Farewell Mother Russia

Well this is my last post from the Russian experience.
Overall, it was absolutely one of the best experiences I have had as a coach. With being around coaches from all different backgrounds, you can see subtle differences about their styles.

As for the meet, watching Miss Ledecky was, as I told Nuna, was watching history being made. That young lady has such poise when she is on deck, but so voracious in a race, To see her in the semi finals of the 200 Fr, last at the 150, just 15 mins since she won the 1500m in World Record time, just pure GRIT to make it to the finals. Unbelievable. Oh she then went on to win the 200 Fr finals the next night.

Ledecky 1500m Final (last 100)

Russian Crowd Getting pumped up at finals

Ledecky 800m Final (last 100)

Two More World Records

Day 3 and two more World Records fall. USA Swimming looks great as more records tumbled tonight. This meet may very well be the fastest meet ever in the World. Swimmers who are getting 3rd would final at the Games in 4 weeks.

The night started with the women's 200 Fr semi finals. It took under 2mins to make 16th spot. To put that into perspective; four years ago at the 2004 Trials, 6th place (which makes the team) was a 2:00.0. Now have us coaches got that much better in 4 years? Or is it due to the new technology of the race suits? That should be debated sometime. As a coach I think its the coaching :)

The next race saw Mr Phelps pull away from the field and winning the 200 Fr in a US Open record (fastest time ever on American soil). While I sat there tonight, I realized we could have an 800 Fr Relay team at the games, that goes under 7mins! That will show the Aussie's.

Then the excitement really got going in the Women's 100 Bk. Yesterday am in the prelims, Hayley McGregory set the World Record, only to have Natalie Coughlin break it in the very next heat, in the very same lane. Tonight Hayley did not make the team, she was 3rd. What a heart breaker. It just shows you can never count on anything, you have to be consistent at what you do. Coughlin won in a new World Record and was the first lady under 59 sec.

More excitement and drama happened in the very next race as Aaron Peirsol broke his World record in the 100 Bk. Now heres something interesting, Ryan Lochte pulled out of the final of the 200 Fr, so he could concentrate on the 100 Bk. He had the 3rd fastest time in the Fr. Well he got 3rd in the Bk, didn't make the team. However, the rumor on the deck is that he will still make the 800 Fr Relay, because the 3rd place time in finals, did not beat his semi finals time. What would the 6th place swimmer (who should be on the team) think of that one?

More drama unfolded in the Women's 100 BR. In the final the top qualifier was 4th; the 6th place qualifier won and poor Tara Kirk was third - by 1 100th of a second. Ouch! But she came out of the pool smiling, that's a champion to me.

Well the Girls or Bryan did not swim today, so we practiced twice. I know I'm a wicked coach.

By the way Bean took the picture of the pool. It is what it looks like just before they walk out the finalists. Tomorrow the Girls will be writing for the Blog.

Nuna 200 Breaststroke

Nuna off to ready room for her 200 Breaststroke at World Championships, Kazan 2015

Well we did it, our World Championship swimming and coaching experience is over. We had a really good 200 BR finishing 49th in a 3:07. Just off her best this year of 3:04. I told her it was the jet lag, not the coaching. Over the past week I have seen our athlete grow to handling pressure and on a pretty big stage. She represented herself, family, country and us RAYS with a lot of class, I am very proud to have had this experience with Nuna and looking forward to some more.

Thinking & Racing Don't Work Well Together

Well today was an off day for Nuna, so we went to a water polo game, visited the FINA water world and then we workout. Tonight we watched finals sitting with the Swedish contingent. Very nice people, as we all know from Coach Michael. Funny no one new him? He must be over 50.

But the highlight of the day was our own (USA) Miss Katie Ledecky. At the World Championships you have heats of the mile, followed by finals the next evening. This morning, Katie who was seeded 20+ seconds ahead of 2nd place swimmer, swam a World Record time, "without thinking about it". That was her coaches quote. He said, it's like a golfer, when having a great round, they get in the zone, everything feels easier and you play lights out. That's what she did. Katie could have gone 40 seconds slower and still made the finals.

What can swimmers learn from that? Well, when you swim relaxed and get into a good fast rhythm, that's when you swim your best. You trust the process that got you to thre. NO DOUBTS.

Wow, if only I could Coach that, I would be .......

Competition Day

Well it arrived this morning at 3:30 am for me, competition day. I was excited and a little nervous, so I woke up 2 hours earlier than normal. So a good thing occurred, I started to workout. First a brisk walk to say hello to all the security guards and then 56 push ups to match my age. Now I just have to keep that routine going and I could be a competitor in two years.

I met Nuna at 6:15am and we headed for the bus. Today, the bus was packed and we drove to the venue with all the Japanese and Chinese contingents. There was not much conversation going on. Did I mention Nuna is not a morning person.

