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Puerto Rico Serves as Second Home for Harvard Men's Swimming and Diving
Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications
After a strong start to the 2010-11 season, the Harvard men's swimming and diving team traveled to Puerto Rico for a week-long training trip to gear up for the second half of the schedule. Senior Blake Lewkowitz kept a blog during the trip, detailing workout schedules, outings and team events during the trip.
Photo Gallery: 2011 Men's Swimming and Diving Training Trip
Tuesday, January 11
After escaping the blizzard, we touched down in sunny San Juan
only to be greeted by 70 degrees and sunshine. All of us pulled our
shorts, t-shirts, and sandals out of our bags to immediately change
to fit the weather. After two hard weeks of training at Blodgett,
the whole team was excited for a change in scenery, and the
beautiful Puerto Rico day already hooked us. We gathered our stuff
and piled into an old school bus. We arrived at our new home for
the week, the Verdanza Hotel, to be greeted with traditional Puerto
Rico hospitality and coconut shaved ice. We checked in, dropped our
bags off, and ran to the beach before practice. Even though our
skin reflected light from lack of sunlight for the past two weeks,
we had a great time and had to be pulled away from the beach to go
to practice. That afternoon we swam at Sacred Heart University, one
of the two pools we trained at for the week. We had a good workout
and a fun first day in Puerto Rico, and after dinner, everyone
passed out and got ready for the next few days of difficult
training.
Wednesday, January 12
Our training schedule had us doing doubles every day during our
trip. We all got on the school bus at 7:30 and again were greeted
by beautiful sunlight. It was nice having sun out on the way to
practice because in Cambridge the sun always seemed to rise and set
during our workouts leaving us constantly to walk in the dark to
our dorms. We arrived at the other pool we trained at, the San Juan
Natatorium, and began to stretch out before workout. The Natatorium
is a beautiful pool that is partially covered and has plenty of
room for us to train in. We got a lot of great work in that morning
in the pool, and all hurried home to make the breakfast buffet at
the hotel. To be honest, I don't think the hotel knew what was
about to hit it as a horde of starving swimmers completely
obliterated the buffet. With the majority of the team shoveling
food into their mouths to avoid missing sunshine, breakfast came
and went, and the team either napped by the hotel pool or by the
beach. That evening, we went to practice at Sacred Heart where
there is an attached weight room, and we trained hard again. A few
of us had already fallen victim to the blazing sun, so we made a
trip to the supermarket to grab some sunscreen and aloe.
Thursday, January 13
We had another double on schedule, and the weather didn't
cooperate as well as the previous two days. But, we didn't remain
inside, and most of us hung out by the pool running in and out of
the cabanas as it started and stopped raining during the day. With
another practice at the Natatorium and Sacred Heart, we were
working out hard but loving Puerto Rico since it wasn't freezing
and snowing. A few of us explored Isla Verde, the town we stayed
in, to find a lot of fun, local places for us to hang out and
dine.
Friday, January 14
In the morning, we had a short meet against Syracuse. It was a fun
break in training and a nice way for us to meet another team while
in Puerto Rico. We trained before and after the meet at the
Natatorium, and then had our afternoon practice with weights at
Sacred Heart. The wind really picked up and cloud coverage came in
protecting our skin from the sun. While many had become pretty tan
already, most of us had splotchy burns from faulty sunscreen
application. We were excited for the night as we went into Old San
Juan for the San Sebastian Festival. This festival was
unbelievable. The streets were lined with people celebrating and
having a great time. When we got there, we could barely move around
because of the density of people. We ate a lot of traditional
Puerto Rican food and listened to reggaeton. Everyone had a blast,
but we hustled home to make the curfew and get ready for the next
day of training.
Saturday, January 15
With only one practice on schedule, we were ready and pumped for
our practice in the afternoon. Tim was too, and we had a tough
workout. We did a team set working on turns and speed, and we got
each other fired up for the practice. After the workout, we all
ventured up to the top of the diving platforms to jump off the 10
meter platform. For a bunch of non-divers, I think we made the pool
proud. Our very own Chris Satterthwaite was given a 5.5 by Tim on
his front jump from the 10 meter due to his lack of splash and
wonderful form. After practice, we all headed to dinner in Isla
Verde, and some even went back to Old San Juan to see more of the
festival.
Sunday, January 16
We practiced in the morning and finished the week of strong by
cheering on the Sprint Lane as they had a threshold set. They
performed really well and the team was excited. With the afternoon
off, we were able to go to Aviones Beach as a team. The beach was
gorgeous. Unfortunately, the tide was very low and a few of us got
stranded on some rocks a short distance of the shore and had to
time our swims in so that we didn't hit the rocks. Others rented
surfboards, and they braved the pretty large swells to have a great
time. Everyone had a great time, and we got to see a new part of
Puerto Rico on our afternoon off.
Monday, January 17
On our last full day on the island, we went back to our original
schedule and had a double. The morning was our last workout at the
beautiful Natatorium, and we made the most of it getting in a good
aerobic set in before saying goodbye to the pool. That afternoon we
went back to Sacred Heart for weights and swimming, and we had our
last chance to get tan during workout. That night, we went out for
a team dinner to celebrate the end of the training trip. We also
did our traditional Secret Santa gift exchange (even with the
schedule change the name remains the same) and had a lot of laughs
at everyone's gag gifts. With that done, we all went back to our
rooms to pack and get ready for our final workout at the beach.
Tuesday, January 18
Before sunrise, we all walked to the beach and stretched. As the
sun rose, we swam from buoy to buoy in the break for our workout.
Even though it was just easy, we all raced the swim and really
pushed each other well. The beach workout somewhat symbolized our
year as we constantly push each other no matter the circumstance or
the set. After our buoy to buoy swim, we separated into our classes
and did a relay race in the ocean. It was close race and good way
to end the trip. After the relay, we regrouped on the beach and did
our Haka cheer as the sun rose over the ocean. This workout was the
perfect way to end a great trip, and after a quick rinse in the
pool and packing up, we got on the plane back to Boston. Leaving 75
degree weather, the beach, and the sun, we returned to a wintry mix
and 30 degrees. Training trip was great and sets us up well for our
meets the rest of the season.
