On Saturday June 12th I participated at the 2010 Finswimming Championships in Brig. In the midst of final exams at school and not really a great training regime I decided this was the one distraction needed to "recharge" my batteries. As I was limited to one day, my program for this year's meet looked a bit different from what it probably would have otherwise. And it also marked my first outdoors competition of the year.
I started the morning with the prelims of the 100m FS and placed 2nd with a time of 48.6 which was good considering I was holding ...
Big City Life
It didn't look like I would ever get to an end with this post. I started writing on it last summer when I got back from my coaching stint in the Florida Keys. But kept adding and changing things ever since. This post allowed me to sort my ideas and figure out what I want to do in the future. Putting in all of what happened in those now almost four years in Geneva was impossible but believe most of it wasn't that exciting anyway.
Things have been pretty crazy the last year (and a half) to say the least. From going through the ...
Tenerife Day One
We left from Geneva airport early in the morning. Our first flight went from Geneva to Barcelona where we had an almost 3 hours layover before we took the next flight this time nonstop to Tenerife North. From there we had a bus ride of about an hour to the other end of the island to our hotel.
Copa da Natal 2009
On Sunday Dec 6th I participated at the Copa da Natal hosted by the Flippers Team Locarno at the Centro Sportivo di Tenero. We left around noon on the day before the meet to bring the 6h travel involved in getting from Geneva to Tenero behind us in a more or less stress free and comfortable manner.
Even though I felt tired because my studies kept me busy and up late many nights, I was looking forward to compete in LCM again. Finswimming is just a different beast in SCM with twice as much under water work involved. And of course ...
ITU 2009 Youth Forum Declaration
The 2009 ITU Telecom World Youth Forum has served as platform for the development of global network of youth that truly want to make a difference in the future of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
We are aware of the challenges that stand before all of us in achieving the goal of connecting our world by 2015. However, the dire need to connect the world is too great for us to slow the pace of progress. We urge all UN agencies, national governments, industry and market leaders, educators, and society as a whole support the ITU "Connect a School, Connect a ...
Back to School
It's been two full weeks back to school for me after my three months summer of coaching in the Florida Keys. Mark Hill, former Head Coach of the Florida Keys Swim Club and assistant Race Club Coach, who left the Keys after two years to go back to work for his mentor Mike Bottom, former Race Club Coach, at the University of Michigan gave me this great opportunity to work with his team during the summer.
Campionati Svizzeri Nuoto Pinnato Tenero 2009
This year's Finswimming Championships were held on Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7 at the Centro Sportivo in Tenero. Unfortunately, the first day of the meet had to be canceled due to heavy rain and thunderstorms. As a consequence of this, Sunday was packed with events as the organizers decided to integrate most of the events into the program of this second day of competition.
CMAS World Cup 2009 Round 6
The 6th round of the CMAS Finswimming World Cup was held on Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2 at the Centro Sportivo (outdoor) pool in Tenero. I did only participate on the 2nd day of competition on Saturday but did take on 4 race that same day.
On Saturday June 12th I participated at the 2010 Finswimming Championships in Brig. In the midst of final exams at school and not really a great training regime I decided this was the one distraction needed to “recharge” my batteries. As I was limited to one day, my program for this year’s meet looked a bit different from what it probably would have otherwise. And it also marked my first outdoors competition of the year.
I started the morning with the prelims of the 100m FS and placed 2nd with a time of 48.6 which was good considering I was holding back a little and using my soft workout fin. Next up was the 50m AP. I won the silver medal in 19.5 which came rather as a surprise. I used the Glide for this race what probably slowed my down off the blocks, so I was actually pretty happy with that time as well.
“Food intake” is an important part of every athletes daily schedule. But are you eating enough? How many meals a day should you plan each day? Nathan Jendrick answers these exact same questions on his latest nutrition “Are You Eating Enough?“.
Do you have a workout song? If not you might like the one Gary Hall Sr. came up with during one of this recent morning workouts. Read all about it in his latest Aqua Note called “It’s in his kick …“.
An Olympic medal, the dream of every athlete! It doesn’t matter what sport the athlete won the medal. If you ask those athletes, it’s the moment they all remember as it was yesterday. The moment they took their place on the medal stand and eventually being awarded for their efforts when the winner’s flags are raised will forever be one of their most valuable memory.
The link to this special moment created by the medal around their neck is what makes most of those athletes put their medal away in deposit box or another safe place and only take it out on special occasions. It’s not the actual value of the gold, silver or bronze medal that drives this special behavior but the previously explained emotional value associated with the medal.
Did you still not find the perfect pre-workout snack that will power you through a full practice? Then Nathan Jendrick’s latest column entitled “Pre-Workout Nutrition” will help you to get behind the secret of pre-workout snacking.
Richard spent some time in Fiji at the National Aquatic Center in Suva conducting clinics for the Race Club. Above is a short video from Fiji TV but you can also read two articles, Hall helps Swimmers and Swimming’s new style, from the Fiji Time for more details.
Not too long ago the Race Club released it’s second DVD called “The Fundamentals of Fast Swimming“. The DVD is based on a couple of Gary Hall Sr.’s earlier Aqua Notes posts. I’m extremely excited about this new DVD for a couple of reasons but most importantly because it’s fast swimming explained in plain English. Of course my involvement with the Race Club and some parts of that DVD are other reasons. Richard put an tremendous amount of work in this project and I think you will enjoy the result. Let me (us) know what you think.
Swiss Olympic swimmer Dominik Meichtry has now a blog where he’s sharing his experiences about his life in Los Angeles, training with the USC Trojans and his way to the 2010 Olympics in London. Read his welcome post and follow him on Twitter if you like.
Gary Hall Sr. was the guest of the 4th episode of the Swim Brief Podcast hosted by Chris DeSantis. Tune in and enjoy half an hour of fun and interesting swimming talk. Visit the Podcast’s website or subscribe on iTunes.
On Saturday April 24, I competed at the traditional Meeting de Printemps in Lancy. This is my club team’s home meet and always a lot of fun. The format of the meet is starts with a prelim session of 100′s in each stroke and a 200m IM final. Although at this time I’m not awfully training a lot there’s no way I could miss out on swimming in front of the home crowd.
I didn’t expect anything from this meet other than having a good time with my team. Well, this of course isn’t the full truth as you never compete just for the fun (at least I don’t). It always makes me furious when one of the other guys in my heat puts in a higher gear and overtakes me.
Nicolas is a Computer Science student living and studying in Geneva blogging about swimming, finswimming and other things in life. 
