:: Jessie's Dog Blog

Sunday,  April 28th, 2013

Coach Mark is on sabbatical in northwest Montana.  The blog is suspended until his return in mid-May.

Saturday,  March 23rd, 2013

What a great month for the Swim Dogs as Top Dogs records kept going lower and improvements were spectacular!  Over the month, we continued to improve in the Aces High Point, Silver State, Senior State, and Age Group State.  It was our best month ever!  Click on the links to see the meet recaps.

Over the course of the month and the four meets, over 40 Top Dogs records were broken!  Claire and Mable continue with their friendly head-to-head match-ups with both of them breaking 1-minute in the 100 free and earning Top 10 honors in Colorado!  Jaron O also impressed with two top five finishes in the butterfly at state and more Top Dogs.

Now, we get a bit of break as we prepare for the long-course 50M outdoor season.  I am already looking forward to the summer.

Thursday,  February 7th 2013

The family aspect of what we are doing at GW is really showing as last weekend, two home grown Swim Dogs, Annika Moen and Sydney Melnick, acheived Colorado 5A State Qualifying times.  This is a rare accomplishment as you can see from the banner placed around the pool.  There are only three freshman qualifiers in the last 15 years!

Also cool is how the Swim Dogs, regardless of school affiliation, have come to cheer and help out that girls meets, including the League Championship meet.  The GW Girl's basketball team also showed up!

Thanks for everyone's support!

Our short-course indoor season is winding down the the ACES Winter Open in two weeks.  This is the last chance to qualify for State and Silver State.  I am looking forward to a great showing of Swim Dogs.

Monday, January 28th 2013

Lots of juggling back-and-forth between the GWHS girls and Swim Dogs teams.  With GWHS, I think we've have six meets in two weeks with the League Championship bearing down on us.  Needless to say, it's been hectic.

Swimming all around Colorado must be growing significantly, and as a results, it's become increasingly tougher to get into meets.  Despite turning in our entries three weeks before the meet deadline, we were unable to get into the North Jeffco meet...even though we have supported that meet for five years.  I am disappointed.  I am, however, working on getting us into the Aces High Point meet at Englewood High School on the same weekend.  I hope that works out.

Practice this week included working on some new breaststroke techniques which change the timing a bit on the stroke.  I am working on that too, and I think it's effective.

Tuesday, January 15th 2013

Back to practice basics with week with some new things...including buckets which we have not done in some time.

One of the things I like best about our team is the camaraderie with the GWHS team.  Several Swim Dogs show up early to catch the GW practice and meets, and the GW team helps out quite a bit at our meets.  Several of the GWHS boys are also participating in the Swim Dogs practices.  It's a great "family" that I don't think happens many other places.

We continue working on "race pace" practices: swim in practice at the speed you'd like to go in your races...shorter distances in practices, of course.  I love the purpose each practice has.

Monday, January 7th 2013!

What a great week at Swim Dogs and GW Swimming!

Thanks to Coach Ryan, Rich Abrahams, and Teri Moen for covering practices while Dana and I were travelling with the GW Girl's Team to Coronado Island in Southern California.  I heard that the practices were great!

On Saturday and Sunday, the Swim Dogs had one of their best meets ever at the MACS Winter Invite.  Click here for the MEET RECAP with pictures, results, etc.

The GW trip to San Diego was awesome.  Next year, we may do something like this with Swim Dogs instead of just GW.  In addition to lots of swimming, the team sun bathed, rode the ferry into San Diego proper, and had a motivational day with the Navy Seals.  Look for additional details soon.

Tuesday, January 1st 2013!

Happy New Year, Swim Dogs!

Again, it's been over one month since my last post, and my New Year's resolution is to post weekly.  I've been better about sending out e-mails, but lacking on the blog...I guess I just never sure if anyone reads this stuff.

December was another good month of meets and practice.  Since the Golden Phoenix meet was cancelled this year (one of my favorite meets), we decided to host another dual meet against ANOTHER team named the Stingrays:  I but there isn't another Swim Dogs team in the USA!  This Stingrays team was from Stapleton and they have lots of new, younger swimmers.  The meet was fun, and Mable, Claire, and Jaron, continue to rock with Top Dog records on a weekly basis.  Who will be the first 11 & 12 to crack 1-minute in the 100 Free?

