Thirty-eight Nitro athletes headed to Colorado Springs this past week for a week's worth of concentrated training. The training trip was designed to get away from Austin and focus on training and team building as we look ahead to midseason championship meets. The intention was to:
- Train intelligently. We got away from Austin and into a new training environment. Train strengths, split into groups, split into guys team and girls team, workouts, have targeted and intentional dryland training focused on strength and mobility, and embrace the metabolic effects that training at altitude provides.
- Build our team chemistry and foster relationships between athletes across locations.With facilitation and classes being provided by the USOPC, we had an increased focus on team building. As we head to midseason championships, it will be imperative that we know we can lean on each other, and work with one another. The trip was a memorable experience!
We certainly accomplished these goals - ask any athlete! The trip was a blast and one that Nitro Athletes will remember for years and years to come!
The USOPC is a center specifically designed for training. It wasn't just swimmers on camps, athletes from all over the world were there to train.
We shared common areas with weightlifters, USA Triathlon, cyclists, wrestlers, and many other sports.
The facility has dorm style housing accommodations and Nitro Athletes stayed right on campus, a 5 min walk to and from the pool.
It was a beautiful view on the way in to the pool!
The weight room was gorgeous and an inspiring place to get in a workout. Coach Eric Hudson from SwimStrong Dryland made the trip with us, flying from Miami to be a part of Nitro Nation for a week! Dryland sessions were focused on power, speed and mobility.
THE FOOD! The food at the USOPC is legendary for all the right reasons. It is DELICIOUS. Ribs, pasta, salmon, chicken, and everything you could think of. Nitro athletes ate like "kings and queens" all week!
THE TRIP
DAY ONE: We took off at 9:40am from the Austin airport. When we arrived in Colorado Springs, we hit the ground running and went straight into a lecture provided by USOPC Staff on Servant Leadership. Following the lecture, we went straight to the pool, hit a altitude adjusting workout and then to the dining hall. After a quick team meeting, it was lights out at 10!
Day Two was our busiest day and tightest schedule. The group had two swim sessions, a lecture and dryland in the span of 5 hours. A wake up call at 4:30am got the group to the pool by 5am. Breakfast and then right to a lecture from the USOPC on Controllable and Uncontrollables. Right to dryland, a quick lunch and then back to the pool. Study hall, a team dinner, and a team meeting rounded out the day.
Day Three: Waking up to a light snowfall, we headed to breakfast and then to a film study session with Coach Patrick. The crew analyzed the technique of the best athletes in the world, discussed the fine details of proper mechanics and talked about how to apply it to training. Pool time split the groups into FR and IM groups. Nitro hit some targeted HR work and built aerobic capacity. After the pool, everyone was throughly exhausted. It was off to study hall, team dinner, team meeting and then to bed!
Day Four: Another 4:30am wake up call got the crew up early and diving in the water at 5am. We hit a power circuit workout, got some breakfast and headed to dryland. Dryland was a core and mobility workout as we prepped for a test Saturday afternoon. 20x50s off the blocks at all out effort may have been the set of the week! Highlights included Trinity Hoang's countless 28s, Victor Teeters' 27.5 50 FR, Ashley Lee's 28.9 50m FR, Danny Bishop's 25.5 50m FR, Steven Ma's 31.3 50m BR, Ella Mongrel's 26.8 50m FR. Everyone walked away with something they could be proud of. Following practice, the group had a team meeting, watched the UT game and went to bed!
Day Five we woke up and hit the pool at 6:30, got in some aerobic work and hit some relays to finish our time in the pool. The team finished with a relay Gut Check, that saw Maika Ogansake hitting a 27.7 50m fly, Aiydan Schweizer hit a 27.2 50m Fly and Alex Wong knock out a 25.3 50m FR. It concluded 7 practices at altitude in 5 days! After practice, we went to downtown Colorado Springs, saw the sights, had some breakfast, returned and prepped for our return flight. It was wheels up at 5pm at the airport and we were all back in Austin safe and sound at 9:30pm.
IN DRYLAND
Coach Eric Hudson from SwimStrong Dryland flew out from Miami and offered his expertise in dryland. Workouts were focused on speed, power and mobility. We can't say thank you to him enough for making the trip! His energy, fire and passion are contagious. It was a special experience for the team!
Matty Ice and Maika hitting some partner planks!
Renegade Rowes for George!