Don't make her angry! You wouldn't like Laure Manaudou when she is angry!

From Timed Finals: For those of you out there that are starting to get sick of “L’Affaire Manaudou,” [I'm not!] sorry…but this caught my attention and I think it’s worth talking about. Obviously with any breakup (and that’s what this is, maybe not in the conventional sense but certainly it has all the characteristics), feelings are hurt and people often speak very candidly about the other. Laure Manaudou’s departure has brought another response from her former coach, Philippe Lucas, and this one seems to border somewhere between genuine concern and political statement as Lucas was quoted as saying that he “is worried” about what the Italian doctors will do with her. Read more here: [Link]

Laure Manaudou is to great of a swimmer to even need drugs. She won't do it. Click on the photo to see my satire.

Van Den Hoogenban commercial!

A bit like the Michael Phelps Speedo commercial.

Monkeys doing breaststroke

The video was shot in Thailand.

"Visa Mobile" commercial with Michael Phelps and his English Bulldog

2007 Michael Phelps VISA Mobile Ad
Uploaded by swimstars

The Commercial also mentions that Michael Phelps eats 8,000 calories a day! If I eat more than 1500, people at the beach will push me back into the water every time I finish an open water swim thinking I am a whale trying to beach itself.

Optimising Swim Turn Performance by the "Coaches Info Service"

An overview of the flip turn. A bit pedantic but videos are included. [Link]

Three types of mines to harvest energy from

Which mine is the most benevolent form of energy harvesting and which would improve the water quality of surrounding oceans, lakes and streams?

A. Oil field (Produces material for all petroleum based products)
B. Lithium mine (Produces material for both laptops and hybrid car batteries)
C. Hydrogen mine (20 times more explosive than gas, H2,once extracted from H2O is an under-utilized energy source due to the electricity demands needed to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen.)

If our cars used hydrogen or H2 instead of gasoline, the byproduct from our exhaust would be water vapor. Popular Mechanics magazine said that an 850-billion-dollar investment into our electrical grid via pebble reactors, (A nuclear reactor that isn't capable of melting down), could convert our oil based economy into a hydrogen economy thus eliminating geopolitical tensions over energy, less CO2 emission into the atmosphere and subsequently make our air safer to breathe and our beaches safer to swim in.

We have spent $520 billion in Iraq!

Breaststroke side by side comparison - look at the momentum graph!

Swimming is all about not losing momentum:

Comparison of two swimmers side by side doing a breastroke pullout. The performance times for each swimmer is as follows; For the 100 yard breastroke, the swimmer on the left goes 1:00.8 and swimmer on the right goes :57.8. Even though both swimmers have vastly different performance times, the tracing demonstrates that at least for this part of the lap, identical techniques. Arrows at key positions appear in this video to demonstrate the similarities through this phase. With practice, by gliding less from the initial push-off from the wall, the zero velocity artifact can be eliminated.

To view in a larger format go here: [Link]
To go to their website: [Link]

Aaron Perisol and 'Playboy Bunny' Amanda Beard will blow off US Nationals for an International meet in France.

Lane 9 News is reporting that Aaron Perisol and "July Playmate" Amanda Beard will skip US Nationals in Indianapolis this August and swim in the French Open EDF (Go to the site, it has amazing photos.)

Here is a link to what the pool looks like: [Link]

Lane 9 does not give a motive and I can't figure it out why either. Could it be to swim against or intimidate international swimmers? I don't know. They suggest other swimmers may skip nationals as well. Lane 9 News article: [Link]

Help Wanted: Swim coach - Starting pay $398,000 per year - $1,000,000 if "you got skillz."

I know this guy, who knows this guy... Well, let me phrase it this way. Swim News is reporting that the The Times Online is reporting that:

"British Swimming is prepared to pay up to £200,000 a head per year for six world-class coaches in the wake of Bill Sweetenham's departure as performance director and in preparation for a home London 2012 Olympic Games, according to sources close to some of those being targeted. ...

... The current budget for elite coaching in all three home nations in Britain tops £500,000, when all posts in England, Scotland and Wales are taken into consideration, with Sweetenham the only one to earn a six-figure salary, though even that is not what he might command working elsewhere. ..." [Link]

Here is a snippet from the actual Times Online article:

"... Sparkes said that British Swimming has a “finite budget” but it is prepared to pay what is necessary to attract world-class coaches. Market forces dictate that leading coaches in the US and Australia demand a higher wage. The present budget for elite coaching in all three home nations in Britain tops £500,000, with Sweetenham the only one to earn a six-figure salary. ..." [Link]

Now, my pithy response: Britain so wants to storm the 2012 aquatic events that they are willing to pay "mad bank" for a coach with "haxzor skillz" to make it happen. I am not so sure that this is the best way to do it. Swimmers are primarily the result of DNA serendipity rather than JUST hard work and good coaching.

There is a swimmer's "graveyard" that exists between the nebulous planes of "great" and "outstanding." (I exist in the etherial plane of "slow") In that "graveyard" are the bodies of those that worked just as hard as Michael Phelps and had a great coach but fell short by perhaps once place or by a fraction-of-a-second or bad luck.

Building more pools or filling up those empty pools in Great Britain could help find them the next "Michael Phelps" rather than buying a mercenary coach. Click here to see a beautiful pool in London that is EMPTY [Link]

The Chinese are building a $39 billion dollar city for the Beijing Olympics

The Chinese government is making a massive public investment not only in these upcoming games but also in their infrastructure of Beijing post Olympics. Once the venues are completed, plans have been made in regards to redistribution of these facilities for the public good.

The Water Cube, where all the aquatics events will take place, will become a public pool facility after the Olympics. The 2,000 apartments that comprise the Olympic village will be sold for public housing. They have built a reusable port for the regatta, an airport for transportation needs, and numerous stadiums to make this Olympics both a public relations and a social needs success.

I can't think of a better way to create new economies where none existed by using global tourist money to help pay for it. This is pure 'Adam Smith' capitalism which is ironic for a place who has Chairman Mao as a figurehead.

