Trends, Rollercoasters, and figuring out whether to ride them or design them.

Writing something that lives up to that title is truly going to be a challenge I can only hope to accomplish in this blog.
I have been in every part of the transition of Open Water Swimming from its eccentric pre-Olympic days to its now very serious and sobering adolescent stage.
What is it that made it become Olympic?  Or maybe a better question is: "Who made it Olympic?"
What are the things that were done in order to have gotten us to this point?
Assuming the 10k will remain in the Olympic Games, where will American medalists come from?
Are we riding the trends or designing them? Are we being pulled slowly behind their wake?  Are we a travel agency for our qualifiers?

With these questions in mind; where are we as a nation?

I thank the good 'ole boys of open water for granting me my guest pass to their club in the Beijing quadrenium, but if they don't actively open the doors to the clubhouse, we are going to continue on a riders path instead of that of the designer. My guest pass was only granted to me once my swimmer made a national team. So, in a sense, I had to be a designer to get to that point. Once there, I really did not have the desire to listen to very many of them as I perceived them as riders. Riders with a higher level of experience, but riders no less.  This may be more detrimental to our progress than inexperienced designers!

So, I'm going to do something I dislike as a reader: the dreaded abbreviation!
PR=Project Riders
PD=Project Designers
PH=Project Hybrids
PA=Project Authorities

The PR's are the ones that got in the door, but are only taking advantage of the progress of others or letting the masses assume that their previous involvement grants them a life pass.
The PD's are the ones that just keep pressing issues to be solved, hurdles to be overcome, identifying holes in the project and working to fill them with progress.
The PH's are the ones that got their ticket into the "circle" and did something with it and became designers.
The PA's are the "home office" personnel that give the masses their policies and rules.

Every one of these "P's" has a responsibility to the athletes and each other.  To the athletes: to keep pressing the sport to become more competitive through growth in numbers and quality of competitions offered.  More than anything, they must work the 3 parts of the USAS business plans' core objectives at the same time, not one at a time.
Build the base, Promote the sport, Achieve competitive success.

We are presently doing nothing in the United States to build the base within the scope of Open Water Swimming.  As far as promoting the sport, we have done a few things such as an interview or two with various players in the 10k.  In achieving competitive success; we are succeeding beyond our investment in a few areas, none of which are the Olympic distance in true world class events. 
This raises a challenge to all involved in two of the three areas of our business plans' core objectives.
Over the next two weeks, I will be examining the various challenges in front of us.

