Happy New Year!!!

Join us on January 1st for a morning swim across the lake. Luckyslakeswim.com 7:45am. Diane and Kathleen will be swimming without wet suits. Diane is going to earn her 25 crossings swim cap tomorrow. It's a great way to ring in the new year!!! If it's your 1st time, you can sign the wall, and as always the hot tub will be on.
Friday night, come over to park central to wish Diane and Greg a good trip to Arkansas. If you have any questions please e-mail diane 7pm- last call.

New Years week swim schedule

Practice Monday Night – 29 Dec 08, Bruce will be out, but meet at 7pm on the deck, below is our workout.
Tuesday will be practice as usual. Thursday the Y will be closed, but anyone who wants to join us, we are swimming at Lucky's lake 7:45am Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is Diane and Greg's going away party at Park Central starting at 7:00pm. Please RSVP so we can get you on the guest list at the gate.

Warm-Up
200 swim
200 kick
200 pull
Set 1
8 X 50 Free
8 X 50 Kick
8 X 50 Drill/choice
Set 2
200 Free
4 X 2 x 50 Stroke (outside lanes should do Stroke/Free)
2 x 50 Free - Hard
Swim the set above on an interval, but take 1 minute rest between each set, not each portion of the set
Set 3
8 X 100 (Alternate 100 free with 100 IM or stroke choice)
Warm-down
6 X 50 Drill/Free 20 seconds rest
100 Easy

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful holiday. Just a reminder there will be no practice on Thursday because the Y is closed for Christmas. We did have lots of swimmers for practice last night though.
The new suits are in and are pretty cool. Talk to Sean to get yours. The swim caps are also in and are $5 each or $15 for 4. You can also see Sean for the caps. If you missed out on the suit order you can still get one on line.

Holiday party photos

The holiday photos are here.

MOO Holidays

We had one of our biggest crowds ever for a holiday party, with tons of food and lots of fun. The photos will be up later this weekend. Bruce got a stopwatch and gift card from the team. Diane was given a towel as one of the outgoing team captains, and then her and Alison nominated Sean and Teresa to be our new team captains. The gift exchange was hilarious as always, and I'm not sure who ended up with the Snoopy snow cone machine in the end. Tom was the biggest winner of the evening, and one of the gifts that never got opened was an i-pod. It just goes to show you can't judge a gift by the package.
Thanks again to John and Amy for having us over. I hope you got to get some sleep eventually!!!
Happy Holidays everyone and as Bruce said: see everyone at practice on Monday.

Tomorrow, team party no practice.

Skip practice and slap on the feed bag for we're having a party! Food, drinks and gifts! What more do you need?

And it's not any old ordinary get together - we're having a White Elephant gift exchange. Don't spend any money on a gift, cause it's regift time! Sick of that old vacuum cleaner?...wrap it up and bring it with you! Not using the VCR anymore?...this is the place to unload it! Need a new set of pots?...make room for them by getting rid of your old ones!

Still want to spend some money? Blow it on food, because if your last name ends in A-M, you can bring a side dish or salad, and if you last name ends in N-Z, please bring a desert. Bruce will provide the main dish.

And, oh yeah...don't forget to bring your someone special with you...unless you're embarrassed about our behavior! Tomorrow night at Johns house 7pm. Be there...

Repeat!

In case you have not heard, MOO's very own Greg has brought home another Emmy! Yup, now this uber talented Producer has two, one for each hand!

brrr.....

The temperature is dropping, but the swimmers keep coming.  We had a great turnout Monday and Tuesday, even got warm towels as we got out last night.  Don't forget the annual holiday party is Thursday the 18th in Leu of practice...

December Spotlight Swimmer

Congratulations Mark, our Spotlight swimmer of the month for December.  Click here to find out more about Mark Kowalak.

We challenge you to a cold water swim

Kathleen and Diane challenge everyone to join us at Lucky's lake tomorrow and Saturday at 7:45am for a cold water swim. We did it this morning no wetsuits and the water was 64.9degrees. Brrr...., but what a great way to get to eat more good food! Rumor has it Kathleen is bringing home made pumpkin bread. The hot tub is on and if it is your first time you can sign the wall of fame.