From the article:

"... In official estimates, in the 2002-2007 period investment in the Olympic preparations should reach about $18 billion. But the closer the Games, the more doubts there are about China's ability to keep within the announced budget. Quoting Beijing authorities, some foreign sources report that China will have to spend $8 billion on the construction of new underground lines and other transportation facilities, and an additional $5 billion on the building of satellite cities. The figure of $39 billion looks more authentic, but it absorbs only indirect spending on Olympic preparations. It does not cover the construction of sports facilities and development of a security system. Nor does it include the $8.5 billion that the port of Qingdao (Tsingtao - Western postal name) was going to spend on the preparations for the Olympic regatta in the Yellow Sea. ..." [Link]

Velocity Meter-Breaststroke Swimming by Team Termin

In this clip, the swimmer is first viewed part way through the pullout phase of the underwater pullout. Notice that velocity drops to zero, during the recovery phase of the arms and the legs. This is caused because the initial glide phase before the pull is to long, and the swimmer has traveled two far down the deceleration curve. (See Push off and glide video and description) The recovery phase creates so much drag, and the swimmer has slowed to a point that zero velocity is attained.

Re-acceleration occurs as the swimmer reaches the surface. The velocity associated with breastroke is clearly demonstrated in this clip. Performance improvements occur when the large declarations in the is stroke are reduced. The velocity meter integrates underwater video with a tracing (red line) of instantaneous velocity. The black line scrolling across the red tracing is synchronized with video, so the swimmers technique can be analyzed into parts of accelerations, and decelerations. To help swimmers improve, this method is helpful in identifying specific parts of the stroke creating the most drag. After that part is identified, the swimmer and coach can concentrate on strategies in the area where significant improvement in performance can occur.

To view a larger video of this go here: [Link]
Here is a link to their site if you are interested in them in getting yourself film and analyzed: [Link]

Ian Thorpe start and dolphin kick underwater!

Nuoto - Ian Thorpe
Uploaded by docteurgonzo69

Easily gets 15 meters off this start underwater with a great dive and powerful dolphin kick

Whoa! Ian Thorpe doing breaststroke!

Ian Thorpe
Uploaded by docteurgonzo69

Who knew? But he seems to big! To much mass to move through the water.

I bullied Team Tervin into posting to "Bright Cove" so we can see their swim analysis video better.

I also asked for a video explanation and here it is:

Velocity Meter-Push-off and Glide Analysis -TeamTermin.com

The black line that scrolls across the graph during playback is the synchronized position with the video.

This video demonstrates two important components about the drag forces associated with water. You will notice that the instant the swimmers feet loose contact with the wall, velocity immediately begins to decline very quickly. (exponentially) The next feature is based on the mean swimming speed of the swimmer. You can use the curve to precisely find the velocity/time from the wall where the breakout should occur, so you can begin swimming at the intersection of your mean swimming speed and place on the curve where that speed occurs. The goal being to not spend any time below your mean swimming speed by gliding to far from the wall.

Here is a direct link to a bigger version of the video: [Link]

[I receive no compensation or gifts for posting this info. I posted it because I think it way cool when you mix swimming with mathmatics. I will be posting two more later. One is for the breststroke.]

"Lost Angeles" beaches fail miserably in regards to water quality

We have an organization here in Santa Monica area called Heal the Bay. The non-profit began in the middle eighties when some local residents found out that barely treated sewage via the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant was being pumped into the Santa Monica bay.

These individuals formed Heal the Bay and joined an EPA lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles to address it and they summarily did. As a result the dolphins came back, you can swim Pier-to-Pier from Hermosa to Manhattan without getting sick, but though the water quality has improved, it is nowhere near the turquoise color it should be.

So, like a water quality "watch dog," Heal the Bay checks up on water quality tests not just in Los Angeles but up and down the coast and they give an annual report card. They just handed out their 17 th annual report card and L.A. and Long Beach had the worst water quality! From the L.A. Times:

• Heal the Bay issues a weekly "report card" for each beach, based on data assembled from more than 20 coastal health agencies.

• The group's 17th Annual Beach Report Card, released last week, found that although most California beaches (82%) had good to excellent water quality during dry weather, Los Angeles County beaches were below average on the whole, with Long Beach posting the worst dry-weather water quality in the state. [Link]

The heal the Bay report can be read here: [Link]

This cat has a nasty breaststroke and butterfly

The Daily Mail Newspaper has an article on a swimming tiger named Odin. Lot's of pictures and info about his species as well as a video of him storming it underwater.

This weekend he is given a breaststroke clinic to level 3-4 swimmers. Past students include Tara Kirk, Rebecca Soni, Liesel Jones so you may want to go but don't make any mistakes! He has a temper. ;-)

The tiger's name is Odin and he is a Bengal tiger from India that lives at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Zoo in Vallejo, California. (That is near San Francisco.)

They say that cats don't like to swim but that does not apply to tigers. If it is on their radar and they are hungry, they are unstoppable; UNLESS, it is a dog! Like small cats, tigers are frightened of dogs. When dogs bark, they assume a pack is nearby and they run. National Geographic has a film on it.

There are only 2,500 of these tigers left planet wide. [Link]

UPDATE: This quote rules

RichardPeterJohnson 16 points 20 hours ago
IM N UR OLIMPICZ, W1NN1NG UR BRESTSTROAK!

'Swim Room' has entered the building. Go say hello!

Swim Room has entered the building. Swim Room is a swimmers' version of My Space. It has forums, blogs, videos, Podcasts, classifieds and I forget what else so you have to go there and see. [Link]

Here is a link to some video interviews of Ian Crocker, Michael Phelps, Megan Jenrick. local boy Lenny Krayzelberg, Ryan Lochte, Katie Hoff et al. Enough superheros to fill a comic-book. [Link]

I am including a link to Swim Room in the links section to the right.

Tara Kirk has the prettiest breaststroke I have ever seen.

Here she beats Liesel Jones in the 100m breast at the Duel in the Pool meet last month. Rebecca Soni comes in third.

Uinnista! I can't say it but I read this swim blog four times a week! It has now entered the building!

A swim blog, sublime! It is now in the links column especially after reading this this post regarding shoulder protection that the blogger discovered through serendipity:

Scapular Plane Swimming is an approach to swimming that decreases the possibility of swimmers developing shoulder problems from swimming with traditional swimming mechanics.

The introduction of Scapular Plan Swimming into the routines of patients with shoulder trauma or injury, combined with therapeutic strategies, can help to accelerate recovery. Swimming outside the scapular plane places undue stress on the muscles and tendons of the rotator cuff.