A life lesson from the Potato Patch

The start of a new swim year.  No countdowns, no corks flying at midnight.  Just another day in the life of a swimmer.  After a couple of weeks off where family members wonder why you didn't want to go near the hotel pool you finally get to come back to the people that understand you.  Many come to the pool wondering what new ideas their coach had time to learn about at Nationals or to come up with on vacation.  As for the things my athletes can expect: just one thing: Leadership.  It is what I have been looking for out of them for the past 6 years since arriving in Santa Barbara.  I think times have taken another shift back to an historical time where people wanted to be lead somewhere.  Some to greatness, some to new experiences, and some just away from where they are.  I have been lucky enough to have been lead by two of the greatest parents anyone could ask for, a coach that pushed when it was time to push me, and pulled when it was time to pull me.  Then I tripped upon a guy by the name of Gordon Collet.  He is one of those people you don't have to try to remember if you met him.  If you met him, you know.  He is a guy that will schedule a bike ride with you on a Saturday and put in a good 15 mile run before meeting up with you for the ride.  You will find out about the "warm-up" run when you are on the hardest part of the ride, can't catch your breath, and he is talking to you about the run he went on, slowly describing the places he ran past and you are figuring out that these places are 10 miles away from each other, then he accelerates ahead out of sight only to come back about 20 minutes later to "check on you" and tell you we are almost there, just a few more turns.  He taught me never to trust that statement: "we are almost there".  He also taught me about loyalty.  Loyalty to the right people: "your family and your athletes".  I regularly use one of his lines when yet another swimmer is telling where they will be instead of practice.  He lets them talk, then, very politely, but clearly says:  "OK, we'll be here" (at the pool).  Gordon is someone in life that can be counted on more than anyone I had ever met.  He will be at the pool.  He will be there before you get there and after you leave.  He will say very little to you, but you better listen, this man has seen it all and only shares with you what you need to know at the time.  He tried to teach me how to sail, or maybe he wanted to dump me in the bay and couldn't close the deal, either way, those Saturdays on that Cal 20 were absolutely priceless.  A Cal 20 a sailboat that actually is so heavy it shouldn't float, but it does.  The mast is not very high so it shouldn't catch enough wind, but it does.  It beats the odds.  It is the perfect boat for Gordon.  I got to experience it's retirement trip around the bay and even was  given the helm at one point.  It was a day that was very typical of the SF Bay.  It was hot, cold, dry, wet, calm, windy all in about three hours time out on the water.
We went outside the Gate (under the bridge), through the center of the potato patch pictured here.
The potato patch is a shoal under the Golden Gate bridge where there is about a 5-10 foot drop off, then rapids, then a 5-10 foot climb back to the surface).  There is not a roller coaster in the world that can prepare you for your first ride through the potato patch in a Cal 20.  He did not tell me it was coming or even that it existed.  He did enjoy the look of impending death on my face as we went through the 10 seconds of rapids that seemed like a lifetime.  I was scared to death but I was safe and would succeed because I was with Gordon Collet.  A feeling that his platoon probably felt in Vietnam on a regular basis.  A feeling that his athletes feel as he is giving them their next set at practice every day.  This could kill me, but I'm with Gordon so I'm safe.  He retired the boat after that perfect day on the bay.  After we tied it up over in Berkeley Harbor at the end of the day as we enjoyed a quick sandwich at the Marina Deli he said:"well the boat is now for sale, there will not be a better day than today.  Time to move on".  There was a hell of a lesson in that day and in that statement and I didn't understand it until I started sending swimmers off to college.  I needed to let them go, we had our time, we made our success.  We can try to match it during the summer as we continue to chase down that perfect swim, but they need to go and experience a new skipper and who knows, maybe they will have an event better day ahead.  Maybe they will come back and make me better.  The key though: let them go. Let them take your lessons and apply them in their new environment.  As for the swimmers I will see tomorrow at the pool: prepare to head for something harder and more fun than today, take it on head first and we will see where it takes us. 
See you at the pool.............

London Calling and yes I was there too.. and you know what they said?..and some of it was true!!

The London International 10k Marathon swim has now finished as most everyone I know is just getting home from Saturday morning practice.  The day began in London with some rain and then race organizers were quite happy when the clouds parted just prior to the race start and the course was in the sun for most of the day.

The women’s race provided a rather conservative if not textbook tactical race as the pack stayed together for well over 8000 meters before Grimaldi (Italy), Fabian (USA), and Okimoto (Brazil) took a clear lead away from the rest of the pack and finished in that order.  Though just under two seconds behind Grimaldi’s Gold, America’s Christine Jennings probably played the best tactical game on the day as she went out with the leaders through the first 3500 meters, then dropped back and let the others do the lead work.  Had she waited just a bit longer before making her  surge toward the lead, she likely would have made it on the podium.

6^th place finisher Melissa Gorman (AUS) seemed to take on the whole race as practice for the 2012 event in that she spent some time in the lead, some time in the pack, and took advantage of great feeds on each lap. 

As stated in the race preview; water temperatures were pretty ideal in the serpentine course, Poliana Okimoto from Brazil clearly stated otherwise in the post race press conference as she stated eloquently but rather emphatically: “the water was very cold and it was difficult in the start and the middle, but I felt good on the last lap.”  She went on to say that she will make adjustments by lowering the pool temperature where she trains.  Then when asked about the course layout Okimoto went on to say that the “the short course does not give space to swim and it is very bad for us.”  Fabian and Grimaldi were a bit more positive on both matters agreeing that the course will provide for a very fast race next year and having the spectators lined along the entire lake will be a plus as well.  When asked about being in close quarters on such a narrow course the three women all seemed to agree that this course setup encourages contact between the competitors as there is only so much space available when you are trying to change position.  America’s Eva Fabian made the trade off of leading the race rather than getting bumped around in the pack which was a decision that was certainly a wise one, though she did take a hit to the nose on the final sprint from the eventual winner Martina Grimaldi of Italy.  Watching their demeanor during the press conference, it was clearly incidental as they both found it somewhat amusing.  Missing from the race today was American Ashley Twitchel who spent the past 24 hours in bed sick with a stomach problem.  Though feeling a bit better today, not well enough for such a rigorous race. 

