Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Michael Phelps swims about 55 miles a week!

Way to much personal information in a profile piece written by the Colorado Springs Gazette but it does illustrate that even superheroes have problems as well as aspirations.

Here is a snippet: "...“I just don’t want to lose. I just hate to lose,” said Phelps, who will begin competition Friday at the Southern California Grand Prix in Long Beach, Calif. “Your mind controls everything. The more abstract you think, the more out of the box you think, the better person you’re going to be. And it’s going to make me work harder.”

Phelps arrived in Colorado Springs the day after Christmas and has had 70-plus swimming, conditioning and weightlifting workouts in what he called a “fairly brutal” training camp.
The workouts aren’t much different from the ones Phelps does at home in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he swims as many as 55 miles a week. The atmosphere in Colorado Springs is vastly different, as Phelps can go virtually unnoticed. [Link]

7 comments:

Scott said...

I got a warm fuzzy feeling when I read

“The older I am, the more tired I get quicker. I can still put in the back-to-back-to-back-to-back yardage and the back-to-back-to-back days of hard work. But I need more recovery time now than I did when I was younger. I have to manage my time more.”

Michael Phelps feeling old at twenty two! I'm going to have to start giving you research credits (no, don't worry - I'll warn you in advance) ;>)

Anonymous said...

I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read "The older I am, the more tired I get quicker". You are 22 years old. Go tell that to Dana Torres.

Tony Austin said...

When I read that, I thought, where is he fitting in the time to recover if he is going back-to-back-to back? Recovery for Phelps is kicking 5x100's on the 1:30 (Meters)

Dara works out 5 days a week and she has minions stretch her body for her in between dry land workouts.

Me, I am only swimming 1-3 days a week but next week I get to bump it up to 4-5 again. We have meets coming up all ready. Wish I could do that one in Las Vegas on the 24th. I want to see Le Reve.

Scott said...

I convinced my coach when we were practicing long course meters to put in a Phelps set for us to do: 10 x 100 on 1:30 with the last all out. He wrote out the set and told everyone this was done by a top Olympian who finished the last 100 in 1:03 - challenging anyone to match it. We swam it free of course, and after finishing it he announced the swimmer was Michael Phelps and revealed it was actually a kick set! He's in a completely different world.

Unknown said...

what shall I say?that I'm nearly 48 and I still swim 3 to 4 times a week?don't want to compare my workouts to those of Phelps, but everything is proportionate to the age and the inividual

Scott said...

You're not alone Eleonora. There isn't a single person commenting on this blog who compares themselves to Michael Phelps - but it's nice to hear he struggles at times just like the rest of us mortals. And his fond reminiscences of younger days is simply priceless!

Unknown said...

it is!I've often wondered how it feels like being a sport champion when everybody expects you're fit all the time and never miss a goal..this at least means,as you say,he's human like the rest of us!