We moved to 23rd with some great performances last night.  Alyssa started the night off with a 2nd place and a LTB in the 200 BK.  David placed 3rd and another LTB in the same event.  Ben Ussery, for the first time swimming in finals, swam from 7th to 6th place in the Fly, and improved his time to achieve a AAAA time in that event. 

Our biggest achievement last night came from our discussions after each race.  I approach each race if it was not the last, that each swimmer needs to learn from each performance.  I thought tonight some of my ideas got through to them. 

Great Job LCA

Some interesting facts about the 2008 Trials:

Records
It’s hard to say where this meet stands in relation to other Olympic Trials, but records were falling left and right – in prelims, semifinals and finals. Here’s how the numbers shake out:

Number of world records set at 2008 Trials: 9
Number of world records set at 2004 Trials: 6
Most world records set at a Trials meet: 17, in 1976
Number of American records set at 2008 Trials, including those that were also world records: 21
Number of U.S. Open records set at 2008 Trials, including those that were also world and American records: 19
Number of meet records set at 2008 Trials, including those that were also world, American and U.S. Open records: 47
Personal records: According to USA Swimming statistics, almost half the swimmers competing at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials – or 44 percent – swam lifetime bests at this meet. That number breaks down to 39 percent of women swimming lifetime bests, and 49 percent of men swimming lifetime bests throughout the course of the meet.

Below is some information I found regarding sleep. Take note:

Participants in this ongoing study were five healthy students on the Stanford University men’s and women’s swimming teams. For the first two weeks of the study, the students maintained their usual sleep-wake pattern. The athletes then extended their sleep to 10 hours per day for six to seven weeks.

Athletic performance was assessed after each regularly scheduled swim practice. After obtaining extra sleep, athletes swam a 15-meter meter sprint 0.51 seconds faster, reacted 0.15 seconds quicker off the blocks, improved turn time by 0.10 seconds and increased kick strokes by 5.0 kicks.

“These results begin to elucidate the importance of sleep on athletic performance and, more specifically, how sleep is a significant factor in achieving peak athletic performance,” said lead author Cheri Mah of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory. “While this study focuses specifically on collegiate swimmers, it agrees with data from my other studies of different sports and suggests that athletes across all sports can greatly benefit from extra sleep and gain the additional competitive edge to perform at their highest level.”

The study also monitored daytime sleepiness and weekly changes in mood. Daytime sleepiness decreased significantly with extra sleep, while mood improvements related to getting extra sleep included higher ratings of vigor and lower ratings of fatigue.

“Typically, many athletes accumulate a large sleep debt by not obtaining their individual sleep requirement each night, which can have detrimental effects on cognitive function, mood, and reaction time,” said Mah. “These negative effects can be minimized or eliminated by prioritizing sleep in general and, more specifically, obtaining extra sleep to reduce one’s sleep debt.”

Mah and colleagues reported similar results in a previous study of six players on the Stanford men’s basketball team. Performance measures such as sprint times and free-throw shooting improved after extra sleep, as did ratings of mood and alertness. The research abstract was presented at SLEEP 2007 in Minneapolis, Minn.

Over the years Mah also has worked with the football, tennis, golf, cross country, and track and field teams at Stanford. Now she hopes to expand the project to work with athletes at other colleges, as well as professional athletes who are seeking a unique competitive advantage.

“It is interesting to note that many of the athletes in the various sports I have worked with, including the swimmers in this study, have set multiple new personal records and season best times, as well as broken long-standing Stanford and American records while participating in this study,” she said.

According to Mah, coaches at Stanford have been paying close attention to their athletes’ involvement in the ongoing study.

“Many of the Stanford coaches are definitely more aware of the importance of sleep,” she said. “Coaches have even started to make changes to their practice and traveling schedules to allow for proper sleep habits. For many athletes and coaches, this study was the first time they truly understood how large of an impact sleep can have on their performance and results.”

Mah offers these tips to help athletes improve their performance by maximizing their sleep:

· Make sleep a part of your regular training regimen.

· Extend nightly sleep for several weeks to reduce your sleep debt before competition.

· Maintain a low sleep debt by obtaining a sufficient amount of nightly sleep (seven to eight hours for adults, nine or more hours for teens and young adults).

· Keep a regular sleep-wake schedule, going to bed and waking up at the same times every day.

· Take brief naps to obtain additional sleep during the day, especially if drowsy.

We began the day in 29th place, last night, we finished tied for 27th.  One of the team goals for this meet is to crack the top 20.  We currently are 16 points out. 

David Reinis had another great day, yesterday he swam the 200 Free and placed 2nd.  Alyssa in 8th place going into the 200 Free, improved her time by 2 seconds and placed 6th.  Both had a great preliems and finals. 

Great Job Swimmers.

Another great day.  The team warmed up together and all looked good.  I really like getting them all together as a team, it helps each of them stay calm.  Our Prelim swims were decent.  We had about 60% LTB, but I tried to stress the importance of learning from your race regardless if it was a LTB or a "bad" race, because if you do that then a "bad" race becomes a good race; since all of these swims will not be their last.

We as a team learned what a race plan was, how to race that plan, and not to race someone elses.  Good improvement in those areas.

Finals was a great.  Our only swimmer, improved each of his two events, so we had 100% LTB.  Great Job David Reinis.