A picture is worth a thousand words

Today's practice was a short set with a surprise KOK at the end.  After practice the team went to different places for breakfast, including Hawaii's famous Eggs n' Things and IHOP for those who could not find a table at Eggs n' Things.  The team then went to various beaches to soak up the sun one last time.  Some people chose instead to go hiking to enjoy some of Hawaii's beautiful scenery.  The day closed with a fantastic dinner buffet at the Willow Club where the team enjoyed lobster, prime rib, and delicious pineapple ice cream.  Once dinner was finished, thousands and thousands of pictures were taken to document the meal.  The team returned to the dorm to get some much needed sleep before the 100 100's tomorrow and the conclusion of training trip.

-Zack Browne'18

Just another day in paradise.

Another beautiful morning and another 6am practice at Punahou high school. Although the water tastes funny, I am always very surprised how nice the facilities are - it can be compared to most commercial pools back home.

Most guys did the fun “Christmas Tree Set” while I had to repeat the set I did poorly on yesterday. These were all nice sets all around and the practice (and the following dryland with Coach B) went on surprisingly quickly. After the practice we all made it for brunch in “Hawaiian Foco” (aka Halo Aloha Dining Hall) where good part of us leisured for a couple of hours. Since today was our second double in a row, and we all felt beaten, most of the guys decided to take a really long nap instead of going to the beach. As there is always an exception Joby took a van with 2 other guys and went hiking, but got splashed in mud along the way - the van now have “mud racing stripes” all over (I have to admit, although it’s dirty, it looks really cool).

We had somewhat early afternoon practice due to the weird dining hall hours - and the practice was a blast. I suspected that it’ll be fun as soon as Jim asked us to bring our racing suits, however, I did not expect so much racing.

A lot of stand-ups and a lot of races, while pushing each other on every rep. Big shoutout to Misha, who absolutely killed the two-hundreds with 1:44’s on second set!

After a run to a dinning hall, for what was our last meal there, we all got into our team-bonding activities and got ready for what will be our second to last practice.

Just another day in paradise.

-Bruno Korbar '18

Lets go surfing now

Our last Friday here in Oahu began with a little bit of an adventure while trying to find a different pool that we have been training at.  We ventured to Punahou High School which may have only been right down the road, but with construction and no one knowing exactly where to go, it took a little bit of time to get there.  Our first short course practice in a long time went very well and we worked on our underwaters and sprinting.

After practice, we went to breakfast and then split ways.  Some of us stayed at the hotel to get some much needed rest and time out of the sun, some went to Waikiki to spend time at the beach, and some had to go finish their shopping for Secret Santa later that night. A small group of us went to the North Shore to watch the final day of the Pipemasters Surf competition.

Pipemasters is the final competition of the surfing Triple Crown and the final day brought in enormous crowds.  The waves were the largest of the competition and the surfing was top notch.  This was the first surfing competition I have ever seen and I have to say that this is the most amazing thing I have ever seen a human do, not to mention just how attractive the surfers themselves are.  Watching the competition was a lot of fun, as we stood knee-deep in the water amazed by the surfers shooting out of pipes from the waves.  I spent a lot of time attempting to take pictures with them and managed to get a few.  The crowd favorite had to be Gabriel Medina from Brazil.  He won the world championship of surfing and the Brazilians who came to watch went crazy and carried him off the beach!  The other major contender was Julian Wilson from Australia.  He faced off with Medina for the Pipemasters Championship in an epic showdown with near perfect scores that ended up with Wilson winning by .42!  With this victory, Wilson won the Triple Crown and the Pipemasters Championship.

After watching an amazing day of surfing, we began the journey back from the North Shore.  We drove through the amazing Hawaiian countryside watching out the windows as pineapple plantations, amazing beaches, and dense jungles flashed by outside.  We took a wrong turn on the way back, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  We drove through the mountains and got to see the most amazing views on the entire island!

When we went to practice that night, Coach Lexi was coaching solo, so she used Timo ’17 to help her coach sprint group.  The distance group did an infamous training trip set of 6x900s, but they actually got out of practice earlier than the other two groups.  We ended practice with a team cheer and shout outs to those who have been working exceptionally hard in practice.

After dinner, we finished the day with a team tradition of Secret Santa.  Everyone on the team draws the name of another teammate and gets them a typically funny gag gift.  The night was filled with laughter and team bonding.  Afterwards the Chanukah celebrations continued before everyone headed to bed to rest up for practice in the morning.

Caroline Filan ‘18 

A day like any other.

