Wednesday & Thursday

Very busy two days ... 

Wednesday saw the first session in the "flume" .. Basically a 6m x 4m swimming version of a treadmill. 

Half the swimmers were filmed on Wednesday and the other half on Thursday (today). 

Each swimmer submits their stoke and 100m pb. This calculates the velocity of the water at varrying percentages of effort. 

Coach Kev decided to have one swim at 80% and one at 100% of race speed. Swimmers were then filmed at those speeds for 30-60 seconds. 

Three way filming was done and all swimmers will get the chance to sit down with Kev or craig to go over their films. Tonight, tomorrow or at home. 

Warming up in the flume ...

Testing ...

Testing ....

Thursdays morning session was split into three groups. A small sprint group did a speed/land circuit. The other two groups did an endurance based free and IM set ... Most of the seniors using sponges on the endurance set! 

Land training circuit for speed set ...

Next to the pool ...

A bit of bungee stuff for the end of the session ...

The killer speed set .... 

Not to be outdone by the seniors doing the sprint set Jamie manages to beat them all in the PEGS ... Seriously hard to do!

The all important post training stretching session being led by coach craig!

A little post stretching team "hug" ... Of sorts ...

On the way to our afternoon session in Thursday .... 

Happy swimmers ....

The self discribed A team ... (The ones turning up early for the photo)...

Cafe area of the pool ... Nice, isn't it. 

The all important team photo ... Each swimmer receiving a free top ... Choice of colour ... An official photo was also taken by the centre! 

Sunset ...

Tomorrow (Friday) we leave late evening. 

Halloween tonight and also doing "joke" prizes for each swimmer. 

Tomorrow also sees the awarding of the prestigious camp awards ...

Top Boy / Girl

Hardest working Boy / Girl

Best Team Player Boy / Girl

We also have the final session ... Session 13 of the week. Bring it on!! 

Till tomorrow ....

A long day ....

Up this morning at 6am for our 8th swim session 7-9am in the short course pool. Was a nice change and we got to see the sun rise. Incredible heat early in which meant it was going to be a hot day later on our activity to Siam Park. 

Such a nice group of swimmers .... :s

That's better ...

Typical ... 

Coach Craig ... 

Coach Kev ...

Siam water park ... Our afternoon off!!! ((Yes!!))

... And no ... Kevin doesn't want to be covered in sand and turned into a sandcastle, Mille/Josie/Abbie!!!

Oh ... After all the bragging and ego pumpin from Ethan Jamie Ayo and Ollie ... They couldn't beat coach Kev on the race down the muti slide! It was all about the finish ... (Crusing past them with speed in the final stages).... I keep telling them that the race isn't over till the end ... !!!! Get in. 

Back on it tomorrow morning!!

Ps - a big thank you to the bookstall money, the cake stall money and the parent who so kindly donated the remaining money for all the swimmers to attend the trip. :-)))

Day 4. Sessions 6 & 7

What a day! 

This mornings "speed development" session for the older swimmers was ... In a word ... Brutal. Seriously tough. But wow what a focused motivated group of swimmers. They all seriously stepped up and impressed. I think the sunshine brings the best out of them with sets likes this. 

The younger swimmers (and some other older ones!) had a pace and aerobic combination set which they did a good job in too. Some great efforts all round. 

The day was then spent chilling out or doing "snack/water" runs to the shop. 

The evening session was a technique and recovery session. Some great skills and nice to go back to basics with some stroke work. All looking a lot more "tidy" after an intense day.

Tomorrow is our "lighter" day that involves a short course early morning session then a trip to the incredible water park here on the island. 

Can't wait to use the short course pool after 5 weeks of permanent long course! 

Till tomorrow ... 

Session 5

Excellent pull set (3k in total) for the main set tonight out of a 6k session. 

All swimmers worked well. 

Before tonight's session we went to the beach. Nice cliff tops nearby ... 

The lads and some of the girls invented their own game of sea-water-rugby ... They seemed to have a ball ... 

Tomorrow morning is all about speed development. Brace yourselves.

Oh ... And everyone managed to refraine from chips and pizza today. Really impressed. No issues. 

Hotel at night

Lovely view of the hotel grounds lit up last night. Great view point for spotting mischievous kids trying to leave their rooms! 

As if they'd dare! 

Apparently assistant coach craig raced some of the girls (beating them) in the fun pool yesterday ... Maybe he'll make an appearance during the week on a sprint set ... #toooldtocope #slow #onceaswimmeralwaysaswimmer #sub25? 

Session 4

Great start to the morning ... 9am photo 

The kids had a tough max kick set this morning with pre and posts sets focused on technique development and distance per stroke. Some great drill work too. 

I (Kevin) got launched into the pool at the end by assistant coach craig ... Resulting in me doing a few 100s at the end of the session. Kids seemed to think it was hilarious. Obviously I didn't! ... But seemed to keep spirtits high. Some might say it was planned .... Ha. 

Heading off to the beach at 3:15pm for some chill out time and some games/ land work. We'll see. 

Big aerobic pull and technique set tonight.... Looking forward to it. 

Food out here is great. Although pizza is banned today! 

Day 2 - Land session and swim session 3

This afternoon was a good one! 

The squad was split into two groups for land work. Kevin took 12 of the older swimmers into the gym and studio for a circuits session along with teaching correct lifting techniques using the barbells. We had a laugh on the Swiss balls. Think we need to work on balance a bit more guys!! 

Craig took the younger swimmers for a land session outside on the amazing track and grassed exercise area. They worked hard for just over an hour before the pool session. 

The pool session was a tough one tonight. Two sets with one group going a heart rate set and the others doing a medley endurance set. Great effort and fun. Some quality times coming from some swimmers; although done of the backstrokers are finding it tough to swim in a straight line!!! #noceiling 

Some picks ... 

Second session in full sunshine!

Great 2nd session ... 

Excellent first swim session

We had our first pool session tonight, some 16 hours after waking up for the coach to the airport! Everyone in high spirits. 

A nice panoramic of them half way through the session ... Along with some other photos of the T3 centre. 

Enjoying life too much ... that'll change in 2 hours!

Hotel jacuzzi on the roof ... Didn't take them long to find it. Can't wait for our first pool session at 6pm. The first session of 13. 10 long course and 3 short course, all being well. 

Arrived safely

View from the hotel rooms ....

View from the other side if the rooms ...

First swim session at 6 pm