Butterfly Fun with Softballs

If you don’t learn anything from this video, at the very least I can promise you some entertainment, because this one’s a good one. Ever swum in an Endless Pool with two softballs in your hands? No? Well now I can proudly say that yes, yes I have.

This fun drill we came up with works on driving power through the finish of your butterfly stroke (which is also eerily similar to the finish of your freestyle, hint hint). As a kid butterfly was my favorite stroke and 100 butterfly was my best event, but I’d be lying if I said I always followed through to my finish and that I always carried my force during my entire pull through the water. It’s hard to focus on that for an entire 100 or 200.

Take a softball in each hand and start with your arms extended in front of you. While doing fly kick you’re going to take a pull and try to throw the balls behind you as far as you can (maybe have your brother or sister be behind you so you have a target you really want to hit). This forces you to have a strong pull the entirety of the way from your catch to your finish.

If you think this sounds easy, I say ha to you good sir. Ha to you. The first time I tried this I barely got the balls out of the water. I turned around and stood up only to hear Dominic laughing hysterically at my first attempt. Thanks for the support, husband.

After a few attempts I got the hang of throwing the balls behind me and out of the water, but they never went too far. And I was tired, after just a few kicks and strokes of butterfly. I like adding this drill to the end of a workout when my body and my brain are fatigued. It forces me to focus and stay engaged when all I want to do is crawl out of the pool and head to Panera for a loaf of bread.

Miami Man 2017 Trip Recap

Boy does it ever feel good to be back in the dreary, chilly, and wet weather I’ve come to find normal for Northern Virginia in the winter months. Miami was great, but it felt a bit weird to me to be in a tank top and shorts in the middle of the beginning of the winter holiday season. Sweater weather just started and I missed 5 days of it! 

Traveling to Miami to support one of our clients during Miami Man, their A race of the season, proved to be a lot more action packed than we had anticipated. And not just because we started the journey out with a 6 hour maintenance delay at the airport (Stranger Things marathon anyone?).  We took this trip as an opportunity to meet some online clients and do some lessons in person, and we’re so glad we did.  

Carmen started swimming less than 2 years ago and recently began competing in triathlons with her husband, Jose. Before competing in Miami Man on Sunday we met up with her for two private lessons on Friday and Saturday at her neighborhood pool. Although bringing in outside coaches is “frowned upon,” so we had to be pretty stealthy during our lessons. And by that I mean I walked around taking pictures, Dominic filmed for video analysis, and Jose filmed with his GoPro throughout both two hour sessions. Oops? 

Dominic worked with her on her kick, rotation, body posture, and balance.  

We also got to meet Marcel, who is a client we’ve been communicating with online for about half a year now. His first half Ironman is coming up next March in Puerto Rico, and we got the opportunity to work with him on our Foundational Breathing Method to correct his sinking legs/hips and body posture in the water.  

I had pretty intense oral surgery less than a week before our trip, so hopping on a plane to Miami wasn’t really something I was looking forward to. But getting to meet all of these great people and spend time with them was really a wonderful experience. And yes, I’m sure the fact that I was on painkillers throughout most of it aided my happy mood, but I digress. One of the best things about running your own schedule is getting to take trips like this, and I need to remember to be more appreciative of these experiences while I’m having them. 

Ohh, did I forget to mention the food? The food was AMAZING. We drove an hour and 23 minutes (after our 6 hour plane delay and 3 hours of rental car hassle) to a Cuban restaurant in Miami Beach and it was more than worth it. My mouth is watering now just thinking about that food, sigh. 

But all of that being said Sunday was the best day. We got to cheer on our client and friend Gail and be there to celebrate all of the hard work she’s put in this season. She placed second overall in her age group! 

Our clients are the driving force to what we do and make all of this so rewarding. We can’t thank you guys enough for your loyalty and support. 

How to Handle Missing a Workout

I grew up as the kid who never missed morning swim practice. I looked forward to it, I got excited about it. I wanted to hear my alarm go off at 3:43am in order to get up and jump in the freezing cold water and swim 3-4 miles before any of my other friends even woke up for school. Well, most days at least. 

I was also the kid who, when she did miss a practice, lost about 80% of my conditioning and spent almost a week getting back up to where I had been before. Which I hated. A lot. And it often felt like I had let everyone down just by sleeping in and getting up at 6am, like any other regular high school student.

Now that I'm old and wise (kind of) I know that missing a workout isn't the end of the world, but I still struggle with my own self inflicted guilt sometimes. Fortunately the swimming world I live in now is much more forgiving than it was in high school, and my body is much more acclimated to resting and taking care of itself too. I know that sleeping in one day when I'm supposed to go for a long swim won't hurt me or set me back. No one will call my cell phone at 4:30am wondering where I am (yes, my coach used to do that, and no, he isn't the only one) and I won't lose my spot in the lane I normally swim in. 

Even missing a workout because I have too many things planned for the holidays or I decided to go to an impromptu dinner with my husband won't hurt me. In fact it's usually more beneficial than not.

Taking care of myself and getting enough rest is HUGE when it comes to performance. I wish I had realized this when I was competing, but such is life. I just wanted to let you guys know that it's okay to sleep in sometimes. It's okay to go have that dinner with friends and grab a drink (or three) and relax even when it's not in your schedule to do so. 

But the one thing you shouldn't do is try to makeup the workouts you missed. That's when you get into overtraining and can really hurt yourself. So give yourself a break, don't beat yourself up too much, and sleep in a little if you want. Just don't do it everyday, because then you might be in trouble. And I definitely don't want your coach calling me at 4:30am asking me where you are...