Southern California Aquatics SCAQ Swim Club

1976 Silver Medalist, Clay Evans, sent this to me. It offers advice to triathletes and a free offer from Southern California Aquatics or SCAQ

So now its fall and you want to take a break and skip the pool. You swam hard, ran hard, and biked hard, in the summer so now lets take some time off and out of the pool. WRONG! Now is the time to take advantage of the base you built, the feel of the water and the technique you were working on over summer. You only need a couple of swims a week, three would be ideal.

Swimming is exceedingly complex in technique. This is due to a number of things. Obviously, it has a lot to do with the fact that it has been a long time since we crawled out of the primordial soup. We have to get back to our roots. You can take a break from running and biking because we do those far more naturally than we swim. After all, you walk on your legs every single day, but what about all those other muscles?

You were working muscles you never knew you had over the summer. Now is not the time to let them atrophy. They are developing physiologically and you are developing the motor skills to handle this new movement. There is a great feeling, a cathartic feeling when you hang in there and swim. Swimming uses all your muscles and stretches them in unique ways that is important to your overall fitness and training.
You [can]lose the “feel” of the water and reduce your ability to “catch” the water, faster than almost any other sport [if you don't keep swimming.]. SCAQ is willing to give you an incredible deal to motivate you to hang in there through the fall and winter months.

Here’s the deal: You will receive one FREE month of swimming and a set of technique or novice clinics for the price of only two months membership. A $140 value! Sign up now. Call the SCAQ office at 310-390-5700 for more information.

SCAQ also invites you to attend a special introductory swimming FALL workout and stroke evaluation this Sunday and every Sunday for the next four weekends. Starting October 8th from 8-9 am at Loyola Marymount University.

Now many of you tri-athletes will be talked into doing drills and watching video tapes over the winter. This just won’t be enough to make you a top finisher next season. You must keep up the vigorous base of aerobic and anaerobic training. Our program is the most successful adult swim program in the USA. Check out SCAQ at the SWIM.net web page.

However if you can’t get one of our eight huge beautiful pools then get to a coached masters workout near you. Lap swimming will never get you to your swim goals or burn the calories that an organized, coached workout will. Remember that 60% of the swimmers in our program are people that had us as their first swimming coach.

Our pools, and any public pools, are heated to 80 to 82 degrees all winter long. That is perfect! So, if you have taken a couple weeks off, that is enough. Get back in there. You will be stunned at how great it feels to swim in warm water when the air is cold. It’s exhilarating. I guarantee you will be miles, and laps, ahead of your competitors next year.

Don’t give up the swim!