Open water races have issues that FINA needs to resolve in regards to World Championships and Olympic events

Though German athlete, Britta Kamrau-Corestein, won a gold medal in the 25k open water race. She was a bit testy with officials after the race.

12.5 Kilometers into the open water event, the race was suspended due to wind and swell. When Britta Kamrau-Corestein exited the water, she claimed that officials told her the gold would be hers. Apparently this may be a FINA rule during an open water event. However after a long "pow wow", officials said something along the lines of, "our bad, you are going to swim the rest of the 12.5 kilometers tomorrow."

Britta Kamrau-Corestein admits the split race probably helped her in the long run but feels rules must be consistent.

From the article:

• American Kalyn Keller took silver and Russia's Ksenia Popova bronze, with that pair prevailing in a sprint finish over German Angela Maurer (fourth) and Russian Natalya Pankina (fifth). [Link]

Australian women beat the USA and Germans in the 4x100 relay

From Eurosport: "...Libby Lenton - formerly the 100m freestyle world record holder - got the race off to a flying start swimming the second fastest 100m in history to put Australia in front of the United States' Natalie Coughlin after the first leg ..." [Link]

Gold - AUS 3:35.48 Course Record
1.)LENTON (53.42), SCHLANGER (53.95), REESE (54.90), HENRY (53.21)

2.) Silver - USA 3:35.68 COUGHLIN (54.13), NYMEYER (53.50), WEIR (54.02), JOYCE (54.03)

3.) Bronze - NED 3:36.81 DEKKER (54.57), KROMOWIDJOJO (54.82), HEEMSKERK (54.13), VELDHUIS (53.29)

STEFFEN (52.65) Fastest time

Gold in the 4x100 relay

The USA stormed it but look at Magnini's time for Italia. Also the race featured two swimmers of African ethnicity: Sicot and Jones. From Eurosport: [Link]

1.) USA 3:12.72 Course Record
PHELPS (48.42), WALKER (48.31), JONES (48.67), LEZAK (47.32)

2.) 2. Silver - ITA 3:14.04
ROSOLINO (49.35), CALVI (49.06), GALENDA (48.45), MAGNINI (47.18) Fastest time

3. Bronze - FRA
3:14.68 GILOT (49.18), BOUSQUET (48.48), SICOT (48.84), BERNARD (48.18)

Manaudou, Park: Gold in the 400 at the FINA World Championship of Swimming

The biggest news here is that Grant Hackett lost in the 400 to Park Tae-hwan. I am really surprised about this.

Manaudou, Eurosport: "I am really relieved," Manaudou said.

"I had to keep my title. On the distance [events] there is more competition, everybody swims faster. It's easier for me to get a very fast start. It makes things psychologically much harder for my rivals. [Link]

Manadou, WCSN: Manaudou showed her rivals a clean pair of heels from the start, opening up a body length's lead on the first lap and racing through the first 300 meters under world record pace before fading on the last 100 meters. [Link]

Park, Eurosport: I wasn't going to go at the pace of Hackett," Park said through a translator.

"Then after 200m I started to push and went even harder in the last 50m. I am mentally really tired but confident after I've got the gold medal." [Link]

Kitajima's beautiful pull and glide breaststroke as seen underwater

Did you know that it has taken me almost three years to forgive Kitajima for doing a dolphin kick during a breaststroke turn against Brendan Hanson in Athens 2006? Now I feel he actually elevated the stroke by getting his interpretation of the breaststroke turn into the FINA handbook.

I forgot to mention...

At the Southwest Masters meet at Pierce college I was beaten by a guy in the 70-74 age group by nearly 2 seconds. He swam a 58 in the lane next to me and I swam a 1:00.33. I didn't feel bad about it because his name was Jeff Farrell, a fellow who won two gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics in the 4 x 100 medley relay and the 4 x 200 free relay. (How he got onto the Olympic team after having his appendix removed two weeks before trials is an even more amazing story.)

When Jeff was in the 60-64 age group he swam an American record of 23.28 and was named swimmer of the year in 1997. There is a bio over at the USMS website where you can read all about his great accomplishments. [Link]

Cullen Jones, the new Tiger Woods!