See you at the Lake

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a reminder there is no practice on Thursday, the next practice downtown will be on Monday.
If you still want to burn off those calories before you eat them, a bunch of us are doing Lucky's Lake swim Thursday morning at 7:45am. Friday and Saturday are also at 7:45am. The water is a bit chilly at 65.8degrees, but the hot tub is on and bring some warm clothes for when you jump out.
See you at the lake.

Join the Polar bear club

Orlando Polar Bear Club Starts New Holiday Tradition:
Take the 9-Degree Plunge to Raise Money for Special Olympics
Florida!

Friday, November 28 (the day after Thanksgiving) at 8:30AM

Gaylord Palms in Orlando

"When you start your day below freezing, there is no place to go but up!"

Click here for more info

Thursday Dec 18th... Hold the date...

It's time again for the MOO Holiday Party!

Skip practice and slap on the feed bag for we're having a party! Food, drinks and gifts! What more do you need?

And it's not any old ordinary get together - we're having a White Elephant gift exchange. Don't spend any money on a gift, cause it's regift time! Sick of that old vacuum cleaner?...wrap it up and bring it with you! Not using the VCR anymore?...this is the place to unload it! Need a new set of pots?...make room for them by getting rid of your old ones!

Still want to spend some money? Blow it on food, because if your last name ends in A-M, you can bring a side dish or salad, and if you last name ends in N-Z, please bring a desert. Bruce will provide the main dish.

And, oh yeah...don't forget to bring your someone special with you...unless you're embarrassed about our behavior!

2009 YMCA Masters National Meet-Mark your calendar

The 2009 YMCA Masters National Championship will take place on April 16-19, 2009, in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Order of events and meet information has been posted online. Check it out:

http://www.ymcaswimminganddiving.org/2009Masters/2009%20Masters%20total%20entry%20packet.pdf

Suit order due tonight

Many of us have already given your MOO suit orders to Sean. Tonight at practice is the last chance to get in on the team order for suits. We are eligible for a team discount (roughly 10%) on 12 or more suits on the first order. Prices vary by the style, fabric and lining options. Please check out the link and e-mail sean if you're interested. Thanks.

http://www.agonswim.com/cgi-bin/orders/orderSuits/prints/pricesPrintsNew.cfm?cpid=apxrff

Great turnout.

WE had a great turnout at practiced last night.  Around 20 people. Everyone wish congratulations to Kristin, who is getting married on Friday!

Spotlight swimmer of the Month- Harry Wessel

Congratulations Harry, our Spotlight swimmer of the month for November.  Click here to find out more about Harry.  He has been a member of MOO for 10 years.

Happy Birthday

We had a great practice and lots of swimmers, despite the cold weather, about 14.   After we got out we headed over to Anthony's for some pizza and drinks to celebrate all of the team Birthdays.  The kids party hats were a hit, and we got a good laugh going around the table sharing our birthdate, birth weight and favorite color.

If anyone wants to join us for a Saturday swim a few of us are headed to Lucky's lake at 7:45am.  The water has been around 77degrees.

Swimmers Challenge Rolling Hills

On October 25, 2008, two MOO swimmers, Heather and Sean completed the Florida Challenge Triathlon. The "Challenge" covered the "Half Ironman" distance comprising a 1.2 mile splash around Lake Minneola, a 58 mile bike tour of the greater Clermont area and a half marathon (13.1 miles). Congratulations!

Results are as follows:

Heather "Fire Starter" Bellardo

6:21:09 3RD AGE GROUP

Sean "Swimfan" McCormack

5:18:45 1ST AGE GROUP

Birthdays, margarita's, and things that go moo

Thursday October 28, after practice.. We are headed out for Margarita's.  If we aren't frozen ourselves.  Sean McClean will let us know the location.  We have tons of team Birthdays to celebrate for September and October.  Hope everyone can make it.

Rollins Photos

We would like to welcome Andrea, the new Aquatics director to the downtown YMCA. For now all swimmers have a sign in on the pool deck each night at practice.  We want to encourage as many of us as possible to attend practice while they are collecting data, and counting swimmers.  These numbers will probably help us with pool times and funding for our group.  I'm sure positive comment cards about Masters couldn't hurt either.

