Firehouse Flip Drill

 

I saw this "Firehouse Drill" on youtube a while back and then trying to look it up by name didn't bring any results, so I'm posting this here. This is a good drill that I've been sharing with my kids learning and it is a good one to help them stay tucked and getting familiar with how far from the wall they should be at the start of the flip. 

30 minute Postal

On Wednesday this week, I had an idea to give a 30 minute challenge to my swimmers at Layton Surfers.  I coach two groups: Epics (Intermediate/Advanced swimmers) and Dolphins.

I expect the dolphins to get anywhere between 1200 and 1500 yards in 30 minutes. So because of the challenge which is happening later today, I figured I ought to try doing it myself.  I was hoping for 1800 yards and ended up with 1780.  Man was that tough.  I knew I was in trouble once I got in.  I definitely wasn't feeling it today.  

Started with a 1000 yard warm up and then got into it.  I was having trouble bilateral breathing and just felt super lethargic.  Blah!

I've been swimming despite not posting here.  I've been updating my spreadsheet though.  I'm at 6,444 miles overall.

The Layton Surf N Swim pool will be closed all of next week while they put up the bubble.  Fortunately the Vasa gym in Layton I started going to has a pool with 3 lanes.  Definitely got to take advantage of that. 

What is your dream?

 Often I will quiz my swim kids that I coach on the three values of my swimming and general life philosophy.  Most of them get every point:

1. Have a Dream ( Setting a goal)
2. Hard Work
3. Demonstrate Discipline

You need all three.  Well, while I was swimming the other day, I realized that I may not have informed even my own wife of what my ultimate dream is.  For the longest time, I've been keeping track of all my swims.  Whether pool or open water swimming, I have been logging them in my spreadsheet.  A long time ago, I was curious what the next major milestone is for me, distance-wise.  I did some brainstorming and realized that the circumference of the moon is approximately 1/4th the circumference of the Earth.  That distance is rounded up to 6,800 miles.  I'm about 18 months away from hitting that goal of swimming around the moon. Here is my spreadsheet which I maintain after every swim which I started years ago. 

I remember listening to an Olympic swimmer at a US Masters conference a long time ago mention that she had accumulated enough miles to swim around the Earth (25,000 miles).  Wow!  Say you swim an average of 2 miles per hour.  That is 12,500 hours!  Malcolm Gladwell oversimplified the rule of claiming that 10,000 hours of practice in a given skill turns you into a master of that skill.  Once I reach my goal of swimming around the moon, that will really only put me 1/3rd into the Master status.  I can't imagine lasting interested or living long enough to get to that level.  

Anyway, I made sure when I got home to at least communicate that goal and thought process with Cathi. She has her own sets of goals, one of which she is getting really close to.  Her desire to have ran a marathon in all 50 states is something she started decades ago.  She is probably about 18 months from hitting that goal as well.  In the process, she has accumulated hundreds of marathons.  As of today, she has run 282 marathons and will reach over 300 by the time she joins the 50 states club. 

What is your goal?  

Report of the Bear Lake Monster Swim (From a Race Director Perspective)

 Last Saturday, we completed the Bear Lake Monster Swim Race.  This consists of 3 events:

• 1/2 mile
• 1 mile
• 10K (Solo and Relay options)

We had maxed out the race with just over 80 swimmers spanning the various events.  I got there 10 minutes to 6am which was fine.  The gate doesn't open until 8.  I was able to fill the three buoys and get them tied to anchors in preparation to getting them deployed along the course.  

We modified the course slightly such that the start instead of being in the very middle of the southern break-wall, we got in at the north west corner right there next to the park entrance.  The short course swimmers would then swim out to the closest trampoline float, and then head south similar to what we had planned.  

When I got in with the Seadoo, I got the anchors and two buoys set based on the GPS I have on the watercraft.  I put the first buoy in at .25 miles from the start, and then proceeded on to put the next one in at 0.50 miles from the start.  The swimmers may have ended up doing just a tad more than the 1/2 and 1 mile, but not much more.  It's hard to navigate a wobbly jetski and try to get a heavy concrete anchor in without tangling up the other one floating behind.  

I got back to swimmer check in and there were a couple hiccups, but nothing major.  Good thing I ordered a few extra caps.  I announced the course for the swimmers at approximately 7:50 and we got the race off only a few minutes past 8am.  Eric, Joelle's husband handled the timing and did a good job given that we are doing all the timing manually, no chip times like in a foot race or anything.  One thing I did get feedback on from some swimmers is that we chose to give them all a yellow cap, which matches the color of the buoys.  I didn't even consider that.  Next year we will make sure they get orange caps, or green. Something that doesn't blend in with the buoys when they are trying to sight and have a bunch of round caps bobbing right in front of them.  Oops!