[…]

“Shoulder-safe” swimming should be performed in the scapular plane with avoidance of over-head motion of the glenohumoral joint beyond approximately 120 degrees. This is possible if the swimmer has excellent (appropriate) linear body rotation and stability, allowing the arms to essentially swing into the pulling position without over reaching for optimal muscle activation and avoidance of over pushing upon exit from the water to avoid over distension of the cuff.

Here is a link to the exact blog post [Link]
Here is a link to the Scapular Plane Swimming press release. [Link]
Here is a link to Uinnista: [Link]

Paging, Dan Leonard, white courtesy telephone please!

Who is Lewis Gordon Pugh?

Here is a 37 year old lawyer who wants to swim at the north poll to call attention to global warming. I guess the logic here is that if you can swim at the north poll, the ice cap there is demonstrably melting.

He has swam nearly a dozen extreme swim expeditions such as: Swimming the length of the Thames River and he broke the world record for the longest swim in ice water in Nigards Glacier Lake in Norway by swimming 1,200 meters in 23 minutes and 50 seconds. Here is a link to his expedition page: [Link]

Before he does an ocean swim such as this; his body allegedly generates a warmer core temp which has baffled scientists and they have nicknamed him a polar bear. This is an extraordinary claim so I emphasize the word 'allegedly' when stating it. Here is a link to his sponsor's swim page: [Link] Here is a link to his website: [Link]

I endorse this expedition as a really creative way do demonstrate that global warming is observable and a continuing phenomena but secretly I just think he is doing it because he likes to swim in exotic and extreme environments just for the fun of it.

On a lighter note:

This swim has not been without political issues. The Santa Claus government took 3 months to process his visitor visa and American Home Security was questioning whether the trip should move forward at all not due to the socialistic; or perhaps communistic tendencies, of the self designated North Poll dictator for life. Another major concern was Claus's flaunting of a no fly rule every December 25th without FAA registration.

SWIM NEWS, TIMED FINALS very generous with their rhetoric towards Amanda's comeback.

At the Speedo Grand Challenge, Olympian Amanda Beard managed a third. I consider this a flop!

Amanda's best finish thus far was a third in the 200m IM; (2:20.16), behind Elaine Breeden (2:18.75) and Julia Smit (2:15.01). The American record was set at Nationals last Summer; (2.10.05), set by Katie Hoff.

In her signature event, the 200m breaststroke, she scratched in the final. Amanda's prelim time was a 2:34.03 versus the winning time of 2:27.66 clocked by Keri Hehn.

She flopped and I am not convinced that she has enough time to swim well at Olympic trials next year. This is what you get for placing business before your craft. The above screenshot is Amanda Beard hawking Red Bull; (of all products for an athlete to promote), at the official Red Bull site: [Link]

However if you read the swim press such as Timed Finals you would think she was still in the game:

Last night Amanda Beard made her first return to competition since 2004 and seems to be a bit rusty…but still solid. ..." [Link]

Swim News called it the "Comeback of the month." (Perhaps there is something lost in translation.) [Link]

Speedo Grand Challenge Day 3 Prelim Results

Amanda beard swam a 2:34.03 for the 200m breast in Day 3 of the Speedo Grand Challenge. That is 13 seconds slower than her American record and 15 seconds off the world record. Granted this is just prelim results but three other swimmers swam seconds faster. Placings below:

1. Rebecca Soni, 20 - TROJAN-CA: 2:31.49
2. Keri Hehn, 26 - TROJAN-CA: 2:31.60
3. Tara Kirk, 24 - UN-PC/Stanford: 2:32.35
4. Amandea Beard, 25 - TROJAN-CA: 2:34.03

Prelim Results: [Link]

As of this meet, Amanda Beard may have qualifying times for Olympic Trials but she is seemingly not prepared enough to make the Olympic team. This is very precarious for her since she has to make the Olympic Team team to add equity to her sexualized, "Amanda Beard," brand and for her licensing agent, Stone America who wants to cut deals.

Last month in Australia we saw world records threatened and a world record fall by seconds in the 200 fly. We saw motivated swimming from all over the world. These swimmers were prepared, they races, and then hit the pool the day after World Championships. We have seen these swimmers compete in such events as the Duel in the Pool, The Eric Namesnick Memorial Grand Prix etc. etc..

I havn't seen any motivation from Amanda Beard whatsoever to race since Athens 2004. A sprinter like Gary Hall can take a 100 days to prepare for the Olympics, a specialist in the 200 anything needs 2-years-plus at least and more like four.

Back from pier-to-pier with Anthony

The drive up to the Manhattan beach pier. This picture was taken at 7:45 and the beach is all ready humming.

When we got to Hermosa pier a group of swimmers were taking off well before us and got a half-pier head start. I could tell Anthony smelled blood; for if there is ever a pod of swimmers in front of Anthony, it's like waving a rabbit under a greyhound's nose. Hence, I swam at full blown race-pace the whole way to keep up. Ultimately I did a pretty good job. He got me by about 25 yards after catching two great waves to shore.

(Oh, some 'wanker' fisherman threw something at me and hit me in the shoulder when I rounded Hermosa pier. Whatever it was, it had gravity and mass but the water dampened it. This guy actually risk getting arrested for assault or battery and perhaps sued over a stupid fish.)

A crowd of swimmers and triathletes, some of them LA Tri members, perhaps some SCAQ swimmers and some nomads meet up at the Manhattan pier each Sunday morning to walk/jog to Hermosa Pier and swim back to Manhattan Pier. Some swim the whole thing, some swim half, and some even less. If you swim the whole thing it is 2 miles.

Swimming Pier-to-Pier this morning again with Anthony

The picture to the left is Hermosa, the picture to the right is Manhattan. I am on my way out the door to go swim from one pier to the other, or a two mile swim, to get ready for the Alcatraz Sharfest race which is in four weeks two weeks. I feel tight and sore from yesterday's sprint workout with Erik Hochstein but so does Anthony. Hopefully he is as sore as I am.

These pictures were taken at Watch-the-Water-dot-org at 6:50 AM.

The Sewage spill advisory for Venice and Dockweiler has been lifted. It's not like the sewage magically disappeared but rather dispersed.

Speedo Grand Challenge Day 1 Results

Here are the Day one results for the Speedo Grand Challenge. As I thought, Amanda Beard is swimming faster than her seed times: Prelims [Link] Results [Link].

Amanda Beard's 100 breast was slow for a world class athlete. Her time was 4-and-a-half seconds off the meet record, 5-and-a-half seconds off the American record, and 6-seconds-plus off off Leisel Jones World Record. She scratched the final heat.

