June 19, 2023
Our team newsletter, the Monday MEMO:
Dear 2021 Club of the Year and defending PacMasters SCM/SCY Champion MEMOs,
Important stuff:
There’s a new schedule this week — LOOK!!
Well finally we’re back to some sort of normal schedule in MEMOland! Check the box below. We’re going to add two hours/day this week, and then right away drop one of them! I just can’t afford to pay much over 40 hours/month with the number of people we now have on the team. This is doubly difficult to bring back our old schedule at this time, even though it’s summer. This is the season that all my teachers come back — and then go away on vacation. And even though it’s also the time that college kids come back (welcome Jivana Nagpal and Cesar Robles!!), lots of other people move and get new jobs. And starting mid-month means that people have already paid for a month somewhere else (sigh). Hopefully in July folks will come back in larger numbers. We can always add a few 9:30s later. I can’t wait to get out of the house again!
Long Course Season!
We had a nice 10-person showing at last Saturday’s Quicksilver meet in San Jose, where 13 new team records were set. While some age groups are still a little sparse, in this lightly-competed-in format (LCM), we are getting to the point where lots of MEMOs are now breaking other MEMO’s records — which is fun to see the longitudinal evolution! Here are the new names in the list! Vicki Shu (W/55-59) 400 Free, 5:54.15; 100 Fly, 1:20.42. Cesar Robles (M/18-24) 50 Breast, 33.10; 50 Free, 28.86; 100 Breast, 1:17.10. Jimmy Song (M/40-44) 100 Back, 1:36.15; 100 Breast, 1:26.73. Todd Wehmann (M/50-54) 400 Free, 5:28.12; 50 Back, 38.59. Keith Hertzer (M/50-54) 200 IM, 3:12.81. Jeff Citron (M/65-69) 100 Back, 1:31.63. Stephen Small (M/70-74) 100 Free, 1:23.09; 400 Free, 6:31.30. Congrats to the new record holders and all the folks who took part! It was a beautiful day and we had a nice team lunch enhanced by friends from other clubs. In between bites I made them all promise to enter the 400 KFT.
The Big Swim:
This Saturday I’m going to supervise a select group of MEMOs who will attempt the USMS Virtual National Championship 5K/10K swim. This has to be done in a 50m pool, and I’ve found one in Concord that has open lap swim hours on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately the window for lap swim time means that only FAST people can enter the 10K (I know, boo hoo). If you can’t hold 1:30s for like all day long you can’t enter. If you can hold 2:00 per 100 … for FIFTY of them … you can swim the 5K and make it within the deadline. You also need to register in advance AND bring a person to count for you (not your watch). You cannot enter this without listing the name of that counter person. And if you don’t get there on time this is not going to happen. This is a really big thing that will alter your training for the entire month. While you can technically do this any time before September 15, this is kind of a big ask for me to help and I’d like to do this just this one time. I think this is the optimum time. LMK!!
Swimming News:
Australia is having its World Championship trials now; most of Europe has recently concluded theirs. The US Championships will begin in two weeks, in Indianapolis. The pool at Indiana University is known as UIPUI (pronounced oo-ee-poo-ee), the P having something to do with Purdue. This will be the site of next year’s USMS Spring Nationals as well. For your long term planning, this will be held June 20-24, overlapping with the USA Olympic Trials June 15-23 in the same city … but another pool. USMS will be offering special tickets for USMS members, along with other meet-and-greet opportunities (with donation). FYI, seats where you can actually see the entire race from the side are over $2000. If you like watching basketball games from under the basket, or seeing movies from the front row, there are other options you might like. And of course, there’s always television.
On the Couch:
I’m starting Season 4 of The Sopranos, which has resulted in me taking a good chunk of time to research where the best manicotti is, near the ‘Dro. Even though everyone sits down to dinner, takes one bite and then gets into an argument or a gun battle, my takeaway is that the Italian food looks soooo good. We also saw the final season of the wonderful Never Have I Ever, which is a wonderful family-teen-diversity comedy with clever writing. Keep your suggestions coming!
Parka TIME:
Our own Nia Doyle makes custom orders. Need longer sleeves? Shorter length? She can do it. If you want one, go to her website thefabricmermaid.com. You can also get beanies and baseball caps.
Birthdays!
Happy MEMO birthday tomorrow to Robert Inchausti and Danielle Ruymaker, on Sunday. I will be available for your Gauntlet!
Celebrity Swimmer Birthdays:
This week is the birthday of Dana Kirk, a multiple Pac-10 champ and NCAA butterfly finalist from Stanford, who was part of the first set of sisters to make an Olympic swim team, in 2004. Dana finished 9th in the 200 fly; her sister Tara won silver by swimming the prelims of the 400 Medley Relay. Dana is now the Director of Aquatics at Fremont Hills, which is a part of the PASA conglomerate (huge, successful age group team in Palo Alto). She has been mentioned as a candidate to the open Assistant Woman’s coach position at her alma mater, but nothing has been announced yet. Dana is also an All American Masters Swimmer and coach, winning Pacific’s Coach of the Year award in 2022. (I just put that link so you could see my name, so long ago!) She’s very smart and very cool. Her sister Tara has an even more interesting story, but we’ll have to wait until next month to hear that.
SCHEDULE
This Week (June 19-25):
MONDAY is a federal holiday. NO practices.
Tuesday:
6:30-7:30** ALAMEDA
8:30-9:30** ENCINAL
9:30-10:30** ENCINAL
Wednesday:
6:30-7:30* ALAMEDA
8:30-9:30 ENCINAL
9:30-10:30 ENCINAL
Thursday:
6:30-7:30** ALAMEDA
11:30-1:00 ENCINAL
Friday:
6:30-7:30 ALAMEDA
8:30-9:30 ENCINAL
Sunday:
7:30-9:00 ENCINAL
* = Coach Miriam
**= Coach Evgenii
UPCOMING COMPETITIONS and EVENTS:
POOL
June 25-30 IGLA Championships, London close
July 9 Silver State LCM, Carson City closes July 7
July 21-23 Pacific Masters LCM Championships, Novato closes July 12
August 2-6 USMS Summer Nationals, Sarasota closes July 10
August 2-11 FINA World Masters Championships, Fukuoka, Japan closes June 28
October 6-8 Pacific Masters SCM Championships, Walnut Creek
OPEN WATER
July 9 USMS National Championships Ultramarathon (9+ miles), Portland full, but there’s a waiting list!
July 15 TransTahoe Relay (not a sanctioned USMS swim)
July 15 USMS National Championships Marathon (6-9 miles), Applegate Lake, OR
July 29-30 Santa Cruz Open Water Weekend
August 12 Donner Lake closed
August 12 USMS National Championships Middle-Distance (1-3 miles), Lake Oahe, SD
August 26-27 Lake Del Valle (Sat = 5K/10K, Sun = 1.2K/2.5K)
September 10 Whiskeytown Lake
September 16 USMS National Championships Long-Distance (3-6 miles), Lake Mission Viejo, CA
September 17 USMS National Championships Sprint Distance (1 mile), Lake Mission Viejo, CA
September 17 Keller Cove
VIRTUALS (formerly Postals)
May 1-June 30 ALB Distance Fly (500, 1000, and/or 1650), $10 each or $15 for two events
May 15-Sept 15 5K/10K USMS National Championships (50m pool only)
August 1-31 400 Fastest Pull for Sebastapol
Sept 15-Nov 15 3000/6000 USMS National Championships (info only)
December 1-31 400 Kick For Time
EVENTS
November 12 Pacific Masters Annual Meeting and Celebration (in person, finally) TBA