Bulldogs blog training trip to Puerto Rico
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University swimming program departs for Puerto Rico today and Bulldog fans will have the opportunity to follow them every step of the way. Bryant's five captains, Amy D'Olympia, Katherine Unger, Casey Ostrander, Brendan Heller and Alex Kosenski will be blogging throughout their training trip.
The five student-athletes will be sharing their experiences through blog posts, videos and pictures. They will be posting daily and blog posts can be found here.
Here is the first post from senior Amy D'Olympia:
Day 1- Wednesday
After a long day of traveling yesterday and little sleep for most, we started the day early with a 7:00 a.m. swim. When the upperclassman went down to the lobby to catch the bus, we were all excited to see our old friend, and bus driver, Koko. Although he still does not speak a word of English and his music collection was lacking this year, it is still nice to see a familiar face.
The morning practice was split up into our training groups; distance, mid distance and sprinters. Half way through the workout we could all feel the warm sun beating down on our backs, and knowing that we were getting tan made practice a lot more enjoyable. After a good morning practice we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a nice breakfast before we got ready to hit the beach and work on our tans some more.
Some enjoyed the warm sun, while others napped the day away before our second practice. We headed back to the pool at four o'clock for a tough workout which everyone attacked well. There is a track conveniently next to the pool where we had some post swim relays among the team. Everyone put in their best effort and it made for some close and exciting races.
We then headed to the grocery store to stock up on food for the week. It makes it a little bit hard to navigate the store when all of the signs are in Spanish but we managed to make it out alive. Some made the short walk back to the hotel with shopping carts so that they could stop for some fast food on the way, while others packed on the bus with all of the grocery bags and drove back to the hotel down the street.
Tomorrow we will start the day early again as we head to San Juan for a quick practice prior to competing against some top division I schools who are also training in the area.
(Written by: Amy D'Olympia)
Day 2- Thursday
For the Boys, By the Boys
Day two of training trip started with a morning practice session in San Juan. Then we hopped on the bus and did a quick relocation to another pool nearby. We got to the other pool and were greeted by the swim teams from Notre Dame, University of Connecticut, United States Military Academy, Southern Illinois, University of South Dakota, and other local Puerto Rican swimmers.
Despite being only in our fourth year of Division I and swimming against some very talented teams, the Bulldogs went to work. It was a fun atmosphere and there were some good races against BIG EAST champions from Notre Dame and UConn, and future Army Officers from West Point. Not only that, but the swim meet provided some time to relax in between races, something we haven't done much of since landing on the island less than 48 hours ago.
We have had three practices in the pool, done one session of running, competed in a swim meet, and have a dry-land session still to go for tonight. Despite the constant training, spirits are high. We have been staying motivated by keeping in mind the light at the end of the tunnel – championship season next month. We have also found ways to stay motivated by staying positive despite soreness and fatigue, especially by remembering the fact that when you train 4+ hours a day, you can essentially eat everything and anything you want.
With that being said, the highlight of the day was when Tim McGrath attempted to eat a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts on the bus ride to our hotel from where we stopped for lunch after the meet. Despite a valiant effort, Tim still had 2 jelly donuts and half a chocolate donut to go when we made it back. It did make for an exciting bus ride though…I'm just not trying to stay near him while we're running tonight…
(Written by: Brendan Heller)
Day 3- Friday
Day three was definitely not an easy one, but all the Bulldogs attacked the difficult practices with high energy and enthusiasm. We arrived at the pool in Corozal for our first practice at 7:00 a.m., where we broke up into our specific stroke groups for the first hour. After we finished our stroke practices, the last hour we all came back together for a general practice. The main set for the general practice was a set of descending 100's, where you would drop out once you stopped making the interval. Graham Beck and Taylor DeBever put up outstanding performances, being the last two swimmers in the pool and outlasting everyone else. Other notable performances were given by Abby Whittaker, Alex Kosenski, Molly Smith, and John Lawson.
After spending a few hours on the beach, the Bulldogs returned to the pool at 4:00 p.m. for another practice and some heavy rain. The afternoon's practice consisted of a notorious training trip set: 21 200's. This set is always a challenging one, but everyone put in a great effort throughout. We finished the night with some running on the track, while simultaneously getting drenched by the heavy rain. Overall, day three was a challenge but the Bulldogs made it a success.
(Written by: Katherine Unger)
Day 4- Saturday
Becoming Immune to the soreness
On day four we started off at the pool at 7am. Our sprint group was separated from the Mid-distance/Distance groups, and we began yet again a very challenging workout. In sprint group today we were greeted by Coach Cameron with 55 100s. The workout was challenging, but the hot sun beaming down on the pool really kept the moral high. Though almost everyone is feeling the soreness of this week's practices, we have really come together as a team to motivate one another. Many swimmers stood out with great performances this morning, those included John Lawson, Derek Hawkes, Kaitlin Buckley, Cameron Hessler, Amy D'Olympia, Alex Dropo, and Keagan Boshoff.
After returning to the hotel from practice, most of the team will head to the beach for a few hours, while others will spend time in bed taking a nap. Tonight we will enter the pool again and break up into our stroke groups. Rumor has it that we will be doing one of our traditional training trip sets of 10 X 200s stroke.
I put together this little video to show you our room and to talk about day four.
Day 5- Sunday
Taco Maker
We started the day same as any other in Puerto Rico, meeting the bus before sunrise outside the hotel. We made the usual bus ride to the pool but this day was a little different than most. This morning we had to prepare ourselves to run the Taco Maker hill. This is one of the steepest road inclines you will see that leads up to the pool and this was the morning that we would be running up it. We didn't just run it once, but 3 times down and up the hill. Although we were all feeling the burn in our legs, the encouragement from everyone on the team whether in first or last was inspiring. We then split up into our different groups for our swim workout. This was going to be our only workout of the day so we were all motivated to give it our all.
We headed back to the hotel for breakfast and quickly gathered our beach stuff to head to San Juan for the day. We were dropped off at the beach and everyone enjoyed a warm and sunny day. The waves were perfect for some body surfing at the beach. We went back to the hotel for a team pasta dinner. Tomorrow will be our last full day of training in Puerto Rico before we head back to Smithfield on Tuesday afternoon. We are all looking tanned and toned after being here for 5 days of hard training in the sun.
(written by: Amy D'Olympia)
Day 6- Monday
Day six was like every other day. We got on the bus in the darkness of the early morning, got to the pool as the sun came up, swam for two and a half hours, and then headed to the beach. Believe it or not, we then got back on the bus, and went back to the pool, and had another swim session. This one went pretty well so Coach rewarded our hard work with a water polo game at the end of practice. It was nice beating up on teammates that you've been with 24-7 for the last week, especially when you're tired and cranky from training non-stop. Then we got back on the bus as the sun went down, and got back to the hotel the same way we left it in the morning, in the darkness of night. Another day done.
We have completed eleven swim practices in the last six days since we've been on the island, and have one more to go. A 5:00 am wake-up call tomorrow to head to the pool so we can crush one more workout before we check out of the hotel and fly home. The practices have all blurred together, and the feeling of constantly being tired has become normal for everyone. Yet, this is the hardest working group of teammates in any kind of organization that I have ever been involved in. No one has ever given up or threw in the towel. Someone different has stepped up in every workout, picking each other up and working together, fighting past the pain, going into the dark place no one likes to go to. It has truly made for a great training trip.
Watch out for the Bryant Swim Team at the end of the season when all this hard work pays off. People sometimes throw around the phrase that there are no limits. With this team, there truly are no limits.
(written by: Brendan Heller)