Today, early in the morning, we went to swim our practice. It has been started at 6am as usual.  While we were swimming, we watched how fast the Sun is rising over our heads. After spending two hours of hard working, we happily had a breakfast at our new "FoCo". At 11am we had the opportunity to go for hiking into one of the nearest mountains. Out of the top of the mountain, we could see picturesque scenery. We as a team enjoyed hiking. Spending time with friends or teammates is probably the best way to entertain yourself. After hiking, some of our guys went to Waikiki beach, so I decided to join them. Waikiki beach is famous for beautiful white sand and a lot of different stores where you can find almost everything you want. In conclusion, I want to say that it was pretty nice day full of entertainment and hard work.

-Mischa Tovmashenko '18

A Big IM Day for DCSD!

After enjoying a long break from the pool, we started back up again at 6am on Monday morning. The team split up into distance, stroke, and sprint groups. Everyone walked away feeling good about the practice. It was a challenging practice but a good loosen up from our time off. After practice, and lift for the ladies, we spent a leisurely morning in Gateway for breakfast and headed back to Lincoln Hall to begin the day's activities. 

I decided to take a day away from the sun, do some much needed laundry, and get some rest. Other people decided to take advantage of the beautiful Hawaiian day and spent it relaxing on the beach at Waikiki. Katie Papa '16 had an especially exciting day when she tried her first Jamba Juice! 

At 4pm we regrouped for debatably the hardest practice so far...the notorious 400 IM set. The set consists of 16 400 IMs or 26 200 IMs. The set was challenging both mentally and physically, but DCSD came through stronger in the end! We walked away from the pool feeling exhausted but extremely proud of the hard work we had put in for the day. After a big and well deserved meal at Gateway, we all went to bed early to get ready for 6am practice the next morning. 

- Katie Altmayer '18

Salt water swim

The day started early with a morning practice at six in the morning. The day started off a little bit roughly as I woke up with a headache and an emerging cough…signals of a developing sickness. Ignoring these symptoms, I began the trek towards practice. The light rain during my walk to practice woke me up and made me feel a bit more refreshed.

                  This morning practice was a bit different from previous ones. Instead of splitting into groups based on stroke or distance like we usually did, today we split into groups of guys and girls. The practice focused on aspects of changing pace and underwater work. We finished off the practice with some relays that divided the boys into two groups starting off at opposite ends of the pool with the goal being to catch up to the other team. We had to cut the relay short as the men’s team was due in the University of Hawaii weight room for our lift session. The lift session was enjoyable and productive as everybody in the room continued to work hard to achieve their goals.

                  We had no afternoon practice that day, so instead the entire team traveled to Lanikai Beach Park for an ocean swim practice. There we were met by a couple Dartmouth alumni that helped us pick the course for our swim. To be honest, I was not extremely excited for this ocean swim as I was not a big fan of open water swimming but as soon as my teammates and I all jumped in together I realized that there was nothing to be worried about and I was able to relax and enjoy the experience of the swim. We originally planned to swim to a close island; however, the waves proved to be a little too large for the swim to continue, so Coach Jim altered the course to a more favorable area. The swim lasted for roughly a half hour and afterwards people stayed by and took pictures or just relaxed and soaked up the beach environment.

                  After the ocean swim, a few of us decided to grab some smoothies, so we hopped into the vans and drove to a local juice store called Lanikai Juice. This juice place happened to be pretty famous as they had a brief stint on the Oprah show and were praised for the usage of only fruits in their smoothies. The portions that they had were extremely large and their smoothies were the best that I have ever had. After enjoying our refreshments decided to head back to the hotel to enjoy some relaxation as we knew that we had another day of hard training ahead of us.

Tony Shen ’18 

Date Night, Pearl Harbor, and North Shore! Oh My!

That’s right. Date night.  Once a training trip, all the ladies on the team pick a random name out of a bag that matched them with a men’s team member. How the newly formed couples approach the night varies greatly. Couples went solo or took Waikiki by storm in large groups. Aaron, whose actual girlfriend drew Jay, Mr. Steal Your Girl Schulte, decided to keep an eye on him and went on a group date, choosing to take photos hanging on the rim of a local basketball court (Check out the photo). Regardless of who got whom, everyone had a great time. Everyone got at least one awesome photo trying to one up other groups. At the end of the night, nothing could beat siting on Waikiki as the moon shone above and the waves crashed on the shore.

We didn’t have any practice that whole day which gave us our first day off of the trip. After a 630 AM wake up, everyone met up with their drivers and went down to the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. The trip made us appreciate where we are all coming from; some of our own relatives fought in the war. The boat ride out to the platform above the Arizona made me sit back and give thanks for both my grandfathers who stormed the beaches of France and all of the men who fought for their country. From there, the team went to pipeline. Pipeline is the Mecca of gnarly barrels. The waves were choppy that day so the Masters competition was called off for the day. Still, walking onto the beach and seeing all of the team react to the giant waves put a smile on my face.  

