Freestyle Week Tips & Videos

Hello everyone,

I found these clips on YouTube, which is truly a great
resource for all of us. In the coming weeks I'll post
videos of breaststroke and butterfly to correspond to
our stroke weeks.

In the meantime, please watch these clips - they are
all very short (under 30 seconds) so you have no
excuse! Note that all of these swimmers wait for "the
catch", immediately pop their elbows up and out
underwater to pull with their entire forearm, and
accelerate through their pull.

VIDEO 1: American record holder and Olympic silver
medalist Larson Jenson

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SBxlphJBIcM

VIDEO 2: My old teammate, former American record
holder, and 2-time Olymic silver medalist Erik Vendt

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2LWyWz1GVtQ

VIDEO 3: Not sure who this is, but it's a good slow
motion underwater view from the Olympics

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XDRtr7Kx0nU

I hope that was informative!

Coach Olver

A Fall Full of Short Course

Below is a list of upcoming short course meets:

Mission Viejo, October 7th
Santa Clarita, October 20th
UCLA, November 3rd
Southwest Masters Turkey Shoot, November 18th
Long Beach Grunions SCM Champs, November 30th to December 2nd

Get ready for short course meters.

77th Annual La Jolla Rough Water Swim

And rough it was! Many WH2Oers and friends of WH2O competed in the 77th annual La Jolla Rough Water Swim Meet on Sunday, September 9th in La Jolla Cove. It was sunny and gorgeous outside and the water temperature was a comfortable 70 degrees. And fish were actually visible in the water! There were garibaldi (the bright orange fish), kelp fish, and schools of small minnow-like fish in addition to kelp. Along with many age-group competitions, there were master swim events of one- and three- mile races. It seemed like there was a cast of thousands out to swim at this meet that was first held in 1916! 614 men and 437 women competed in the one-mile race. 527 men and women competed in the three-mile event.

Amy Dantzler started the day off right! The marine layer evaporated and the sun came blaring out just moments before the start of the Women’s One Mile event. The race start was broken into two groups (under 40 followed by over 40); Amy led her group from the start. She was dressed very stealth-like in her dark gray full-body suit and cap—all the more difficult for competition to spot her in the water! We lost site of her as we tried to track the race and then got confused when the announcer cited someone else as being in the lead (this writer kept saying the announcer was wrong; when Amy takes the lead, no one takes it away from her!). Amy started in the second group, but by the end of the race, she was in the mix with the first group, which only further added to the confusion. It took a long time before the results were announced, but Amy did win her group and got a very impressive 2nd place among all women competitors! Way to go Amy!

Tim Burke, Matt Knight and Bill O’Brien competed in the Men’s One Mile race. The fastest swimmer (Fran Crippen, 22, of Mission Viejo) finished the race in 18:47. The last one miler crossed the finish line in 1:02:44. The level of competition was very high-- Larson Jenson, the 1500 Free American Record holder was third in the event! Our Bill finished 18th overall and 2nd in his age group. Matt also made top five in his division.

What’s really amazing is that Amy, Matt and Tim followed up the one mile race with the three mile race not too long after!

The Three Mile “Gatorman” event is considered the premier event of the meet. It’s a long way across the cove to a pier and then you have to swim back! No matter how you do it, one way will be going against the current! The swim out seemed reasonable enough (although word has it that the lead group were a bit off course as some thought the race was to Catalina Island). Even though there were over 500 people in the race, once past the initial start, it doesn’t seem like there’s many people around. But as the pier started to loom-large and the turning buoys zoomed into view, everyone crowded in and the realization that a race was apace came back into focus! Boy was it ever choppy coming back! And navigation was tough because the sun was in the sky over the finish line. The outline of a distant high-rise hotel was all that was possible to cite on for most of the way back.

The Gatorman was won by the same Fran Crippen who won the mile earlier in the day. The winning time for the Gatorman was 54:10 with the last (527th) swimmer finishing in 2:06:00. The event was a mix of Master and Age-Group swimmers (13 years is the minimum age). Six of the top ten finishers were under 18 years of age. Brian Olver was first WH2Oer to cross the finish line. Brian took 30th overall and finished 2nd of 24 people in his division. Amy Dantzler was 52nd overall, the 10th fast woman finisher and 2nd of 17 in her division. Other WH2O competitors who finished in the top five medal count included: Gregg Ogorzolec (66th, 5th/58) and Tim Burke (97th, 4th/42). WH2O finishers included Jerry Shandrew, Bryan Libit, Matt Knight, Dan Adams and Rocky DeAngelis. Notable friends of WH2O at the meet included Alex Kostich (4th overall and 1st/28 in his age group) and Kevin Pearsall.

