Derby Excel Meet Roundup

The first weekend of April saw 8 National Squad athletes compete at the Derby Excel National Qualifying meet, it’s definitely not our biggest contingent ever during the National Qualifying Window, but there’s a lot of promise rising through the ranks.

Suddenly things have become real, with meets coming thick and fast and swimming fast counted for more than just PBs and pride. Swimmers with ambition have just 9 weeks to set times to get them into the National Rankings.

The swimming performances were a mixed bag. Swimming meets or the same events back to back can have unpredictable outcomes - but it does allow swimmers to dust off one meet, reset and refresh and go on to the next with a clear head. The 400m Individual Medley was the first event with Lexie Goddard (drn) and Kennedy Matthews (dode) stepping up to the blocks. Two swimmers who have endured a less than ideal start to 2024, with Lexie suffering with a bout of illness but coming back to PB pace this weekend was a good progression. An unfortunate injury to Kenny meant a lengthy rehab process and limited pool time, this weekend was just a case of getting the races done, blowing off the cobwebs and coming out of the competition pool without feeling pain, another step forward. Both putting on brave displays to open up the weekend.

 

There aren't enough competing in the big events for sure (1500m/800m we're looking at you!). That's a disappointment, but it's a target to fix and we know how to do it. Expect more in the coming years. A Bronze medal in the big Freestyle for Freya Cooper (adw), with Jessica Hubery (drn) and Kiera Binns (adw) tackling the 800m, shows where others need to aim. For young athletes, don't be scared of distance Freestyle. It should be considered an essential element for all age-group swimmers!

 

Having insisted she wanted a time in the 19mins, Freya Cooper (Adw) put on a dominant 1500m Freestyle display. The message was simple, hold 40 seconds per 50m, breathe every 2 and only to the left! For anyone who knows Freya, you need a calendar to time her breathing to the right. The message hit home and she came back with a Bronze medal and a 29 second PB, only 10 seconds shy of her 19 minutes target.

The secret to being able to race the events that hurt as much as that one, is to train even harder! Train with the skills you want to be able to race with and put yourself in the same pain as you expect when racing - and still do the skills! At the young age, especially with boys, getting those skills right is often incredibly hard work. Sometimes you have to resort to threats.

Although a smidgen outside her PB’s, Ruby Wakelin (dode) came out smiling having learned two valuable lessons, don’t go deep on the starts and don’t have anything Raspberry Ripple flavoured again!

Jack Jones (arm) and Phoebe Weatherill (edl) couldn't stop swimming fast. Knocking out big PB’s and for Jack achieving 3 more NER times, and improving upon one already achieved. Nor could they stop winning heats. Phoebe seems to be getting the knack of putting on big performances when it’s required with a Saturday to remember, starting off with a 100m Fly that places her 5th on the all time Dartes Club Records and in her words “i felt like i was scooping better!”, she then followed that up with a 200m Freestyle with every message delivered this season hitting the mark, 2 stroke breakout, 4 fast kicks off the walls and her head down for 7m into the finish and a sheer will to win resulting in a 3.6s PB. That was followed up by a very well thought out 200m Fly and a 400m Free with a negative split on the last 200m. Well done to you both.

 

Overall, lessons were learned from the weekend for next year.

• It's important to set fast times heading in to the qualifying window.

This season's early months were focused on improving general fitness within National Squad. We entered the qualifying window with relatively weak times on the rankings, but ready to smash them. For this period next year we need to make sure every important event has a fast PB set before entries are submitted!

• There will always be rejections within the window.

Rejections are unavoidable.
Too many swimmers chasing too few spots at meets makes the qualifying window unnecessarily stressful for everyone involved. Somehow, the powers that be consider this to be a good system - so we're stuck with it for the foreseeable future.

• First meets in the window will be over-crowded.

Accept that the meets on the opening weekend of the window are going to have huge rejection lists. Set strong times before their entry deadlines to give yourselves the best chance. Don't panic if you're not accepted, the later meets will receive significantly fewer entries and offer better opportunities to swim fast. NER Champs fall a week before the window closes next year, giving guaranteed swims at exactly the right spot!

• Do not forget the importance of a good blood flow routine

After a hard week of training the morning of your meet is likely to be accompanied by tired, stiff, aching bodies. It's important to prepare those bodies properly before diving in to the pool for warm up (equally important before training). To do that, we work through a dry land warm up to make sure muscles have an adequate blood supply and are warm and supple before trying to swim.

The bigger the movement, the more blood flow is generated, the warmer and more awake you become, and the better the flow of fuel and nutrients to the muscles.

• Pool Warm Up

One big difference between Elite swimmers and average club swimmers is that the former know exactly what they need to do during the 30min pool warm up.

Swim Fc 400m, with easy, smooth strokes

Swim #1 2x100m, with race quality* turns

Swim Fc 200m, increasing Stroke Rate and Kick Speed every 50m

Swim #1 2x100m, spike 10m at some point

Swim #1 2x25m, race quality* with target pace

Swim Choice 200m, recovery with perfect technique

Total: 1250m.

Practice pacing with dive starts during warm up.

Pay attention to the detail during warm ups. Start the day swimming with perfect skills to reinforce how you want to swim your race. If the warm up states "Race Quality", then that particular skill should be done exactly as you plan to execute it in your race.

The race quality speed work (number 5), should always have a target pace in mind. If your main event of the day is a 200m Butterfly, your target pace should be the split that you want to swim through the first 25m of your race not your 25m Butterfly PB! Do your home work before the big day and work out what that 25m split needs to be.

Then be aware that in a 50m pool you need to swim through the 25m mark as coaches time to head mid-pool, not to hand (the hand won't be at the same point of the stroke cycle every time, the head will never vary). In a 25m pool you need to finish to feet (i.e. go through the turn).

Obviously, after any kind of speed work, no matter how short, we need a brief recovery swim. Swimming at a high intensity produces lactic acid in the muscles and we need to make sure there's adequate blood flow through the muscles to remove it before we sit around on pool side for hours.

The #1 stroke referred to in the warm up is the stroke you're focusing on in the upcoming session, your main event this session.