Gary was just great and lots of fun to be around, though he remained clearly on command. Please tell him the Conference Meet went well for the boys (Alana did not go).

Seamus cracked 52 in the 100 free (-2.5 seconds), 1 minute in the 100 fly (-3.5 seconds) and his 100 IM was 2 seconds faster. Both of his relays broke the Club record.

Dillon dropped his 100 Back from 1:13 to 1:05 with no start or walls to speak of and Parker’s breast improved. They can’t wait for the season to start.

We all know where this came from, so thanks so much. Can’t wait for the Dartfish videos either.

All of our best to you,
Jeff Appel

You can read Gary’s lyrics if you want to learn the Race Club song as well.

Apparently Ryan has changed his eating habits and it shows. We heard he gave up eating a lot of junk food and it shows. Yes, he was lean and mean and fast. I didn’t speak to Ryan nor ask him about his nutrition, but here is what was reported.

In 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, Lochte was quoted in the NY Times on line with the following. “Nutrition’s probably the last thing I worry about,” Lochte said. “It’s probably my downfall. I’ve been eating McDonald’s almost every meal here.”

This year, at the Pan Pacs, Lochte tells The New York Times, “I haven’t really been eating fast food. Before, I always thought it didn’t really matter what you put in your body because you burn so many calories. What I’ve learned is it does make a difference.“

Here is what he told USA Today earlier this month. “I’m definitely eating healthier,” he says, noting that he has more pasta, fruit, vegetables and lean meats. “After eating a good meal, I’m just happy. It relates to my swimming. I’m having more than just a couple good practices in a row. I’m having a week where practices are unbelievable, and I think it’s due to my diet.”

I believe the story. We had a very similar experience in 2000, when The Race Club was training 13 swimmers for the Olympic Games in Sydney. We thought we were doing everything right. Mike Bottom, one of the finest sprint coaches in the world, had carefully planned out their entire swim training and meet schedule leading up to the Olympic Trials. We had Tim McClellan, one of the best strength trainers anywhere, working on a rigorous dryland program. We used Dr. Rayma Sommer, a noted sports psychologist, to work on their mental training and visualization. We had a sports massage therapist giving massages to each athlete every other day for recovery.

One day, about a third of the way through the season, Mike came up to me and said, “They aren’t going to make it. They are swimming too slow in practice and not recovering fast enough when they do swim fast. We need to figure out what is wrong.”

So we retraced their steps, from the moment they awoke and got out of bed until they put themselves in bed for the night. Here is how it went. Morning: cereal … Sugar Pops, Fruit Loops or Frosted Flakes. Morning workout then lunch: McDonalds. Then nap or television, then afternoon practice, then dinner: McDonalds, then TV, then bed. That was pretty much every day except Sunday, when they just went to McDonalds then home.

“It’s got to be the food”, Mike said. Immediately he called his friend in California, Dr. Doug Herthel, owner and founder of Platinum Performance Products. Doug was on the next flight over to Phoenix to help resolve the problem. “Let’s start by giving them at least one good meal a day and put them on our supplements, and see what happens”, Dr. Herthel suggested after realizing what they were eating. So we did.

We brought in homemade chicken and beef pot pies and fresh vegetables for lunch after morning practice each day and placed them on several of Platinum Performance products, including Power, BCAA, Antioxidants and Immune. At least that way, we minimized the junk food. The response was extraordinary.
Within days, they started swimming much faster in practice and would recover quickly and be ready for another fast practice much sooner than before. The difference in training performances was incredible.

By Olympic Trials we were ready. Six of our athletes made the Olympic Team and won an astonishing 10 Olympic medals for the United States. Undoubtedly, this would never have happened if we did not figure out how important nutrition was to an athlete. It is vital.

Since then, we have placed every elite athlete in The Race Club program on Platinum products and have recommended a good diet. We also recommend Platinum products to all of our campers … or at least to the ones who want to swim fast. You are what you ingest.