On the men’s race, the not-yet-qualified-for-London Canadian swimmer Richard Weinberger made an impressive move in the 5^th lap and was not caught by the veteran stars Thomas Lurz (2^nd) or Spiros Gianiotis (3^rd) on the final lap.  It seemed that they let him go with the hopes he would tire or they would naturally catch him.  Weinberger won the race going away without even the need for a final sprint.  Everyone in the race seemed to have left the race with something to adjust in their preparations for next years’ Olympic race.  Lurz plans to put on a bit more body fat in order to handle the water temp better.  He also commented that he believes this shorter course is great for the spectators and therefore great for the sport.  Gianiotis said the race was one of the hardest he has done, but he was very pleased with his 3^rd place finish.  His original goal was just to check out the venue to make plans for his training leading into the games.  American Olympian Alex Meyer came into the race admittedly out of top condition, though he held a solid top 6 position through the first 4 laps, then dropping to 9^th at one point in the 5^th lap, and eventually holding off Australian Ky Hurst for 7^th at the finish by 6 tenths of a second.  Hurst feels that this venue is the best thing for everyone involved stating: “With the beautiful park and all of the fans right up on the course, there may not be a better place in the world for a 10k Race”. 

In all, today gave clear notice that this is a great place to race.  The organizers have little to nothing to do in terms of making changes.  When asked about the venue; Gianiotis, Lurz, and Weinberger all raved about the fact that the set up in Hyde Park will help to catapult the profile of the sport. For the spectators, both the thousands in attendance and millions at home, the Games will provide a chance to see the whole race unfold before them as opposed to sending the athletes out to sea where no-one knows what’s happening until they come back.   The smaller course and public venue is a clear sign to future race organizers that this will help them market their races, and the athletes are much happier when they feel the crowd as a part of the race.  Maybe the best thing about the Hyde Park location for the Olympic Games 10k Marathon Swim is the simple fact that it will be the only event that is free, lasts 2 hours, and the entire family can have a picnic in the park before, during, and after the event.

I have now seen the sport of Open Water Swimming from yet another perspective, that of a journalist, where access is the name of the game and I thank Swimming World Magazine for the opportunity.  It will certainly be a different situation next year when I attend as a fan.  After spending the week in London seeing the sights, catching up with great friends, and covering the race, I can say without hesitation that I look forward to coming back and hope that that as many as possible join me next year in Hyde Park for a spectacular Olympic Event.  “London Prepares” is the name of the series of test events that are taking place all over the city in preparation for the 2012 Games.  If today’s race is any indication of their preparation, we are in for a treat next year. As for souvenirs, I will be coming home on Monday with one that I did not expect to collect while in London: sunburn.

London 10k Test Event

LONDON, England, August 11. THE London 10K Marathon Swimming International Race will be the official test event of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swimming course, which consists of six laps of the Serpentine. 

This race is for the 60 invited athletes to familiarize themselves with the layout of the course, while the organizing committee works the logistics of running the race. At 10 a.m. London time (1 a.m. PT) on Saturday, the women will dive in, then the men begin their contest at 2 p.m. (5 a.m. PT). 

Friday morning will be the first chance to swim around the course and get a feel for the event. The Serpentine will feel pretty welcome to the swimmers, as the controversial subject of high water temperature will not be a factor. 

Unlike the 30+Celsius waters of Shanghai last month, the London Olympic Course has been hovering around 20 degrees Celsius. That is a comfortable and nearly ideal 68 Fahrenheit. 