When I saw the last swimmer round the 1/2 mile buoy I collected it on the PWC and just followed them back to the finish collecting the other buoy as well.  Made for a quick retrieval of the buoy whilst ensuring they were looked after.  

The start of the 10K relay was at 9am and that went off, and then soloists about 10 minutes later.  

I had to get one of the kayaks that I had brought (of the two) on to my trailer along with the deflated buoys.  I was finally able to get out on the water to watch the 10K swimmers about 45 minutes after the start. 

The water was super flat for the first couple hours.  It was partly cloudy, and a really beautiful day. 

The problem for me is that on Friday morning I had got my phone in the pool accidentally, so it was acting really weird.  It would shut off automatically every 3-4 minutes and then reboot back on.  I was unable to receive or make calls.  But texts were fine.  Made communication with Joelle and Eric impossible.  The finish was supposed to have a yellow buoy and we had failed to get that buoy to them.  So when the first couple swimmers arrived there was no buoy, just a big blue finish arch which they weren't expecting.  I didn't know about the arch until I had sent the swimmer email a couple days before.  I had hoped that they explained the finish procedures to the swimmers while I was working with the final short course swimmers.  But there was some frustration definitely felt by the first couple finishers of the 10K, so I went out and tried to tell everyone what to look for at the finish and how to trigger a "finish", since there wasn't a yellow buoy to tag.  

Frustrating, yeah, but not a total deal breaker and shouldn't have ruined it for anyone.  I spent the last couple hours escorting the final swimmer who swam the entire distance except for maybe 200 yards swimming breaststroke.  I saw a little freestyle mixed in, but it didn't last more than 10 seconds here and there.  Don't know the story there.  There is a reason why Captain Webb had a 21:45 finish time in the English Channel.  Granted, front crawl hadn't really been a thing in 1875, but if it had been he probably would have picked that over breaststroke.  It really is a goofy stroke, and for long distance?  That's gotta hurt.  

Anyway, everyone finished and we got everyone out of the water safely.  There was one girl who had her paddle board support pull her more than 50% of the time.  That paddler deserves a medal right there.  When I first saw that I went up with the PWC and asked if they wanted in a tow to the finish.  Cause pulling a swimmer is a DQ for sure.  But they said, they'll just get there on their own.  I was like "Fine, just flag me down if you need anything".  And sure enough, they made it, but without a finish time. 

It felt good to be able to provide this race for the swimmers.  I just hope we can get a little more help from volunteers and make it a little better next year.  I sent out a feedback form to the swimmers to see what we can do better and who is willing to step up.  I got a few responses already.  

Looking forward to next year.  

Here are a couple swimmers posting their experience with the race:

Trisha Hansen

Anna Forest

Others misfortune is my fortune

 This morning when I arrived at the front desk of Layton SnS, I saw this:

When I scanned my card the girl at the front desk asked "Are you swimming or playing racquetball".  "Swimming".  She said, "It's really cold just so you know".  I answered, "Perfect! Keep it that way." 

I got in without hesitation and it didn't actually feel that cold.  It was wonderful.  The jets on the side were blasting out cold water, so there must have been something wrong with the boiler this morning.  No complaints from me!

Swam a 1 to 6 pyramid and then an extra 400 to get 4,000 yards

100 fist swimming

200 IM

300 Breast/Back/Free

400 Kick

500 - 5 x 100's pull

600 snorkel swim free

and back down.  Extra 400 was 4 x 100's large paddles on 1:40

I reported my workout to Chat GPT along with a report of my experience this morning with the temperature and this is what he responded back with:

That sounds like a perfect swim for you! 76°F is an ideal temperature for serious swimming—keeps you from overheating and lets you push harder without feeling sluggish. It’s funny how different perspectives can be; for you, it’s perfect, but for the casual swimmers, it’s “too cold.”

I bet the aquatics director was getting an earful from the regulars who prefer bathwater temps. But for performance and endurance, that’s exactly where it should be. It’s great that you got to enjoy a solid session in ideal conditions—it’s rare these days with so many pools catering to recreational swimmers over serious athletes. Hopefully, they keep it cool for a while longer!

Haha.  Spot on Chat!

4,000 yards total 

Bro. ChatGpt is my new physical trainer.

 So I had an idea to test out whether I could get any kind of motivation from ChatGPT.  I asked if it could be my trainer and it was quite enthusiastic about it.  So I gave it my goals and my plans and it is holding me accountable.  I told it my workout yesterday and what I was thinking about eating and it gave me good guidance.  We'll see how well it goes over the next week.

