Sunkist Trains At OTC

Sunkist OTC Trip 2013
Coach Recap by David Orr
Head Coach
Sunkist Swim Team
(See video clips from trip on YouTube)

This summer, I had the privilege of taking 15 swimmers to the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for 10 days of altitude training, team building and swimmer education.  It was an amazing trip to a special place.  Our swimmers represented the best of Sunkist and behaved like champions.  Our focus and commitment was at an all-time high.  We got our work done at OTC and had some fun in the process.  I was more than proud of our swimmers, everyone trained hard and stayed engaged the whole trip.  Here is a recap of our trip, I look forward to making OTC altitude training a Sunkist tradition.

OTC Day 1:
It was a beautiful travel day without any delays from Southwest Airlines.  We flew out of Jackson bright and early in the morning, had time for lunch while making our connecting flight in Chicago and arrived in Denver on time.  We took shuttle vans to Colorado Springs and took in the scenery, soon we could see America’s Mountain—Pikes Peak!  By late afternoon, we were checking in at the Athlete Center at the US Olympic Training Center.  Friendly staff welcomed our group and took each of our pictures for our credential badges which were also our key cards providing access to our dorms, training facilities and, most important, the dining hall while at OTC.  After dropping our belongings in our dorm rooms, we headed to the pool for a quick tour and then enjoyed dinner all abuzz in the dining hall.  From the moment we drove through the front gates, we were impressed by everything we saw.  Everywhere we turned there were large Olympic murals, statues, flags, photos and other Olympic memorabilia.  Athletes from other sports were coming and going, and dining all around us at dinner.  We were excited to get to work, a few swimmers even mentioned going to bed early.  Before we did though, I joined some of the boys in a little 3 on 3 basketball on the courts next to our dorms.  We had a great time and played until it was too dark to see.  We were off to a fun start and everyone hit the beds at lights out ready to get started the next day.

OTC Day 2: 
Our first practice went well, I was happy to learn we were sharing the pool with Crimson Tide Aquatics out of Tuscaloosa, both of us had 5 lanes swimming long course.  CTA Coach John Boxmeyer traveled with 12 swimmers to OTC and they were our pool/dorm mates for most of our time there.  A few weeks earlier we competed in one of their early season meets, it was really nice to know another team at OTC and also made for great coach sharing throughout the trip.  Our first practice was moderate work to get accustomed to the altitude, most could tell the air was thinner, but it didn’t seem to set anyone back.  We kept hydrated and they were happy to learn after practice they could get in the hot bud and try the ice baths if they wanted.  The ice baths were new to our swimmers, we shared more than a few laughs experiencing them for the first time. 

That afternoon we attended a Sports Performance Nutrition workshop instructed by Mark Hesse of USA Swimming.  We learned about the best practices for nutrition and recovery.  We learned that we should “eat to train” and not “train to eat.”  We talked about carbs, protein, fat, dehydration and all about how to fuel for top training and performance.  Mark taught us an easy saying to remember about choosing wheat breads over white breads, “the whiter the bread, the quicker you’re dead!”

We visited the TEAM USA store and bought lots of goodies before our afternoon practice.  I kept intensity low and for the afternoon session we focused a little on hypoxic breath control drills to get us acclimated to the thinner air.  No basketball that night, they were pooped and crashed soon after room check.

OTC Day 3:
Our morning practices were 9-11:00am for the first week of our stay, which meant we didn’t have to get up too early and we could enjoy a hearty breakfast.  The dining hall is one of the great perks of OTC and our swimmers were loving it.  It is all you can eat, as much as you want any time you want it.  For calorie burning machines like swimmers, it just doesn’t get any better.  The dining hall also has several large screen TVs which was great for us to keep track of the NBA finals and Wimbledon matches.  It’s perfectly  set up for fueling and recovery and it’s the one place where athletes and coaches from different sports mix together.

