Tuesday, January 24, 2012

To the Island and back


Hi everyone, I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

This past weekend (January 21st-22nd) the team traveled to UPEI for a swim meet. Unlike championship meets, this particular meet only had "heats" and no finals. This made for a quick weekend of racing, with 2 sessions on Saturday and 1 session on Sunday.

We showed up ready to race, even though we did not rest the week prior. Despite being tired, many swimmers actually posted season-best (PB) times! There were even a handful of lifetime-best times, which was really exciting! We had a couple girls come incredibly close to qualifying for CIS: Juliana Vantellingen rocked her 800m free, Kaitlyn Young was within reach in her 200m fly and a couple girls were just shy of their 50m qualifying times. The whole atmosphere changes when we have close races like that; the whole team is up on their feet cheering and coach Robin is the loudest of us all. The weekend of racing got everyone thinking positive and pumped up for our conference championships in less than 3 weeks!

Now I'm going to tell you the single most amazing word a swimmer can hear... taper. According to Wiki, Tapering refers to the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition. If I had to put it in my own words, I'd say tapering is the absolute best time during our season because we get lots of rest, everyone is in good spirits and we can all stay awake in class! The idea behind taper is to rest our bodies for an upcoming meet, in this case, AUS Championships. Taper consists of less early morning swim practices, less meters swum at practice and faster swimming. To put it more simply, we're focusing on quality over quantity.

The reason I am telling you about taper is that it is an important preparation we do in the couple weeks prior to AUS Champs. The taper we did before our AUS Invitational swim meet in the fall proved to be effective for most athletes to perform their best. For the remainder of this week, we're still training at high intensity (especially in the gym) and the taper will truly begin next week.

I'll be posting again at the beginning of next week to update you on training!

Have an excellent week!

Natalie

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Swimming: Individual athletes, Team sport


Hi everyone, hope you're enjoying your sunny Sunday :)

This morning we had our "Mini meet" during swim practice. Like I mentioned in the last post, we used this as an opportunity to practice our racing strategies, and to test our body strength and endurance. Waking up in the morning and racing top-speed is easier said than done. At major swim meets, being able to swim fast in the morning preliminary races ensures a swimmer's entry into the evening finals and a middle lane to race in. It is so critical that proper warm-ups are done, and swimmers are mentally and physically pumped up to race. The team took this morning's races seriously and got an idea of how they're doing at this stage of training. We're also very fortunate to have Stefan Mader (former CIS qualifier and Trinidad & Tobago National Team swimmer) working with us on technique and race strategies.

This morning, and during other swim practices, I can't help but to notice how supportive our team is. Swimming is a funny sport... we are all individuals focused on our own events, yet it would be near impossible to train and compete at this level without the support of a team. To be honest, I don't think I would survive a single 6am swim practice if I were to swim alone, as an "individual athlete".
Bear with me as I let my nerdy side out for a minute... In terms of nutrition, just because you eat lots of carbohydrates does not necessarily mean you will get lots of energy. Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) act as enzymes to allow chemical reactions to happen and therefore release energy from carbs. Without these vitamins and minerals, reactions would happen slowly or not at all. The point I'm trying to make is 1) eat your fruits and veggies and 2) teammates are like micronutrient enzymes. Just like carbs need enzymes, an individual swimmer needs his/her teammates to succeed.
The support that members of this team show for each other is overwhelming. Any time a swimmer is racing or somebody is having a tough time in practice, you can count on a teammate cheering you on. We all look out for each other's well-being, in and out of the pool, and I believe this is the secret to team success.

This week, the momentum will continue to build as we get closer to our championship meet. This coming weekend, UNB swimming will once again show stamina and guts as we race at UPEI during a time of heavy training.

I'll be sure to highlight results from the UPEI swim meet in next week's blog post. Thank you for reading and make sure to share this with your friends!

Make it a wonderful week!
Natalie

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

VReds Swimming 2012


Happy New Year everyone!

My name is Natalie Doucette, I'm a 4th year swimmer studying Kinesiology at UNB Fredericton. I'll be blogging on behalf of the talented and mighty UNB Varsity Reds swim team.

To get you up to speed, this year we have a strong team of 20 women and we train with the men's swim team as well. Under the leadership of Coach Robin Ferdinand, we've had a successful season so far. In October, we hosted our only home swim meet of the year- the Amby Legere Invitational- where our women's team powerhouse Danielle Losier qualified for CIS in the 50m Breaststroke. In November, VReds showed some serious perseverance at the Acadia swim meet; racing during a time of heavy training. The AUS Invitational swim meet held at Dalhousie saw exciting results from VReds swimmers. Personal Best (PB) times were achieved by the many of the swimmers and UNB added another CIS qualifier. Chris Garcelon (aka Cuba) met CIS standards in the 50m Breaststroke after an incredible comeback to the sport.

Following the AUS Invitational in November, the team jumped back into heavy training to ensure that those swimmers on the brink of CIS standards would break those times in the winter months. Joining the Mount A swim team, we traveled to Orlando, Florida after Boxing Day for an intense week and a half training camp. The VReds took advantage of quality long-course training and came together as a team to push each other through the intensive training camp.

Now that you're up to date on the first half of our season, here are some events on the horizon for our team...

  • January 15th- "Mini meet" during our practice time, as a chance to practice race strategies
  • January 21st-22nd- Swim meet at UPEI
  • February 10th-12th- AUS Championships at Dalhousie
  • February 23rd-25th- CIS Championships in Montreal
In the meantime, the swimmers are training daily or twice a day in the pool, 3 times per week in the gym with our trainer Trevor and studying hard to maintain our reputation as focused student-athletes.

Check back often and stay tuned for more news on the UNB Varsity Reds swim team as we prepare to shine at our conference championships in a month!

All the best!
Natalie