Today's workout was:

• 100 easy
• 200 IM
• 300 finger paddles
• 400 kick
• 10 x 100's pull with ankle buoy on 1:45
• 400 + 300 Snorkel free
• 200 IM
• 100 easy

3,000 yards total  Shoulder felt fine.

I thought I was supposed to meet Jacob out front at 8:45 and apparently it was supposed to be 8:15 so I made him late.  Doh!  I updated my calendar to more accurately reflect that.  Can't make him late ever again!

1 to 5 and back down

 Today I did a non-written workout, but came up with it on the fly.  Easy to track status by following the 1,2,3,4,5,5,4,3,2,1 pattern:

• 100 Easy
• 200 IM
• 3 x 100s free
• 400 Kick
• 5 x 100's Free/Back by 50
• 500 snorkel free
• 400 kick with fins
• 3 x 100's free/stroke by 50
• 200 IM
• 100 easy

3,000 yards total

Friday Morning Goodness

 This morning got in the water at 8:15 and was hoping to get in my workout before 10am.  Barely finished in time.  

Warmup:

• 300 easy
• 6 x 50's kick with fins/snorkel

Main:

• 10 x 50's free desc 1-5
• 6 x 100 IMs
• 7 x 200's
• 1-4 pull
• 5&6 kick
• 7 IM
• 1000 Snorkel Free

300 Cooldown

4,400 yards total

Last night I stayed up till 1am getting all the videos from yesterday's meet all reviewed, and feedback put together.  Meet lasts 2.5 hours, but takes me 6+ hours to do the review and processing of the data.  Man I'm super glad we are a small team.  I simply would have enough time to do it for everyone on the team if it was more than 20 people. 

So proud of my swimmers though. They got a 50% new PR success rate yesterday.  That's fantastic!  A PR in and of itself! 

https://northridgehighathletics.com/2025/01/17/northridge-swimmers-continue-to-cut-times-as-the-season-nears-completion/

Waiting Game

 Today when I got to the pool at 7:45 every lane had two swimmers and the deep end had a bunch of headbobbers.  So I stood on the pool deck stretching for about 10 minutes until finally, someone got out.  

Warmup:

• 400 Easy
• 200 IM 

Main:

• 300 kick with fins
• 8 x 100's free Desc 1-4
• odd Free (1:25, 1:20, 1:15, 1:09)
• even IM
• 500 free pull
• 1000 Snorkel
• 200 IM
• 300 Kick with fins

300 Cooldown

4,000 yards total

Sharing a lane

 Warmup:

• 200 IM

Main:

• 10 x 50's free fast on :50
• This had me working
• 400 Kick with fins
• 10 x 50's alternating free/stroke on 1:00
• 600 Pull
• 10 x 100's Free/Stroke on 2:00
• 800 Snorkel Free
• 400 Kick with fins

4,400 total

Shared a lane with a woman I've not seen before.  She was new to swimming at SnS and asked about best time to come to not have many people and told her it's about the same through the whole morning and that most people are fine to share a lane and if there is more two per lane we have to start circle swimming. She seemed friendly and eager to swim as a form of exercise. Good deal.

The 80's Pop Culture Aggression Scale

 Today while swimming I was pondering last night's meet.  To be honest it was slightly disappointing with the number of PRs that were made.  I still have to process all the videos and go through them, but my initial impression was that many swims were simply not aggressive enough.  I always like to do similarities in concepts.  So the concept I came up with is common 80's characters that relate to an "Aggressive, Competitive, and Toughness" scale (ACT).  The scale goes from 1 to 10.

Here is what I came up with:

1 - Mr Rogers.  He doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body.  Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy and teaches kids about love, acceptance, and being happy with yourself.  But not in how to be aggressive, or desirous of greater physical strength or domination.  Bluntly, he's a total weakling and the kind of person who would easily be bullied in school, and would just sing a song about it when he got home. 

3 - Ferris Bueller.  Someone who is "chill", and is laid back, but also shows a little more interest in just going with the flow. He sluffs school and tries to hide it, as his ultimate goal is to just have fun with as little energy spent as possible. Not really a go-getter and is somewhat lazy.  He definitely isn't a physical threat in any way.

Daniel nervously biting his nails

5 - Daniel Larusso, "The Karate Kid" - kind of a wimp, but has enough drive to do something about it.  But still, gets his butt kicked in the tournament and cries about it in the locker room.  Luckily he had a coach perform a miraculous clap massage to get him off the padded table. He didn't give up, and still won with a fancy unconventional crane kick. Earning his "5" on the scale.

8 - Rocky Balboa - Rocky is determined, works hard, and doesn't give up.  He isn't the brightest guy in the world, but this scale isn't about smarts. He gets an 8 because he still has some work to do in being more consistently aggressive. In Rocky III, he starts out at a 7, and when he comes back to beat Clubber Lane, he is more of a 9.  But overall, he averages out at an 8.

