Monday, April 9, 2012
Swim Sci: Swimming Nutrition
Swim Sci: Swimming Nutrition: Sports nutrition is a complex and hotly debated subject. However, every elite athlete utilizes a diet. At every Olympics the same countrie...
Excerpts from an Interview with Cindy Tran
from the Swim Science blog
What are you currently working on in your backstroke?
Well, I can always use work on the back half of my races. But that comes with more intention and focus in everyday workouts. Going into NCAA’s and into trials, where everyone has the potential to win, I was very focused on nailing my finishes and turns – trying to make them sharp and effortless. I think over ten years of bad habits has made it difficult to reverse them. Teri always says that whether we like it or not, we are always, always practicing turns and finishes in a workout, so you might as well practice good turns and good finishes.
What is the most common flaw between your good and elite backstrokers?
In very technical terms, elite backstrokers know how to hold good distance per cycle (DPC) with a consistently fast stroke rate. Personally, I struggle with keeping my stroke rate up when I get tired at the end of race. That’s where I can grow. Maximizing those two traits will lead to a optimum success.
What are you currently working on in your backstroke?
Well, I can always use work on the back half of my races. But that comes with more intention and focus in everyday workouts. Going into NCAA’s and into trials, where everyone has the potential to win, I was very focused on nailing my finishes and turns – trying to make them sharp and effortless. I think over ten years of bad habits has made it difficult to reverse them. Teri always says that whether we like it or not, we are always, always practicing turns and finishes in a workout, so you might as well practice good turns and good finishes.
What is the most common flaw between your good and elite backstrokers?
In very technical terms, elite backstrokers know how to hold good distance per cycle (DPC) with a consistently fast stroke rate. Personally, I struggle with keeping my stroke rate up when I get tired at the end of race. That’s where I can grow. Maximizing those two traits will lead to a optimum success.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Backstroke Spin Drill
We've tried this drill several times and I don't always feel that I've communicated what we're looking for with this drill. Check out this video of former World Record holder, Jeff Rouse, performing the drill perfectly.
This drill is all about turnover speed (tempo, stroke rate) kicking, and keeping your head still. Watch the video several times and look at each one of these aspects of the drill.
This drill is all about turnover speed (tempo, stroke rate) kicking, and keeping your head still. Watch the video several times and look at each one of these aspects of the drill.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
TOP QUESTIONS ON NUTRITION AND SWIMMING
3/26/2012
Question: Is fruit juice a good beverage for a young swimmer who is trying to gain weight?
Answer: Fruit juice is a good carbohydrate source and a high calorie drink, so it is good for swimmers who are trying to gain weight. Look for 100% fruit juice and not fruit drinks which contain added sugars. Real fruit juice has simple carbohydrates (natural sugar) and vitamins and minerals so it is a nutrient-rich beverage. Fruit juices with the highest calories include grape juice and pineapple juice (152 and 132 calories per cup of unsweetened, natural juice) while orange and apple juice contain less calories (114 and 115 calories per cup, respectively). Fruit juice is best used as a recovery beverage or with meals. Some people don't recommend drinking a high glycemic index carbohydrate (like fruit juice) right before a workout because it might raise blood sugar and insulin levels which might affect performance. However, as a post-workout beverage, it could help the muscles restore glycogen rapidly to get ready for the next day’s workout.
You might also try some of newer fruit juice blends (cran-grape, berry-orange, etc.), but read the nutrition facts panel to find a juice without added sugars. You can always make your own juice with a home blender. Toss in strawberries, apple slices, bananas, or orange sections and find a favorite mix for homemade juice.
BY CHRIS ROSENBLOOM, PHD, RD, CSSD
Here are some of the top questions I’ve gotten from my readers.
Question: Is fruit juice a good beverage for a young swimmer who is trying to gain weight?
Answer: Fruit juice is a good carbohydrate source and a high calorie drink, so it is good for swimmers who are trying to gain weight. Look for 100% fruit juice and not fruit drinks which contain added sugars. Real fruit juice has simple carbohydrates (natural sugar) and vitamins and minerals so it is a nutrient-rich beverage. Fruit juices with the highest calories include grape juice and pineapple juice (152 and 132 calories per cup of unsweetened, natural juice) while orange and apple juice contain less calories (114 and 115 calories per cup, respectively). Fruit juice is best used as a recovery beverage or with meals. Some people don't recommend drinking a high glycemic index carbohydrate (like fruit juice) right before a workout because it might raise blood sugar and insulin levels which might affect performance. However, as a post-workout beverage, it could help the muscles restore glycogen rapidly to get ready for the next day’s workout.
You might also try some of newer fruit juice blends (cran-grape, berry-orange, etc.), but read the nutrition facts panel to find a juice without added sugars. You can always make your own juice with a home blender. Toss in strawberries, apple slices, bananas, or orange sections and find a favorite mix for homemade juice.
Wilkinson, Winning, and the Game of Life
Jennifer Lukas, CTVOlympics.ca Staff
Before she started winning Commonwealth medals, before she qualified and competed in six events at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and before she started shattering Canadian records, Julia Wilkinson was just a local kid in Stratford, Ont., training in a minuscule four-lane, 25-yard pool.
