Arena Powerfin's

It's been a while since I posted anything on here.....it's been manic! Back to High School after the summer break, started a new squad at the City of Leicester, plenty of homework that needs doing as soon as I get it and just trying to fit everything in :)

As part of our season's preparation, the squad has been running in the park on Tuesday night's....it's been brilliant, it's showed me how much i've missed running & i'm still quite rapid :)

I took delivery of some new Arena Powerfins the other day, I had a black pair before these but I've now outgrown them. They are the best for me as I know they are really making me work hard instead of those other makes that are sooo huge they only have to do 5 fly leg kicks with them on and they get to the end of the pool...to me, you're only cheating yourself and you'll wonder why you won't have that regional or national time by the end of the season :)

Arena Powerfins

What's your favorite piece of training equipment?

Coach Grant Kritzinger Camp

Had 3 great days at the Grant Kritzinger camp last week. Two sessions a day, 4 hours in the pool made me really think about loads of technical stuff. Starts, turns, transitions and brake-outs also learning about reactions times, entry and underwater work. Was pretty intense but was worth it....hope I remember it all! :)

Whilst we were at Loughborough ITC swimming pool, we had a nice surprise and met current 50m Backstroke World Record holder Liam Tancock  which was great, he was really nice :)

Liam Tancock having a quick questions and answers with us at the end of our session

Liam in the middle of the Kritzinger Squad, with me 2nd from top right smiling at the camera :)

Swim Camp with Olympic Coach Grant Kritzinger

I'm lucky enough to be going on a 3 day Performance swim camp with South African

coach Grant Kritzinger on the 21 - 23 August so I can't wait!

I'll be training at Loughborough University ITC in the mornings and then at Welbeck college in the afternoons so it's going to be busy :)

Leicester Sharks coaches +Darwin Davies and +Guy Worrow  will be there along with various coaches from the Leicester Penguins.

Coach Kritzinger has his own swim squad called Players in South Africa too. 

Grant Kritzinger

Grant is the coach for Cameron van der Burgh, who won gold at the 100m breaststroke in a new world record time at the London 2012 Olympics. Breaststroke is my favourite stroke so I'm really looking forward to some tips

Cameron van der Burgh

Coach Kritzinger has also been coaching the Maltese, fly and free swimmer, Andrew Chetcuti who holds 5 individual national records.

He was one of five athletes to compete for Malta in the London 2012 Olympics

Andrew Chetcuti

It's going to be AWESOME!

Having fun pool side with swimmerjd and charlieread2000

A little bit of footage of me and Charlie Read messing about after we'd

been talking to the camera man!

Click here to see it! 

Swim Wales Summer National Swim Video's

I've managed to find my heats and swims from the Welsh Nationals and save them to

Tube Chop so that I can only see my races instead of the whole session :)

I seem a little way down on the other swimmers during my races...thats because they are 14 and i've only just turned 13 so I'm not that far down really! (In the 1st and 4th video I'm nearest the camera at the start)

200 IM Lane 1 (finished 10th 13 year old)

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1384672

200 Breast Stroke Lane 7 (finished 5th 13 year old)

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1384883

100 Breast Stroke Lane 2 (finished 10th 13 year old)

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1384899

200 Back Stroke Lane 1 (finished 6th 13 year old)

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1384911

400 Freestyle Lane 4 (finished 5th 13 year old)

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1384926

Success at the British Gas Swim Wales Summer Nationals!

I had an amazing time at the Welsh Nationals, spent time with my mates, had a BBQ with Charlie Read (and his mum and sister, that's Charlie in the photo!) and Simon Scully at Charlie's campsite.

The event was streamed live for the whole week and now footage from every day is available to watch on YouTube

Below is a screenshot of me and Charlie that Swim Wales tweeted whilst we were there!

I had 5 great swims and got 5 PB's. I realised that the times that they had taken from the national rankings were short course times converted to long course as these were faster.

I'm really pleased that I've not put any time on considering it's at the end of the season.

These are my new times:

200 IM 2:37.81

200 Breast 2:57.83

100 Breast 1:24.68

200 Back 2:34.82

400 Free 4:47.25

:)

Swim Wales Poster

This is a poster that my dad +Darwin Davies has done for the City of Leicester squad for when we go to the Welsh Nationals in a few days. It's a photo of me at my first open meet about 4 years ago!

@SWIMLEIC  @SWIMWALES  #BGSN

A drive in a Caterham!

Just before we go into the last week of training for the season, I was lucky enough to be taken out by +Guy Worrow to let my hair down (or up!) in his Caterham. It was supremely quick (0-60 in 4.6 sec) and low to the ground.....could have stayed out all day :)

Next stop British Gas Swim Wales Summer Nationals!