It is important to know that nutrition and supplements do make a difference. It is also nice to know, when some swimmers have been suspended for taking products tainted with banned substances, that you have a nutritional company you can trust. Many of our athletes have been tested while taking Platinum Performance products. None have ever tested positive for any banned substance. The Race Club remains staunchly opposed to using any banned substances in sports. You can see all of Platinum’s products we recommend on our web store.

Yours in swimming,

Gary Sr.

Simply put: Within reason, don’t limit how much your kids are eating. Yes, a profound number of American children are overweight and it is on everyone’s mind to go above and beyond to keep their children happy and healthy, and keep them from being a statistic. But what needs to be remembered is that the vast majority of kids in America are sedentary and that the only contact with swimming most kids get is playing “Sonic at the Olympics” on the Nintendo. Your kids are active, they’re training hard (sometimes too hard), getting their heart-healthy exercise in, eating well and in general being very body conscious. A couple of weeks eating the same number of calories while not training as they would when still training, isn’t bad. Sure, they may put on a couple of pounds, but that could actually be a good thing. Here’s why:

Most swimmers don’t eat enough as it is. When I do dietary analysis on athletes, the biggest numbers of adjustments needed are from the diets of swimmers and water polo players; the amount of muscle-bearing work they do and the hours they put in is extraordinary. Very few eat enough to accommodate for this workload. As such, they already have issues recovering, hormones can develop an imbalance, sleep quality can be reduced and muscle and strength gains severely compromised. As I’ve mentioned before in this column, recovery and gains are made outside of the pool and the gym at rest, not while training. Therefore, having that slight downtime from the year can help turn the tables on being overtrained or undernourished and allow the body to come back stronger and more prepared for the next season, even if it is accompanied by another pound or two.

In healthy athletes, ignore the scale and focus on giving the body the proper nutrition that it needs. By worrying less about how much is being eaten and more focused on what, and when, you’ll find vast improvements come in a very short order.

Swimmers like Phelps and Lochte don’t come along every day. I can’t imagine anyone winning nine gold medals in the Olympics, but I didn’t think Spitz’s record of seven Olympic golds would be broken, either. One thing I am sure of is that there is an abundance of talented swimmers in America working their way up the ladder, dreaming of taking over the roles of Phelps and Lochte.

Most of the credit for creating this pipeline of talent should go to USA Swimming and the thousands of affiliated swimming clubs across America. It is not that the schools, YMCA’s and summer recreation leagues don’t have a role. They do. The real development of talent, however, is largely due to America’s swim clubs.

A few weeks ago I witnessed this first hand in Buffalo, New York. It was the first time I have conducted a Race Club camp away from home in Florida. At the invitation of Greg Herzog, a passionate swimming parent in Buffalo, several clubs assembled 20 swimmers for one of the best weeks I have enjoyed in swimming.

The beauty of doing a five or six day camp, as opposed to a one day or half day clinic, is that one really has enough time to make some significant improvements in technique. In Buffalo, I had five days to teach 20 very talented young swimmers some critical fundamentals. More importantly, we had time to practice them and drill them so they became more comfortable with them by the end of the week.

Teaching swimming technique is my passion. In a sport where technique makes such a big difference in one’s success or lack of, it is really a pleasure to help swimmers get faster. No matter how great the coach, it is very difficult for him or her to spend any significant time studying technique in the midst of a busy and crowded practice. But in a Race Club camp, our focus is primarily on technique, analyzing above and below the water, working on drills that have a singular purpose to help improve speed.

Ryan Lochte grew up in Rochester, New York; not too far from Buffalo. There were some incredibly talented swimmers in our camp in Buffalo last month. Perhaps one of them will be the next Lochte or Phelps or Coughlin or Soni. Who knows? All I know is that America has an abundance of talented kids that are willing to work very hard to realize their dreams. Even though superstars don’t come along every day, it is nice to know we have a strong foundation of swimmers coming up and a good pipeline of talent. Somewhere out there, another Phelps and Lochte are just getting started.