Maybe I am talking about Cullen Jones too much but this photo is so kinetic and to seducing not to link to it. Here is an article at Eurosport.com that outlines Cullen Jones' values in regards to the sport. Tiger Woods is mentioned: [Link]

French presidential candidate, Francois Bayrou, calls for Beijing boycott

That would so suck for Laure Manaudou and the whole French team. You would think that the world would have learned from former President, Jimmy Carter's, blunder when he had the U.S. boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics due to the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan. Consequently athletes from all over the United States were summarily denied a legacy and/or an accomplishment due to that foreign policy fiasco.

Enter French politician, Francois Bayrou, who feels France should boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics, "if China does not alter its stance on the Darfur crisis in Sudan. ..." Here is a link to the story over at WCSN: [link]

I did a little research and found out that China has $10 billion reasons to look the other way in the Sudan and those reasons are all invested inside of Sudan's oil fields. [Link]

Yet another reason to get the hell out of an oil based economy. I don't care if hydrogen costs more to produce and is inefficient to move around. This bloody stuff called oil pollutes the ocean, the air, our lungs and our politics. Per Popular Mechanics it would take 800 million dollars to go to a hydrogen method of energy production yet we have spent $400 billion in Iraq.

Wiki link regarding Popular Mechanics figures: [Link]

So, if you are French, don't vote for this guy.

Cullen Jones will possibly become one of seven swimmers of Black ethnicity to make it to the Olympic podium

Just how significant is Cullen Jones to swimming? From Swim News.com:

"... Just six black swimmers have made it to the Olympic podium throughout the sport's history: Enith Brigitha (2), Anthony Nesty, Neisser Bent, Anthony Ervin, Malia Metella and Maritza Correia - seven medals for black swimmers out of almost 400 possibilities during the 108 years from Athens to Athens. That's fewer than Michael Phelps on his own. USA Swimming says that less than 1 per cent of America's 232,000 competitors are African-Americans. [Link]

I did a search on some of these names, Anthony Nesty is a coach for the Florida Gators Women's swim team and he beat Matt Biondi to win a gold medal. [Link]

Enith Brigitha pictured to the right was the first female black swimmer to win 2 medals in 1976. [Link]

My WCSN.com subscription is going smoothly. I watched all the open water events without any hassle.

UPDATE: WCSN is "klunky" on a Macintosh running OS X version 10.4.9. I am having annoying problems with pixel depth and an occasional flicker.

The men's 10k race was dramatic. The finish was so close it had to be measured in 100s of seconds. The drama in the men's event was that they swam in a very tight pod, say like a foot away from each other. On turns around the buoys, if you slowed down, the pod swam over you. None of the men ever compromised tempo.

The Russians and the Germans; (Vladimir Dyatchin, Larisa Ilchenko and Thomas), have proven they are brave and strong in open water events. From USA Swimming:

• Vladimir Dyatchin edged out Germany’s Thomas Lurz by six-hundredths for the world title. Dyatchin finished with a time of 1:55:32.52, while Lurz crossed in 1:55:32.58. Dyatchin’s Russian teammate, Evgeny Drattsev, won the bronze medal in 1:55:47.31. [Link]

The article has some inside stories and quotes from the competitors as well.

Cullen Jones has an astro-turf blog

WCSN network is having Cullen Jones speak about his experiences at FINA World Championships. The first entry describes the plane ride. Here is a link to his blog: [link]

A photo of a FINA open water confrontation.

This is not a Photoshop composite image but rather a sample of the wrestling that took place in the open water events. So, if you were an official at any of the FINA open water events which swimmer would you say is at fault.

Here is an article that details Kate Brookes-Peterson strategy regarding how she overcame jellyfish stings, and her second bronze medal in the open water events.

• Brookes-Peterson had led the pack for the first 2.5 kilometres, and, having been overrun in Sunday's race after leading the pack, she opted to drop behind during the middle part of the race as Patten led the field around. [Link]
  

How the open water events are timed at swimming world championships

Look how cool the timing is done at at the FINA World Championship of Swimming open water event. It appears you swim back to your starting block and push it. At the Alcatraz Sharfest we wore chips around our ankles and we had run a short distance to the "hot point" for our times to be read. This is so much better.

In the picture to the right: the brave, the strong, and the fast, Larisa Ilchenko tells the world she is number one. Those blotches on her face and arms are probably jellyfish stings.

NCAA 50 yards Freestyle Record by Cesar Cielo 2007

His second 25 looks amazing.

