Updates & Best Posts
Archive for November, 2009
Defending metros champs square off
Monday, November 30th, 2009Last Wednesday Georgetown Prep, Churchill and Holy Cross competed against each other in an early-season meet set up to allow a local rivalry to bloom. Georgetown Prep, last year’s Metros champions, downed Churchill, 112-74, and Churchill’s girls, which also won Metros, defeated Holy Cross, 155-71.
Day 134: (Worn) Down But Not Out
Monday, November 30th, 2009Paul Tenorio catches you up on what happened at practice last week (he missed his alarm for the 2nd time), talks pumpkin pie and updates you on his workout this morning at Lee District.
Phelps second again as Hardy caps comeback
Monday, November 23rd, 2009As American Jessica Hardy capped a fabulous fall with a big payday (which might at least make a dent in her extraordinary legal fees), Michael Phelps lost for the second weekend in a row (and he even shaved this time).
Day 124: Jeff King 5, Paul Tenorio 0
Friday, November 20th, 2009Reporter Paul Tenorio swims a set of 200s with a lot of closed-fist freestyle mixed in. The workout was designed to help the group get a better feel for the water while also learning to pace the 200s. The practice was yet another tough workout designed by Coach Jeff King, who has pushed Tenorio to the limit every day this week.
Day 123: Me and My Big Mouth
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Paul Tenorio swims a nightmare set — a ton of his most-hated stroke breaststroke — and he sets up tomorrow’s set, which Coach Jeff King previewed today at the end of practice.
Marshall outraces sharks, rivals, retirement
Thursday, November 19th, 2009If you are surprised about the fact that Peter Marshall has been tearing up the World Cup circuit, winning races week after week and setting occasional world records, you’re not the only one. So is he.
Day 122: Fly vs. Fly
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Reporter Paul Tenorio talks about doing a ton of butterfly in today’s practice, how he thinks he confused Coach Jeff King into the set and his fears for what may be in store tomorrow…
Biedermann, Jones, go fast old-fashioned way
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Most swimmers tried to take advantage of the new starting blocks with the sloped backs introduced at the World Cup meets last week, using their back legs to push off the elevated part to generate more power at the start. But there were a few notable exceptions — including Germany’s Paul Biedermann and Australian Leisel Jones. Both set world records.
Day 121: I Wanna Be Like Mike
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009I’ll never be a Michael Phelps or Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. But if I can just hit a little on that mentality of greatness, if I can aspire to work my hardest the way they work their hardest, at least I can get as much out of it as I’m putting in.
Another reason for WRs: new starting blocks?
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009There has been something different on the pool deck this World Cup season that might be providing an additional speed boost: the long-awaited new starting blocks with a sloped back, which officially debuted last week.
Day 120: 175 and 40 100s
Monday, November 16th, 2009Paul Tenorio hits 175 pounds, one pound below his goal weight of 176 pounds, and talks about swimming 40 100s in practice this morning and a set of 5200 yards — more than he ever imagined doing when this whole project started.
Biedermann gets second WR, Phelps gets silver
Sunday, November 15th, 2009The highly anticipated Michael Phelps-Paul Biedermann meeting in the 200-meter freestyle in Berlin didn’t happen after all Sunday. Even if it had, it probably wouldn’t have been much of a race.
Phelps gets fifth place, Biedermann busts WR
Saturday, November 14th, 2009Michael Phelps made it to the 200-meter butterfly final in Berlin Saturday but couldn’t get to the medal stand at his second World Cup this week, as Germany’s Paul Biedermann obliterated another hallowed world record.
Ziegler gets gold and silver at Minnesota Grand Prix
Saturday, November 14th, 2009UPDATED: Olympian Kate Ziegler, who took a long break after the 2008 Summer Games and missed the U.S. championships this past summer because of the flu, is back in the water and getting her old speed back.
Day 117: Work Hard or Go Home
Friday, November 13th, 2009Reporter Paul Tenorio talks about this morning’s workout, the mental challenges a tough swim can bring, and the validation of knowing that his coaches recognize that he’s working hard — even if he’s not the fastest swimmer in the pool.
Day 116: Alice’s Restaurant
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Thursday morning’s practice opens with wall-sits to a soundtrack of ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ by Arlo Guthrie and continues with lots of kicking and some more work on rotating through the hips.
Assessing the damage: Phelps goes 2 for 5
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009At this two-day FINA/Arena World Cup in Stockholm, Michael Phelps faced some – but not nearly all – of the world’s best swimmers. He finished with one silver (in a race he lost by more than two seconds), one bronze, an 11th, a 16th, and a 15th place that got wiped out by a disqualification.
