"Hey have you guys ever used leggings as a drag suit? I was wondering because my coach wants me to start using a drag suit but i'd rather wear leggings over my suit. Thanks!"
Yeah! I actually really liked it. But, I found that it didn’t create so much drag so I combined it with another drag suit. It’s cool because you can get them in crazy colors and patterns :)
~Mel
"hi, im swimming the 200 free in my league final meet in about 9 days and i was wondering if you perhaps had any advice? usually what i do is : 1st 50 small strokes tiny kicks, 2nd 50 long strokes tiny kicks, 3rd 50 long strokes start kicking, and last 50 all out. but is there anything that you can recommend pre-meet and during the meet that can help? P.S. im a guy if that makes any difference"
STRETCH! Stretching is good, and a slow but smooth warmup. Stay hydrated and warm.
Also, I like your strategy. My coach has a different one, if anyone is interested in 200 strategies: 50 strong moderate, 50 build to sprint, 50 long strokes/sprint kick, 50 dead sprint.
"Hi, Im a 2 years high school swimmer, and Im doing the 200 IM and the 100 fly for champs any tips on those sets, or what should I do after the 200 IM to be ready for the 100 fly ?"
Check out http://swimthefly.tumblr.com/tagged/tips or /butterfly or /IM for some tips on the events.
As for in between the two races, I don’t know what your league is like, but dual meets for us means usually only 2 or 3 heats in those events at the most. Make your cool down your warm up, and most importantly: breathe. Just relax, stretch, drink a little bit of water. And good luck!
"Why are you allowing these anons to sweat you? If they don't like the blog why are they in you ask all the time? Why do they follow you? Let them walk on by. The blog helps who it should. If it's not up to your "pro-swimming" standard then run along son. Boosting yourself up by belittling others is not attractive. I love your blog. Everyone else can step. And no this isn't anon. Come see me."
"I think your blog is amazing, I don't know what other people are talking about :)"
"Hey! Just for the record, i think your blog is great. It's really annoying to see negative comments about this on my dashboard. Turn anon off, maybe. I don't know. But don't get discouraged by them. I think you should keep doing what you're doing. And about the most recent anon who said that swimmers hate swimming? Most don't. If they hated it they'd play a sport that were easy."
"You! I LOVE your blog! I quit swimming after high school, but the love of it will NEVER leave me. Each time I see y'all on my dash, I can almost smell the chlorine again. I can almost hear the eery rush of water, followed by the frantic cheering of my teammates during each breath. I can almost feel the icy shock of the water at the start of practice. You take me back to some of the best moments of my life. KEEP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING!! I just wanted to share some love! Turn off Anon!! <3"
Haha yeah, I’ll probably do that soon unless one of the other members changes it. I can’t change settings from my ipod.
~Meg
"Your blog has really helped me with my swimming career!! I have a summer birthday so I'm one of the youngest in my group of friends but in the summer I'm at the top and I can show everyone what I can do without being wiped away by everyone else! I just wanted to say thanks (:"
You’re welcome :) And best of luck to you in your swimming future
~Meg
"Seriously, why is it lately all I've seen on blogs are ignorant anons complaining on how people run their blog? I honestly love this blog, keep doing what you do! Yes, I understand where the anons are comming from, but honestly, these guys are just trying to spread out to the swim community to share the parts of swimming they like with others! I totally respect you guys for running a blog like this :)"
"do you know of any good d2 schools?"
I’m not sure what you mean by “good”… In terms of swimming and/or academics?
Try collegeswimming.com :)
~Meg
"Ha, that anon kills me. I swam the 100 breaststroke and the breast leg of the medley relay all four years of high school, adding in the 200 IM as a junior and senior. But only because my amazing breaststroke made up for my shitty everything else. I did breaststroke instead of freestyle sets in practice, kicked breaststroke instead of freestyle. I sucked at every other stroke, but I was a state medalist in the breaststroke. And maybe it isn't about the times. Maybe it's about the process and fun!"
"True swimmers wouldn't post hate on other swimmers blogs <3 Keep your chin up hun! I love your blog and don't let the haters bring you down! You work hard and that's all that matters. If you can get out of the pool and say to yourself 'I just worked my ass off in that practice and did it to the best of my ability" and support other swimmers and treat them with respect I don't care if you swim a 500 in 4:30 or 8:30 you are a true swimmer!"
"I understand you are trying to help people or whatever but i hope they know that you by no means are experienced and they most likely are faster than you. And if you just swim high school, im sorry but you don't even know the beginning of what swimming is all about."
Look. We have a whole range of swimmers who follow this blog, from beginners to advanced swimmers. We have lots of members who also range from beginners to advanced swimmers. I don’t know what you know about my high school league, but it is one of the most serious around (we just had a bronze world medalist go through the league… lots of fun to swim against -_-). Personally, I take my swimming very seriously, both summer league and high school, although I am well aware I will never compete on a national level without being forced to quit soccer.
Though this is hard, I love my sport and work very hard at it. Though I may not have national times, it was hard for me to get to the times I have, given I have to restart every year and enter high school season insanely out of shape.
As a group, we are quite qualified to give advice, I think most of us have been swimming competitively for years and I have learned from some amazing coaches who actually do coach national level teams in addition to my high school team. Whether or not I am actually faster than you or not doesn’t mean I can’t give you advice on technique points, dryland and other things. I know what I am doing in the pool. I am not as fast as you simply because I lack the opportunity to take my swimming to the next level.
Anyone who has passion for the sport they do will take it seriously, just as we take swimming seriously. Swimming isn’t all about having the best times, its about loving what you do.
"That anon is being ridiculous. I've swam the I.M., the fly, the 200 free, and the 500 free, and I get pretty good times. But tell me to swim the 100 free or 100 backstroke and you might as well put a kickboard in the lane and it'll float faster than I can swim. It's all about what your specialties are. And some people are faster than others. That's not surprising. By calling everyone who isn't as fast as Michael Phelps slow you're just being rude and setting expectations that are just too high."
"Hey! I guess no one ever told that anon that you don't need to be an elite level swimmer to be a good coach or to know what you're doing in general in the pool. You run a great blog, keep it up :) -katie from sweatingchlorine"