It was this writer’s first Gatorman. The race was amazing! The experience was incredible! At the 2-1/2 mile mark I developed a cramp and my arms started to feel like rubber. At the 2-3/4 mile mark I could finally see a finish line, which seemed to relieve the cramp and give me strength to see the race to the finish. The water was so choppy coming back I seemed to be taking on water (like a boat in rough water). I ran across the finish line and disposed of all that extra water before joining my mates for the recap! What a relief! Everyone acknowledged the water was choppy and the event was tough, but everyone was thrilled for having accomplished the course and seemed already energized to do it again next year.

Backstroke Week Commences

Just a reminder that this week is backstroke week. Workouts will not be entirely backstroke, but will have a backstroke emphasis. Enjoy the time on your back.

WH2O's Annual Banquet

This year's annual banquet will be held at the San Antonio Winery on Sunday, November 4th. Invitations will be going out via the U.S. Postal Service within the next few weeks. Please make sure you get your RSVP's and ballots for WH2O awards in by the RSVP date (whatever that is; Seth will let you know.) For more information about the San Antonio Winery, visit their website at http://www.sanantoniowinery.com/

That's it! Have a good day!

Climbing Mount Whitney: The Latest Cross-Training Craze?

by Jessica Seaton

Last year, despite training for and competing in both the Gay Games in Chicago and the FINA Masters World Championships, my swimming seemed to be going nowhere. I needed a mental and physical challenge beyond the pool.

Climbing Mount Whitney had always been a dream of mine and 2007, when I was at the top of my age group, seemed like a good year to indulge in a dramatic form of cross training to achieve a long-held goal. The hike is 22-miles roundtrip and involves a 6200-feet elevation gain between the Mount Whitney Portal trailhead and the 14,494-feet summit of the highest peak in the contiguous United States. I entered the requisite permit lottery and, expecting to have some companions along for the walk, was awarded five permits for a day hike on August 26. That was actually my preferred choice because it was close to a full moon and Whitney day hikes traditionally kick off before dawn.

I began my training steps towards the summit after the Worlds with short hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains and, as my legs got stronger, gradually increased the distances and varied the destinations. Though I did join the Gay and Lesbian chapter of the Sierra Club, finding people to hike with me was no easy task and many of my initial training hikes were solo.

Then Coach Bram suggested that I post a notice on the WH2O bulletin to attract team members interested in attacking Whitney. The first takers were Mike Crosby, who hadn’t made it to the summit during two previous attempts as a teenager, and Carlos Florez. Both men were almost half my age, were obviously in good shape and could carry me down if I was felled by blisters or met up with one the mountain’s notorious black bears.

I literally stumbled upon the next member of the Whitney cross training team one Sunday in early April when, during a 14-mile hike between Will Rogers State Park and Topanga Canyon State Park, I ran into WH2O team member Joel Stratte-McClure, who frequently hikes around LA to stay in shape for his ongoing trek around the Mediterranean Sea. During the next few months our team was completed with the addition of Ron “Rat” Rosager, a college friend of Joel’s, and Anna-Emily “AE” Gaupp, one of my patients who would pick up an additional permit on the day of the hike.

It was clear to me that preparation, good equipment, acclimation to avoid altitude sickness and luck with both the weather and health were the keys to making it up Whitney. Consequently I tried to encourage everyone except Rat, who lives in the Bay Area, to participate in weekly training hikes.


Joel and I were the most obsessive about our training. Our dozen outings together included climbs up Mount Lukens, the highest mountain in the city of Los Angeles; Mount Baldy, the highest mountain in Los Angeles County at 10,020 feet; and Mount San Gorgonio, at 11,500 feet the highest peak in Southern California. Mike and Carlos joined me on another trek up Baldy and AE was along on the hike to the top of San Gorgonio in mid August.