More fallout from the women's 10k open water race

There appears to be a preponderance of evidence, which includes quotes from the winner herself, that the officiating of the open water races was pretty much nonexistent. Apparently the Germans got hammered the most. From the article at Playfuls.com:

• [Britta] Kamrau-Corestein; [pictured above], said that she had wanted to stop swimming. "I just wanted to get out of the water. I just wanted to leave. Nothing went well. I didn't find anything positive about the race. I couldn't focus on the swimming because I was always pulled back and hit by other swimmers.
• "Everyone was just beating each other up. I have never experienced such a race before. It was horrible," said [Angela] Maurer. [Link]
  

I talked to Nancy at workout last night and she told me at the La Jolla open water swim last year she put Vaseline on her legs in case someone tried to grab her. Well, she said a couple of girls tried and their hands luckily just slipped away. If I do the Pier to Pier swim this year, I may try it.

Larisa Ilchenko of Russia wins again, this time in the 10k open water

Ilchenko is one tough swimmer. She overcame jelly fish stings including one to the face while swimming in 66 degree water. She completed the course in a time of two hours, three minutes, and change. How about this quote from Eurosport:

• "In the 5km nothing worried me, the conditions were perfect," Ilchenko said after her win. "Today, I could hear the girls behind me screaming in the first lap. I expected it to be the same as the 5km, instead we're all walking around with spotty red faces."

I think open water venues should have alternate swim locations when an act of God strikes such as jellyfish invasions, small craft advisories, et cetera.

Eurosport covreage: [Link]
Spokesman Review which details the race better: [Link]

Resources regarding swimmer's shoulder

Swimmers shoulder, flexibility and related shoulder resources from "About. com" which is the most advertisement laden site on the web. Here is a link to the main page of articles: [link]

They actually tried to link to an article that Bonnie wrote which I posted here. An article they had no permission to stick ads all over. Alas, they didn't get away with it for they had a broken link. Here are some sample pages from the link above.

About Overview of Swimmer's Shoulder
About Appropriate Flexibility for Swimmers Shoulder
About Causes of Swimmers Shoulder
About Exercises to Establish Muscle Balance
About Prevention of Swimmer's Shoulder
Swimmers Shoulder Injury Prevention from USA Swimming
About Signs and Symptoms of Swimmers Shoulder
About Swimming Technique Modifications for Swimmers Shoulder
Preventing Shoulder Injury - An In-water Program
Swimmer's Shoulder - 3 possible causes

What happens under the water, stays under the water.

Thrown elbows, dunking, wrestling, and punching. Gosh the fans went to an open water race and a hockey game broke out! An unbelievable article about the "rugby" politics under the water at the Fina World Championship 5k open water event:

• "The only rule is you're not supposed to impede somebody's progress," Kaufman said. "Who really knows what that means? The people on the boats can only see a certain amount of the physical stuff. They probably can't see anything underwater."
• Larisa Ilchenko of Russia, who won her fourth consecutive 5K world title Sunday, accused American Leah Gingrich of hitting her in the eye when Gingrich allegedly used a breaststroke kick.
• "I actually got dragged underwater by someone as well at one stage, but that sort of stuff just happens," said Gingrich, who is 17 and competing in her first major senior-level international meet.

2 years ago at the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim two swimmers kept bumping into me at the same time as if they were trying to swim in a DNA helix pattern and I happen to be in the way. I am not going to to say what I did because what happens under the water, stays under the water.

Read all about it here: [Link]

Swim homework assignment for the next few weeks

1) Go to Erik Hochstein's sprint workout on Sundays at LMU. (Erik is a former Olympian from Germany who won the bronze medal in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay at the 1988 Summer Olympics. I was once swimming with him at a workout at Santa Monica where we did a 200 as part of the main set; Erik was swimming in the fastest lane and I was like 4 lanes down from him, he swam a 1:46 and I did a 2:24. He lapped everybody in the whole pool.)

2) Swim at Santa Monica on Wednesdays with fins to loosen up and improve my ankle flexibility.

3) Push-ups and crunches on workout-free days and stretching every day to gain more shoulder and hamstring flexibility.

4) Do a freestyle technique clinic with Bonnie or Jamie to check out my stroke. (When I sprint I have a tendency to be choppy.)

5) Swim more 100s for time and focus on pacing.

