Arizona Training Trip
December 31, 2008 03:04 PM | General
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| Austin Thrasher |
Wednesday, Jan. 7
Austin Thrasher
Today marked our eighth day in the desert. Fortunately for us our trip will last only one more day, and not 40 years as it did for Moses and his followers. Our personal Moses, Vic Riggs has led us through Tuscon and tomorrow will lead us into battle against Arizona who should play the role of Goliath to our David. The University of Arizona was last year’s NCAA champions on both the men’s and women’s side and will be very hard to beat. Although we are very overmatched we are more looking forward to a fun meet in the sun that we rarely get to experience as BIG EAST swimmers.
As the trip has progressed our skin has gained a beautiful golden brown tint. An unfortunate side affect to this is dry itchy skin. This has led some to apply sun tan lotion before practice, many to sweet talk the hotel maids for extra mini lotions and even one devilishly handsome freshman (me) to leave practice early to see one of the Arizona trainers. Although the chlorine is also to blame for our irritated epidermises we continued to take extended relaxing dips in Arizona’s massive hot tub. Although this is mainly meant for the divers to stay warm between dives, we had no problem squeezing upwards of 30 people into the 20 person hot tub.
Our trip also gained some tangible evidence that we practiced outdoors in the middle of “winter” when we had a little picture day after this morning’s practice. The freshman sat on the three and five-meter platform, the sophomores and juniors on the seven-meter platform and the seniors and coaches on the ten. With the bright blue sky, beautiful beaming sun, and Arizona’s swimming and diving sign as a backdrop we could not have asked for a better image to commemorate our trip.
Our evening practice only lasted until 8:30. We did a long warm up to get loose and stay fresh and then lots of drills to prepare us for the next day’s meet with Arizona. After practice four other guys and myself went to Grimaldis, a brick oven pizzeria just down the street from the pool. The waitress gave us all $5 dollar off coupons which served our high appetites and disproportionately low budgets well. We walked back to our hotel in the cool desert night excited for the next days meet and glad to have one more day in the warmth of sunny Arizona.
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| Stephanie Shupe |
Tuesday, Jan. 6
Stephanie Shupe
After two fairly rainy and cold days here in Tucson, the weather decided to break just a little bit and allow the sun to shine back through. Cloudless skies and a little bit of an increase in temperature definitely extracted smiles and laughter once again to the WVU team and coaching staff during practice today.
Following a pretty rough and tiresome main set late last night, the coaches gave us a morning workout that any swimmer dreams of. Lots of 25's and slow, easy swimming. The sprinters wandered over to the diving well meter pool to work on freestyle drills. However, someone's underwater camera (not mine, of course!) seemed to draw more attention than Damion's (assistant coach) instruction could and the sprinters soon found themselves consumed in making faces and swimming to the bottom of the 17 foot diving well for some very unique pictures!
Following this morning's recovery practice, a lot of the team wandered around town for some lunch. Most then returned back to the hotel to soak up some rays from the sun or take a relaxing nap until tonight’s workout. The team found themselves back at Arizona's aquatic center for some dry land at 6:30 tonight involving a few exercises, though repetitive, still do not seem to get any easier the more we do them! Around 7:00 p.m. the majority of the team jumped into the pool, while the sprinters found themselves continuing on with more dry land and medicine ball exercises. Both groups had another challenging practice; the sprinters were definitely pulling our weight in sprints tonight using Arizona's buckets to pull down the pool while the distance swimmers racked up their yards as usual! And yet again, practice resulted in slow, tired walks back to the hotel or in search of a late-night dinner. Next, the team is gearing up for the competition against one of the best teams in the nation here in gorgeous Tucson!
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| Brad Eichenseer |
Monday, Jan. 5
Brad Eichenseer
Good news, bad news; the rain stopped but the overcast, chill and wet streets were still here this morning as we woke up. This and the fact that we were back to morning practice at 9:30 a.m. made for very unpleasant on-deck conditions for dry land and stretching. Fortunately, the pool was warm as practice was tough but manageable, and Mother Nature finally let off as the sun poked through as we finished.
After practice, we had really worked up an appetite and most of the team went to Cheba Hut which is a great little sub shop about half a block away. A great meal for a decent price is always appreciated. Afterward, the team headed back to the hotel where everyone did their own thing; some read, some played World of Warcraft, but most napped.
We all turned up back to the pool at 6:30 p.m. for some dry land. The coaches had planned out a nice circuit involving new medicine ball exercises, tiring but I might say a bit fun. Afterward we hopped in the pool and did our warm up sets, followed by our main set which all three training groups did together as a team. It was a tough, fast set, where everyone encouraged and helped each other to achieve the best times they could. Afterward, everyone got some well deserved dinner and rested for the night at the hotel. Hopefully tomorrow the Arizona sun will return as we have another round of two-a-days here in beautiful Tucson.
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| Kayla Andrews |
Sunday, Jan. 4
Kayla Andrews
Well the weather took a turn today, chilly and rainy. We had another wonderful practice time of noon. We headed over to the pool hoping the rain would hold out for a little bit. However, about halfway through our dry land workout, the sky started to spit rain, luckily nothing too bad. We jumped in the pool and got started on our workout. The sprinters hit a pretty high yardage this morning so we were pretty proud of ourselves. It was pretty chilly and rainy when we got out so the coaches were generous enough to drive us back to the hotel with the vans that were rented for the weekend.
We were supposed to have a team bonding trip today, but due to the weather, we had to cancel. Instead some of the team hung out at the hotel and some us went to another mall nearby. It was about fifteen minutes away and we drove by some pretty fun looking houses. We got to the mall, but realized we weren’t on this type of budget. It was a pretty ritzy place, but it was fun to look around. We then decided to eat lunch and head back to the hotel.