We hit the pool after breakfast with some excitement—it was filming day.  OTC staff filmed each of our swimmers, all four strokes, above and below the water using their special Orca video system, which is a remote controlled camera on wheels that runs on a rail down the side of the pool.  The editing room is right on deck and very high tech, the filmmaker in me was quite impressed.

That afternoon Coach Kate led dryland circuits using the pool’s small exercise room and equipment.  For practice, we kept it up with a med ball set in the water that involved difficult kicks, drills and lifts.  It was challenging and something new, and pretty funny to watch.  Our workload was starting to increase and they were starting to really enjoy the ice baths. 

OTC Day 4:
After a refreshing run as the sun came up I really pushed them hard at morning practice, ending it with some sprints from the blocks.  They were adjusting nicely to the altitude, however, swimming long course doubles was wearing on them.  This was the first day some of our swimmers chose to take naps after lunch.  After which we headed to USA Swimming headquarters for two workshops.  First workshop covered all four strokes with Scott Colby of USA Swimming.  Scott had great PowerPoint prepared and showed lots of cool video footage and slides on the big screen.  We really enjoyed dissecting all the strokes and learning about the latest techniques.  Our next workshop was a required class on Supplements & Prohibited Substances held by US Anti-Doping Agency known as USADA.  Our swimmers learned to be careful about what they eat and drink.  We also learned about how drug testing works and we were warned of the dangers of energy drinks.  Good day in school and our swimmers were thoroughly engaged in the discussions.  They took what they learned to the pool and really rocked the afternoon practice.  I couldn’t help but notice that everyone was so focused and committed to working hard, I was impressed and joked with them that I hoped they brought this work ethic and dedication back home with them.

OTC Day 5:
We were settling into our routine, staying focused, hydrated and taking full advantage of the dining hall which I can’t say enough was a real winner with so many healthy options and such variety meal to meal.  Swimmers were challenged with their first really difficult set at morning practice, a grueling 4,500 meter set mixing moderate and high intensity intervals and strokes. Everyone kept after it and grinded it out.  It was nice effort all around and the group felt a sense of accomplishment afterwards, some even took a picture of the set written out on the dry erase board.  That’s always a good sign.

After lunch and a little rest, we hit the official OTC weight room for drylands.   Just like the aquatic facility, the weight room at OTC has everything you need and more.   We warmed up on the treadmills, exercise bikes and stair climbers before getting into it with some racing start work which involved tossing 20kg medicine balls from a start position on “ready, go!”  We did some box jumps and then hit the heavy ropes, which we were especially excited to work with.  We have been wanting to work with ropes for some time after watching clips of Lochte and Coughlin using them.  They loved the ropes and worked them hard—they were exhausting!  We did some stability pike ups and worked the pull up bars with some tuck ups.  The highlight though was something new they had never heard of—working with reaction balls.  Reaction balls are these little 2” to 3” oblong rubber balls that are designed to create unpredictable bounces, which helps to improve hand-eye coordination and reaction skills—which are needed for faster starts.  We divided up into 3 groups of 5 and formed circles.  Each group had to bounce the ball to another partner and someone in the group had to catch the ball before it hit the ground.  The balls were bouncing all over the place at first, but soon enough they were really focusing in and snagging them out of the air.  Fun session and it was pretty cool to have the OTC weight room entirely to ourselves.

The fun continued at afternoon swim as we got to use the cable pulley system for some race pace plus work at world record speeds.  We tested our streamlines with a timed cable pull, everyone was pulled at the same super-fast speed holding their streamlines and timed.  The tighter the streamlines, the faster the time. They really got the idea how much faster they go when tighter.  Was very helpful to be able to do this with cables, copious notes were taken.   I also timed them in a 50 of their choice being pulled at world record pace.  Trying to keep their strokes going as fast as they were being pulled across the pool was quite a challenge.  At the end of the session, the fastest 50 belonged to Paige Kessler who clocked a sizzling 20.80 in her cable pull 50 free.  Faster than all our boys and faster than the men’s world record.  Way to go, Paige! 

