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The seniors enjoy their last winter trip as they train with the rest of their teammates in Boca Raton, Fla.
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Jan. 7, 2010
Boca Raton, Fla. -
The Fighting Illini swimmers and divers left the cold winter weather of Illinois for the warm Florida sun as they prepare for the second half of their season with their annual training trip Dec. 30-Jan. 9. Head coach Sue Novitsky has provided an inside look at the team and its progress thus far.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
It is travel day for the team down to Florida. It is snowing outside, but we hope that we are on our way to sunny skies down in Boca Raton. The flights go off without a hitch and everyone makes it in to begin the trip. After dinner and a team meeting at the hotel, it was off to their rooms to get ready for the first practice the next morning.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
It is 80 degrees outside and from the forecast it looks like it will end up being the warmest day that we will have for our trip. The divers were up early to get to their first practice session at Coral Gables. The divers will typically either lift weights or complete a dry land workout before getting on the boards in the morning. They will then come back and practice on the opposite board in the afternoon.
Before heading off to practice the swimmers "invaded" the local grocery store to stock up for lunches and snacks. At 10:30 a.m., we were off to start our workout in the weight room. After weights, it was a core session and then some resistance stretching. The swimmers hit the pool for the first time at noon and came back for more at 8:15 p.m. The swimmers will typically train long-course meters in the morning and short-course yards at night.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year! The divers have been working hard. Keri Eberhardt has learned some new dives already on the trip. The divers even got to meet Olympic swimmer Dara Torres!
In the morning, the swimmers went through an intense dry land circuit before morning practice, triceps were burning. The sprinters continued to do some power workouts with the parachutes. Ann Miller found her inner sprinter in the distance lanes.
In the evening, the distance swimmers had to finish a 3600-yard set with a 100 freestyle fast from the block. Erin Rodriguez posted a lifetime best. We had our first National Geographic moment with Coach Steve; a Polyphemus moth dive bombed into the pool. Coach Steve observed this and ran to make the rescue. The moth was released back into the wild unhurt.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Coach Steve had another animal rescue this morning. Courtney Spivak was opening her equipment bag and had a little surprise waiting for her: a lizard. Coach Steve saved the day and released the lizard back into the wild.
It is a little chilly at night, so we make sure to keep them moving!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
The sprint group had a tough workout this morning consisting of a threshold set. Morgan Gilman, Kim Kalenda and Meghan Mason absolutely killed the entire set of 100s and 50s. Brittany McGowan came on strong for the second half of the set, working some great butterfly 50s.
In the night practice, the distance swimmers put up some great times. It was about 40 degrees outside, so six people were put on the block after 90 minutes for a "get out" swim. Sarah Coady (50 backstroke), Rachel Japp (100 breaststroke), Kristen Kloeckener (150 freestyle), CeCe Marizu (100 backstroke), Erin Rodriguez (100 butterfly) and Courtney Spivak (50 butterfly) all stepped up to the challenge. With their teammates cheering them on, they each had their goal time to make to get their team out of practice early. All six made their goal times and the team got out of practice 15 minutes early.
Monday, January 4, 2010
OFF DAY! After four straight days of double workouts, it was time for a little recovery before heading into the second half of the trip. The athletes got some well deserved sleep. At 11:00 a.m., we met in the lobby to head out to Ft. Lauderdale for a couple of hours of shopping, eating and walking along the A1A beach front. The sun was out and helped warm up the temperature some. Nobody got to go surfing today since the air temperature is a little cold, although not as cold as in Illinois! We had a team dinner tonight and Coach Steve decided to take us to the Cheesecake Factory, always a popular choice with the team. Hopefully with some rest and good food the team is ready to go for the second half of the trip.
The Fighting Illini will face the University of Miami at noon CT tomorrow in their first head-to-head action of the new year.