We all knew that the most unpredictable aspect of surmounting Whitney is the weather, particularly lightning storms that force many hikers to abandon their quest during a 10-18 hour round-trip that usually begins with a departure between 4-6 AM. Although it had been sunny for the week prior August 26, the weather forecast predicted thundershowers and lightning on the day of our hike. When I picked up our permits, a ranger advised us to begin the hike at midnight to avoid the lightning expected on the summit at 11 AM on Sunday. Fortunately I had extra batteries for my headlamp and was glad that I’d spent a week acclimating to the altitude in nearby Mammoth.

We were all gathered at the Whitney Portal, where the four men on the team had spent Friday night, on Saturday afternoon when the clouds rolled in and it began to rain with some thunder and lightning. During a rice and tuna “paella” dinner, which we ate under the trees as wasps swarmed the picnic table, we decided to try to sleep for a couple of hours and start the hike at 11 PM.

When we reached the trail the sky was clear, there no clouds, and the nearly full moon and cool temperature made it easy for all of us, with our headlamps beaming, to set off at a good pace. Almost immediately we encountered a hiker coming off the mountain that looked like he’d just finished a 400-meter butterfly without taking a breath. None of us felt encouraged and I silently hoped that I would look better than him when I came down. But we all became much more optimistic when our headlamps caught the attention of four-point buck amidst the trees and the moon rose to illuminate the towering peaks.

We made it through Outpost Camp and Trail Camp, two well-known points on the trail, without too much problem. Whenever the leader would lose the trail due to the darkness, we’d scan the surroundings with our headlamps and the closest person to the trail became the new leader. But when we reached the legendary 96 switchbacks Mike and Carlos fell behind and, we learned later, were forced to abandon the hike once they reached Trail Crest at 13,600 feet because of altitude sickness and dead headlamps.


For the remaining four of us, the final surge to the summit involved a cold walk on a poorly marked and difficult-to-negotiate (in the dark anyway) rock path from Trail Crest, where a sign warned hikers to abandon the ascent at the first hint of lightning. It was still dark when we saw the outline of the stone hut at the top of Whitney and reached the peak at 5:30 AM after hiking 11 miles in 6 hours and 45 minutes.

We were among the first hikers to the summit that morning and bundled up to combat the wind and cold, feast on our “breakfast” and watch the sunrise. As it got lighter an extraordinary landscape emerged out of the darkness to reveal raw-looking peaks nearby and small lakes in the distance.

After watching the cloud-obscured sunrise, we signed the register book and began our descent at 6:30 AM. We immediately realized that the last segment of our walk in the dark had been on a very narrow trail with very steep drop-offs, cliffs and crevices. Happy that we’d avoided a plunge into the abyss, we weren’t in any rush to get down and casually enjoyed the scenery that we’d missed on the way up. The predicted thunder, lightning and rain began just before our arrival at the trailhead thirteen-and-a-half hours after our departure. That night we talked to numerous hikers who, having set off a few hours after we did, were forced to abandon the hike due to the lightning storms.

Although I have no desire to walk up Whitney again in total darkness, I certainly believe it’s an ideal type of cross training. How will it pay off? I expect to swim a 400-meter butterfly without taking a breath as soon as I age up.

Fall is Upon Us...

...here are a few things you can expect at WH2O swim workouts over the next few months.

• We will commence stroke weeks for five continuous weeks effective Monday, September 17th starting with Backstroke (followed by Freestyle, Breast stroke, Butterfly and Individual Medley). Each week will provide emphasis on a particular stroke at workouts.

• We will re-convene the 10x100 check-sets the first Monday of each month (AM and PM workouts) starting Monday, October 1st. 100s will be your choice (you just have to stick to it for all of the check-sets in order to be able to compare). Coach Carole will be blogging all the details at WH2O.org prior to the first of the month.

• The video camera can be 'checked out' for individual use. If you can arrange someone to tape you, you can make arrangements to use the team equipment to record yourself swimming. Prior arrangements will have to be made with coaches to record during regular swim practices. Private arrangements can be made with coaches to critique a DVD you make of your swim.

• Our coaches will continue to give lots of feedback!

Have fun and swim well!

Luis Accepts Team Award

Luis Bahamon received on behalf of WH2O at SPM LCM Regional Championships this Summer the WH2O 6th place plaque from the SPMA SCY Regional Championships last Spring! Luis is pictured here with the award--for the benefit of all to see--at a recent WH2O weekend swim practice at Roosevelt High School.