Nap time is my time

The second full day in Hawaii started just like the first, with a small breakfast at the University of Hawaii dining hall and then a 9:30 a.m. morning practice. Everyone was expecting the painful ladder set, but to everyone’s surprise, we kicked off our morning with a split distance and sprint group practice.  Even though both practices were still quite difficult, everyone killed the practice and then began figuring out their agenda for the rest of the day. 

There were no scheduled activities for us during the day, so people had the option to do whatever they wanted. While a couple vans of people went out to Waikiki beach to lie in the sun or hang out in the ocean, I was still getting over jet lag and decided to nap before our 4:30 p.m. practice.

When I arrived at afternoon practice, I immediately could tell who stayed in their rooms to sleep all day versus who went to the beach since the beach-goers were almost all already sunburnt. Afternoon practice was a blast, since we broke into groups by stroke and I went to the backstroke lane. All the groups did a practice that consisted of a variety of 50s, such as some kicking, pulling, fin work, and some regular swimming as well. After practice, everyone was in a great mood because of the shorter distance yet still intense practice. We all then went to eat dinner at the cafeteria and then everyone went to sleep shortly after to get ready for the next day in paradise.

-Henry Senkfor '18 

20x100s

Overall, today was a very uplifting day for DCSD. It started out with a great, solid practice at 7:00 am where the fun and unusual warm-up deceived everyone until Jim dropped the KOH bomb on us. The reactions were priceless, but it ended up being a generally successful practice for most, so that left everyone in good spirits. It was essentially agreed upon that KOH was easier to manage in a long-course set-up than in a pool that was configured for short-course. It was definitely easier to maintain a steady kick and stroke rate without the excess walls disrupting the cycle.

After practice, the team powered through dryland and hit the showers before piling into the vans and making the short trek to the Heritage Center. There we were welcomed with open-arms and were given a tour of the garden that held various native Hawaiian plants, rocks, and other natural elements. The docents were all very passionate about the subject and their enthusiasm was contagious. Then came a delicious banquet of a lunch where we met some Dartmouth alumni and chatted over sandwiches and fruit. From there, the team was on their own to carry out whatever they wanted to do. It was our first day without having an afternoon practice, so everyone was buzzing with excitement about all the various things they could do. Some vans went to Waikiki and either enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the beach or took the opportunity to get in a little shopping in the beautiful mall outlet. Other vans commuted to Diamondhead to journey up the mountain on a short hike to enjoy the sights and nature of the Hawaii tropics.

This day had been filled with fun and frolic for DCSD, especially rewarding after coming off of a successful morning practice. Here's to another week of getting down to business and reaping the benefits!!

-Hayley Winter'18

Another Day in Paradise

Friday started early with our first 6 am practice of training trip. The stars were still shining bright as we all made the seemingly endless trek to the pool on our tired legs. Practice was hard work, but it was certainly rewarding. Also, for the first time, practice included both pools: the 50 meter one where most of our training takes place, and the 25 yard one which was, interestingly enough, salt water. After a dryland circuit for the men and a lifting session for the women, breakfast was the first thing on everyone's mind. 

Following a nourishing meal at the Gateway Cafe, a.k.a. Hawaiian Foco, van-loads of swimmers embarked for the day's numerous activities. Some chose to spend a very chilled afternoon on the nearby Waikiki beach. Others drove to the North Shore to enjoy a private beach, and watch radical surfers competing in Pipemasters. Finally, the more adrenaline inclined athletes travelled to Laie Wayside for some cliff diving. 

The drive across Oahu was breathtaking, which shining beaches on our right and soaring, jagged, and jungled mountains to our left. The peaks erupted to abruptly from the flat fields that they appeared to be massive emerald walls, rising and rising until the slopes were obscured by low hanging clouds. Several swimmers stopped on the roadside to harvest a few wild coconuts, break them open on rocks, and drink fresh sweet coconut milk straight from the fruit. Once we arrived at the cliffs, we were treated to a fantastic view. The rock formations looked like they were straight out of National Geographic magazine. With the sun shining down pleasantly, and a cool sea breeze ruffling our hair, it was heavenly. 

Most of us hadn't come just to relax, however, so we quickly found a cliff about ten meters high with a deep and sandy-bottomed landing zone in the water below. The initial fear of the leap was paralyzing, but after the bravest of us jumped and emerged unscathed, the feat seemed less intimidating and more exhilarating. In the end, nearly all of us got to enjoy the stomach-turning experience. 