OTC Day 6:
We woke with signs posted on the dorm hallways announcing “Happy Birthday” to team captain Jordan Williams who turned 18 that day.  He was all smiles as was everyone.  A big birthday breakfast was followed by another demanding workout.  Amidst the hardships, I threw in a gem of a team building set of 3x300s called Draft-Caboose.  The swimmers in each lane had to come together as a team to practice drafting, taking turns as the leader then moving to the caboose in tandem fashion.  They really got it down, it was like watching a great regatta race with each lane of three swimmers churning together as a team.  Sometimes you make stuff and hope it works, this was one of those times that it worked and it did everything I wanted it to do. Sometimes you create something new and sometimes you want to test them with something borrowed.  The main set was a Bob Bowman special, something he tested his swimmers with the previous month at OTC.  Our swimmers rocked it out with flying colors and they were surprised to learn they had handled a Bowman special, even with some tweaking of the intervals they were pretty stoked.  Ever tired, but riding high, good for them.

That night at practice I loosened things up with a birthday set in honor of Jordan featuring eighteen 50s.  We then floated out to the middle of the pool for some vertical kicks and fly bobs.  After a couple of rounds, I had them do a “team vertical kick” which involved them holding on to each other shoulder to should in a long line and kicking as a team to hold each other up.  We did three rounds of this and they were challenged, but able to find a groove and make it work as one unit.  Really cool to have these team building moments work out. 

After our mid-pool work was complete they were very excited to hear we were climbing the ropes.  The staff went up into the catwalks and dropped two long ropes that hung from the high rails over the pool.  We divided up into two relay teams with each starting at opposite sides of the pool.  Swimmers had to sprint 25 yards to a rope, climb up the rope trying to get to the top, then drop back into the water and return sprint back to the wall where the next swimmer would take off and do the same.  The rope climbing was a blast even despite a few rope burns.  Big props to our strongest climbers who made it all the way to the top: Ralph, Peter, Emma, Sarah Kathryn, Rachel, Eien, Jack and Anthony.

OTC Day 7:
We swam our 11th OTC practice in the morning, continuing to push our limits.  They were getting a little broken down from all of our workouts being long course, our pool back home is short course yards.  I decided we would only swim once that day and the swimmers voted for it to be a morning practice, so we had the rest of the day to relax.  Swimmers were free to roam around the complex and chill however they wanted.  There is an outdoor recreational pool, a giant outdoor chess board, pool tables, foosball, basketball courts, bikes, all kinds of things to do to relax.  Everyone enjoyed their time off then for a change of pace we walked together off campus into town for a tasty dinner at Old Chicago Pizza.  Was a great getaway and nice to take in the city on foot; the walk was a little longer and hotter than we anticipated, but was good to get out and we slept like super-charged babies once again that night.

OTC Day 8:
Our morning practice was solid, the highlight was 50s fins underwater with sprint fly at first breath.  We do this at home quite a bit and many make 50 yards underwater with fins, but 50 meters is a little tougher especially in thinner air.  CTA was swimming their last practice with us then heading back home that day. We said our goodbyes and thanked them for keeping us company.

We had a quick turnaround snack in the dining hall and then an early dryland session scheduled in the weight room.  We ran through similar circuits, adding kettle bell swings and extra rope drills—they really love those ropes.  We finished with the reaction balls, another new favorite. 

At lunch, the Athlete Center was bustling upstairs with activity, two swim teams checking in for their camps.  One of the teams was the Rose Bowl Aquatic Club, the team my daughter Emma swam with in Los Angeles.  RBAC checked in 20 swimmers for a two week stay.  The other was an all-star team of 60 swimmers from Indiana LSC.

Rose Bowl was swimming when we arrived for afternoon practice.  I said hello to head coach Jeff Julian and told him Emma used to swim for him in the Rose Buds group and I actually swam for their masters team with Coach Chad.  Jeff was pleasantly surprised, what a small world at OTC it seems.  Despite a few moans and groans of exhaustion,  our swimmers had another stellar practice swimming knocking out some fast 200 IMs in heats.  Taylor Williams was the standout, swimming a personal best in every round.