She swam the slowest 50's in the heat and was trailing from beginning to end, but, she did swim faster than her seed time.

Both Eddie Reese and David Marsh on Butterfly but Ian Crocker does it his own way

Last night I watched the instructional DVDs, Eddie Reese on Butterfly and David Marsh's Swimming faster butterfly. Both had different takes on how to do a proper pull and sweep. (The above links have movie clip samples)

Eddie Reese of the University of Texas, Olympic team coach for many Olympics said that the arms come out at shoulder width and began there sweep just under the neck so close that your thumbs nearly touch. David Marsh of Auburn stated that the pull sweeps underneath your belly-button and then sweep out as if you were emulating an hour glass shape. I talked to Anthony this morning and he said that the Richard Quick DVD; (Richard Quick coaches at Stanford), also endorsed the sweep in and sweep in and sweep out as the coaches above.

But Ian Crocker goes his own way. His elbows are high and he practically sweeps straight on through with only a wobble.

To see 'Bright Cove' hosted films on this blog you need to install the 'Flash 9 Player'

Movies I have posted and linked to at Bright Cove have not been showing up. This includes the Ian Crocker/Michael Phelps trailer and the UCLA Bruins Masters Swim Meet video. It appears that you have to install the Flash Player 9 for them to work. The Flash 9 Player is free and painless to install: [Link]

OGO Water has 35% more oxygen it! - The internet told me it will make me swim faster!

I am a sucker for a good design and if it can spin a fairly tale that plays up to a personal internal bias that I possess, I will join that cult and buy that product!

Meet OGO water. A bottled water product export from the top of planet geographically known as Norway, home to such gods as TYR, Thor and Odin, comes a water with 35% more oxygen in it then boring old earth water. Subsequently, with all this added O2 in it, one should be able to swim faster, run harder and jump higher, right?

Well, if this were true, that your body could absorb extra O2 through hydration, then why do cyclists blood dope with Epogen or EPO when they could insert more O2 into their blood via a water product? The answer to this rhetorical question is NO; we are not fish and we don't absorb O2 that way.

Airated water with added O2 is viable and makes the water pleasant to drink and swim in but it's not part of the plan when it comes to oxygenating yourself.

Also, as one Gizmodo blog comment put it so eloquently: "... I agree with your hypothesis that no product can be truly useful in a package that pretty?" [Link]

With having said all the above: Hey, look at it, it's beautiful and looks like a drop of water. It also appeals to my personal internal bias so I am going to buy a guppy jug worth and swim faster than all of you. You will see and I will also review it here. For now, here is a snippet from the PDF:

• Produced by The O-Company in the Netherlands, OGO is also popularly known as “The Breathing OGO Oxygen Water is obtained from a local natural spring water source in the Netherlands and around 35 times more oxygen compared to regular water. Verve Brands LLC, an importer of international brands based in Memphis, Tennessee, has been awarded the exclusive appointment and market OGO Oxygen Water in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean Islands.

"Duel in the Pool Meet" - Ian Crocker filmed underwater for a half-a-lap

He is the world record holder. Phelps hasn't touched that.

Venice beach and Dockweiler Beach is closed today till further notice!

The beaches here in L.A. County should have water that is just as clean and beautiful as the clear turquoise water of the above photo taken at Emerald Bay, Catalina Island! A bay that is only 26 miles off our coast!

"... Beach Closed at portions of Venice Beach and Dockweiler Beach. This Beach Closure extends from Ballona Creek to 1/4 Mile North and South of the creek, and is a result of a sewage discharge. ..." -- Watch-the-water-dot-org

"... About 5,000 gallons of sewage spilled into Ballona Creek Wednesday, prompting Los Angeles County health officials to post warnings at the beaches for people to keep clear of the water.

Tree roots apparently blocked a set of Los Angeles city-owned sewer pipes leading to a condominium complex in the 4200 block of Wilshire Boulevard around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, but the problem wasn't reported until seven hours later, according to Cora Jackson-Fossett, a spokeswoman for the city's Bureau of Sanitation. ..." -- KNX 1070 News Radio

5000 gallons from a condo complex equal 40,000 pounds of sewage. Ergo, this leak; (Read as flood), has been going on for quite some time. Hmmm, say 5,000 toilet flushes?

The L.A. County is over developed with cement, oil, and trash. It should have NO runoff into the ocean at all. This includes the L.A. river, the gutters, the creeks, and river mouths. All the above should be routed to treatment facilities or dammed and treated for farming and power generation. Swimming in an ocean at a large metropolitan city should not be a health issue but today it is.

Erik Vendt, 1500m specialist, has a blog

He also "owned" Michael Phelps in the 1500m free last weekend at the Eric Namesnik Memorial Gran Prix. Though the 1500m free is not Michael Phelps' event, Erik Vendt used just 3 seconds to remind him. Vendt: 15:31.29 - Phelps: 15 34.18.


Erik has a blog and a photo gallery. Here is a link to his blog: [Link]

Speedo has a Podcast page

If you have iTunes; (it's free), you can listen to dozens of interviews and profiles of the Speedo stable of swimmers. Most of the interviews are personality profiles but they do include some insights on how the athletes train. On Page 15 of the Podcast page there is an interview between Olympian Scott Goldblatt and founder of the website Timed Finals and Natalie Coughlin regarding her training, Pan Pacs performance and life after swimming. [Link]

Amanda Beard has presumably put down a false seed time for a meet this weekend! - Ringer!

Not only is Amanda Beard posing in Playboy but she has presumably put down a false seed time for the, Nova Aquatics SPEEDO GRAND CHALLENGE, set for this weekend in Irvine, California.

Amanda Beard holds the American record for the 200m breast in a time of 2:22.24. This record was set in July of 2004 just before Athens. (To the right is a picture of her doing just that at Olympic trials.) For the meet this weekend she put down a seed time of 2:38.09. That's more than 16 seconds slower! Now, either Amanda has gotten really slow or she wants to clean water to win her heat with. I didn't bother looking at her other times.

For seed times for the meet, here is a link to the PDF: [Link]

More Ian Crocker Fly but this time from underwater - Just loving that pull!

Ian Crocker does fly different than everybody!

