Jack Roach is a very knowlegeable coach who has a wonderful reputation behind him. However, when he approached me Thursday afternoon and told me of the kick set he had thought up for me and my roommate, Will Copeland, I asked myself..."Ummmm is this dude serious?"
Here's the set...you kick an 800 a 600 a 400 a 200 and a 100. The kicks are on a base of 1:15 per 100. What this means is you need to finish the 800 kick within 10 minutes, the 600 under 7:30, the 400 under five minutes, the 200 under 2:30 and the 100 needs to be within 15 seconds of your best 100 freestyle time. This is all in a 25 yard pool.
I am a good kicker but even this seemed a bit daunting of a task. Between each of the kicks you get a break of five to seven minutes to kick easy, swim around, rest on the wall...whatever you desire.
So it began...I was approaching the 300 of the 800. I looked to my left and glanced at the clock. The clock read 3:40. This was not looking good. I was only five seconds under the time allotted and I was only at the 300. Jack was standing right above my lane, I looked at him. He peered down at me with an encouraging face. I wanted to shake my head and say no *&%*! way can I make this.... I kept pounding my legs. I got to the 400 and my legs were seriously screaming. To me, hard kick sets are the most painful thing you can do to me. I love them because they make me better and they will make the difference for me in the long run...that doesn't mean they don't hurt though:) At about the 450 I remember distinctly recalling the Navy SEAL instructors telling me, "It's all mind over matter." They explained how your body can do it so long as your mind decides it wants to. At that very instant I put my head in the water, yelled, cursed myself, told myself I was a *#@%$ and told myself I had to make it...I had to make all of them. I asked myself how bad do I want it??? I asked myself what the point of even coming out to San Diego was if I just gave up and didn't do what I needed to do??? I fought through the pain and ended up making all the intervals. On the last 100 I went 55.8 which is within 15 seconds of my best 100!
"MIND OVER MATTER"
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Mind Over Matter
Posted by Garrett at 10:54 AM
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8 comments:
I will have to remember that.
Mind over matter...yikes...that a simple life lesson to remember when challenging yourself in the pool. My grandpa is retired Navy, those guys know what their talking about! Rock on!
I love kick sets! GOOD JOB tho i would prolly hate doing that set. haha after a while my legs start getting numb...
but it is definitely mind over matter. i just keep thinking to keep a fresh kick, faster and faster.
swimfast!
I remember when I was swimming that, Yes, kick sets are one of the more painful yet funner training. I'm kind of curious though: do you concentrate on technique at all when you do these(especially with a board)? It just occured to me that it seems like technique in swimming was only focused upon when the arms are involved but kicking seems to be just a "how much pain can you take". Maybe that's what makes them so difficult but fun! hah
Wow really nice blog!!!! Simple things to learn...my Grandpa(Late) he was in the Navy and he always had a story to tell.
Kick sets are great but they are sooo painful...my legs unfortunately never go numb:(
I do think about technique when I'm kicking...I constantly think about the tempo of my feet and make sure I'm getting the right feel for the water I want. If I'm doing a set that requires a lot of speed I will try to move my feet as fast as I can while maintaining my grip on the water. If I'm doing a longer and steady kick set that requires a quick but steady pace I will have a bigger kick that will go deeper in the water. Play around with it and see what works for you.
That's inspiring. And I'm gonna try that set too.
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