OTC Day 9:
Our swimmers were up and off to the pool bright and early, practice was now starting at 6:00am.  They were still pumped and they were especially excited to get the AM practice over with because we made plans to go sightseeing that afternoon.  They rocked the workout and were happy to be DONE.  After a quick bite, we headed back over to USA Swimming headquarters for more classroom work with Scott Colby. 

Scott dissected and discussed Gold Medal Starts with our swimmers, then gave a thorough presentation on Turns And Finishes.  We thanked Scott for the informative talks, USA Swimming does a tremendous job with Club Development and the OTC experience is tops.

That afternoon, we boarded the Cog Railway and took the little train all the way to the top of Pike’s Peak, going from 6,035 feet at the base to over 14,000 feet elevation at the top.  The scenery was beautiful and kept us entertained with the help of our chatty tour guide handling microphone duties.  After ascending through forest and boulders, we passed the tree line and soon were taking in expansive views for miles and miles and miles.  We could see the forest fires off in the distance, they looked pretty small from so far up.  We arrived to top of the peak and had around 30 minutes to enjoy the view, go to the restroom, shop for souvenirs and hit the snack bar.  We took a group picture in the chilly wind and felt like we were on top of the world.

We visited the beatific Garden of the Gods on our way back to the complex. We hiked around the amazing rock formations and really enjoyed .  As tired as we have been each night, everyone was in bed and asleep the earliest on the whole trip—and we slept like rocks. 

OTC Day 10:
Everyone was in good spirits at early practice, but we were all feeling a little sadness with it being our last day at OTC.  Practice went swimmingly, was even peaceful to the point they sensed something was amiss, and most likely very difficult in store for them, at our afternoon practice. We ended the morning session with surfboard sculls to relax their tired minds and bodies, to think “good” thoughts.  Later, I tweeted it was the quiet before the storm.  That got them buzzing between practices.

Between practices, I went over their stroke videos on the large screen at USA Swimming.  We reviewed the footage and each swimmer received a DVD copy for them to take home.  It was great to be able to break down their strokes on such a big screen. 

Our last practice was bitter sweet, no one wanted it to end.  The meat and potatoes of the workout—the storm—was a 1600 IM for time which I dubbed THE OTC MILE. The groans and gasps dissipated a little when I told them the 1600 would be swum as four 400 IMs back to back, no stopping and no DQs.  Our younger, weaker fliers would be doing eight 200 IMs back to back.  It was sounding a little more reasonable to the group and soon they were gung-ho to tackle this puppy, if not just to get it over with.  They all put the pedal down on The OTC Mile and every swimmer finished hard to the end. Was a long race, but they hung tough and they did it!  We caught our breath with some recovery dolphin quarters then ended the workout with starts, working on a few of the things we learned in our workshops. 

With just a few minutes left I told them they just had an easy 100 left and they were done, the group let out a collective, “Noooooooooo!”  Love it.  They didn’t want to leave this great place and neither did I.  They took their sweet time cooling down, some took underwater pictures, some swam to the very middle of the pool and down to the bottom at its deepest spot and left a kiss to say goodbye.  Of course, they didn’t leave without hitting the ice baths and hot tub one last time.

Early the next day, we bid adieu to Olympic living and headed home.  It was an awesome trip to say the least.  I can’t wait to return and look forward to making this trip a regular part of our training schedule every couple of seasons.  OTC facilities are state-of-the-art and the support services do more than help to provide the means and incentive to achieve athletic excellence.  Our swimmers will never forget this trip and soon will reap the benefits of all their hard work.  Sunkist thanks USA Swimming for the opportunity to altitude train alongside other elite athletes and we enjoyed the educational forum presented.  We had the time of our training lives.

We came, we swam, we conquered.

Go Sunkist!!