Still swimming

We're in the thick of the winter swim season right now.  This is the first weekend we haven't had a swim event in several weeks.  However, it gets busy for the next two months, leading up to the Indiana state championship in mid-March.  Both kids are doing really well.  Spencer is peaking at the right time for his age group, 10-under boys.  Alot of his competition has turned 11 in the last couple of months so they are now competing in the 11-12 age group.  This has allowed Spencer to really excel against the rest of the boys in the state.

Syd is also performing well, ranking at the top of the 8-under girls group.  She's been swimming against other girls in the 10-under events and holding her own.

They just competed last weekend at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.  Syd had some great times, as did Spencer.  In fact, Spencer won the 50m AND 100m breaststroke events for the 10-under boys.  His coach was really pleased with his swims, commenting that he "had one of those career weekends."  Hopefully he can keep that momentum going into the next several weeks.

Here are a few of their swims from last weekend.

Syd
100 freestyle
http://youtu.be/pGLuOaKQyas


Spencer
50 breast
http://youtu.be/-88wndyYAys

100 breast
http://youtu.be/yrS911s3alE

We're back!

Yeah, yeah. It's been a while I know.  Unfortunately, taking the time to put something on here isn't always on the forefront of the "to-do" list.  Anyway, things are good.  As some of you have heard, I've got a new job. Check it out here. Maybe turning 40 last month was a bit of a mid-life crisis...who knows.  It was just time for a change and I'm loving the new gig.  Christine is still teaching and the kids are still swimming.  I know, boring, right?  That's the way we like it.  Like I've said before, for not having a busy life, we have a busy life.  Who knew being a swim parent would be so....glamorous?

Last weekend, our swim club hosted a large swim meet here in the Fort.  It made for a long weekend, but everyone did very well.  Syd swam in nine events and took first place in 7 of them for the 7-under girls.  Despite having a bit of head cold, she swam the best she ever has!  Spencer did very well too, taking first place in the 50m breastroke for 11-under boys.  He even beat last year's Indiana state champ in that event!  Below are links to most of their races from last weekend.  Enjoy.

Spencer

50 back:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrsyd-vBxZM

50 breast:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhFCYHgFNvU

50 frees:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr7MBjHnZ4I

100 back:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6E0ukSnQg8

100 breast:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXPrQd059XM

100 fly:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEbGw507InI

Syd

50 free:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veeTw0w6TiM

50 fly:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayni9_OWlEo

50 breast:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-hOZ6BHLeM

50 back:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxfOWo9tC58

25 fly:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acX7Rp968Lk

25 breast:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_7NQM885C8


Thanks for watching/reading!

We're still here!

 

 

 

Yes, I know, it's been a while.  Like almost 4 months.  For a family that doesn't really do much, we are busier than we've ever been!  Really, the only things we do are go to work and school and then swim practice.  Seems simple enough, right?  Yet it consumes our life.  And you know what....we love it!  But I digress.  To get back into the swing of things, I thought I'd put up a quick post about Spencer's recent accomplishments with a sprinkling of Syd's activity too. 

We are in the thick of swimming and everything up til now has been leading up to the Indiana Age Group State swim meet in Indianapolis in a couple of weeks.  This past weekend, we spent 2-1/2 days in the thriving metropolis of Middlebury, IN...home to the 2013 NE Indiana Divisional swim meet, a large Amish community and Essenhaus.  If you ever have the opportunity, please make your way to Essenhaus, the largest restaurant in Indiana and home to some of the best home-cooked food in all the land.  It was truly like Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner rolled into one!  Be sure to bring stretchy pants to wear.