The Serpentine course will consist of 6 laps that include 1 left and 5 right turns. All of the turns will have different angles, as the course is not the typical long rectangle that the athletes are used to in flat, inland lake courses. Most all of the major Open Water Swimming Nations will be represented, though many of the 2012 Open Water Olympians have yet to be selected. 

The top 10 (actually 15 as the continental champions also qualified) from each of the men and women's 10K races at last month's FINA World Championships in China earned automatic qualification for the London Games. The process involves a selection of athletes from two separate competitions. The first was Shanghai Worlds and the second and final qualifying race will take place in Setubal, Portugal next June. 

Team USA left Shanghai with Harvard's Alex Meyer as the sole U.S. Olympic Qualifier thus far in the process by finishing in the top 10 in China. Meyer will be the only American male in the London 10K Race. Since the U.S. women came home from the China race without a qualifier, they will have the opportunity to send two athletes to the second qualifying race, and based on the qualification process where the Worlds meet serves as the FINA A cut, and everything else serves as the FINA B cut, only one can potentially make the Games in London, and that spot will go to the best of those two that finishes in the top 9 in Portugal. 

So, as it stands right now, Team USA is in nearly the same situation they found themselves in after the Seville, Spain Worlds in May of 2008 when Santa Barbara Swim Club's Mark Warkentin was the sole U.S. qualifier for the Beijing Games of 2008. 

This time, however, the women that will be sent to Portugal will not be chosen in the same manner as in 2008. At that time the selection method called for the U.S. National Team Director to send the "athletes with the best recent international record and the highest Olympic medal potential," a controversial decision that sent Kirsten Groome and replaced World Championship Qualifier Micha Burden (Shaw) with Chloe Sutton, the eventual U.S. qualifier. 

Team USA will be represented in this test event by 10k World Championship Teammates Eva Fabian, Christine Jennings, and 5k Bronze medalist Ashley Twichell for the women's race. The U.S. Men will field 2012 Olympian Alex Meyer. 

Internationally, the only 10k Shanghai medalist missing from the start list is on the women's side with British 10k World Champion Keri-Anne Payne. The British team has instead chosen to give two young 15 year olds the chance to test the course in her place. Payne, the 2011 World Champion in the event has had ample opportunities to swim in the Serpentine and does so from time to time in her training plan. 

Tactically, I think we will see everything in both races, as the athletes will be primarily getting used to the turns and course layout. Next one would imagine there could be some world-class sportsmanship early on in the race to be safe from yellow cards approaching, performing, and exiting all those turns. Then as the race progresses into the last 2 laps we will see them press each other's limits with some world-class gamesmanship by trying to posture for the win. All in all, both races are packed with star power. 

A plan I would coach for the women: 
The race is basically 6x1600. I would have them approach it physiologically as if they were in a hard 10k training set. 

The first repeat they just need to keep from spending too much energy, both emotional and physical. I would, however, have them be very aggressive on the first set of turns to establish dominance and set up the fact that they are not going to be gentle in this race. I would also ask them to do their best to feed on the first lap. Even thought it is only 1000 meters into the race, there won't be much traffic coming in and they can learn what it will be like swimming into the feed dock later, more crucial feed laps. 

Then regaining and maintaining top 6-8 position over the next 3 laps would be the goal. By lap 4-5 there will be some serious breakaway attempts by the various swimmers and they should all be taken seriously and remembered by their coaches as to whom is trying this. When this starts to happen, anyone with hopes of medaling must be within the top 5 as these women are tough enough to break the lead pack into many small packs that will get left behind and out of medal contention. Then, that fateful last lap will not be for the weak, timid, or inexperienced. 

If the aforementioned strategy happens, the last lap will be brutally fast and filled with potential contact. This is where they need to truly practice to win a medal. The best acceleration in the final 10-30 meters will be your winner and I will go out on a limb and predict it will be someone coming from the 3rd or 4th position coming out of the last 2 turns.

The men's race: 
I really think it could end up a pretty boring race even for an open water geek like me. I think the experienced men are not going to take the early breakaways as seriously as the women must and it could be their downfall. The men should be thinking in terms of each segment (turn to turn) rather than each lap. 

