Masters Newsletter Fall/Winter 2007

Swimming

Happy New Year! Our numbers continue to grow. We have many new members and lots of “veterans”. Please make sure to introduce yourself to those within your lane and others around you.

Meets

Lakewood

The Lakewood meet is held at the Lakewood High School on February 10, 2008. The entry deadline is Wednesday February 6, 2008. Sign ups for relays, including relay only swimmers will be available at both the Middle school and Woodbury School pools. You can get more specific meet information online or at practice. We will attempt to defend our 1st place title against OHIO Masters and others. Go SHAKER!

Wooster

The next meet will be held in Wooster on March 8-9, 2008. The information is available at practice and on the Shaker website www.shakerswimming.org.

Go The Distance

“Go the Distance” is a free program offered by USMS. Your job is to track your daily yardage and submit totals monthly. You can receive awards from USMS and receive recognition on the USMS website at www.usms.org.

Check Off Challenge

USMS is offering the “Check-off Challenge” as a way to help motivate and monitor progress in USMS meets. Each swimmer must complete all of the 18 events offered in order to receive the award. You check off the events on your T-shirt as you complete them. Time is not a factor. Visit the website www.usms.org for more details.

Practice Schedule

Regular practice schedule

Mondays and Wednesdays 5:45 – 7:15 am at the Middle School

Tuesday and Thursdays 5:45 – 7:15 am at the Woodbury Pool

Saturdays 7:00 – 8:15 am at the Woodbury Pool

Upcoming Holidays

Monday Jan. 21 5:45-7:15 am at the Woodbury Pool (not MS)

Thursday Jan. 24 5:45 – 7:15 am at the Middle School due to HS conflict

Monday Feb. 18 5:45 – 7:15 am at the Woodbury Pool (not MS)

Other Events

Saturday Jan. 26 7:00-8:15 am is a breakfast morning (provided by lanes 3 &4)

Lane 7- For Your Health Tips

Stretching

A little bit of stretching (5-10 stretches for :20 each) before practice and after each practice will go a long way towards maintaining healthy joints and muscles. Vitamin C is very helpful during this time of year. Exercise is great way to stay healthy. Try and help your body stay healthy by practicing good dietary habits. Supplements and/or any and all Vitamin C rich foods will help your immune system fight off viruses that would otherwise interrupt your training schedule.

Passing within the lane

When you are about to overtake a swimmer you are, in fact, drafting off that person for a little while (drafting is where you enter, and are carried along by, the stream of water that the swimmer in front of you has already started moving - you benefit from the work that swimmer has already done, you swim faster with less effort). Then you are ready to swim past it (I’m referring to the other swimmer, remember our agreement? - this is the kind of stuff you have to put up with when you insist on being politically correct.). At this point you swim out of the draft of water the other swimmer was gracious enough to get moving for you and into his/her wake and turbulence. You now are fighting more resistance than ever before. Unless the wake is big enough to body surf on you will find yourself having to work quite a bit harder just to keep from slowing down. Of course, from your vantage point, it may very well appear as though the other swimmer chose just at that moment to speed up.

This phenomenon is easy to see from the deck but is often misinterpreted, even by experienced swimmers, in the water. So, the next time you have trouble passing someone in mid lane be aware that it may not be all his/her fault. And, if you get lucky, others will realize that it’s best to stay to the right as both of you approach the wall so that you won’t be cutting across each other when turning.

(excerpt from USMS 1993 article on passing within the lane)

Birthdays

January February

John Bucchieri 1/28 Fiona Green 2/11

Audrey Gray 1/13 Chuck Lawrence 2/23

Marc Harrison 1/12 Alex Rae-Grant 2/11

Lou Horowitz 1/29 Joanne Siegel 2/17

Valerie Pierce 1/2 Gina Suozzi 2/3

Andi Wasserman 1/19 Jackie Wilson 2/13

Bill Watson 1/1

Have a very Happy Birthday from Shaker Swimming!