Day 115: A Spa in Switzerland
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Paul Tenorio talks about nearly sleeping through practice, trying to push himself in practice by racing Pat Sullivan, feeling the difference in his stroke and giving Jeff the impression that he was relaxing at a spa in Switzerland.
Phelps gets upended in morning heats again
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Michael Phelps did it again. Wednesday morning’s failure was arguably more spectacular than Tuesday’s double debacle, and it offered increasingly compelling evidence that the sport’s controversial technical suits — at least for the moment — do make the swimmer.
Phelps salvages rough day with a bronze medal
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Michael Phelps had the strangest thought as he walked out to the starting blocks for his third morning preliminary race at this FINA/Arena World Cup in Stockholm: He was performing so poorly, it was possible that he might not advance to the meet’s evening finals, something he hadn’t done in more than 10 years.
Day 114: TV Trivia and Hip Rotation
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Reporter Paul Tenorio was the master of TV trivia this morning during wall-sits, prompting someone to call him old, and during training Coach Jeff King helped Tenorio start to better hone his stroke, proof he continues to learn 114 days later.
Phelps fails to make finals in two events in Sweden
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Wearing a short suit and not in top shape in his first major meet since this summer’s world championships, Michael Phelps knew it would be difficult to win races at the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup in Stockholm. But he surely didn’t expect to get left out of the night’s finals. He earned a spot in only one of three events Tuesday morning.
Phelps Arrives To Sweden With Band Of Followers
Monday, November 9th, 2009More than three dozen kids from USA Swimming’s youth national team were looking to Olympic star Michael Phelps for mentorship even as he prepared for his first major competition since he won five gold medals at this summer’s world championships in Rome.
Day 113: Best Times
Monday, November 9th, 2009Reporter Paul Tenorio talks about going best times in both the 50 and 100 freestyles this weekend at the November Open, the future of this blog and his goals moving forward in training.
RMSC Wins National Age Group Team Challenge
Monday, November 9th, 2009Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club hosted and won its third annual National Age Group Team Challenge this weekend.
Bowman Guides Pelton, A Prodigy And Project
Friday, November 6th, 2009Though Towson’s Elizabeth Pelton, 15, performed like a veteran this summer, she is still a mere high school sophomore, and her new coach Bob Bowman won’t let himself forget that. The biggest challenge now that she has arrived on the world stage might have more to do with managing her psyche than her strokes.
Day 110: November Open: More and Less
Friday, November 6th, 2009Paul Tenorio talks about what the November Open has represented and now represents to him as he prepares for his second meet since beginning this blog 110 days ago. It will also be the first time he’ll be swimming in front of his family.
Day 109: Nap Time Rocks
Thursday, November 5th, 2009Paul Tenorio enjoyed the nap time this morning before getting to work on another pre-race set, and also writes about his first battle wound from slipping off the starting blocks.
‘Abuela’s Swim’ To Raise Money For ALS
Thursday, November 5th, 2009A month after the mother of a Hydro-Sonic Tiburones coach died from Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or ALS, the Tiburones are holding a fund-raising swim-athon and auction.
Days 107/108: Fun And Preparation
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009Reporter Paul Tenorio recaps both Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s practices — filled with a little post-practice fun and some race weekend preparation.
Swim Parents: A Sleep-Deprived Species
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009For every child shuttled to a 4:30 a.m. practice, and perhaps back for an afternoon one, there is a parent at the wheel, probably guzzling a 16-ounce coffee. For every athlete that qualifies for the finals of a local weekend meet, there is a parent, or perhaps two, planted on a plastic bleacher seat from morning until night. Is it worth it?
High School Freshman Steps Into Big Time
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Melissa Franklin, who will compete at a pair of World Cups in Europe next week and the “Duel in the Pool” in December, holds 10 national age-group records, the third-fastest times in two events among U.S. women this year, and unbelievable promise. And she is only 14.
Day 106: Piecing It Together
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Reporter Paul Tenorio writes about how the process of getting faster has become kind of like a puzzle of sorts — or maybe some kind of pyramid. He has constantly been adding bricks to the pile, building and building and hoping to one day get to the peak.
Treats, Scares … And Heavy Competition
Sunday, November 1st, 2009Designed to provide a crash course in senior elite swimming to young athletes on the cusp of making their first junior or senior national teams, USA Swimming’s 2009 National Select Camp in Colorado Springs provided a mix of fun, fright and pure pain this past weekend.