Yours in Swimming,

Gary Sr.

Visit the photo gallery of Gary’s trip to Buffalo.

First, let’s try to clear up why it is so hard for newcomers to break into the top. It seems that you see many of the same athletes dominate a sport for a long time as newcomers slowly work their way up to take the baton once the champions leave. Rarely do we see someone breaking into the top right away. This gradual process is most likely due to the fact that the best often keep getting better.

But what is it that separates the best from the rest? And what do you need to even have a chance to make it to the top yourself? What follows are five important ingredients or requirements to become a Champion.

Commitment

The single most important thing in any sport! If you want something, you are really going to have to commit to it with your heart and soul. You won’t succeed by swimming for your mom or dad. You have to do it for yourself. You will need to work for quite a long time to to reach the goal you committed to in the beginning. If you don’t understand why you’re making this commitment day in and day out, you probably won’t reach your goal.

Discipline

This one goes almost without saying. Once you are committed to be one of the best in your sport, you know that you’ll have to sacrifice a lot of the fun things that all your non-athlete friends do. Going to bed early to be ready for early morning practice and skipping weekend trips in favor of meets are just two examples. As we all know there are many more. Of course, there will be people helping you reach your goals and reminding you about some of those sacrifices, but most of the time you’ll be on your own. Self-discipline will be the only way for you to make the right decisions in the long run.

Perseverance (a.k.a. hard work)

Some people give up too easily! There are so many factors that come into play on your journey to your goals. For example, taper isn’t an exact science and might just not work the way you thought it would. There might even be times where you’ll reach a point of stagnation for a full season. Swimming is a sport of (hard) work and showing little or no improvement can be frustrating. But those who persevere will eventually find success and discover many other things along the way that make our sport gratifying.

Self-Confidence

There are going to be many things you won’t be able to control on your quest. Putting in the hard work every day is only one thing that will help you build self-confidence by race day. But you’ll also rely on a coach to lay out a plan for you and make sure that you’ll be able to reach your goal. You not only need to trust your coach and the program, but you also need to be confident that it will all click on race day, as only the smallest doubt could separate you from the top.

Talent

Talent is irrelevant if a swimmer is not motivated to use it. I have seen too many great athletes who rely solely on their talent and eventually lose interest when talent alone isn’t enough to win. Some gifted athletes achieve too much too early and don’t have the ability to persevere in order to get to a higher level. Talent is important, but in the long run, it’s really just a bonus!

The order I have chosen for these qualities is important. Also let me explain why I like to use the term ingredient. A champion won’t always be the one with the gold medal around his or her neck. There are many athletes who never win the gold medal yet prove to be true champions.

There is one more important ingredient missing from my list … fun! It was my intention to not put this on the list. One could almost assume that anyone wanting to become a champion in any sport would need to have fun doing it. But because I think it’s such an important quality for all the athletes competing at all levels, I decided to add it as a bonus.

Fun

Most people would say this ingredient is the single most important one in any sport. I agree but let’s be honest … if you’re in sport to be one of the best you probably won’t have fun every day. This is completely normal, but as long as the overall passion for what you do outweighs the tough days, you’ll be fine. We can all see in their faces t that the top competitors love to race. If you’re the parent of a young talented swimmer, the best thing you can do to help your child is to make sure he or she has fun ,no matter what sport he or she decides to pursue, and that he or she lives a healthy lifestyle.

It’s a great idea to study other athletes and look up to the best in your sport. But don’t forget to take a closer look around you and give some credit to other true champions who might be swimming in the lane next to you.

- Nico

John had to win the 50m backstroke to win the high point title for his age division. His 35.5 in the prelims was his previous best time. Afterwards, I asked him how fast he thought he could swim the 50 back. “Dad”, he said, “That was a dire situation.” I give you credit for getting both boys to raise their stroke rates something they never worked on before, despite their many years of competitive swimming.