6) Start swimming 5 days a week rather than 3-5

Southwest Masters SCY Swim Meet at Pierce College

Well, though I didn't meet expectations it was still a really fun meet and I got a first and second place ribbon.

World record holder, Mike Freshly, gave me some pointers on my fly. He can go a 27 for a 50 fly and I can't. He's also the guy quoted in TIME magazine who said: "Show me a swimmer who is 70 and he looks like 50, show me a runner who is 70 and he looks like 90." He's awesome. Oh, and he calls Bonnie Adair, Bon Bon!

Doug K. from SCAQ stormed both the 100 and 200 backstroke, and I met a swimmer named Dr. Mark Silverberg from Santa Barbara doing his first meet and I gave him some pointers on the breaststroke turn and fly. The guy was totally exuberant and smiled about 95% of the time. He won all his heats as an unattached swimmer and had a blast. Even when he jumped into the water twice thinking the whistle to take to the blocks was the starting bell. Hilarious and charming at the same time.

I also raced an Olympian from 1960 in my heat who beat me by a body length. I thought he was in his late 50's early 60's but he was in the 70-74 age group.

As for my times: 26.71 for the 50 Free and a 1:00:33 for the 100 free. I have three more SCY meets left to break a minute so I better do my homework.

Germany's top swimmers volunteer to undergo added doping tests

Germany is taking hyper responsibility for the former East German Republic's sordid history of doping its athletes; (in many cases secretly), in the 1970s and 1980's. From the Eurosport article:

• "... Germany's head coach, Orjan Madsen, said the swimmers had even agreed to freeze blood samples that could be tested in the future as part of a drastic measure to prove they were clean. ..."
  

Germany wants the world to know that hard work, altitude training, and really good masking agents, do the trick. (I am so bad but I do stink of good, huh?)

Seriously, I do trust the German team and I do endorse their example of good "sportswomanship." All the Germans and the Chinese Olympic teams should follow this example. To read more, follow this link: [Link]

Is there a new super-hero or two in town?

Mark called me on the phone today telling me about this kid at Auburn who stormed the NCAA Championships. He referred me to a Lane 9 news story from Swim World that stated the following: "... In one day of competition, Auburn's Cesar Cielo posted four of the fastest 50 free times ever. ..." [Link]

Then it got even better:

"... In an incredibly fast heat, Auburn's Cesar Cielo swept the sprint freestyle events with an NCAA and U.S. Open record of 41.17 in the 100 free. That time surpassed the 41.49 previously held by Duje Draganja of California since 2005. ..."

Then it got even more existential with this swim and comment:

"... Albert Subirats posted the fastest 100 butterfly time ever with a clocking of 44.57 to crush the NCAA and U.S. Open record of 44.72 set by Ian Crocker in 2004. ..." [Link]

The gravity of these swims will rock the swimming world in the months to come and may even end career dynasties. Cielo's hometown is originally Brazil, Subirats is from Venezuela, but are they Americans now? These two swimmers mentioned above are as fast, or most likely faster, than Ian Crocker, Michael Phelps and Cullen Jones. Also, what will this do to the careers of Jason Lezak, Gary Hall and Neil Walker if they are?

Come Olympic trials Ian Crocker may not make it to the Olympics in the 100 free, or the 100 fly. Michael Phelps may be beaten by Ian Crocker and Albert Subirats in the 100 fly thus making him unable to compete in all the events he wants. Next year at Olympic trials, those trials will be more amazing than the Olympics themselves.

Online video of the 2007 FINA World Swimming Championship

WCSN.com is streaming video, "Live and On-Demand," of the 2007 World Swimming Championship for a small fee of just $4.95 for the month. How cool is that! So, I am signing up and you should too so as to make swimming a profit center for those that televise it.

You will be able to watch some really innovative swimming at you work or at home. sign up here: [Link]

The lovely picture up above comes from the Sydney Morning Herald. Here is article about how well the opening ceremonies went as well as a visit from Ian Thorpe who gave the event his blessings: [link]

The open-water portion of the 2007 Fina World Championship of Swimming begins today

The open-water portion of the 2007 Fina World Championship of Swimming begins today at a place called Saint Kilda beach, Australia. The photo to right illustrates the course where both the men's and women's 5km event will take place.