His hands are perfectly set up for his catch and while most butterfly swimmers make an hour glass motion with their pull that comes into their chest and explodes out their hips, Crocker keeps his elbows higher and has more of a wobble in the pull than an hour glass shape that Marsh and Reese talk about. This video is is the best butterfly technique video I have seen at You Tube. Doing it this way has made my "anemic butterfly on life support" a second or so faster.

San Francisco swimmers are the toughest in the United States!

I will be doing the Alcatraz Sharkfest in 17 days with Anthony. It's an open water race to commemorate the successful escape by the Anglin Brothers from Alcatraz some 45 years ago. It's not an easy race. It's formidable, intimidating and though I finish in the top 10%, I get a little nervous during the swim. It's nothing like Pier-to-Pier or the 2.4 Open water swim at Kona. The water is cold, the currents overwhelmingly powerful and you MUST know the tide schedules or a 3-5 knot ebb tide can carry you out of the bay and as far as the Farallon Islands. If you have seen Shark Week on the Discovery channel you know the geographic significance of that.)

The San Francisco Chronicle has an article about a foot race called the Bay to Breakers race whereas you run from the San Francisco Bay all the way to the beach but these athletes decided to swim it instead. Of course like a true San Franciscan they wore no wet-suits and the water had to be at most 55 degrees. Snippet from the article:

• Boldest was Jessica Sullivan, 30, a high school biology teacher from San Mateo. Sullivan planned to swim about 21 miles, circling around the city from Candlestick to Fort Funston -- hoping to complete this route for the first time. She did her "jump" into the chilly bay waters off Candlestick Point at 3:26 a.m., so she could start at slack tide and later score a boost from a potent, 5-knot ebb. [Link]

*Disclaimer: Don't try this at home or at your local beach break or bay. These guys are from San Francisco and innately contain the "personality disorders" necessary to do stuff like like this. ;-)

Olympic Trials will be held in Omaha, Nebraska

Olympic Trials will be held in Omaha, Nebraska. From USA Swimming:

"Officials of the Omaha Sports Commission, USA Swimming, City of Omaha and Qwest Center Omaha announced today that approximately 9,000 all-session tickets to the 2008 Olympic Team Trials for Swimming, set for June 29 to July 6, will go on sale Thursday, May 24, at 10 a.m. ..." [Link]

Also, Mutual of Omaha has been a sponsor of swimming related events as well such as Duel in the Pool which they plan to do again with US versus the EU.

I like their logo. too.

Michael Phelps - Ian Crocker movie trailer

I posted this two weeks ago I believe from a You Tube link I found. This is from Bright Cove and look at the difference in clairty! Here is a link to larger version: [link]

Sprinter, Cullen Jones, profiled and interviewed on BET's "Ballers"

An underwater sculpture garden

I found mention of this site at Wooster Collective; a site that chronicles street art here, there, and everywhere. In this case here, there and everywhere is underwater. Sort of reminds me of the old submarine ride at Disneyland.

This sculpture garden is located in Grenada in the West Indies and has it's very own website. Be sure to check out the gallery: [Link]

This is what Michael Phelps would look like if he had a white beard and stringy long hair

Michael Phelps doing breststroke. He looks sort of like a swimming Santa Claus or a character from Lord of the Rings.

Google Trends: Amanda Beard is as big or bigger than Michael Phelps in some cities and regions

Google has a tool called Google Trends and you can compare one trend; (or trends), against the other or others just by typing two or three trends together and separating them with a comma. Such as this trend search: "Britney Spears, Paris Hilton".

Google Trends will tell you who is being search for the most and then provide a comparison graph for different regions, cities and languages.

In our imaginary search of Britney and Paris, Britney is huge in Latin America whereas Paris is big in Los Angeles. (Who knew!?!)

Next, I did a trend-search comparing Amanda Beard to other notable female swimmers such as Natalie Coughlin, Kate Ziegler and Katie Hoff and on a lark I threw in Michael Phelps in the mix for an extreme trend result.

I did this trend-search to see if it would validate my premise that Amanda Beard's decision to pose nude in Playboy will put media attention upon Beard's naked breasts or lack thereof instead of the accomplishments of the US women's team.

Though the trends favor Michael Phelps, Beard is searched for more than Phelps in countries like Australia, Spain, and Italy, and even in cities like Tucson, and Indianapolis. The only other swimmer that registers is Natalie Coughlin and she is barely a blip. It is a de facto shame because Natalie has proven to be a better swimmer this past year.

Upon viewing these stats, I now wonder if Beard's soft porn stunt will hurt both the brand equity or even the integrity of the US women's team since Beard will be the focal point rather than the women's team accomplishments. Obviously Beard disagrees or does not care.

The trend graph can be seen here: [Link]

XII FINA World Masters Qulaifying Times Released

They are slow too; slower than the qualifying times for FINA World Masters at Stanford in 2006.

• Here is a link to the qualifying times: [Link]
• Here is a link to the schedule of events: [Link]

I am trying out a new video sharing service

Here is the UCLA Bruins Masters Swim Meet video on Bright Cove. Big difference in quality between both You Tube and Daily Motion. I endorse Bright Cove for the time being. To see a larger version go here: [Link]

Chinese men's swimming at the Olympic level is in trouble but the women look good.

China just finished it's national championships and it was ugly. Only five Chinese men made the Olympic standard. Snippet from the article:

• The national championships were meant to begin a confidence-building process leading up to the 2008 Games, but national coach Zhang Yadong said he saw little to celebrate. [Link]
  

Though this is really bad news for the Chinese men's team, there is something very impressive about this Chinese team. Snippet from the article:

• Not a single registered Chinese swimmer failed a doping test in 2006 despite a marginal increase in test numbers, local media reported on Wednesday.

• None of the 922 tests on 456 swimmers, both in and out of competition, turned out positive, the China Daily said, citing swimming officials. [Link]

With better nutrition, training, and free speech rights, I expect the Chinese to dominate this sport due to their shear population numbers; (See photo above), but all three suggestions would have to be implemented though.

On the Women's side all looks potentially gold. The Chinese women's team qualified for every event save for the 200 free. a standout was a 13-year-old girl named Li Xuanxu. She looks good in the IM. [Link]


Scott Brings up a good point!

Scott said...

The major handicap the less developed nations have in producing world class swimmers is the lack of available pools for the general population. With fewer pools fewer people swim and the population base from which to draw elite swimmers becomes correspondingly smaller. Building swimming pools is very expensive which is why the United States has been a perennial powerhouse in world swimming - it has the most pools per capita of any country in the world by far. China will take a long time to get even close. So these results are to be expected for a country which isn't into wholesale cheating (questions could be raised about why the women have done so much better than the men though).

