The Potomac Marlins: Seasonal Training Plan
Why a Training Plan?
The primary function of a swimming coach is to train his or her swimmers to become faster. In order to do this a coach must rely on many different personal skills to help motivate, encourage, focus, and guide his swimmers towards success. All of these skills are valuable tools for a coach, however, the backbone of any great swimming program lies within its TRAINING PLAN.
A training plan is like a road map with directions for getting from point A to point B. If one is able to look at the big picture, point A may be the day they join the team and point B may be the day they graduate from high school and move on to college swimming. In this respect the training plan is something that one becomes a part of during their entire time with the team. (One might call it a life style or a philosophy) On a smaller scale each season consists of a yearly training plan that a swimmer commits to for that particular season. By these two definitions one can see that the training plan can be both individual and universal. A well designed team training plan will allow for individual flexibility as well as provide opportunity for the most dedicated.
In developing our yearly training plan we first establish the things we would like the team to accomplish for the season.. The initial phase requires the coach to establish goals (meets, milestones, skill levels, etc) towards which the team will work. These goals are then relayed to the team and the assistant coaching staff. At this point the coaches will begin to focus individual swimmers on their personal goals which in turn become a crucial part of the team goal.. Once these goals have been established the specific training plan can be developed.
Most teams follow some sort of training plan which guides them through each season. Training plans are a combination of technical knowledge and experience. Those coaches who are willing to experiment with different training plans are often the most successful. This is largely due to the fact that the scientific data changes almost as quickly as do team members. Simply recognizing this fact combined with a little freshness and creativity can go a long way in establishing a training plan that works for everyone.
The Potomac Marlins training plan is developed each season by Head Coach and Team Trainer Bill Marlin and is followed by the entire coaching staff at all of the Potomac Marlin practice locations. Unlike other teams in Potomac Valley that practice in several facilities, our team is set up to run as one complete unit guided by one map (training plan) and one director (teamtrainer). The major consideration for approaching the organization of our team in this way is due to the commitment of the head coaches to be accessible to all swimmers in all practice locations throughout the year. As a result the Potomac Marlins training plan concept has been created from the need for all of the coaches to be aware of what is going on at each of the different facilities during any particular practice.
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Long Course
Long Course training refers to the 50 meter pool format which is used in international competition and therefore at the Olympics. United States Swimming is currently urging the swimming community to convert all competitive swimming to the 50 meter format for all levels of competition so our young swimmers will be better prepared for international competition when the time comes.
Potomac Marlins summer training is held in the long course pool at Ft. Myer and at George Mason University. Our summer training program is currently viewed as pre-training and cardiovascular base conditioning for the fall season, however, as the team grows more swimmers are becoming involved in long course training over the summer. Our higher level and more experienced swimmers will be training for summer competition at Long Course Championships, Summer Zones, and Long Course Nationals. Practices at Ft. Myer are currently conducted on weekday evenings from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Practices at George Mason will be conducted on weekday mornings from 6:00 - 8:00 a.m. All Summer program swimmers must have current U.S.S. membership status with the Potomac Marlins or another accredited U.S.S. team.
After the summer season is complete there is a one month break where our swimmers are expected to take some time off from their swimming careers and relax. Swimmers are encouraged to cross train and keep active during this time and occasionally get in the water and swim on their own. For more information on training during the break period, please see one of the Potomac Marlins Coaches.
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Training Breaks
Training Breaks are designed into the Seasonal Training Plan during four specific times during the year and serve as both physical and mental rest periods. These breaks are a necessary and important part of the swimmers training plan and their importance to a healthy attitude towards the sport should not be ignored. During training breaks swimmers should not swim often if at all and spend some time doing other THINGS. Higher level racing team athletes should spend this time by cross training to maintain their conditioning.
The Potomac Marlins take 2 major training breaks and several smaller ones during certain holidays. The largest and most important break occurs after the Summer Long Course Season from mid August until the beginning of the fall short course season in mid-September. The second major training break is Spring Break and occurs during the first two weeks in April. Each of these breaks occurs after the Championship meets for the particular season which precedes them.
There are several other short training breaks that the Potomac Marlins observe. These occur over Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Years Day, Memorial Day, & the Forth of July. Although these one day breaks don’t offer much physical recovery they are none the less important mental breaks with in the plan. Practice team swimmers and all 1 hour training groups take a week and a half break over Christmas vacation while the racing team remains in the water for DOUBLES WEEK.
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