Live Streaming of British Gas Swim Wales Summer Nationals 2013

Just found out that there'll be live streaming of the Welsh Summer Nationals of all the heats and finals how cool is that? Coverage starts on 27/7/2013 - 02/08/2013

I was looking forward to it before, now I can't wait!

My entries are:

200 IM 2:37.71

200 Breast 2:58.04

100 Breast 1:24.34

200 Back 2:32.83

400 Free 4:46.66

Follow me on twitter to find out how I get on swimmerjd ;)

City of Leicester Sprint Meet at the Pool of Dreams!

Had a great day at the City of Leicester Sprint Meet at Loughborough University's

"Pool of Dreams"

This is a photo of me and some of my team mates taking a breather during lunch

the weather was great :)

Part of the City of Leicester Squad Loughborough ITC July 2013

Braunstone Sprints 3 Gold's and a Silver!

I had a great day on Sunday at the Braunstone Sprints Open Meet, it was good to spend all day with my Sharks mates, hadn't seen a few of them for a while. Got some good times, would have liked to have dropped a second on my 50 free and 50 fly as I've been working on my fly, lots have improved but I want the times to show it. It'll be my last Braunstone Sprints so it was good to finish well.

I came 2nd in the boy's aggregate time by just under a second, it was my fly and free that cost me first place but I'm very happy with what i've got as I'm not really a sprinter!

50 Back 33.74 Pos 1

100 Free 01:02.41 Pos 1 (mqt)

100 IM 01:13.46 Pos 1

50 Breast 38.61 Pos 2

50 Fly 35.32 Pos 4

50 Free 29.97 Pos 5

Aggregate Time: 04:33.51 (Pos 2)

I'm on twitter too @swimmerjd :)

British Gas Swim Wales Summer Nationals

Below is a photo of me standing outside the Wales National Pool Swansea last year where I took part in the Welsh Nationals. I'm really looking forward to it this year as we'll have quite a big squad going from the City of Leicester and it'll be cool to compete with my mates for a few days plus it's a really nice pool!

This year I've entered for the following races:

200 IM 2:37.71, 200 Breast 2:58.04, 100 Breast 1:24.34, 200 Back 2:32.83, 400 Free 4:46.66

Can't wait!

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @swimmerjd :)

My Personal Best Times

You'll see a screen shot below of all of my current pb's. I'm looking forward to the Braunstone Swimming Club Sprint meet this Sunday where I'll be competing with 68 Leicester Sharks swimmers, we'll be the biggest club there. It'll be good to get some short course 50m sprint times in the bag. The following week it's the City of Leicester long course sprint meet  where we'll be at the Loughborough ITC 50m pool

Hopefully I can get plenty of pb's over the next couple of weeks before we go to the Welsh Nationals at the end July before a well earned rest over the summer :)

Champion (Inspiration)

I like this type of thing, it makes you think....

follow me on twitter too @swimmerjd

Virtual Notice Board

Below is a virtual notice board of some of the things from this blog along with some times and some other virtual stuff! :)

thanks +Darwin Davies for making it look so real!

Exceptional (Inspiration)

My TYR Alliance Team Backpack 2

The only bag I ever want to be poolside with, my TYR Alliance Team Backpack 2, i'd be lost without it and so would most of the swimmers around the world I think.

It's big, strong, it's got loads of pockets and it's cool to customise. Mine's only got the badge I got for swimming for my county, an ID tag that my dad made and Ross Davenport's and Melanie Marshall's autographs but the girls at the City of Leicester have lots of things hanging from thiers!

What have you got hanging on yours?, maybe +TYR Sport Inc. should start a "what's on yours" photo campaign on twitter and on google+, i'm sure they'd get loads of picture tagged on @TYRSport

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @swimmerjd

200m Breast Regional (Midlands) Ranking Time

Hi guys, I saw this today whilst i was looking at my official times on-line at swimming.org. It was nice to see that i'm currently 6th in the region, in my age group. I've been working on my breaststroke lately and it feels really strong, can't wait for another short course meet to try it out!

There's also a few of my mates on there that I train with every day, Joshua Monroe, Elliot Ives and Joel Weston

Wherever you are in the world, what's your best ranked time?

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @swimmerjd :)

A few of my medals

Thought i'd upload a few shots from one of my medal shelves. This one shows my boxes for my Speedo Fastskin³ Elite jammers, Fastskin³ Elite goggles, Arena Powerskin R-Evo+ jammers and my Arena Cobra goggles that I use for training.

It also shows my medals from the City of Leicester open meet, the Coventry open meet, some from the County Championships, one from the Leicester Sharks and various others.

The one below are my medals from the Nuneaton and Bedworth Spring Qualifying Meet where I had my best meet ever....I won 4 Golds and 1 Silver and got into my first final!

My Beats Solo HD's

These are my Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ Solo™ HD headphones that I use when I'm poolside at swim meets....it wouldn't be the same without my Beats!

Dr Dre Beats Solo HD's get me in my zone