The photos from the Rollins meet last weekend have been posted on line.  Click here for the photos.

Orlando Masters Teams vs. Rollins

Great meet everyone!  We had a great turnout, and met lots of nice people. Congratulations to Rollins college who won the meet this year.  It was a beautiful day and we had lots of great swims.  There will be more photos later in the week. 

Rollins on Saturday

This Saturday is the annual Masters vs. Rollins meet on the Rollins campus. Warm-up is at 12 and the meet starts at 1. Good luck to the 13 MOO swimmers who are participating! Even if you aren't swimming, we encourage you to cheer on your teammates, help time or participate in the team warm down at a local watering hole after the meet.

The votes are in and the MOO print suit from agonswim.com is a hit. We will be placing a team order shortly. Below is a link to the pricing guide. Masters of Orlando is registered with agonswim.com and is eligible for a team discount on 12 or more suits on the first order. Once the initial order of 12 or more suits is placed, individual orders may be placed thereafter under the team, which are subject to the team discount. Prices vary by the style, fabric and lining options.

http://www.agonswim.com/cgi-bin/orders/orderSuits/prints/pricesPrintsNew.cfm?cpid=apxrff

Swimmers may order more than one suit and can choose any suit. We will place the team order by November 1st, so please e-mail me back your individual preferences so the initial team order may be placed.

Fall Fun...

October is a busy Birthday month here at MOO. We would like to wish a Happy Birthday to:

Mark Jones- October 9
Sarah Milov- October 19
Kristin J- October 20
Sean McClean- October 21
Harry- October 22

Ryan- October 25
Heather- October 27
Kathleen- October 28
Vanessa- October 30
all leading up to Halloween…
Sean McCormack- October 31

Thunder, Lightning, and swimming

Well, I have to remember even if I call the front desk and they say the pool is closed, you just never know.  Despite the terrible weather, at about 7:00pm Thursday the pool re-opened and approx. 10 MOO swimmers got in a good workout.  3 MOO swimmers were seen at Lucky's Lake this morning, Kirby, Kathleen, and Diane.

Just a reminder, Masters vs. Rollins college is next Saturday.

If you are on Facebook- please join our MOO group!  I think we have 24 members.  We also have 2 bits of flair with the team logo.  It's lots of fun and there are more photos too.

The Ocala Meet results are finally posted on line!!!  Click here to see your results

The new swimsuit

Well, the yesses have it.  13-3 people are willing to look crazy like cows to show our team spirit.  We will have to get more details about ordering, if we get a discount, etc.  It looks like if we make an order of 12 suits or more we can get a 10% discount, which will be given to anyone who orders under MOO in the future.

Just a reminder,  The Rollins swim meet is getting closer on Saturday, October 18th. 

Warm-up is at 12:00 and the meet starts at 1:00 p.m. Here are the order of events:

200 medley relay
200 free
50 free
200 IM
100 fly
10 min break
100 free
100 back
500 free
100 breast
200 free relay

Even if you aren't planning to swim come on over to cheer on the Masters vs Rollins, and we will go grab some grub when it is over!  Remember to wear your MOO shirts and other cow stuff.

October MOO spotlight swimmer

Wayne Baker is our spotlight swimmer of the month for October. He has been a member of MOO since 2001.  Click here to find out more about your teammate Wayne.  Congratulations!

Thursday Night Team Dinner

Come join us at Johnny's Fillin' Station in Orlando on Ferncreek and Michigan Avenue after practice on Thursday for some food and drinks.

Date: Thursday, October 2, 2008
Time: 8:30pm - 10:00pm
Location: Johnny's Fillin' Station
Street: 2631 Ferncreek Avenue, Orlando, FL

Rated #1 Burger in Orlando

Happy Birthday

Everyone wish him a happy Birthday- Tom turned the big 5-0 on Saturday!  Also celebrating September birthdays were John Schrantz and Joseph Dearmas. Just a reminder the Rollins college meet is coming up on Saturday October 18, please see Sean McCormack for more details.

