It’s great to be a Boston Fan living in Tempe!

Right now the Patriots are the only undefeated team in the NFL and looking like they are playing in a junior Varsity league! The Boston Celtics finally look great since Larry Birds era. And the red sox have won the World Series going 7-0 in their last seven games! On top of that, Arizona State Football is putting together one of their best seasons ever. And another college team that I once cheered for way back in the day is doing great too and they are the Boston College Eagles. Let’s just say I’m a happy Boston fan living in Tempe Arizona!

So keeping up with my sports teams has been fun this year and I love saying it because other cities are just jealous ha-ha. This year should be fun all the way through the spring. But all this will be put to the back seat come summer when swimming takes front and center leading into the Olympics. Training hard for me is just easier when I know the pro athletes I am cheering for are all getting it done!

Make me proud Boston Teams and Arizona State Sun Devils! Let’s make this year memorable together!

-Nick Brunelli

I had the honor and privilege to do something I'll never forget. Just this week I present a gift to the Woodhouse family on the recently filmed Extreme Makeover Home Addition in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The gifts I presented were put together by USA Swimming and Speedo.

Mr. and Mrs. Woodhouse have 2 kids. one boy and one girl. Their son is named Josh and their 10 year old daughter is named Kayla. Kayla has a rare neurological disorder that lowers her sensitivity to pain and cold.  Her disorder also doesn't allow her body to regulate body temperature. She was born with this rare disorder and less than a handful of people have it the nation. With his lethal combination, her life could be in danger and she wouldn't even feel it. To say the least, Kayla and her family have had a very restricting life so far.

When Kayla's parents found out about Kayla's disorder, they relocated from their Louisiana home all the way to Alaska thinking that would help regulate her constant issue of over heating. But more dangers we brought up by the freezing temperatures and Kayla running out of the house in the snow with no shoes on often. Also in Alaska there were limited medical facilities that Kayla needed often so the Woodhouse family was forced to move again.

They moved to the mild climate of Colorado Springs, Colorado. There Kayla could get the medical help she needed but with the extreme price tag. With one of her parents forced to be home at all times it was impossible to make enough money to keep up with the medical bills. To make matters worse they don't qualify for Medicaid because they made a little to much money due to paying the house mortgage and high air conditioning bills. The good thing about this move was Kayla could now go outside after sundown to play safely for a limited time with a cooling vest loaded with NASA cooling aid technology.

She has been forced to be inside her home at a chilly 62 almost all day. With all of these restrictions, she is home schooled. Kayla going to school is just not acceptable with the

Is disorder. Kayla is also very limited in physical activity due to her over heating. The one and only sport she can do is swim but is again limited to private indoor pools. The water actually helps regulate her body temperature. Kayla mentioned she has dreams of one day swimming in the Olympics.

Well what Extreme Makeover Home Addition did was build the family a new home with all the tools to keep Kayla happy and most importantly safe. The show made this family stand out and whole local community has come together to help raise funds for their large medical bills.  Many businesses in the area have come forward to also aid in keeping Kayla safe and well educated. What USA Swimming and Speedo wanted to do is make Kayla feel special and allow her to follow her dreams of one day swimming in the Olympics. 

What USA Swimming and Speedo put together was a very large gift worth a whole lot. It included 4 tickets for their family to attend the USA Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Nebraska this coming June. Transportation to Omaha, food for every meal and accommodation all included. The next part of the gift was lunch with Lindsey Banko and a personal tour of the United States Olympic Training Center right in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The last part of the gift was a box full of Speedo and USA swimming apparel so Kayla can be outfitted in style all year long leading up to Beijing in 2008!

It was an honor to represent USA Swimming and Speedo and present these wonderful gifts to Kayla and her family. When I told the family what USA Swimming and Speedo put together they were ecstatic and full of health happy tears. At the time I was presenting the gifts to the parents on camera. After, the parents insisted on me tell Kayla personally. I was escorted over to their brand new car Ford gave them where Kayla was staying cool. She got out of the car and stood up tall for a 10 year old. I told her about the trip and all the gifts she and her family got and she put the biggest smile on her face. To see how excited she was made my heart pound harder than ever. What she and her family had been through, I felt at that moment they forgot about it all. Kayla looking that happy said everything. She could not wait until June!

I wish the Woodhouse family the best of luck with their new beautiful home and the many gifts they received.  I look forward to seeing Kayla and her family in Omaha, Nebraska and hope they can see my dreams come true too. She will for sure get to see the best of USA swimming athletes compete for that one chance of a dream come true. Kayla keep swimming and following those dreams!

-Nick Brunelli

The Perfect 100 free!

With less than a year left until trials/Olympics, its time to finalize how I am going to swim the perfect 100 free. And well I guess the 50 too. But the 100 free is my race. Now the key issues surrounding the 100 free are:

What does 100 free training consist of? What is the best way to go 47.5? And who is the closest to going 47.5? My coach, Mike Chasson and I have some real good ideas on how to go 47.5 and we got these idea by looking at past elite swimmers achievements and mistakes. Let us take a closer look.