The 17th man describes what it is like to swim a 2:12.27 in the 200 fly

In a stream of consciousness format Joel describes vividly what it is like to shave 2 seconds off your personal best with your right goggle lens filled with water and only 8 laps left to go. He accomplished this feat at the 2007 Short Course National Championships. [Link]

Swimming Baby - Only 18 months old

I love his backstroke but I think teaching babies how to swim is not a good idea primarily because of chlorine issues and... Well, I will leave the rest to your imagination.

The Little Mermaid slips into a swim suit designed to enhance the lifestyle of the active Muslim female.

Amazing satire! They must have been reading our blog regarding Islamic swimsuits. From the L.A. Times:

• The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen was found draped in a Muslim dress and head scarf.

• The [Little Mermaid] statue dedicated to Hans Christian Andersen draws about 1 million visitors a year and is targeted occasionally by vandals. On Tuesday, the statue's face, left arm and lap were found doused with red paint. [Link]
  

Amanda Beard Signature Collections?

I started my art career officially in '83 after I did the Ironman. My first real job was at Peter Green Design where I learned the basics of both design and business. (Thank you, Peter!) My first lesson was learning that the company OP or Ocean Pacific, which was one of the first surf clothing related companies, didn't really exist!

That is to say that they had no factories or assembly lines making surfboards or clothes and that they were really nothing more than a logo and a marketing division.

OP would go to OEMs or the Original Equipment Manufacturers would go to OP and say, "Hey, let us put this logo on these sunglasses, teeshirts, surfboards or anything that fits the OP brand and sell it!" OP would then market the brand, or the OEMs would market the brand for them, and OP would get a portion of the profits. Disney does this too and now Amanda Beard wants to do it as well. [Link]

Amanda Beard has signed with a company called Stone America. They are a brand licensing firm that takes a name like Amanda Beard, Hang Ten, Laura Ashley and then they find the OEMs who want to put their names or brand names on their products. Since humans are social animals, a brand name creates a social recognition with the buyer and thus differentiates itself as part of a particular "tribe" or social network.

Amanda Beard plans on licensing her name to any and all parties interested in leveraging her name recognition into various collections of products. I wonder how Speedo feels about this?

With Playboy, Stone America, and other business endeavors Amanda has her foot in, I see a swimmer here who is more interested in her career post Olympics rather than her swimming career at present. Subsequently, I don't believe she has the focus to make the Olympic team. I am seeing shades of Ian Thorpe here!

Swimming World Lane 9 News: Erik Hochstein set a national record in the 500 free

Dan Leonard has this update:

Karen Melick who swims with SCAQ and TYR set two national records (50-54) at the Masters SCY Nationals this Weekend: 100 Breast 1:13:93 and 200 Breast 2:40.34. Of course, she won both events.

Men's 500 freestyle

National titlists included Jon Russell (18-24 � 4:36.95), Justin Brannock (25-29 � 4:51.41), Ili Selinger (30-34 � 4:59.80), Erik Hochstein (35-39 � 4:43.17), Mike Shaffer (40-44 � 4:47.27), Matthew Kanzler (50-54 � 5:13.93), David Radcliff (70-74 � 5:57.07), Thomas Taylor (75-79 - 7:08.37), Jurgen Schmidt (80-84 � 7:48.66) and Gilbert Young (85-89 � 9:13.75). [Link]

You can watch Erik Hochstein; along with Christopher Beach, Scott Hubbard and Dan Wegner set a national record in the 800 free relay in this UCLA Bruins Master Meet video: [Link]

Team Tyr: Erik Hochstein and Dan Wegner: first and second in the 500 free!

1 Hochstein, Erik 38 TYR - 4:43.17

r:+0.93 25.99 53.88 (27.89)
1:22.21 (28.33) 1:50.77 (28.56)
2:19.33 (28.56) 2:48.17 (28.84)
3:16.52 (28.35) 3:44.70 (28.18)
4:13.72 (29.02) 4:43.17 (29.45)

2 Wegner, Dan 35 TYR - 4:50.00

r:+0.89 25.40 53.27 (27.87)
1:21.86 (28.59) 1:50.82 (28.96)
2:20.27 (29.45) 2:50.14 (29.87)
3:20.41 (30.27) 3:50.87 (30.46)
4:21.15 (30.28) 4:50.00 (28.85)

#45 Men 500 Free

I ran into this nausiating quote by Olympian, Summer Sanders! - I contrast it with a Michael Phelps quote.

Summers Sanders is an Olympian who participated in the Barcelona games in 1992. She won gold, a silver, and a bronze in primarily butterfly, IM events, and a relay. She parlayed her medals into sports media work working on such "seminal" broadcasts as Skating with Celebrities and a reality TV show that lasted barely a year. Anyway, she certainly is no Rowdy Gaines.

Here is Sanders on her athletic talent and the disabled: "I was lucky. Like, suppose my father had put in a tennis court instead. I can't play tennis at all. I'd be in some retarded league right now instead of going to the Olympics."

In the image to the right, Johnny Knoxville actually starred with Special Olympians and featured them in a positive light within the movie. Sanders seems to feel they are well below her standards.

-- •• --

Michael Phelps is Michael Phelps in the same way that Mark Spitz is Mark Spitz. To win a gold medal means you are great; but there is a level above that, and you can count all of the people in that Pantheon on one hand. Names like Johnny Weismuller, the first swimmer to break a minute in the 100m free with no flip-turn and a wool swimsuit. Duke Kahanamoku who not only has three golds and a couple silver but invented or rediscovered a billion dollar sport called surfing. Then there is Janet Evans who still has the longest standing records in the sport of swimming, each lasting through four Olympic Games.

Here is Michael Phelps on the disabled: "I was talking to some of the paralympians who came over from Iraq -- they were soldiers over there," Phelps said. "One of them said to me, 'It's really great what you do. We love watching you.'

"I said, 'Are you serious? What I do is nothing compared to what you guys do.' "

Phelps said his conversations with the military paralympians inspired him. [Link]

The Phelps factor: Elite New Zealand swimmer getting coached in America

Moss Burmester is a Commonwealth Butterfly champion from New Zealand. He has been swimming with Michael Phelps lately and it shows. Down under in OZ, Moss competed in a meet called the Telstra Grand Prix in Brisbane with no taper at all. Just showed up and swam. Consequently, he won his best event; the 200 fly, after doing three grueling weeks swimming along side Michael Phelps.

