Jan. 7, 2008
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri women's swimming and diving team headed to Phoenix, Ariz., this past week for its annual training trip. The team not only plans to spend a good deal of quality time in the pool, but also looks to get out and enjoy all that Arizona's capital city has to offer. Providing a glimpse of the Tigers' time spent in the Grand Canyon State is senior Katie Gates in a daily journal.
Sunday
Day 5. Practice # 8. We got to sleep in again this morning and enjoy a nice breakfast at the hotel restaurant before heading over to the pool for our only workout of the day. Our three-hour practice began with a bit of team stretching on the soccer field behind the pool. This particular morning the masters program was having their morning swim and one of the group's children, a young boy named Cory, helped to cheer us along while we stretched and did a 20-minute run. He was really a lot of fun and added a light-hearted element to our difficult hour of running and med ball work. Tonight's water workout was a challenge for all three groups. Mid and distance went off the blocks and did 4 x 200s broken at the 50 for 10 to 15 seconds and sprint did 5 x 100s broken at the 50 for 10 seconds. We fired off about every 10 minutes. It was a bit chilly and rainy again, and getting up on those blocks was not as easy as it usually is at our pool back in Columbia, especially with the breeze. But the less than ideal conditions only fueled our desire for a quick start and even quicker race to warm us up. When 2 o'clock rolled around it was time for us to head over to the picnic provided by the parents (thanks again). There was a lot of great food, including two 6-foot sandwiches (just what every swimmer wants to see after a tough practice, endless amounts of food), chips, cookies and brownies. There was a playground next to the tables and a few of us decided to reenter our childhood. While some of us where playing like it was 1995, the rest of the crowd got into a few heated games of volleyball and a rousing round of Frisbee. I would say that the highlight of the evening though had to be the piñata. Yes, college kids still get excited over a cardboard box filled with sugary candy. I haven't seen that much excitement since the last time we had get out swims. Each class was supposed to have a turn giving the tiger piñata a good whack but unfortunately it only made it about half way through the junior class before spilling its goodies all over the grass. After a few hours at the park we jumped back in the vans and spent about an hour at the hotel before we had the choice to go to downtown Tempe for the evening. Downtown Tempe was very cool. There were quite a few shops and restaurants to choose from and even an older one-screen movie theatre where many of us chose to go and see the new comedy "Juno." Unfortunately we couldn't spend all night there shopping, which was probably for the better, and returned to the hotel around 9:00 to relax and rest before our workout the next day.
Monday
Day 6. Practices # 9 and 10. We're already in the double digits! This morning was our first early morning in a few days. Practice was from 7 to 9 and much like a normal Monday back at school. About half the group lifted weights first while the other half swam. Then we switched. We had been planning on going on a hike up one of the many mountains here in Phoenix, but unfortunately it was raining pretty hard this morning and all of last night. Apparently it rains about 9 inches in Scottsdale annually and, from what we've found out, much of it has been during our trip. Lucky for us living in Mid-Missouri has us trained to expect the unexpected when it comes to weather. This afternoon's workout kept with the theme and was challenging for both the distance and sprint groups. Distance was in the long course pool and did 40 x 50s threshold on 50 seconds. Sprint was in the short course pool, which was a nice change (we found out about half way through it was short course meters and none of us had even noticed. I guess that's what happens when you swim long course for a month). The sprint group also did a challenging set of 40 x 25s on 60 seconds fast. Tonight mid did an IM set working on their weakest stroke. We have a lot of time to relax and hang out this evening since our afternoon workout was from 1:30 to 3:30. Tonight a few people are heading over to the US Airways Center to watch the Phoenix Suns take on the Denver Nuggets. From what I have heard, the past few home games have been sold out so the atmosphere should make for quite an exciting night. Tomorrow is our last full day here in Arizona! The forecast for Tuesday is sunny with a high of 64. What a perfect way to spend our last day of training trip 2008!