The article I am linking to states that an Australian swimmer described the course as unpredictable; (What ocean swim isn't?) and here is the full article for details: [link]

Jellyfish are mentioned by an Australian swimmer probably to instill a distraction upon the visiting teams psyches' but the jellyfish they have down under are way more sinister then the ones on "normal earth". They have jellyfish down under the size of a half dollar that actually kill with a single sting. The bad news is, if it can get any worse than that, the sting takes a week to do so. Then of course their are the gentleman in the gray suits that occasionally dismember a surfer or two but I am more frightened of the Jellyfish.

Oh, if you want to know the name of a scary jellyfish that can cause a painful death, just ask my kid. It's called the Irukandji or Box jellyfish and not everybody dies from its sting. Here is a link to a Wiki page regarding the fish: [Link]

VNSO Swim Workout - We did sprints, Dimitriy coached

This is the city, Los Angeles California. A place full of sun tanned actors, swimming pools and lots of SCAQ workouts. My name is, Austin, and my job is to blog about them. The VNSO pool straddles the border of both Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks. One community is affluent and the other is not so fortunate. The park and the pool itself were created to serve both communities and it is doing a very good job. In fact while searching for a photo of VNSO pool I just read that L.A. City Beat Magazine noted VNSO pool as one of L.A.'s secret treasures. (It's photo number 6)

Warm up: 250 easy followed
3 x 75s: kick, drill, swim by 75 @ 1:40
Transitional set: 2 x 200s @ 3:30, stroke/free by 25, build the free

Main Set:
1 x 50 all out @ 1:00
1 x 100 easy @ 1:30
2 x 50s all out @ 1:00
1 x 100 easy @ 1:30
3 x 50's all out @ 1:00
1 x 100 easy @ 1:30
4 x 50's all out @ 1:00
1 x 100 easy @ 1:30

The next section may not be entirely accurate for I was way in "debt" to the "oxygen bank" and the first thing to go when I am in debt is my attention to details.

2 x 50's stroke all out @ 1:00
1 x 100 easy
1 x 50 stroke all out @ 1:00

Warm down: 150

Fantasy Swim Game at Timed Finals

Our good friends at Timed Finals built a Fantasy Swim game called Fanta Swim. It's a game where you pick the top three swimmers in each event at the FINA World Swim Championship next week in Australia and score points accordinly. Best of all, it's all free!

All the usual suspects are competing, Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker, Natalie Coughlin, Laure Manaudou, so it is all great fun seeing how "right" you can be.

In the men's 100 fly I predicted the following:
Gold: Ian Crocker USA
Silver: Michael Phelps USA
Bronze: Takeshi Yamamoto JPN

Here is a link if you want to play: [Link]

Look how flat Phelps' body is in relation to his knees

Phelps just "owns" the water in just about any stroke he does. He planes when doing breaststroke rather than dragging his knees below his core. Consequently he gets a super, hydro, glide.

Some swimmers; (OK, I am one of them), have a tendency to drop their knees below their core when setting up the kick. I bet he also uses those Zoomers; I mean humongous feet of his, to push at the water for propulsion rather than just squeezing his legs together like I do.

I linked this picture from an Australian paper called, The Geelong Advertiser. The title of the article is: Aussie's will get hosed at the World Swimming Championship by the Americans. Kidding. It was more subdued and well mannered: "Aussies wary of Swim Team Invaders."

A swim technique page with photos and movies

Here is a site called swim.ee with lots of swim theory, photos and movies. They provide technique info on all the strokes, which includes, starts, turns, legal turns for backstroke in the IM and if you look deep enough you can also find an analysis on speedsuits.

Here is a link to the 'models' page which has all of the technique theory on all the strokes: [Link]

My lunch with Clay - My dinner with Dimitriy

Remember that movie, My Dinner with Andre? Of course not, it was so last millennium. I spent lunch talking with Clay and the conversation was a lot like the movie. Last week he coached me and he told me that when I blogged the workout, I left out the part about the 200s. I don't remember any 200s because only my brain stem was working and rest of my brain was shut down due to oyxgen debt.

Anyway, I blogged that I did a 1:05 on the last 100 free on Sunday and Clay mentioned that he forgot to scold me on Sunday stating I went out on the first lap with out taking a breath whatsoever and consequently on the last lap I was breathing in-and-out like a whoopee cushion in reverse.

