater, 1 surf kick, 1 sprint no breath) @:40

Main Set 2:
10 x 150 free, hold a given pace @2:10 (my pace was 1:45)

Warm-Down

Today was the first day my strokes and times have been getting back to normal since the screener. My body is still very broken down, but things are looking up heading into race day against UPenn!

It's time to study some Strengths of Materials for tomorrow's test.

Go Navy!

Kelly

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