They will need to closely monitor the lead prior to turns to identify who is picking up their tempo on a turn approach. This would be a sure sign that a breakaway on the next segment is imminent. All things being equal, I would predict the best place to make a mid race move would be approaching the slight turn after the feed dock. If pulled off properly; you can blast 3 short sprints, then just stretch out and try to maintain your new lead on the long straight after the left turn. 

If one or more of the men go that route, they could pull away from the pack without seriously diminishing their energy and end up holding a mid race breakaway. I think the pack would let them go.

Thanks Swimming World Magazine for publishing a few of my thoughts...

Guest editorial by John Dussliere, published online july 21,2011
Santa Barbara Swim Club 

CLOVIS, California, July 22. As I write this, there are athletes collapsing and being pulled from the water in China at the World Championships 25k race. There are spectators acting as lifeguards. There are boats being dispatched to rescue competitors. There are also a few tears running down my face. 

How have we let this get to this extreme? I have taken a pretty strong stand today via Twitter while I am coaching my own team at the sectional championships in Clovis, Calif. I want to thank my swimmers first and foremost for supporting this "volunteer" sector of my life as it has pulled me away from them from time to time. 

Next, I must report that everything I write in this piece is an opinion that is mine and mine only, and does not reflect my involvement or the opinions of the U.S. Olympic International Operations Committee, the Open Water Steering committee, and the newly-formed Open Water Development Committee, all of which I am an active member. 

Now to the business of the day: I made a promise to some very special people last October [when Fran Crippen died] that I would never tire in my efforts to never see another death in Elite International Open Water Racing. Today, I decided to no longer work in the background on this issue. 

I began to get information during the past few days on what the real temperatures have been throughout the competition in China. I found that everyone's thermometer was coming up with different numbers. 

In my experience, this has always been the case. The athletes' thermometers are usually pretty accurate, but favor getting out of practice; the coaches' thermometers are usually less extreme than the athletes on the hot or cold side. Then when the official race temperature is published, it always seems to fall into the safe zone. Hmmmmm. 

So, this competition is no different from so many others. At times, the thermometer game is just that, a game. But now things are different. Extreme water temperature issues have become a matter of life or death. It does not matter what is official or what is anecdotal. We have once and for all proven that we, humans, cannot be trusted in this matter of reporting temperature. The trust is gone. 

So, where do we turn? We presently have a couple studies on what temperature we can handle as humans. We also have a responsibility to each other to not put each other in harm's way. I was relieved to see that an old friend from 2006-08 Marcel Wouda, coach of the Dutch Olympic Champion, pulled his swimmers the day before the race. Then, I saw a report that Thomas Lurz of Germany, a guy that has more open water gold than a 49ers creek, pulled himself from the race yesterday as well. 

Then, I started probing to see what our USA athletes were doing. No word, and I have good sources! I wanted them to make the right decision as I saw it and pull out. I was then relieved to hear that Alex [Meyer] and Haley [Anderson] pulled out, then very concerned that Claire [Thompson] was going to swim. 

With some deeper thought, I was beginning to question why should these athletes and coaches be posed with this decision? That's not right! This decision should be made when the race committee sees the potential for the water temp to get into that high side danger zone. 

Thinking even further: should this ever be a judgment call? This should be a clear rule. The best athletes in the sport at any given time know when something is not right or safe. As do their coaches. As do our officials. But the athletes, coaches and officials still do not have a definitive rule when it comes to temperature. 

I don't want to offer that the results should have an asterisk this year, but I cannot believe that the results would be the same if the race had all of its original entrants and it were contested in a body of water that posed no temperature threat to its participants. 

I have no scientific basis for pressing for a high temperature rule of 28 degrees Celsius, but when the athletes want this temperature, and the top coaches (of which I had an athlete in the Beijing Games) want this temperature; I tend to think it has value. There are lots of air and water temperature combo suggestions out there, but why not have a simple rule stating the high temperature may not exceed 28 degrees at any time during a FINA or USA Swimming sanctioned event? 

I witnessed the effects of the cold water first hand in Melbourne 2007 Worlds after the 25k when my athlete did not recognize me or even remember I was there after the finish as he was being held up in the shower as the doc was trying to raise his core temperature. 