So this is how we look at it.  Roland Schoeman is great start to this subject I think. He can get out extremely fast to the 50 mark in the 100 free, somewhere around 22.40 and has been 48.1 doing that race plan. He came home in 25.6. Why couldn’t he come home in under 25 seconds? That’s because of what every TRUE sprinter goes through when going out so fast. Lactate build up in your muscles! As Roland has shown it's very hard to finish because of this. So what should Roland work on and how?

So what do we learn from Roland? More back half speed is needed for Roland to go 47.50.

Now the next guy’s 100 free to dissect is a new guy on the scene in the top 5, which is Stefan Nystrand. I think Stefan had his perfect race because of what I have heard about his training. When he went 47.91 I don’t think had the back half speed to go 47.5. But if he works on it he could be scary in 2008. In his 47.91 race he uses his front half speed wisely! He was out in 22.72 and some how come back in 25.19. For a drop dead sprinter (from how he explains his training) that is a perfect race for him. Not many people have come back faster and gone under 48.5 before! I see Stefan Nystrand as a player in 2008 if he splits his races like that from now on. This is the model swim I’m looking for but just working harder on my back half to come home even stronger!

Pieter Van Dan Hoogenband the World Record holder is ultimately the fastest swimmer in the 100 free ever. And what did he also swim the year he went his WR swim? The 200 free and I think that means he did some nasty 200 free work since he went 1:45.3 to win gold in the 2000 Olympics.  Pieter’s splits in that 100 free in 2000 were 23.16 - 24.68 going 47.84. What did he do so well? It was some huge back half Speedo to finish that race. Who else has ever come back that fast? With the limited info on splits, Michael Phelps (24.96) and Filippo Magnini (24.98) are the only swimmers to come close to the 24.68 of Pieter’s back half and put up top 5 times in the world. Phelps has been back in 24.66 BUT he went 48.79 in that race which is almost a full second off what Pieter went. A little more info on Pieter in 2000 is that he got the bronze medal in the 50 free going 22.03. He had lots of speed in 2000 too.

So what does Pieter teach us? Front half speed is more important or back half speed?

I think it's all about back half speed to go 47.5! The question is who's willing to work for that back half speed? I know Hoogenband was willing in 2000! Wow was he good then! 

The perfect splits for a 47.50 swim in my mind are: 22.80 - 24.70. It’s easy to get out in 22.80 if your 50 time is 22.0 or faster. Now it’s hell to get back in under 25 seconds no matter how fast or slow you go out, but if you train right and work on that back half speed all year I think its possible. It will take a lot of HARD training to get back that fast.

I'm not looking to just make the Olympics but to go the time it will take to WIN the Olympics. I think this should be the way most Olympic-destined swimmers think about their situation. 49.0 isn’t going to make the Olympics for Team USA. 48.5 isn't going to be the fastest time for Team USA. And 48.0 isn't going to win the Olympics! So what will it take to win? I think a 47.5 is a pretty good bet to bring back GOLD!

So the question is how to train for a back half split of 24.70. Well, I guess when I do it then I can tell you if it worked or not.  One thing I can honestly say is I don’t know of many sprinters in the world that are doing what I am doing as a sprinter! 

Also check out my threads on www.Raceclub.net

-Nick Brunelli

Time for a good break!

A needed break was in store after my trip to Japan. I took a nice week off and ended up in Columbia South Carolina for USCs first football game of the year. And also the swimming alumni meet which is always fun to watch. Jenn, my Fiancée swam for South Carolina from 2000 to 2004. She has a sister in her senior year in game c*** country and anytime Jenn visits the little sis its always memorable. Many of Jenns friends came to the alumni meet so it was action packed with old swimmers still thinking they still got the feel. Jenns brother, Jon who graduated from UNC just up north of USC, also came in for the weekend bash. Every night was a late night filled with thrilling moments that shaped stories we all will never forget. Thank you my future brother and sister in law for a great time. It was well needed.

One weekend out of the year I guess rooting for someone other Than Arizona State is ok right?

Go Game Cocks!

Now its back to work. My coach mentioned the other day about swimming something like 280 days in a row leading up to trials??? We will see but all I know is whatever it takes Im doing it!

-Nick Brunelli

Japan has been great so far. The culture is amazing to learn and the people are extremely nice. The meet has gone very well so far. It started off well the night before the competition when I was name co-team captain with David Cromwell. It’s an honor to be named to be a captain at an international meet for the USA.

The swimming side of things has been amazing so far. Everyone has been swimming out of their minds and it looks like USA Swimming will be deeper than ever come 2008 Olympics.

Tuesday night we swam the 4 by 100 free relay. The relay consisted of my leading off, then Randal Bal (backstroke), Todd Patrick (IM), and David Cromwell (backstroke). We did very well ending up 4^th.   I again swam my 100 like a fool though. I was out in 23.2 again and ended up going 49.2.

Wednesday I had the 100 free. The mornings swim was very easy. I was out in 24.1 which is about a second slower than the relay 50 split. I ended up going 49.3. I feel like if I combine those 2 races and get out in 23.5 I should be 48 in my sleep at night.