Afterwards, some of us stopped by a beach on the way back to Honolulu, while others went straight home to get in some quality nap time before the afternoon practice. Once 4:30 rolled around, we all got back in the pool. The two hours went quickly as the beautiful sunset turned the clouds above the water orange. 

Tonight's dinner was served at a brand new dining hall (perhaps Hawaiian Collis) and we all had a hearty meal and good fun. Now we are free for the night. Having returned to the rooms, we are all relaxing before getting into bed early for another morning practice tomorrow. In sum, today was excellent: Truly another day in paradise 

- Brett Seeley-Hacker '18

Are we tan yet?

Today we enjoyed our last day of extra sleep due to late, aka 9:30 a.m., morning practices. After a breakfast at the always rice-enthusiastic Gateway Café, we headed down the infamous rusty, slippery stairs, and were greeted by an IM heavy set that thoroughly tested our stroke endurance.

After the girls did dryland on the pool deck and boys lifted with Coach B, a couple people headed to Waikiki for some beach time, while a majority of us went out exploring. En route to Sandy Beach, aka “Joby’s Beach,” my van spotted some scenic cliffs and had to stop by. We ran into another van and carefully trekked around the steep rocks to check out a small cave. The water was the brightest shade of blue and the views of the surrounding seaside cliffs were beautiful!

Sunset Beach turned out to be just what we wanted—ocean time and a place to lay out. James Verhagen ‘16 and Tony Shen ‘18 suffered some battle wounds from some intense body surfing, and the boys took up a game of football while the girls worked on getting rid of our East Coast paleness. On our way back to the pool, we decided to drive a bit further to check out some other cliffs and did a bit of off-roading in Olivia Samson’s ‘16 van.

 At afternoon practice we split up into sprint, mid-distance, and distance group to finish our workouts for the day. Surprise: Mid-D and D group finished before Sprint group!! We actually sat in the water for a while in disbelief until Lexi reminded us we were done…

Tonight was our first night on our own for dinner. Vans split up to go to sushi, authentic Hawaiian food, and Duke’s on Waikiki Beach. We all reveled in the deliciousness of non-cafeteria food, and turned in early in anticipation of our first 6 am practice tomorrow.

AnnClaire MacArt ‘18

To Waikiki we go

We started off our first full day in Hawaii with a team meeting in the Lincoln Hall (the residence hall in which we are staying) lobby, where we went over our itinerary and general information about training trip. The meeting got us all excited for what is to come. We then went to breakfast at Gateway Cafe, where everyone was excited over the fresh fruit options and the breakfast rice.

Next, we got the 26-hour travel day out of our bones with our first morning practice of the trip at the University of Hawaii pool. We arrived to practice early and met a Dartmouth diving alum who is currently the diving coach at University of Hawaii and whose Dartmouth record was only just broken by Brett Gillis '16. We were also entertained by Koryn Ternes '16 nervously putting on her cap and goggles half an hour before practice.

After a modified ladder set, we all piled up into soccer mom mini vans to head to Safeway to pick up groceries.

Between practices, most people stayed back in the hotel to nap, still tired from the long travel day and jet lag. But Sasha Alcon '15 took a van to Waikiki Beach, where many of us were excited to start tanning and playing in the waves. Lindsay Tyler '15 started off her training trip Instagram game strong with the picture below.

After another practice in the evening and another delicious meal at Gateway, we decided to go to bed early, as we were all exhausted and wanted to be ready for the next morning's practice. We are very excited for all the fun days to come!

-Jessica Wang'18

And So It Begins- Day 1

Bright and early, the swim team woke up at 4 am to a breakfast in the hotel lobby and departed soon thereafter for Logan International Airport in Boston. Within the hour, the team headed through security and arrived at the gate in our matching team uniforms. The flight to Seattle included great anticipation for our arrival in Honolulu. Some team members, led by Dorian Allen ’17, sported sunglasses on the flight, despite the many hours separating us from the Hawaiian sunshine.

            With a seven-hour layover in Seattle, the entire team took the train across town to Pike’s Place Market where we ate fresh seafood lunches and visited the original Starbucks. After lunch, the team fractioned as some swimmers visited the Space Needle, while others observed the sea otters in the Seattle Aquarium. Regardless of their destination, all teammates enjoyed the opportunity to explore Seattle and stretch their legs before the second part of our journey.

            The second flight passed by quickly, mainly because most of the team fell asleep from their exhausting day.  While some dozed off, others secretly changed into Hawaiian shirts. We touched down in Hawaii around midnight local time. Within the hour, the team loaded into minivans and set out for the campus of University of Hawaii. Soon, swimmers crawled into bed and caught five hours of sleep before the first practice. The twenty-six hour day was over, but the adventures were still to come.

-Jack Cardwell '18