I also stood in the church at a funeral of the greatest of young men last November. I have witnessed the effects of both "suggested" safe environments. We are wrong. Let's admit to being wrong. 

Let's go forward together and not allow our athletes and coaches to be put in such a horrible position that could put them in harm's way or rob them the opportunity to compete when others might. Let's once and for all set a safe standard of 28 degrees Celsius and get back to the human capacity to compete, not survive. Let's never let a competition need an asterisk next to its results. If you think there is a "they" out there, you are mistaken. It is "we" that can bring this rule about.

Open Water Olympic Trials. This One Really Counts!! But Don't Forget......

They know the race.  The distance is not intimidating to them. They have confidence in their training.  They are coming together as a Team at Camp.  Their coaches are spending their would-be sleep time on strategy (or at least they had better be).  They have their own secret feeding formulas. But then, it will hit them, hopefully in a bolt of confidence, that they only have themselves, their own thoughts, their own demons, their own mental video that they have played over and over in their heads of winning the race. 
This, I can only hope, is the video that is playing in their minds.  The one where they win.  The one where our Flag flies in the top two elevations above the podium.  Once for the women, then for the men. We blazed a trail for this 3 years ago.  A trail that had no intention of trying to qualify for the Olympics, but a trail that attempted to WIN at World Championships.  The talk preceding the race by those that were clearly ignorant was that of "just get him in the top ten, then he makes the Olympics".  Can you believe that?  There were really only two people that took on the same perspective that I had as a coach:  Train and race to win.  One was my Athlete, one was my Head Coach. The race did happen to be a qualifier for the Olympic Games, but that was not what the event was.  The event was the 10k World Championships. It needed to be respected as such..  One Coach did approach me for advice on my experience after this years Trials in Florida.  I relayed what our goal was for Seville in 2008.  It was fun to watch him realize that what I was saying was a great foundation for preparation.  "Let the ignorant advisers encourage you to get in the top ten.  But realize you are preparing for the 10k World Championships and the only worthy goal is to win".  The Olympic berth will take care of itself.  Until the member nations are trusted to send their own athletes to the Games like every other Swimming event, we must use this race to do it.  Hard work and great politics will change this selection procedure eventually; but this is what we have for now.
Alex, Eva, Sean, and Christine: this is your time. This is your opportunity to win an unprecedented FOUR medals for the United States at the 10k World Championships.  That is my challenge to you.  Enjoy every bit of the journey.  Raise the flag, Make them play our National Anthem in a Foreign Country.  Then, come home and get started on the next chapter: LONDON GOLD.

Easy Guide on Team Mate Support and Racing for 2 Hours!!

They say many hands make light work.  "They" are right!!  Swimmers spend so much of their time preparing.  They prepare their heart and lungs for long races.  They prepare their technique in order to stay as fast and efficient as possible in their races.  Coaches prepare training plans to best fit the swimmers goals.  Coaches prepare for what the best thing is to say in each of the millions of different situations they will be in each day.  Officials prepare their knowledge of the rules so that every athlete has a fair and even chance to succeed.  Parents prepare a great home where their children can have a safe and loving place to learn about the world. 

Then..............The swim meet weekend arrives and all of the preparation of all of those hands gets put to the test.  The timing system is not behaving.  The swimmers want to start the ritual ritual of pressing the coach to start letting them scratch events.  The coffee isn't ready in time for the volunteers.  There isn't enough room behind the blocks for every parent that wants to cheer from that coveted position.  Little Billy's mom doesn't cheer for everyone; just her kids and their friends. 

From my perspective the above list includes many of the things that I truly love about the sport of swimming.  It's made up of all of these little situations that test us to see how good of an example we can set for the young impressionable athletes around us.  In my experience, the swimmers, coaches, officials, and parents with the most potential to support the best possible swimming never see any of these things happening around them as problems.  They stay in their role when it comes to swimming.  While their team mates are at the bargaining table under the coaches tent negotiating what events to scratch, they are getting in a great pre-race warm-up.  While other teams coaches are negotiating scratch possibilities, our staff is talking race strategy.  While the pushy parents are pushing, the supportive parents step away and give the pushy ones room to reveal themselves.  While the timing system is acting up we don't panic and complain, we initiate plan "B" and move forward. 