Anywho, Spencer was swimming in 6 events, trying to qualify for more events in the state swim meet.  Not only did he get 2 more state cuts in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, but he swam personal bests in all 6 events.  He is super excited and looking forward to Indianapolis in two weeks! 
He was the top seed in the 100 backstroke for 9-10 year old boys.  Only a little bit of pressure, but he swam one of the best races of his life, shaving over 3 seconds off his previous best time.  Here's the race:

 http://youtu.be/qan58CI8nHQ

In the heat of the moment, I missed videotaping his excitement in the water when he knew he had made his state cut, as I was a little emotional at that moment too.  The image of him in the water after the race, with his fists in the air, smile from ear to ear, is something I'll remember for a long time.  He's been working very hard at practice and deserved this win.

Here he is accepting the gold medal from his coach for winning the event.

And here he is cheese-ing it up for Dad

Syd's been busy too, not only swimming but also celebrating her 7th birthday last month.  We did it up in fine fashion...at the local bowling alley.  With a handful of friends and family on hand, she had a great time eating pizza, bowling and opening presents.

Be sure to check back in a couple of weeks, as I will definitely post pictures and videos from the state swim meet in Indianapolis.  Adios!

Southwest Triathalon

Last year Spencer participated in a local triathalon.  This year both Spencer and Sydney participated.  Spencer had to swim 50 yards, bike 1.5 miles and run 0.5 miles. 



Probably Spencer's least favorite part of the race.



Spencer transitioning from the swim to bike



Syd had to swim 25 yards, bike 0.5 mile and run 0.25 miles.  Apparently everyone was talking about her swim as she finished first in her heat and the next swimmer was also 10 yards behind her!

 

 

Transitioning with mom.

Sydney's young group rode on the track.

 

 

Their race markings -- age on the left leg, competitor number on the right.

 

We came, we saw, we kicked some.....

...swim butt!!  It was an awesome weekend for the SWAC swim team at the Indiana State Swim Championship in Indianapolis. As of the time of this blog entry, the SWAC team was in fourth place out of 72 teams from across the state.  And part of that great 4th place result is the boys 10 & under team that Spencer is a part of. 

Indiana University Natatorium, Indianapolis

Spencer and his teammates under their team banner

Spencer didn't quite make it in any of the individual events, but he was part of two relay teams, the 200m freestyle and 200m IM. 

We left home around 9am and headed to Indy, as we were driving straight to the pool.  After getting a quick bite at Subway, we made our way to the pool at the IU natatorium in Indy.  Spencer was swimming the anchor leg of the 200m freestyle relay.  The team did their warmups around 1pm and we figured Spencer wouldn't be swimming until around 3pm.  So the wait began.  He was having fun on the deck with his friends while we sat in the stands and stewed, waiting for his first "big" event since joining the swim team. 

Finally, his heat was due up.  Spencer was down at the one end with his teammate Cameron with Chandler and Jacob at the other end.  The horn blared and they were off.  The first leg went okay, then the second leg wasn't bad, but then Jacob in the third leg really poured it on.  He touched and Spencer took off.  He was smooth and looking good.  He finally touched the wall and his team took 3rd place!  After it was all said and done, Spencer swam his personal best in his 50m free, going 38.54 seconds!  We were so proud.  All the practices and long hours paid off.  Take a look at the video below:

http://youtu.be/NYGAxH0jzsA

After the race finished up and Spencer got packed up, we headed to over to UT and AKK's house for dinner and lodging (thanks guys!).  Spencer was in need of a haircut before even going to Indy, so we decided to do a little trimming Friday night.  AKK got the clippers out and I gave Spencer his first mohawk!

Mohawk time!

A couple of mohawk wearin' dudes

No worries, Christine is taking him on Monday to get his hair back in order.  But it was cool that he and his teammate shared this for their big weekend together.