We are all hoping the weather changes back to its sunny self tomorrow! Practice will probably be pretty rough over the next couple of days, but I’m sure we will all get through fine. We always find a way! We hope everyone is having a great first weekend of the year, we know we are in (hopefully soon to be back to sunny) Arizona!
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| Kayla Andrews |
Saturday, Jan. 3
Kayla Andrews
It was our first Saturday sleeping in of the season everyone! We didn’t have practice until noon, which was really nice. We did our usual abdominal workout and hopped into the pool. We used some equipment we haven’t used before, ankle weights. Although I was a little nervous about how these would feel, they really weren’t too bad. I’m thinking those might creep into our practices next year. (Maybe the sun and palms trees will too?) We did a few drills and called it a day in the pool.
After practice we hung out for a little, catching some sun and taking a few pictures here and there. We then headed back to the hotel to hang out for a little before we went to the mall. We passed the In-N-Out Burger some of the team walked to the other day and their 45 minute walk was our 10 minute drive, so we giggled a little bit at that. We saw a movie, ate and wandered around the mall for a little and then headed back to the hotel to hang out for a little before bed. Tomorrow we have practice at noon again, which is nice. A whole weekend of sleeping in!
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| Lindsey Largo |
Friday, Jan. 2
Lindsey Largo
This morning was similar to other mornings so far in Arizona. We left the hotel at 9:15 a.m. to go to practice. Once we were there, we did dry land training and then swam. It has been really nice to practice outside in the sun.
After practice a group of girls went to a pizza place for lunch. It was close to the pool so we did not have to walk too far away. We then went back to the hotel after lunch. During our break, people did various different things. Most of the team laid out by the hotel pool to take advantage of the sun and the warm weather here in Tucson. Others walked to nearby restaurants and shops for lunch and shopping. There are a lot of different places to eat that are close to our hotel. It is nice to have a variety of choices.
At 6:30 we were back to the pool for practice again. We did dry lands as a team and then we split up into groups when we swam. After practice, we picked up dinner and brought it back to the hotel. Tomorrow we practice in the early afternoon and we are looking forward to a team excursion sometime this weekend!
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| Michael Walker |
Thursday, Jan. 1
Michael Walker
When the team woke up this morning at 9 a.m., we woke up not only to a new day, but to a new year. And apparently for us that means a whole new level of training. Coach Riggs decided to start off the new year right, with an intense 8,500 yard practice. We were all a little shocked, but we got through it. The weather was great again today and most of the team was outside enjoying it in between practices. I don’t think I have seen a cloud in the sky yet. Most of us are already a few shades darker, it’s hard to believe that it is January 1st.
The team grabbed a quick lunch before we had to be back at the pool at 3:45 p.m. As the team walked on deck we all wondered what the afternoon practice would have in store for us. Luckily for us, the practice consisted of drills and technical work. It was almost an hour shorter than the morning practice and much less intense.
When we left the pool for the second time today the team decided to go to In-N-Out Burger. This is a fast food restaurant that has great burgers and they are only found out west, so we had to go. We were told it was just down the road from the pool; however, this was not the case. Exhausted and hungry we walked for 45 minutes not even sure we were going the right way. Finally we saw the giant yellow arrow of In-N-Out Burger. Two Double-Doubles later, my night was complete. We caught a bus back to the hotel to save us from the brutal walk and then it was off to bed to prepare for tomorrow’s challenges. Happy New Year from Arizona.
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| Morgan Callaway |
Wednesday, Dec. 31
Morgan Callaway
Today was the first official day of our training trip here in Tucson. We were able to sleep in until about 8:30 before we had to meet downstairs in the lobby. I was a bit apprehensive about what to expect for the first practice, since this is my first training trip outside of Morgantown. The walk to the pool was about five minutes, but did not seem so bad due to the beautiful scenery. There were plenty of palm trees and mountains off into the distance to admire.
When we arrived at Arizona’s pool, their team was finishing up practice. I was curious as to what they had done and secretly hoping ours would be nowhere near as difficult. There were two pools that each had over eight lanes which is more than I am use to. After our long trip here, we made sure to stretch well before getting into the pool. Practice this morning I think was more to just get loose. We did a lot; it just wasn’t as hard as we are use to. After practice, we were on our own to do what we wanted until practice again at 4:30. A few of the girls and I decided to get lunch and then go back to the hotel pool so we could take advantage of the sunlight.
Practice in the afternoon was more difficult than it had been in the morning. One bonus was that we were able to get into the hot tub afterwards, which we had to run to because the temperature had dropped about 15 degrees since we are in the desert. This week will definitely be difficult but nothing that we can’t handle.
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| Justin Galbreath |
Tuesday, Dec. 30
Justin Galbreath
It was a long plane ride in which the airline was trying to make money by cranking the heat up in the plane and charging $2 a drink. Everyone and everything made it without trouble, though, which is always nice. Some of the team came straight from home after a short winter break, while most met in Morgantown first. After the plane ride we had to hop on a bus and drive almost two hours to our hotel in Tucson, where we are now. It’s a nice hotel, which is good because we’ll being staying in it for ten days.
I’m looking forward to the training we have ahead. We’re at the home of the No. 1 team in the nation and it should be a good learning experience for everyone. We won’t get to train with the team but we may get to watch some practices and see how they do things in and out of the pool. Also, talking to some of the coaches, they said we may try new things at practice and I’m sure we’ll utilize these ten days as best we can.
It should be a fun trip; it’s my first winter training trip outside the exciting city of Morgantown during winter break. A little warm weather and training outside in the Arizona sun already makes this training trip a level above the other ones. Plus, I heard there is and In-N-Out Burger right down the street, which is exciting in itself.
