Boy Swim Update

The Boy® had another good swim outing this past weekend (Jan 7/8). Starting last month, he has increased his swim workout sessions from 60 to 90 minutes. And he is now attending at least four practices a week. We get in a fifth if homework and other outside activities aren't requiring his time.

This meet started out slow for him. He had a poor 100 freestyle followed by a even poorer 50 backstroke. It was at this point that I had to corner him and have a little dad-to-son talk. This was not the 'rah-rah' talk I usually use. This was a 'light a fire under his butt' speech that most certainly got his attention. My coaches would only pull out the "you are better than this" speech when it was absolutely required. Fire was ignited, and he went on to having a great two-day meet. Eight events, eight top 8 finishes within the C-classification, and five personal records. I think he has set himself up well for the C-State Finals on Feb 25/26. I'm positive some B-qualifying times will come out of that one.

I keep track of his PR's. For short course, it currently looks like this (click on thumbnail for larger view):

Inspiring stuff for a kid who couldn't really even do the butterfly and now, it is one of his better strokes. He continues to struggle with the breaststroke so we haven't shelved that one for the time-being in meets although he continues to work on it at practice.

The next month will find us working on technique in hopes of it paying off in spades next month. It will also ensure that it gets my fat butt into the pool as well. Always a good thing.