Ken Libert

Boys 11-12 50 SC Meter Backstroke
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
================================
A – Final
1 John Libert 12 Del Bluefish 35.50 33.13
2 Hunter Clark 12 Kennett YMCA 34.20 33.61
3 Matthew Jacobs 12 Nottingham Green 36.66 36.7

Fitness legend Jack LaLanne once said (and has since repeated an infinite number of times), “If it comes from a box, don’t eat it.” While that’s not necessarily bad advice, we have to accept that it isn’t really practical for most people who are trying to juggle fitness along with a family, work and dozens of other hobbies and responsibilities. So, the best we can do is become mindful of what we’re buying. The easiest way is to simply read the list of ingredients in our packaged foods and avoid those that have certain things included.

Now, this topic could go on for volumes (and if you scan your local bookstore you’ll see that it does), so this is going to be a very, very introductory course. A basic rundown of how labels work and a couple of things you may want to steer clear of.

First, something that you may be surprised to find most people don’t know, is how ingredients are listed. The contents aren’t just added however the manufacturer decides looks best, but instead are listed in the order of which they are most prominent. This, then, becomes our first clue. If, for example, you see “Sugar” come before “Whole wheat,” you’re likely looking at something more akin to candy than healthy fare. Especially if you’re a breakfast cereal eater this is particularly important to pay attention to because some of the best “sounding” brands are often the worst offenders.

Reading these ingredients also gives you the insight as to how skewed a product’s advertising might be. Take a look at different breads, for example. Anyone will tell you that wheat bread is healthier than white bread, and manufacturers love to play up their “quality wheat bread”, but is it really any better? Depends on what you see listed on the label. If you look at the labels on many wheat bread bags you’ll notice bleached flour, sugar or even water as the main component; these are hardly better, if at all, than their normal white bread counterparts. Contrast this to other higher-end brands and you’ll see actual quality ingredients like “Stone Ground Whole Wheat,” or “Whole Wheat Flour,” leading the pack, and ingredients like “sugar” much further down the list.

Further, and applicable to all types of foods, you can quickly just scan the ingredients for certain trigger words that, at least in my house, cause whatever the product is to go right back where it came from on the store shelf. These include “Modified food starch,” “High fructose corn syrup,” and the biggest offender that we’ll talk about a little more, “Hydrogenated oil.”

The latter is best known as “Trans fat.” You’ll find it in cereals, peanut butters and even some “energy” bars. The stuff is everywhere, and it’s no good for you, so make sure you’re on the look-out for it. It can be listed as “hydrogenated oil” or “partially hydrogenated.” There are often ways around this ingredient—such as using an organic or natural peanut butter instead of the JIF, Skippy or Peter Pan you’re used to—it may just take looking at other brands you aren’t as familiar with, or maybe even a quick trip to a different store.

Looks can most definitely be deceiving, so make sure you’re reading your labels and taking into account what’s actually included in the products you’re buying, not just considering how healthy it appears on the box.

1. We admitted we were powerless over fins, that our workouts had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than our bare feet could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our coach, as we understood him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our swimming equipment.
5. Admitted to our coach, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have our coach remove all these defects of equipment.
7. Humbly asked our coach to remove our short fins, too.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, particularly those we crushed in practice who were not wearing fins, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people at every pool possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory of our swimming equipment and when we sneaked fins back into our mesh bag, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through yoga and visualization to improve our conscious contact with our coach, as we understood him, asking only for knowledge of his will for us to be able to swim finless without sinking.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to fin-aholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Who knows, maybe we need to start bodysuitaholics anonymous as well.

Yours in Swimming,
Gary Sr.

Please take our poll and leave a comment if your favorite pair of fins is not listed.

Marijn 100m Breaststroke Champion

Race Club Camper Marijn van Zundert won the 100m breaststroke at his last Dutch Junior Championships. Marijn posted a time of 1:06.72 which was 1.25 seconds faster than his previous best time.

“Everything went according to the plan. Being a national champion in 1:06.72 is a fantastic end of my junior campaign.”

You can find out more about Marijn on his personal website.