Swim Caps

So I got an envelope from Ocala Masters, and I thought it was strange.  Maybe ribbons from the meet?  Nope, it was an Ocala Masters swim cap wrapped in a piece of paper.  Not sure if everyone got one or if it was a high point award.  Did anyone else get one?  It was a nice surprise either way. The meet results should be posted on line soon.

Ocala photos are on line

We had a great swim last night.  Lots of long free stuff, and we were outside, in my favorite pool, with lots of fresh air.  We have added the photos Teresa took at the Ocala meet on the photos page.  Please check them out.  We are also looking at a date to go to food and wine at Epcot if anyone is interested.  Don't forget to vote for the new MOO suit, come in both mens and womens, fully lined in black, any style. click here for the Meet photos

Dixie Zone top 10 awards

Dixie zone top 10 awards for Long course 2008 are out!  Placing in the top 10 for the Dixie zone are: Erin, Diane, Kathleen, John, Colin, Mark B, Sean McClean, Gill, and Steve. Great job swimmers!  We also had 3 relays place 2nd for their age group.  Relay swimmers included: John, Colin, Gill, Sean, Steve, Erin, and Diane.  Click here for the details

Ocala swim meet

Moo had a great turnout in Ocala on Saturday.  We all had great swims.  There was a short rain shower, but other than that had beautiful weather.  Diane and Teresa both took photos.  Click here  to view the pictures, we will add the ones from Teresa's camera later this week so check back to see more.  After the meet we headed to Chilis for lunch and the 20 somethings went camping.  All of us over 30 had just swam the 500 and headed home to sleep it off!  Our next big meet is Rollins College.  Talk to Sean McCormack if you are interested.

Ocala meet tomorrow

Well we had a busy week.  On Sunday Yuko finished swimming 83K straight, yup you read it right.  You can ask her about the hallucinations it brings on.  4 team members were also spotted swimming along side her and participating in the 100K relays.  Sean, Kathleen, Ryan, and Diane. Click here for photos Earlier Saturday Sean, Ryan and Kirby participated in the OUC triathalon downtown.  Sean and Ryan even made it into the sentinel on Sunday.  Monday night we had huge numbers at the pool but got chased out by lightning pretty soon into practice.  Tuesday we also had a big crowd but were in for the whole time.  Good luck MOO in Ocala tomorrow!!!  John, Colin, Sean, Mark B, Kathleen, Ryan, Teresa, Erin, Diane and coach Bruce.  Hope I didn't miss anyone.... Warmup starts at 10 am if you want to come cheer us on

World Record swim update

As I left the lake at 4:00am this morning Yuko was on 57K.  We estimate she will finish her 83K around 1:00 or 1:45pm Sunday afternoon.  We hope you can come out to cheer her on.  

The men's and mixed relays are running about 1-2 hours behind as of this time, you may want to adjust your arrival time accordingly.

The relay is on...

Come over to Lake Cane any time day or night now until 3pm tomorrow and cheer on Yuko and the relay.  Yuko will try to break her record of 82K in the lake.  Join her for a few laps anytime.  She must be getting bored by now. For directions visit:

Luckyslakeswim.com

100K This weekend

We have an exciting weekend coming up. This weekend is the 50x2K relay men vs women at lake Cane starting at 6:00am Saturday. At the same time Yuko will begin swimming and try to break her world record from last year of 82K. Come out at any time during the weekend to cheer your team on.
The men's relay is full, but the womens relay still has openings, if you are interested in joining please contact Yuko this morning or afternoon.

Come cheer on our Moo swimmers, or join them for 2 laps. Donations are being accepted for the YMCA learn to swim program. IF you wish to donate please make checks to the "YMCA learn to swim program"

Kathleen 3:35am Sunday Morning- come join her, we have open spots for Women here.
Sean 11:27am Sunday
Diane 2:00 pm Sunday
Yuko 6:00am Saturday- Sunday noon or so...

for directions:
luckyslakeswim.com

Just a reminder, Ocala meet entries for next Saturday need to be postmarked by tomorrow.