After the 100 final I am going to fake a 200 free on the 800 free relay. I think I am going 3^rd and as long as I swim smart things should be great. Under 1:50. is the goal.

That’s all I have for now. Tonight should be great.

Check out the results here:

http://www.japan2007.org/eng/index.html

-Nick Brunelli

US Nationals was a great meet!! Let me start off by saying thank you to everyone that has helped me get back to this level of swimming. I love to compete at such a high level and want nothing more than to continue in this direction to Beijing. Thank You Functional Performance Center and my coach Mike Chasson for helping me through the last year. They have gotten me back to where I need to be to achieve life long goals. Without them and their commitment I wouldn’t be back where I am right now. With that said lets talk about US Nationals.

US Nationals was a great step in the right direction. I am extremely happy with my times in the 50 and 100 freestyles. I posted a best time in my 50 (22.01) and I am right on my best in the 100 (49.04). I look at the races I swam and I am a little upset with myself. The 100 free I put together wasn’t my race. I am not a swimmer that should be going out fast and fading to a 49.0. But under the circumstances I would rather be to fired up and go out to fast than be to scared and go out to slow and be out of the race before it even starts. I just need to hit the medium of those 2 race plans. I need to hold back just enough and be hungry for the finish coming home and never fade at the end.

As for the 50 free, my head got to me a bit. I had huge flash back of my start at last Nationals where I busted my shoulder. That flashback happened in the actual start at night in the 50. It cost me a chance to race to a sub 22 swim. It’s very hard to create that kind of atmosphere in practice to get used to those high intensity starts. But the way I look at it, that race was a good start to get used to that intensity. Next time it won’t happen again and I promise!

The next meet for me will be The Japan International Grand Prix on Aug. 21^st through the 24^th. The link to the meet is below. That should be another fast meet and another chance to pop a few best times. Sub 22 and sub 49 are the goals!!

Japan Internationals Grand Prix:
http://www.japan2007.org/eng/index.html

So, over all US Nationals was just a piece of my journey in swimming. Someone that’s closest to my heart told me that the best part about achieving a life long goal isn’t the outcome: It’s the trip you took to get there!

-Nick Brunelli

 Also visit The Race Club for my other updates:  http://www.theraceclub.net

You can also subscribe to my blog and recieve e-mail updates when I add a new blog entry!

-Nick Brunelli 

Janet Evans Invitational July 12th-15^th Recap

The day before I left for JEI, I kept thinking if I did the right thing when I turned down the Pan American Team. Something tells me I did the right thing but only time will tell. Leading up to JEI training has gone very well and even better than any summer yet.  It’s been almost 2 years since I put up an in season best time in any event so I figured why not this meet.

When I set goals I tend to shoot for the stars. I hate putting limitations on myself before I even get a chance to prove how fast I can go. When people ask me my goals I really think they just laugh under their breath and say good luck and assume I won’t make them. They think I am just setting myself up for failure. But I feel like if you limit yourself in your head, there’s no way you can prove how good you can really be. Being Afraid of Failure limits your future for success.

Friday 100 Free Prelims:
The prelims swim was very hard to commit to. I told myself before the race to not be soft in the first 50. So I built a solid 50 from 90% to about 95%. Then off the 50 wall a held a good streamline and used my wall speed to build from 98% to 100% to the 75 mark. Then from the 75 mark I finished hard enough to win my heat. I went 50.83 which put me 5^th going into finals.

Friday 100 Free Finals:
Goals! Goals! Goals! My main motivator for the night was to achieve my goal which was a best in season time ever of 49.81. The heat was stacked with talent and I figured if I just raced for the win, time would take care of itself. I was aggressive enough in the front of my race just enough to get ahead of the people around me. I again used my wall speed off the 50 mark to create a solid build from 98% to 100% leading into the 75 mark. After that point in my 100 free it’s all about holding stroke and a tight kick. I finished the race and to my enjoyment with a 49.59. I was touched out by Ryk Neethling (49.50), which keeps me honest in this event letting me know I still have work to do!

Saturday 50 free Prelims:
Get into finals with the top seed!! That was my morning goal which ended up perfect for the night swim! (22.70) top seed

Saturday 50 Free Finals:
The finals 50 free on paper looked to be a great one. The heat consisted of 2 world champions in the event. Both World Champs where on either side of me. I was in the perfect position for a great race. I started off with a great start and came up first which was ideal against Roland Schoeman and Ben Wildman-Tobriner. From then on it was who could catch me. I held off the field to another in season personal best time of 22.49.

Sunday 100Back:
Today was my off day. I was able to swim the 100 back with no pressures and no goals set. It keeps the sport fun for me. I ended up being 2^nd seed going into the finals but was only able to pull off a 4^th place finish at night going 57.53 which I think was still a personal in season best time.

Over all, the entire meet was a great one. I think it was my best in season meet ever. And coming off of shoulder surgery less than a year ago gives me the confidence I need for Nationals in 2 weeks.

If you want to read more about me, head over to www.TheRaceClub.net and check out their forum. Search for my thread labeled “Brunelli’s Shoulder Surgery”.

Comments are welcome!

-Nick Brunelli