SwimSwam wants to give you an inside look at what a normal day-in-the-life looks like for any given swimmer, and how that differs from team to team or city to city. We send our head of production, Coleman Hodges, to be a fly on the wall at practice, then relay what he discovered back to you over pancakes. Or at least breakfast.
Hot on the heels of the Richmond Pro Swim, I drove just an hour northwest to the town of Charlottesville, Virginia, home to the University of Virginia. When you step on the pool deck, the first thing you notice is their record boards, riddled with Olympic icons such as Leah Smith, Ed Moses, Matt McLean, Lauren Perdue… it’s pretty impressive. Virginia has been on the rise ever since the arrival of new head coach Todd DeSorbo, highlighted by the women and men both placing in the top 10 at NCAA’s this year.
On the Monday after the Pro Swim, UVA was getting right back to work. Or in some cases, getting back to work for the first time in 2 weeks. That was the first day back in the water for most of the NCAA men, and the NCAA women had only been back in the water for a week at that time. Their workout was fairly aerobic, but did include some fun kicking with all sorts of equipment.
That was the main group. On the other side of the pool, you had associate head Tyler Fenwick, known for his distance prowess, running a couple guys through something a bit more intensive. Brendan Casey, who just finished up his eligibility for UVA, is training for open water nationals, while Robby Giller, who was out for conference and NCAA’s with a back injury, is almost back to 100% normal training. After a longer warm up, their main set was:
3x (Long Course Meters)
400 @ 5:20 (desc by rd)
2×200 @ 2:40 (2 faster than 1, desc the pair by rd)
4×100 @ 1:20 (desc all 4 by rd)
Breakfast looks a lot better than the offerings we used to have. Still UVA food service or a private vendor?
I’m pretty sure they are at Bluegrass Grill and Bakery right off of the downtown mall.
correct! waffle sandwich highly recommend
Waffle sandwich? Glad to see you’re coming over to the dark side.
Seems fair. After all, waffles are just pancakes with syrup traps.
Haha, always glad to see that Paul Bunyan’s hot tub is still there.
i might be alone with this but i feel like the music is always a bit too loud during the pratice footage compared to the interview and talking parts
WHAT?!?!
Stay tuned… 🙂
FYI OW Trials for Worlds and Olympics is only a couple weeks away therefore Brendan getting back to work a bit quicker.
Most likely the Olympic Trials. Jordan and Haley holds the top-10-no-matter-what-ability for Korea. The second Americans definitely also have a shot on making Olympics.
Will you be in MIA?
Robbie’s arms look incredibly long.
Did Tyler bribe you for the headline?
Fenwick to UNC?
I could easily see that.
He’s crushed it with Todd the last two years. Especially with the men. We would hate to see him leave Virginia but he’d be an unbelievable hire for UNC. Class act!
If he hates academic requirements, sure….
Surprised he wasn’t doing shirtless sit-ups during filming