Rollins College meet

The Rollins swim meet is on Saturday, October 18th. Warm-up is at 12:00 and the meet starts at 1:00 p.m. Here are the order of events:
200 medley relay
200 free
50 free
200 IM
100 fly
10 min break
100 free
100 back
500 free
100 breast
200 free relay
If you want to swim, please e-mail Sean your top 3 choices, exclusive of relays so we have a tentative lineup and can coordinate same with Team Orlando. We will decide relays the day of the meet.
Don't forget Ocala meet entries must be postmarked by Saturday

Ocala meet entries due...

The time has come to get your entry in the mail.  They need to be postmarked by Saturday.  This will be a fun 1 day meet not too far away. Saturday September 20  Warmup at 10am.  Starts 11:00am.  We can set up carpools too!!! The cost is a flat $30, and you can sign up for up to 6 individual events.  The meet is SCY.

We had a nice practice last night. We only had 13 swimmers at the mostt, so we only had 2-3 swimmers per lane.

Mellow Mushroom

We had a whopping 23 swimmers at practice on Thursday.  A pretty big crowd compared to our 8 swimmers on Tuesday.  Right after practice a huge group of us headed to the mellow mushroom for some pretzels, beer and pizza.  A good time was had by all, well at least my end of the table.  I couldn't really see what was going on at the other end.  Sean was the only one smart enough to grab his camera, and the waitress took a few group shots.  

MOO spotlight swimmer of the month- September

Our spotlight swimmer of the month is coach bruce.  Click here to learn what you didn't know about Bruce.

Dinner Thursday

We are planning on having a team dinner outing this Thurs night after practice at Mellow Mushroom in Winter Park on Aloma everyone is invited. Hope to see everyone at the pool

Congratulations and keep up the good work MOO

With the ending of the team's stellar performance at the YMCA Nationals meet this past May in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and now with the Olympics, there has been a lot of positive energy on the pool deck and pride and excitement about swimming. Congratulations and keep up the good work MOO. Here are a few announcements:

1. There is an short course yards meet on September 20th in Ocala. Entries are due Sept 13th. Check out the website for more info: http://www.dixiezone.org/Meets/0809ocala.pdf

2. We will be instituting a new feature at MOO. Drum roll....starting next month, we will be featuring a monthly MOO spotlight swimmer. This is a chance to learn more about your teammates. To kick things off, we will feature Coach Bruce. Each monthly spotlight will be featured on our team blog. Be sure to check it out next month, http://www.mooswimming.blogspot.com/

3. The annual Masters meet against Rollins is right around the corner. Several MOO swimmers have competed in the past years. This is a fun meet where master swimmers from the Orlando area at all levels compete against the college swimmers at Rollins. No registration with USMS is required, just show up. This year the coach of Rollins is looking to have the meet on Saturday, October 18th or on a Wednesday night during the month of October. The coach of Rollins wants to know which option works better for our team. Please e-mail me back your thoughts if you want to attend. Here are the order of events:
200 medley relay
200 free
50 free
200 IM
100 fly
10 min break
100 free
100 back
500 free
100 breast
200 free relay

4. Show your creativity and artistic ability! We are looking for new T-shirt designs this fall. MOO will be holding a t-shirt contest and will have the team vote on their favorite design. If you are interested, please submit your design by Tuesday, September 30th to Diane or Sean. We will then vote on them during the next week at practice.

5. Looking ahead.....mark your calendars for next year, the YMCA Nationals will take place from April 16-19th in Ft. Lauderdale.

Fay...Gustav...

Despite the storms, we were able to have practice all week last week!  Hopefully Gus will be as generous...  Bruce is out of town for work until Thursday.  We will have a workout for everyone on the deck.  Sunday Fay helped us out since the rain cooled off the outdoor pool enough we had a nice swim outside.  It was a tad green and we had one downpour, but it all worked out in the end.  8 MOO swimmers showed up and 7 of us went out for a bite to eat after practice at Jason's Deli. yumm  Last week Greg and I went to Ohio and got to go to a Reds game with Mark, Alison, and Jack Jones.  The Reds did terrible, but we had a great time.