Now that we've all had a few days to recover from the trip, I want to offer a little recap of what went on.
I was somewhat nervous going into the week because, while south Florida is on average sunny and beautiful this time of year, I've always seemed to be bad luck for training trips to Florida. Every trip to Florida that I've been a part of has always encountered unusually cold weather (by Florida standards), broken pool heaters, extreme wind, etc. Thankfully, we bucked that trend this year. The sun came out, the highs were in the mid to upper 70s all week long, and it never got any colder than lower 60s at night. Aside from a few sprinkles during our first long course practice, it didn't even rain while we were down there.
Enough about the weather. This week was a challenge for our swimmers. My goal was to push them in some way, shape, or form in every workout. They swam more than they've swum all year, they ran more than they've run all year, and they also encountered a few dryland/in-water circuit challenges. Props to Tracy and Shafer for winning the elbows & toes/front bridge/front plank (insert any other name you call it) competition by staying up for 5 minutes. Tracy, with a little help from a teammate, also won a pizza eating contest against one of her coaches, although the result is being disputed.
Our training trip competition took the form of a long course relay meet with the United States Merchant Marine Academy and Gustavus Adolphus College. The USMMA and Gustavus men went against each other, while our ladies went up against the Gustavus women. I don't think it needs to be said, but every swimmer in the water was racing tired that day. Nobody was really concerned with times, but it was a good opportunity to step up and race (everyone has to get up and race while tired during a 3 day championship meet too...). It was a close meet between us and Gustavus. They won several close races between the A's, and came out on top in 5 races to our 3. The battle of the B's was just the opposite, with R-MC taking 5 to Gustavus' 3. It was a fun, low-key meet.
All in all, it was a great week. I like to occasionally remind our swimmers that training trip is a business trip first and a vacation second. Translation: it's OK to have fun on training trip, but you need to make sure you're not doing so at the expense of your swimming. The team did a great job at both. They worked hard and had a great time while doing it. I think staying a block away from the beach definitely helped with that this year. Something about hanging out with your toes in the sand surrounded by palm trees in the month of January helps to lift the spirits.