Due to the odd placement of the Winter Break this year, we have the MACS Winter Invite already this weekend at Smoky Hill High School.  Dana and I will be travelling with the Patriot Girls Team on their training trip to San Diego, so we'll miss Saturday.  We hope to be there on Sunday, however.

This Winter season, we will continue our work on short interval training and technique.  Dana and I are seeing lots of improvement in our Swim Dogs!

Sunday, November 25th

It's been over a month since I last blogged, and it's not because I didn't have anything to write...quite the contrary.  This time of year is typically our busiest as the GWHS Girls team starts up and we double the amount of overall practice hours at the pool.  That does not mean we spend less time with Swim Dogs, but it does mean that I fall behind on the blog.

Since I last wrote, the Swim Dogs have competed in the Suburban League Relay and Qualifier meets.  This last weekend was the 10 & Under Thanksgiving at The Rock meet.

The Swim Dogs continue to impress me.  Our regulars improve, as expected, and we've had some newcomers on the scene who look to take down some Top Dogs:  Jaron O, Yarden K, Sarah Jane P. and Stella Z are AWESOME!

Our older kids have been swimming well too, including Henry B. and Connor A-B.  I'm looking forward to the Boys High School season this spring.

We have been working quite a bit on "race pace" practicing which means shorter distances with higher intensities.  It seems to be working pretty well.  Look for more of that in the future.

The Swim Dogs have also been getting together outside of the pool:

Tuesday, October 16th

14 Swim Dogs completed the IMX Challenge for their respective age-groups this last weekend.  Everyone did a great job, and it's nice to see so many swimmers step outside of their comfort zone.

Three Swim Dogs took home High Point Honors:

• Claire B for 10 & Under Girls

• Mable M. for 11-12 Girls

• Alex Girard for 15 & Over Boys

Click here for the IMX Challenge Recap.

We also had a great turnout for The Suburban League Relays with 50 Swim Dogs this year.  Our team took third place, only getting beat by the evil TOPS empire and the team from Boulder.

Friday, October 12th

The last Open Water race of the season was last week at Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas.  This was the second year that I competed in the Slam the Dam (8K plus 1.2-mile swim).  While I did better than in 2011, I was well off my goal time of 2-hours (finished in 2h11m and 15th place overall).  It was a fun event regardless.

Probably started off too fast, and made the 2-mile turn at about 53-minutes.  At that point, someone cut one of the buoys, and it got into my head.  That cost me, and I lost my focus.  I pulled things together for the end of the race, but at my 2-hour goal, I again lost focus (and drive).

After about 45-minutes rest, I started the 1.2 mile swim.  It felt pretty good for the first half, and then, again, I lost focus and drive...I was tired!  Oddly, I finished within 3-seconds of my finish time from last year.

Thursday, October 4th

The last few weeks have been pretty amazing.  First, we had our inaugural Sprint Dual meet with the Colorado Athletic Club Inverness Stingrays.  The following day several Swim Dogs and Coach Dana and I participated at CAC in the Jason Lezak Clinic.

There were lots of great swims in the meet, but the highlight had to be Sydney M breaking the 1-minute barrier in the 100 Free:  That's always a great standard to go under!

I always learn something from the various clinics, but this time, I think I learned that we really do know what we're talking about at Swim Dogs.  Many of the things Jason hit on are the points that we stress at practice:  Streamlines, kicking, get your head down, and look at the bottom of the pool!  It's nice to have our knowledge reinforced.

Sunday, September 16th

The 3rd Annual Family Classic was really fun yesterday.  It's so cool seeing everyone compete together regardless of age, gender, affiliation, or skill level.  I'm actually always amazed at how easily the relays go together.  This year's meet saw 115 swimmers which is up over 20% from last year, and nearly twice as many as our first year in 2010.  The proceeds from the event go to support the GWHS teams, so everything stays "in the family" so to speak.  Click here to see the Family Classic Recap.

We're also continuing with our dryland practices at Red Rocks which are lots of fun.  Click here to see our YouTube video: Red Rocks.

Sunday, September 2nd

We officially started the new season this week with a few new members.  The team is really taking shape, and we are excited about 2012-13.  Please introduce yourself and welcome the new Swim Dogs!

On Sunday, we had a special dryland practice out at Red Rocks.  If you've never been there on a weekend morning to see all the people exercising, you should check it out.