10 Ultimate Warrior - I can't think of anyone more chaotically aggressive than the Ultimate Warrior from WWE.  He was so wild and ferocious, that he came across as frankly psycho.  Everything about his personality and the way he conducted himself came across as over-the-top energized.  Almost as if he were crazy.  To the point of making him entertaining to watch.

What number on the ACT scale above, should you be in a swim meet at an event?  Well, a lot of it is determined by what event you are swimming.  In my opinion, a 50 should be a 10.  A 100 should be a 9 or 10.  A 200 should be an 8. 500 should be a 6 or 7 for the first 300 and then after that progressively kicking it up to 10 on the last 50 yards.  It's about pacing yourself.  For most people, If you do a 10 in the 1650, you won't last.  

While swimming in practice, you need to often be able to demonstrate you can "flip the switch" to a 10.  That you are physically used to exerting yourself to that level and maintaining it.   If you express a 10 on aggression at the start of a race, but physically aren't able to maintain that level, that too is a problem.  It isn't all about how psyched up you can get.  

But in terms of pure mental aggression which can reveal itself in physical ways, you need to be able to demonstrate you can perform at a 10 on the ACT scale.

Anyway, this morning's workout consisted of:

Warmup: 

• 300 Warmup - Bilateral Breathing
• 400 Kick with fins

Main Set:

• 6 x 100's 
• Odd Free Build
• Even Stroke Build (Back, Breast Free)
• 800 - 4 x 200's pull on 2:30
• 1000 Snorkel Free
• 600 - 12 x 50's IM order on 1:00
• 400 Kick with fins

Cooldown:

• 200 IM easy
• 100 Free 

4,400 yards total

What a difference 3 degrees makes!

 This morning I got in the water at 8:15 and noticed the water was much cooler.  It was 82 degrees. Three degrees cooler than yesterday.  It was perfect.

Warmup:

• 200 IM
• 400 kick

Main Set:

• 8 x 100's free with tempo belt on 1:45
• 8 x 75's Rolling IM w: 10 rest
• 18 x 50's pull strong w: 10 rest
• 1400 Snorkel free

Total: 4,300 yards 

The lifeguard as I was getting out and was on her way back to the front mentioned that the 82 report up front was correct this time.  I laughed and said "Awesome". It really did feel good compared to yesterday.  No issues at all. 

Swimming in a hot tub

When I jumped into the pool this morning @ 6:15am, I was shocked with how warm it was.  After starting my warm up, I realized today was gonna be a struggle.  The water felt like it was 85 degrees.  Here's what I swam:

Warmup:

• 400 IM
• 6 x 50's Kick with fins

Main Set:

• 8 x 50's back/free
• 10 x 50's Pull on :50
• 16 x 50's Snorkel on :50
• 10 x 100's
• 1 - 4 IM
• 5 - 8 Desc
• 9-10 Kick with fins
• 6 x 100's desc with finger paddles

2 x 200's IM Cooldown

4,400 yards total

On the way out I read the thermometer, and sure enough, it was 85 degrees.  When I made it out the locker room I looked at the whiteboard which claimed it was 82 degrees.  I laughed and said shaking my head, "Ha, no way is it 82". Apparently the water was cold on Saturday and some folks must have complained, cause they have over corrected.  Today I missed my endless pool.  

Early morning swim

 I flaked out last Saturday on my swim, so when the alarm went off this morning at 5:30am I was so sleepy, but got my big butt out of bed.  Swam the following:

Warmup:

• 200 Free
• 400 kick with fins

Main:

• 600 - 3 x 200 IMs
• 800 Snorkel Free
• 300 - 3 x 100's freestyle strong
• 500 - 5 x 100's Freestyle desc 1-5
• 700 - 700 Pull
• 900 - 450 Kick with fins, 450 - 2 x 200 IMs with extra 50 free

4,400 Yards total

6:15 - 8:15am

Feeling good

 Yesterday I took the day off swimming and rowed for an hour instead. And lifted weights.

Today I did the following:

Warmup:

• 200 easy

Main:

• 400 kick
• 800 pull
• 1600 snorkel free
• 4 x 200 aims
• 400 kick with fins 

Cooldown:

• 200 strong

4,400 yards total 

Felt good. No issues. Wonderful! Coaching HS right after and then going to pick up Cathi from the airport. She spent the week down in Arizona with Debby doing a week of marathons. She ran 2 as she was struggling with her own physical issues (her left knee)

The total mileage of swimming for 2024 was pretty weak. But better than the years before.

97.18 miles in the pool 

2 miles open water

Just under 100 miles total for the year. I remember swimming over 100 miles in one month back in the day. Man I must have been majorly motivated.