9 Arm Starfish

Starfish come in many varieties. I have seen the bright blue kind on the bottom of the ocean while swimming in Guam.  SW Florida has had a recent influx of the 9-arm starfish, seen here being held by a young girl. Unfortunately, all the fishes arms are not in tacked. Apparently, just before I arrived to the beach to enjoy a nice relaxing couple of hours, there was a family of 4 adults and too many kids to count that were 'collecting' these creatures onto the beach.  

I didn't realize and see until a few moments after taking this shot, that they children had placed about 30 or so of these small starfish onto a body board. It was quite sad, as they had removed them from the ocean and left them in the sun to dry.  Oh dear. I heard one of the parents tell the children, "stop doing that, there is a lady that is getting upset."  The comment was repeated, and later a staff of the hotel and beach club, came down to the shore, to say that they cannot be doing this, and she proceeded to take the belly board and return the sea creatures to their habitat.  The kids were confident that they did not mean to cause any harm, and wanted to help.  Another gentleman approached the parents, and had stern words to convey to them, which of course did not go over well with the parents, as they were offended that a stranger had the nerve to discipline their child.  Oh vey, so much for a relaxing time on the beach.  Before the entire incident broke out, I was sitting immediately adjacent to the large group of parents and without exaggeration, they were quite loud and obnoxious. Evidently were from NY based on their accents.  

Back to swimming at T2

Friday LCM 5/22/15 (coach Paul Y.)

700 warm (2swim, 2pull, 2swim, 1pull)

Preset:
4xs pull set
50 strong
100 perfect
150 breathe control (3/5/7 or 4/6/8)

Main set:
9 x 200 swim
3 @ 3:40
3 @ 3:30
3 @ 3:25

100 ez

9 x 50 fins every 3rd. fast
cool 150
(4,400M)

Saturday 5/23/15 (coach Paul)
LCM

Warm:
400 free
300 kick
3 x 100 pull (rest :30)

Preset:  - this was tricky to remember
12 x 50 "thirds" swim each 3rd. of the 50 in this order.
#1 free, drill, build 
#2 drill, build, free
#3 build, free, drill

Main set: 
I swam this on a generous interval with the lane I put myself in. I probably could have swum the 100s. on 1:50.

6 xs
2 x 100 @ 2'
2 x 50 @ 1:10
*descend 2nd 100 1-3 and hold
*descend 2nd 50 1-3 

100 ez

6 x 50 fins @ 1'
3rd. one fast!
1-3 kick
4-6 swim

100 cool

This weekend there was an age group swim meet at the Norris pool. There is a need for more USA swimming officials in the area, and I thought that will be a good thing to do. 

There is a process to be an official, which starts by sitting through a 2 hour class given by the regional director for region 5 from Florida Swimming. The class could have been easily streamlined, by being made into a video. After the class, you are required to take the on-line test on the USA swimming website, followed by doing 20 hours of on deck apprenticeship. There are other requirements needed by USA swimming, such as a background check and watching the athlete protection video, which you must update every 2 years. I am current for the background and video until 12/15. :-)  Being a swimming official is strictly a volunteer position. It's rewarding yet demanding work.   You may be required to stand for long periods in the heat or rain, and you must pay close attention to the progress of the meet. The entry level position begins with the stroke and turn official duty.  Looking forward to working the FL meets! 

Happy Laps!