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Reducing Risk of Injury and Fatigue |
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Written by Jac Cole
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Sunday, 14 March 2010 11:28 |
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Coaches' Corner
Arguably the toughest aspect to the "8 Days A Week" challenge was (or is, if you're still contemplating completing it) the
Tuesday night to Wednesday morning turnaround. For some crazy Grunions
(myself included)
this is standard fare, but here are some tips for reducing the risk of fatigue, injury or stress.
To
succeed in back to back tough workouts, it is best to allow your body
to flush the lactic acid out of the muscles during a warm down.
Sufficient warm down is (on the high-end) 10% of the distance you
travel during the workout. So a workout of 3,000 meters should have a
300-meter warm down. On the low-end, the warm down should be relaxed
enough so that you would be able to pee while swimming (if you tried, but obviously you won't).
A good warm down
reduces the chance of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), allows for
faster recovery, and less fascia and muscle tension. Tension is
positively correlated to injury, so the warm down is one way to reduce the
risk of injury. |
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Your New Year's Resolution: Swim More |
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Written by Raul Reis
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Friday, 15 January 2010 11:55 |
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Happy New Year once again, fellow grunions! Now that the holiday season has been properly celebrated, and all the turkey and fruitcake are finally gone (and hopefully not stored away in your hips and thighs), we can get down to swimming once again.
The new year brings about new beginnings and new resolutions. For many of us, those new resolutions are fitness-related, and include taking better care of ourselves, our bodies and our health. If your new year resolutions include exercising and getting back in shape, what better way to start fulfilling them than by getting back in the pool?
I know that the cold weather makes it harder to get out of bed early in the morning, or to leave your warm house later in the evening. But once spring and summer roll around, your body will thank you for not giving up on your new (or renewed) fitness regimen.
Instead of making HUGE, unattainable resolutions, my advice is to take one lap at a time. Start small and be consistent. Talk to one of our (very friendly) coaches about setting up feasible goals, and the best way to attain those.
This month of January, I will be published here some interesting tips and suggestions related to getting back in the pool and in shape. I'm getting started with these 10 simple tips from the web site http://swimming.about.com. Enjoy, and hope to see you in the pool very soon!
· Do swim frequently
· Do swim with good technique
· Do drills as part of every swimming workout
· Do challenging workouts
· Do easy workouts
· Do streamlines
· Do leave the wall the same way every time
· Do wear a swimsuit made for competitive swimming
· Do ask someone to watch you swim
· Do use flippers occasionally
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Grunions Share the Holiday Cheer |
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Written by Raul Reis
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Wednesday, 16 December 2009 12:02 |
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by Raul Reis
 
Don, Steve, Matty and Bart Alex and Kjell
As
the rain threatened to turn Coach Jac's backyard into an outdoor pool,
Bart Parnes stepped in at the last minute and played impeccable host to
our 2009 Grunions Holiday Party on Dec. 12. A group of very
animated Grunions warmed up the temperature at Bart's house, where food
and drinks were plentiful to keep everyone nourished and happy
throughout the night.
 
Xavier and Scott during the white elephant gift extravaganza
Besides
food and desserts aplenty, another Grunion tradition was the funny
"white elephant" gift exchange, where presents nice and naughty made us
laugh and get into the holiday spirit. Nothing like a Grunion party to
nourish the body and lift the spirits, especially coming after a
weekend of very hard work at the Belmont Meet.
Thank you all for the great food, drinks and company! And a special thank you to Bart for opening up his house for the Grunions!  
Grunions share food and conversation at the party
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Our Biggest Belmont Meet Ever! |
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Written by Raul Reis
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Tuesday, 08 December 2009 09:50 |
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"We're
victims of our own success", summarized a jubilant (and tired) Kenny
Brisbin, as our SPMA SCM 2009 Championships--also known as the "Belmont
Meet"--neared its conclusion on Sunday, Dec. 6, after three very successful days
of competition.
The Belmont Meet attracted a record 650 swimmers
from all different levels and age groups, not only from California, but
from places as far as Texas and Hawaii, not to mention our faithful and
ever-growing Canadian contingent.
Besides being possibly the
largest regional championship ever in U.S. Masters Swimming history,
the 2009 Belmont Meet lived up to its reputation of being a very fast
competition. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, over 50 world and national
records had been broken by swimmers at the SPMA Championship Meet,
according to Grunion coach Tom Boyd.
Several times during the
meet, the excitement at the pool was palpable, as Boyd, who was also
our official meet announcer, pumped up 600+ athletes and spectators to
root for fast swimmers as they shattered world records, in some cases
by a large margin. 
A Big Success
"The
meet has been so successful in previous years, that we keep attracting
more and more swimmers from all over the country, despite the economic
crisis", Kenny Brisbin said. Despite running a little long on Friday
and a bit behind schedule overall, Brisbin said the feedback from
coaches and swimmers had been overwhelmingly positive.
Volunteer
coordinator Yuji Utsumi shared Brisbin's enthusiasm. For him, the
success of the meet owed a lot to the dedication of our many
volunteers. Utsumi estimated that at least 25 non-Grunion volunteers
(not to mention dozens of Grunions) worked at the Belmont Meet this
weekend, making it our largest meet ever in that regard as well.
"Sometimes
our volunteers don't even realize how much of an impact they're
having", Utsumi said. "The whole Long Beach community is represented
here, not only the gay and lesbian community, and it also reflects
wonderfully on the image of the city", he added.
Grunion team
captain Mike Miranda agreed. "Many of those 600+ swimmers stay in Long
Beach for a few days, so it also helps the city and the local economy",
he said. Miranda hopes the city will be more pro-active in upcoming
years in their support of the Grunions and the Belmont Meet. 
Great Way to Wrap Up
Miranda
believes the Belmont Meet is a "fantastic way to end a great year for
the Grunions". At the pool yesterday, he was particularly impressed
with how much Grunion Pride the event instills in our team members.
"It's
wonderful to see all those Grunions who are not so active with the team
anymore come back to help us with the meet. They do that because they
feel proud of the team and still connected to it", Miranda said.
So,
after so many world records shattered and a record number of swimmers
and volunteers involved, where does the Belmont Meet go from here?
"We'll
tweak it and make it even better next time", said team captain Miranda.
"This year we used Club Assistant to run the meet and that made us even
more efficient. Maybe next year we'll tweak something else, and make
the meet even better!" (Check the galleries for more pictures, and the other Belmont story for results, links and other information).
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