I wish they would post one of his workouts but look at these two sets Bowman had them do:

Kick: 10 x 100's LCM on the 1:50 (Then one more as a time trial.) Phelps: 1:03, Burmester: 1:07
Sprint 40 x 50s on a short rest [Link]

Another example of why it is acceptable to train in other countries. France and Itlay shold take note.

Back from Pier-to-Pier

Lots of athletes today; dozens and dozens of swimmers but few did the two miler. Most did a mile or a mile-and-a-half probably as a result of spotting issues due to the fog.

As usual Anthony swam without a wet-suit but I wore mine. We swam fast and I struggled a bit, probably from the workout at Santa Monica yesterday, nonetheless I did keep up with Anthony today in that he only got me by about 30 yards or so rather than 2 minutes worth of standing on the beach waiting for me. Not bad for a two-mile swim.

Second week in a row I brought my camera and forgot to take pictures.

Pier-to-pier this morning with Anthony - 3rd swim so far

Anthony and I have done three ocean swims so far after today with three more training swims to go before the Alcatraz Sharkfest. These pictures were taken at 6:18 this morning, The tide is low, there is a little bit to much moisture in the air for my taste, it means more sensory deprivation in trying to spot the pier 2 miles away. I bet that any swimmer in San Francisco reading this thinks I am wimp. The fog gets so bad there I suppose that swimmers have to use a compass to find the shore. Will meet Anthony there in about an hour or so.

This one is for Ogged! Breaststroke momentum graph and video! Send in your own video and get it graphed!

If you send in a video to Team Termin Sports Performance they will chart and graph it for you like the video above: [Link]

Here is nice steamling video with a fancy graph to make it look important.

A swim suit designed to enhance the lifestyle of the active Muslim female.

The featured suit can be purchased here: modestswimsuits.co.uk

If you asked a person in Iran or Pakistan what they thought of American culture you may get a shrill or perhaps an accurate critique depending on your point of view. If you ask a French national what they thought of cultures that endorse female circumcision, you would get definitely get an ear-full and rightfully so from my point of view as well.

To the right of this paragraph is a swim suit from ahiida.com which is "...designed with the respect of Islamic values and aimed to enhance the lifestyle of the active Muslim female. ..." [Link]

To my untrained eye regarding Islamic tradition and/or law, I see no reason why a swimmer from an Islamic country cannot wear a full-bodied speed suit, goggles, and a cap and still maintain their Islamic traditions or values. In my opinion these suits look perilous in water that is deeper than shoulder high.

I found this suit on page 7 at the blog: The Muslim Woman

Michael Phelps, his 4x100 relay team, and perhaps Eamon Sullivan are not "morning people"?

(That's Eamon Sullivan above.) In Beijing next summer, NBC talked China into having the final heats for all the swimming events to be held in the morning so that people in the US and Canada can see the results in real time.

Well, when the world got word of this they were not amused. Australian swimmers complained such as Thorpe and Lenton, European swimmers chimed in as well but Michael Phelps made his intentions known by taking NBC's side:

"If you make the Olympic team and you can't come and be ready to swim in the morning, if you can't get excited to do that, give your spot to someone else." [Link]. You can see these posts I made about the controversy here. [Link]

So, it's now 2007 and now swim meets all over the world are having heats in the morning to prepare their athletes and it appears that some athletes are not quite morning people yet.

This Swim News article states that in a meet down under, The Telstra Grand Prix in Brisbane, sprinter Eamon Sulivan false-started after swiming a 50.15 in a preceding heat before. [Link]

Michael Phelps had mixed results logging two wins and placing 2nd in the 4x100 free. [Link]

I just had a strange thought that appeared out of nowhere: "Captain Kirk" was the first blogger.

Erik Hochstein "owned" the 200 Free! - Dan Wegner got second!

1 Hochstein, Erik: TYR - 1:42.68
r:+0.88 23.93 - 49.93 (26.00)
1:16.23 (26.30) - 1:42.68 (26.45)
2 Wegner, Dan: TYR - 1:44.06
r:+0.88 23.78 - 49.92 (26.14)
1:16.39 (26.47) 1:44.06 (27.67)
Taylor, Curtis: OREG - 1:44.43
r:+0.82 24.39 - 50.40 (26.01)
1:17.37 (26.97) 1:44.43 (27.06)

Team TYR Swimmer Erik Hochstein places 2nd in the 100 fly

2007 USMS Short Course Yards Championships: The 100 fly is not Erik's event; he usually swims the 200 free as his specialty, so I missed that he swam in it this morning and placed second. 52.62 - split times 24.59 - 28.03

Blog Friend, "the 17th man," swam this morning

Update: Joel is going to have some "'splaining to do, Lucy" about the 200 free.

2007 USMS Short Course Yards Championships: Joel did the 100 fly in 1:00.58. Here is his split time: 28.33 - 1:00.58, coming back in 32.25 which is a really strong second 50. Here are the results so far today:

#5 Men 100 Fly
#6 Women 100 Fly

Dolphin kick drill that strengthens core muscles

At Glenn Mills' site; GoSwim.tv, I found this dolphin kick drill that strengthens core muscles. There is a Flash video in the upper right you can click on to see it demonstrated. Snippet:

• The buoyancy of the pull buoy adds an extra bit of resistance, and makes you work more intensely with your core. The added resistance of the pull buoy forces you to be super aware of how you position your body in the water. Notice that the swimmer in the video keeps her hands, arms, and head in super streamline. She forms a stake with the front part of her body, and drives the stake through the water using her core and her legs. ... [Link]
  

2007 USMS Short Course Yards Championships started today!

The USMS short course Nationals began and I will be watching out for Joel of the The 17th man blog and Team TYR. Click on the following links for the results:

#1 Men 1000 Free
#2 Women 1000 Free
#3 Men 1650 Free
#4 Women 1650 Free

FINA won't accept Libby Lenton's world record, Lenton appeals

Libby lenton raced Michael Phelps as part of a mixed relay at the Mutual of Omaha's Duel in the Pool Swim Meet. This meet had pitted the United States against Australia in a swimming spectacle that was fun to watch. Therein Libby Lenton got to swim a 100 free against Michael Phelps as the lead-off swimmer. Subsequently, she swam under the world record mark but the international swimming body, FINA, will not recognize it. (See Lenton break the womens 100m free record in the video above.)