"I think that I wasn't very good at the beginning. My mom tells this story about driving home from a swim meet and my sister had won a bunch of ribbons," Wilkinson told CTVOlympics a little over a year ago. "I said to my mom, 'Mom, everybody wins a medal at one time, right?'"
Wilkinson's mom, Mary, is an eighth-grade teacher.
"She said to me, 'Well, no honey. Some people, they win the ribbon of life.'" The 24 year old laughs as she remembers.
"I was like, eight. I don't understand metaphors at eight. But I just think that's funny now, because she didn't want to make me an empty promise.
Road to London: Read Swimmer Brent Hayden's Story
Eighteen years later, Wilkinson has won her share of ribbons. Decked out in a pair of flashy gold Ugg boots and gold nail polish at this week's Canadian Olympic swimming trials in Montreal, she has embodied the colour, winning three out of four races in commanding style.
The trials came close to becoming "The Julia Wilkinson Show," as the utility swimmer qualified for four Olympic events -- more than any other swimmer on the team. She could add two more depending on relay team selections at the Games in 2012.
"Swimming all these events is not as hard as four years ago," Wilkinson said on Saturday. "Four years ago I was so up and down and not sleeping. Now I feel great... It's experience and I learned that when you have a bad or great race you have to shake it off and move on."
Pool of Tears at Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials
(From the Toronto Star)
An emotional Annamay Pierse weeps after finishing a disappointing fifth in the women's 200-metre breaststroke and failing to qualify for the London Games at the Canadian Olympic swimming trials in Montreal on Saturday.
STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR
By Randy Starkman Olympic Sports Reporter
MONTREAL—Oakville teenager Tara Van Beilen promised herself she’d keep her tears inside this time. World record holder Annamay Pierse was not so fortunate.
The women’s 200-metre breaststroke lived up to its billing as the event to watch at the Olympic swimming trials, pitting Pierse against world bronze medallist Martha McCabe of Toronto and the deepest world-class field here, including the fast-rising Van Beilen.
Pierse has struggled since setting the world record at the 2009 worlds in Rome. She had trouble adjusting to the change in swimsuits and suffered serious illnesses, including dreaded dengue fever at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
She’d been unable to push herself in training the way she wanted and her worst fears were realized in finishing a distant fifth behind the 1-2 performance of Van Beilen and McCabe, who posted the second and third fastest times in the world this year.
Pierse was inconsolable. Tears streaming down her face, she talked to the reporters in the press room afterwards with her boyfriend, Olympic kayaker Mark Oldershaw, at her side.
An emotional Annamay Pierse weeps after finishing a disappointing fifth in the women's 200-metre breaststroke and failing to qualify for the London Games at the Canadian Olympic swimming trials in Montreal on Saturday.
STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR
By Randy Starkman Olympic Sports Reporter
MONTREAL—Oakville teenager Tara Van Beilen promised herself she’d keep her tears inside this time. World record holder Annamay Pierse was not so fortunate.
The women’s 200-metre breaststroke lived up to its billing as the event to watch at the Olympic swimming trials, pitting Pierse against world bronze medallist Martha McCabe of Toronto and the deepest world-class field here, including the fast-rising Van Beilen.
Pierse has struggled since setting the world record at the 2009 worlds in Rome. She had trouble adjusting to the change in swimsuits and suffered serious illnesses, including dreaded dengue fever at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
She’d been unable to push herself in training the way she wanted and her worst fears were realized in finishing a distant fifth behind the 1-2 performance of Van Beilen and McCabe, who posted the second and third fastest times in the world this year.
Pierse was inconsolable. Tears streaming down her face, she talked to the reporters in the press room afterwards with her boyfriend, Olympic kayaker Mark Oldershaw, at her side.
Canadian Swimmer Julia Wilkinson
Breaking the 1-minute barrier
By Julia Wilkinson
Posted: Friday, March 30, 2012 | 10:30 AM
Read 0 comments0
Julia Wilkinson celebrates after winning the women's 100-metre backstroke at the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials on Wednesday. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press) I am no stranger to delayed gratification.
It's the life of a swimmer, at least after your 13th birthday when you stop dropping time every time you hit the water.
Every year, I spend countless hours training, but I am only in peak race preparation maybe twice every season. I spend a long time working on the details, with my fingers crossed that what I am doing will translate to my race by the time I taper.
That is why, after four long years of waiting, it was so sweet to finally break the one-minute barrier in the 100-metre backstroke en route to qualifying for my second Olympic team. That's right: I'm officially London-bound!
It's only day three of the six-day competition, and we have seen what Olympic trials are all about. In the first event on day one, my young (18-year-old) teammate from the Victoria Academy of Swimming, Alec Page, won the 400m individual medley and saw his Olympic dream come true. When I saw that he had defeated the field and qualified for the team, I thought my heart was going to explode with pride. Alec is a swimmer who loves to race, works harder than almost everyone I know, and has so much talent it's scary.
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