The ability to plan, train, and prepare are great skills to develop; but it is more important to be able to identify, adapt, and act in the best interest of us and those around us. 

These are the lessons I learned while preparing as a coach for the 10k races in 2006-2008.

We had to plan, but we had to go much deeper than a pool race plan.  We had to plan for the many scenarios that could happen throughout the race.  We had to know how each competitor could be used as an ally, and when to identify them as a threat.  The 10k was not really a swimming race at all, but a constantly changing strategic battlefield.  It is a race where you can not execute your own ideal race plan unless you were both aware of and ready to react to the plans of your competitors.  Next weekend in Florida, we will see who has prepared their "battle plans".  If you watch the race, look deep to see who is going unnoticed.  They will be the biggest threat late in the race.  If we have a front line battle in the first 2/3 of the race, it will mostly be made up of guys wasting their energy that could more wisely be contained for later breakaway opportunities.  Look to see who is willing to sit back in 10th-20 place in the first few laps around the 2500 meter course.  They will be in best position to watch and learn what their biggest competitors are doing and capable of on that day.  Watch for these smart racers to make a false break away from time to time to see who is willing to go with them.  Try to identify who is packing a bunch of gels in their suit before the race, they may not be planning to stop at the feed boat; they may launch an attempt to take the lead pack away from the feed station alltogether.  Though it is a detrimental move for anyone not to get the hydration available, it will serve best those that have gel packs ready for this situation.  If the pack draws away from the feed station and you are determined to stay with the pack, don't stress, just stay with them and feed from your gels after the next set of turns.  If someone is determined to stay attached to you and you don't want them near, slow down to a point where they think staying with you is a bad idea and they will go away.  Every time you adjust your plans, gain confidence. Remain in control of your emotions as things get tougher in the race.  There is no reason to waste precious energy getting upset.  After all, it is probably someone else's plan to get you worked up and wasting energy.

 There are so many scenarios that will play out in the men's 10 trials this week and I look forward to seeing what happens.  It will be a day of mixed emotions.  I have my predictions, and those are probably best kept to myself.  But, I can tell you that whether you are running a swim meet, racing in one, coaching one, cheering at one, or in the 10k race of your life, calm confidence in yourself and your preparations will carry you to the finish line far ahead of anyone without it. 

Anniversaries and Birthdays, not as they were meant to be observed.

April 19th, 1996...  I received a phone call that changed me somehow. For the better, I hope.  That day is the day my brother Robb's life ended.  My brother Rich called and simply said: "it's over, he's gone".  He and I just spent a moment on the phone first holding back the tears and then letting them go in the knowledge that Robb lived up to his promise that quantity of life was never going to outweigh quality.  He lead a heroic journey of not only battling his own disease, but educating thousands of people young and old on how to prevent it from happening with them.  It was an incredibly sad day, but I was surrounded by true friends that helped me keep it together as I prepared for my journey home to say goodbye and be with my family.  It was all pretty surreal but I remember a few things rather photographically.  The line that wrapped around the street for the visitation was so overwhelmingly positive, the police escort from the funeral to the cemetery.

Flash forward to October 2010.  I'm in a hotel in San Francisco with my parents on their annual trek to California.  My phone starts receiving texts at like 4am.  I figured I'd check them later and just mute the phone for now.  It keeps buzzing.  I wake up again at about 6 to a call.  I let it go to voicemail, then check the texts:  "is it true?", "what have you heard?", "I can not believe this!", "Is it true about Fran?"  My first thoughts turn to the fact that maybe Fran won in UAE and is coming home with some well deserved $$$!! Then I playback the voicemail of a dear friend who sounds panicked as she it talking about how she refuses to believe that Fran is gone.  Then throughout the morning I went between giving comfort to friends and getting comfort from my family.  I had an oddly great relationship with Fran in that we had a shared passion for raising the American Flag in London.  I was clear at the beginning that I wasn't so much concerned with who made it happen, but that it happen.  I have shared that with quite a few of our Open Water athletes since 2008.  Probably the biggest influence on me on that October day was a conversation and a vow I made to someone close that we will do everything possible to prevent this from ever happening to another family.