FINA's reasons: it wasn't a FINA sanctioned event and she raced side-by-side with one of the fastest men on earth . Well, Libby feels wronged and wants her record acknowledged. Hence, she has hired a lawyer to appeal the FINA decision. (I have to side to FINA on this one.) [Link]

Laure Manaudou's two beat kick in Athens 2004

Manaudou versus France and Italy

An European eccentricity I don't understand: The Laure Manaudou controversy.

Laure Manaudou falls deeply in love with an Italian swimmer name Luca Marin. She decides to leave her French coach who states that she left because she is lazy and feels that he is working her to hard. Well, Is it love or coaching? Who cares, she jets off to Italia to train and be with her lover.

The coach feeling jilted flames her new Italian coach and his training methods by insinuating how "fearful" he is that they will turn her into a "Frankenstein-like pharmaceutical experiment." The Italians look the other way and take the political high ground.

The Italian Swim Federation is worried that the French Federation will feel a French Olympian training in Italy is unacceptable and could lead to bad blood. They say, we won't train her unless the French agree or she changes her nationality! [Link]

Blam! Drama! Drama! Drama! Some negotiation , some wine, maybe a little French cheese and all is good. Laure will swim under the French flag and race for her [former] French club Canet-en-Roussillon! [Link] [More]

In America, American swimmers can train wherever they want. The "patron saint" of this blog, Natalie Coughlin, who we often make fun of but appreciate greatly trains in Australia from time-to-time. Ian Thorpe trained in America briefly. German Olympian, Erik Hochstein, trained at USC. We currently have Chinese swimmers, Turkish, South African, British, Brazilian swimmers training in the United States and USA swimming has no problem with an American swimmer interchanging ideas with coaches from other countries.

The exchanging of information and knowledge for benevolent purposes should have no border, boundary or law preventing it. The French and Italians should realize this and embrace it.

USA Swimming has an article on Gary Hall

Gary Hall talks about swimming and his financial endeavors in a USA Swimming article: [Link]

Gary Hall Jr. has been to three Olympics and medaled in all of them. Gary has 10 medals total, 5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. (Sprinters can do that. Their shelf life is far longer than a distance or middle distance swimmer. Mark and I joke that a warm up for a sprinter is just a long hot shower.)

He and his father also founded the Race Club where he trains and coaches. What is revealing is that Gary Hall not only has the Race Club as a business endeavor but that he is a financial planner as well. One of his financial vehicles is buying "Stock Warrants" for his clients.

An example of buying a stock warrant: Let's say we have a company called Tony Bologna Steel. Let's say that Tony Bologna was a publicly traded company on the stock exchange but it went bankrupt, thrown off the stock exchange, and is now in the process of reorganizing so as to pay off it's debts. Once this is accomplished, Tony Bologna Steel plans to come out of bankruptcy and be relisted as if it were a brand new company. Now, before Tony Balogna can do that, it needs to pay off it's debts utterly and completely. So, here is what it does: it goes to family member or a friend and even a stranger and says, "I need one-million-dollars to pay off all Tony Bologna debts, Once my debts are paid I will be relisted on the stock market for $30 a share, I will allow you to purchase right now 3-million dollars of that stock for only 1-million and I will give you a "promise receipt" called a "stock warrant" to guarantee that sale! Once I am out of debt and back on the exchange, 3- million-dollars worth of stock is yours and you can sell it any time you want."

Gary Hall has a variation to this where he purchases stock warrants of companies BEFORE they were EVER listed on the stock exchange. In other words companies that have not gone bankrupt. Keep in mind this is speculative investment that relies primarily on trust.

By the way, the little kid in the picture "owned" Gary Hall in a 200 LCM. ;-)

These points of interest represent all the cities and towns of all the individuals who came to the blog today!

You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

By 7:00 PM today the blog had nearly 500 visits. These points of interest represent all the cities and towns of all the individuals who came today thus far. The blog had visits from all over the United States and from almost every continent as well. Then there was the USA Today link to the site which was a total surprise.

WOW! Consequently, I was so overwhelmed and so flattered that I could hardly work today. As a result I will try to make this blog much more, much better, and much different because of you!

Stay tuned!

I'm shocked! - "USA Today Sportscope" linked to us

USA Today Sportscope linked to us today. Remember that "snarky" post I did about Amanda Beard posing nude in Playboy? Well, USA Today Sportscope decided to talk about it:

• - Tony Austin, Southern California Aquatics Swim Club: No one's arguing that the photos will hurt women's sports, but we're arguing that they'll distract attention from Kate Ziegler, Natalie Coughlin, Katie Hoff and other clothed swimmers. Austin also isn't buying the notion that people will buy Playboy because she's a swimmer. [Link to USA Today Sportscope]
  

Scroll down and look for the picture of Amanda Beard and you will see my paraphrased take.

Swimming World: Pair of Masters Relay Records Set by Team TYR

Swimming World has the article but we have the video of the 800 SCY Freestyle Relay Record! It is the very last swim featured on the video below. Here is a write up about the national records they set: [Link]

I have never set a record; have you? Must be profoundly exhilarating. :-)

In the UCLA Bruins Swim Meet video below, Dan Wegner, Scott Hubbard, Christopher Beach, and Erik Hochstein, in that order are the swimmers.

When I began swimming about three years ago I purchased two swim instruction DVDs: Swimming Faster Freestyle by David Marsh and Eddie Reese on Freestyle. Each DVD featured minor differences in opinion on technique but each had a defined style a swimmer should try and emulate. To Eddie Reese's credit he did mention that you should try to learn the classical form first before experimenting. Sort of like Picasso learning how to paint classically before painting in abstract form.

Each of the swimmers below grab and kick the water differently. To me all of them have created individual freestyle solutions to suit their strengths. Scott Hubbard, the second swimmer, uses his right arm like a "Venician Gondolier" uses a oar for leverage and momentum. Christopher Beach has a very symmetrical stroke and it is very harmonious and graceful; I like his rotation too. Erik Hochstein's kick makes a distinct "thumping noise", He has a long reach and nice glide phase. I bet he could kick a 50 faster than I could swim one.

I now believe that freestyle should not be a "cookie-cutter" type of stroke when one style fits all but rather a stroke that is designed for the particular individual's strengths.