You cannot armchair a football game on Saturday or Sunday without the commentators educating you on the importance of "success in the Red Zones" as a barometer for a team's success on the scoreboard. This is a special part of every game plan, and worked into every day's practice schedule.

If a team is incapable of executing from twenty yards out from the goal line, a winning outcome is highly unlikely.

It doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see how this same philosophy can be incorporated into our game plan for successful racing. Read more...

Some people do the Speedo One Hour Postal for competition, while others do it for fitness; all who wish to participate are welcome. This event runs from January 1st to January 31st, 2011. The objective is to swim as far as possible in one hour in any pool you choose that is 25 yards or longer. Your event results are to be sent in electronically or by mail so you can compare yourself to other swimmers doing the same event. The recorded distance (total yards swum) that you submit determines the order of finish. If two or more swimmers report the same distance, a tie will be declared.

This year's Speedo One Hour Postal National Championships is hosted by the Tualatin Hills Barracudas. This is a USMS sanctioned event and all participants must be registered for 2011 with USMS (or the equivalent organization for non-U.S. swimmers). Foreign swimmers are not eligible for USMS records or All-American status. A copy of your current 2011 registration card must accompany your entry.

Bruckner Chase, of Ocean City, N.J., is a solo marathon, open water swimmer and ocean ambassador. He's a USMS member, coach and founder of Ocean City Swim Club, a USMS team. Chase is also a registered professional member of the U.S. Lifeguard Association.

Since January 1, 2010, Chase has logged more than 850 miles swimming; mostly in the open ocean, and usually without a wetsuit. In a typical week, he'll swim 20 to 30 miles, often in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey shore. By his own admission, he is just as at-home today in the 56-degree F water of the open ocean as he was as a young boy in warmer waters of the community pool. Read more...

Training causes physical stress and depletion. Recovery is when adaptation to that stress occurs; it involves improvements in muscle tissue rebuilding, glycogen storage, and immune system functioning. After a hard swim practice your body is basically saying, "If there's another workout like this tomorrow, I'd better be prepared."

It's up to you to provide the nutrition your body is crying out for, and when you do give your body what it needs as soon as possible after a swim workout or race, it will respond wonderfully in the following ways: Read more...

As the charitable fundraising arm of USMS, the Swimming Saves Lives Fund focuses its resources on the vital lifesaving and lifetime benefits of swimming. In addition to drowning prevention, swimming has a positive impact on health conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which afflict millions of people in the U.S. The Swimming Saves Lives Fund provides grants to training or research programs that support the benefits of swimming; and to clubs and facilities that improve swimming opportunities.

In short, Swimming Saves Lives.