After some good rest and a great breakfast, we headed back to the pool for day 2.  It was basically a repeat of Friday, except Spencer was swimming the breast stroke portion of the 200m IM relay.  Again, more waiting until his event which was about 3 hours after we got to the pool.  It finally came up and the boys got ready.  The race went off without any issues and they finished 5th in their heat.  With this finish, they finished 13th overall for the boys 10 & under.  It was a great job for all the boys.  Here's the video of the 200m IM relay:

http://youtu.be/CQ6NKG7vxVk

Spencer staying loose before the meet

We stuck around after Spencer's race to watch the other SWAC team compete in the 200m IM final.  We knew they were good and it was going to be a great race.  Holy cow, they did not disappoint!  After a slow start, the guys got moving and ended up taking first place overall!  It was one of the most exciting relays we've watched since joining SWAC.  I ended up emailing it to the head coach of the SWAC program and he distributed it to all parents in an email update he sent out.  Here's the video of that race:

http://youtu.be/aJfbaen8-xM

Overall it was a great weekend.  Now, the long course season is over and the kids have about 6 weeks off to get a little downtime before short course and school starts.  We'll fill in some of the downtime with trips to the local Y for open swim, where both Syd and Spencer can get in some laps.  Hopefully this will suffice until short course season!

 

STATE, baby!!

It's what Spencer has been working for since earlier this year....the chance to swim at the Indiana State Swim Championship!!  Although he hasn't qualified in an individual event yet (more on that later), we just found out tonight that he's on two relay teams...the 200m IM and 200m freestyle.  We're all pretty excited!

Spencer talking to his coach after one of his events

This past weekend, we traveled to Munster, IN for the last full meet of the long course season.  Spencer swam two events Friday night, 4 events on Saturday and 3 events on Sunday.  He did pretty well, shaving some time in a few events and adding some time in others.  He was really close to a state qualifying time in his 50m breaststroke, needing to shave about 3 seconds off his personal best.  Unfortunately, he actually added a second to his best time and worst of all, we found out later that he got disqualified for a false start (you can see him flinch just before the start in the video below).  Overall, we were satisfied with the weekend.

http://youtu.be/J7G_Aoz0J_k

The State meet is July 26-29 in Indianapolis.  The relay teams are set, but there is still one more opportunity for him to qualify for an individual event.  His swim club, SWAC, has a "last chance" meet on July 23rd at their team pool.  We're hoping he'll add at least one individual event to the two relays he's already on. 

I'll update after the state meet with all pertinent information.

**We'll be looking for overnight accomodations in Indy in a couple of weekends, if any of our favorite relatives want to have us!**

Stretching before an event

First outdoor meet

We participated in our first outdoor swim meet this weekend.  It was a short 1hr, 30min drive to lovely Napoleon, OH and their outdoor city pool.  We didn't know what to expect, as we'd never been to an outdoor meet before.  And with the surface-of-the-sun heat we've been experiencing lately, all eyes were on the weather prior to Saturday afternoon when we'd start. 

Spencer (on the left) with Coach Steve and 4 other SWAC teammates

The kids were excited to swim outdoors and hanging out with their other teammates.  We loaded up chairs, our pop-up canopy, a full cooler and lots of sunscreen and headed to Ohio.  It was an easy drive over to the pool.  When we arrived, we saw a large grassy area next to the pool where others were setting up similar canopies to ours, so we did also.  Thank god for the canopies, as it was sunny and hot all weekend.  Yet, with a nice breeze, we survived. 

Spencer getting ready for an event

 

On Saturday, Spencer swam 5 events and Syd swam 2 events.  Then, on Sunday, Spencer was in 4 events and Syd was in 2 again. 

Here are a couple of videos of their better races.

Spencer's 100m breaststroke

http://youtu.be/e1r0WJNj-BY

Syd's 50m freestyle

http://youtu.be/ke-7HOjQ0Og

Despite the heat, sun and drive times, both kids did well and had a really good time.  The parents actually had a pretty good time too.  The meet only lasted a few hours each day so we weren't too burnt out after all was said and done.  Now, we've got two weeks of practice and then a weekend meet in Munster, IN.  This is a fairly new pool and we're expecting some fast times from all the kids on the team.  Updates to follow!

Syd preparing for an event