The warm up went well, Nuna was the first in - very proud coach. She then changed into her racing suit at 8:45am and we did a little more wu with a few sprints. I have been coaching for 30 years and I can attest that every Championship meet warm up is the same. I said to Nuna, this is just like the State meet a few weeks ago, except a lot of different faces and voices.

Race Time
For every FINA international championship, there is a protocol that must be followed for every heat. They call the deck, a clean deck, because only swimmers and officials can be on it, during the competition. The coaches have to be in the stands to watch the races. At 20 minutes, before the start of your heat, you must be in the 1st call room. So, I said good luck to Nuna, it almost felt like she was going on a journey instead of to a race. She had to walk a good 400 meters to the 1st call room, that's where they check your suit, (must have a fina sticker), they check your goggles, they check your cap, all to make sure there is no advertisements to big on them, oh, and FINA approved. Nuna got a free cap, as Stingrays Swimming Cap, is not approved by FINA, apparently.

Nuna was in heat 1, lane 7 of the 100 Fly. They were the very first race at the competition. They marched all 10 swimmers out to music and they got ready for the start. Nuna swam excellent for her very first international competition. I don't know to many 15 year old, that have her composure at this kind of meet. We finished 8th in the heat and 67th out 75 overall. Great accomplishment and one we want to improve on too.

Link to Nuna's Race

The Competition Pool

As we drive to the competition poo, about a 20 min ride. We get an idea of how people live here. We don't see to many houses, but thousands of apartments. Apparently our guide in Moscow told us that people live in very small apartments, but the government gives them some land in the country and people build small houses there for the summer. No apartments or houses have air conditioning and you probably don't need either.

The first view of the competition site is a football stadium.

Wow its big and that's where the pool is. We drive closer and security is very tight. The bus stops and is checked, including in the luggage compartments and using a mirror to look under the bus. When we finally stop we get off to the next security check point. We must go through at least 20 times a day every where we go. There is never just one guard, but at least 5 of them. Our credentials are all bar code written, so we have to scan them to get in (and out?) Its a ritual that we are use to now, but the funny thing is Nuna's credentials, do not work on getting into the European food court. So each time the guards get confused, call some one over, they get confused and then decide to let her in. She has been a good sport about this every time.

Back to the stadium entry. As we enter the pool I say wow this awesome, Nuna is quiet, which is not surprising as I have found her not to be a morning person. I take pictures etc.. and then we walk to the other side of the pool. I then realise we are looking at the warm up pool, not the competition pool. Opps. Then double wow. It is amazing. I've been to Omaha twice (home of our Olympic Trials), but this has a stadium feel to it, absolutely amazing.

                    Nuna at the warm up pool

Pano of the competition pool

Finally we Stretch, warm up, do some pace, warm down, get dressed and head back to the village.

General Observations at first warm up session (a lesson from the Chinese) - Kazan, Russia

Well good news luggage arrived, never been so thankful for clothes.

So yesterday we went for our first swim at the pool, which is located in the village. I'll speak more about the village experience in another blog. Back to the pool. While Nuna warms up, I observe all the nations here. What stands out is that USA Swimming does not stay in the village, they have a hotel. Very interesting to find out that this is the first time for a World Championships to have an athletes village, maybe hey should have told USA Swimming.

Well the best thing I saw, except for Nuna doing her 8x50's BR - looking good I may add, was the Chinese team and coach. During a packed and I mean 12-20 in a lane, Men & Women, not Boys and Girls. He spread out 4 swimmers, in 4 lanes, to race each other in a set of 150's. One was Sun Yang. They were going fast, swimming all around the other swimmers, turning fast, swimming in the middle of the lane, (Nathon Burwick would have loved that), to my surprise no one got upset. After each repeat, the coach barked some times, instructions etc. and then yelled jhehfjhxxjwx, well that's what it sounded like and off they went on another 150.

They were not going to let anyone dictate their warm up, which I think is a good lesson for our swimmers. The Chinese were not bullying or being disruptive, they simply had a job to do and no one was going to stop them.

Getting to the 2015 World Championships

I have the distinct honor of travelling to Kazan, Russia and having one of our RAYS Nuna compete for her fathers country.

I'm going to write some thoughts and observations as we go on our 2nd, of many, I hope adventures.

Second adventure? Yes we went to Qatar in December, as the guests of FINA (Swimming's International Federation). That was a week long camp, with over 400 athletes from around the world, all under the age of 18. It was a terrific experience for both Nuna and myself.  I might blog about that separate experience one day.

Back to Russia. Well so far we had a layover in Moscow, so we had a guide for 8 hours that took us around the various sites in Moscow. What a beautiful city and very clean. Visiting Red Square was mine and Nuna's favourite place, to think of all the history that has passed through that square is unbelievable. After a nice Russian meal we went to catch our flight to Kazan, which is approximately 300 miles east of Moscow.

Great trip, but NO LUGGAGE! well my neighbor told me that would happen, so I was prepared.