We are now on the verge of a new beginning in Open Water Racing.  One where many of the things Fran was looking to improve and many of the things we all have wanted for some time can and will change.  Many say this is a process that will take time.  I don't believe it has to take much time at all.  All the commissions and committees are telling us what we already know.  I'm even on one of them.
I have read all of their findings and some of them evoke an emotion of well thought out conclusion, and some of them look as if they have been influenced somehow to not let budgets be expanded.

There is one area dealt with that I will bring to the surface that does not deal with safety as much as finance.  FINA has decided that every swimmer in a FINA event must have a coach accompanying them at a FINA race.  This is something that I personally have been trying to see happen since I became involved in Open Water Swimming.  The problem that arises from this is that we may want to send 6-8 athletes to a FINA world cup race.  That means up to 16 people on a trip plus medical staff lets say 20.  Fran was not only clear that the $400.00 he received to go to these races was not even close to what it cost to go, he was right.  It was going to cost him a lot of money to compete and there was a small discount to that cost provided by his NGB.  Now, somehow, our domestic commission recommends that the additional person required to be at a competition by FINA be fully the financial responsibility of the athlete?  With this single, overlooked by the media item has just restricted our participation in the sport to those who have the monetary backing to compete.  Where would this have left Fran?  How does anyone think he would have responded to such a recommendation that is almost completely out of context of their charge?
The financial needs of Open Water swimmers is greater right now as we build an infrastructure for the sport.  We do have resources available in the USA Swimming Foundation that could be allocated this direction with a deadline to phase out foundation funding in a couple years.  Our pro athletes in the pool don't even think twice about going to World Cup events because they only have to get to the event and that $400.00, with good planning, can cover a great deal of the cost.  It is of no fault to the Open Water swimmers that their events have a higher cost at the present time.  For this we should fund them and their mandatory coach accompanying them while we devise a plan for them to cover these costs in the future.
They are only going to get closer to raising our Flag at the Olympic Games by racing internationally.

While we are working very hard to establish a safe environment for them to race in, let's not forget that we need them to be there and that costs money, now it costs twice as much.  Let's not hand over this sport to those who can afford it, but to the best possible competitors.  We have a lot of work at hand and ahead of us.  If you have anything to contribute, please get involved, it is the years of standing on the sidelines that got us to this heartbreaking place.

Yesterday was Frans 27th birthday.  Tomorrow will mark the 15th anniversary of Robb's death.  This is not how birthdays and anniversaries should be observed.  I have a very positive outlook and the energy and patience to see that these things get done, but many hands will make light work and move us along faster.

Quite simply, going to practice is nearly all you need to do to remain competitive. Then, a true dedication to never missing practice will provide all of the skills needed to start, turn and finish at a higher level than most all of your competitors. Then, participating in practice, I mean really taking in all of the coaching and training; will provide an even greater level of success. Our coache provide all of the "skill teaching" necessary for our athletes to excel at swim meets.

Occasionally we will go to meets and perceive that our swimmers are not up to speed with their competition on certain skills such as starts, turns, things like that. Well, sometimes that is just the case, and their are clear reasons. Questions like: "Why does little Billy get beat on the turns by little Bobby?" or "How come little Suzie doesn't start as fast as little Susan?"

The first thing I look to when asked those questions is: "how is their practice attendance?"
Many times the answer to that question is the answer to most all of the questions. The National group, for example, has 9 workouts offered per week. That number is not set in the hopes that they make it to most of them. 9 are offered, 9 are to be attended if your expectations include competitive excellence. The Senior group offers 8. Advanced Age Group offers 6. If your expectations as a swimmer or parent is to succeed at the highest level, then you must attend all of the training sessions. As soon as you compromise on that max number of practices, you must also adjust your expectations in meets.

As a rule, I do not have an attendance requirement, but, success does.

For an Olympians perspective on this: CLICK HERE