He suggested I breathe every fourth stroke when I do a 100 free and don't breathe the last lap. Tonight after a tough IM workout with Dimitriy I did and all-out 100 free at 95% effort breathing every fourth stroke. Despite a small cramp, screwing up a streamline after a turn, and partially breathing like a reverse whoopee cushion on the last lap I did 1:04 . If I was fresh I think I could have broken a minute with a dive.

Olympia Pool in Munich, Bavaria

This pool looks so pleasant but it sure wouldn't fly in Los Angeles; unless you wanted to grow chlorine resistant orchids, but it sure is beautiful.

This gentleman's, or Mademoiselle's phtostream is amazing. Go Look: [Link]

Computer Animation and Visualization of Olympic Swimmers

We can rebuild her and make her faster. ..

...Or perhaps animate it her faster. This website calls itself the Institute for Computer Graphics. There you will find some animations of swimming which I think are pretty rigid and over simplified but at least somebody is studying it.

Also therein is a link to the Flow Simulation and Analysis Group at George Washington University which did some flow analysis on local boy; and 3x gold medalist, Lenny Krayzelburg in the streamline position.

From Timed Finals: Inge de Bruijn Officially Retires From Swimming

Inge de Bruijn or Inky Retires. :-( What a loss, what a career and she never tested positive. I never thought she was a dirty swimmer either but American Olympian, Amy Van Dyken, six-time gold medalist for various freestyle endeavors did.

From Swim info: “… Amy Van Dyken gracelessly evoked the question; [steroids], when she spit [a mouthful of water] into De Bruijn’s lane before the semifinals of the 50 and commented after Inky set a world record: 'If I were a man, I could swim that fast.' …” [Whoa, how crass, huh?]

Inge or Inky had no steroid bulk whatsoever and she never tested positive at any Olympics including Athens 2004 where testing was both thorough and extensive.

How ironic that it was Barry Bonds and Amy Van Dyken who testified before the grand jury in the Victor Conte/Balco steroid distribution scandal but Inky has never been summons or penalized.

From SFGate.com: “…Through Romanowski, Conte also gained access to athletes from other sports, such as six-time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken, who once described herself as “the Bill Romanowski of the swimming world,” and 1996 Olympic gold-medal-winning sprinter Chryste Gaines of San Leandro, a Stanford graduate who last year was charged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency with a BALCO- related doping offense. …"

Check out the announcement on Timed Finals: [Link]
Check out this wiki link for a run down on Inky's accomplishments: [Link]

VNSO Swim Workout - Dimitriy Coached

2oo Warm up

Transitional set:
6 x 100 - descending one-to-three, four to six,
over kick the last lap. 1:50 interval

Main set:
1 x 300 with a 1:50 base
1 x 400 with a 1:40 base
1 x 500 with a 1:30 base

Easy 50

Repeat with different interval:
1 x 300 with a 1:40 base
1 x 400 with a 1:30 base
1 x 500 with a 1:25 base

Warm down easy 150

About 3200 yards total

Go Swim has an article on flipturns

It's a bit rudimentary but useful. From the article:

"...The ENTIRE point of this drill, or focus, is to create more FLOW on your flip turns -- whether for freestyle or backstroke. The goal is to eliminate ANY delay between when your feet are ready to push off... and when your hands are ready to streamline. The two things should happen at the same time... and the hands should get into position with no hesitation and with no jerky or sudden movements. ..." Here is the article: [Link]

Personally, I think it is a worthwhile investment to do a " "Freestyle Technique with Turns" clinic with Bonnie at the LMU pool so Bonnie, Clay or another coach can look at your turn and coach to your abilities. That's what I did and I learned about not breathing off the walls, creating a more symmetrical flip, and better streamline position.

However, if you're cheap, I think this article is marginally decent but drills are best learned when coached. Learning something as fine tuned as a flip turn from a website is like trying to learn Tai Chi from a cheesy pamphlet you bought in China Town.

Michael Phelps at Duel in the Pool

I found this amazing technique shot of Michael Phelps over at Fickr.com. (Here is a link to the photographer's Flickr stream.) It looks as if he can't wait to grab a couple barrels full of water and displace them somewhere else.

Ian Crocker has a website

The Gallery is my favorite part of his site since it features ads he has done for his sponsor, Speedo. In my opinion Speedo has become the Nike of Swim related print ads. They make swimming look as fun as it really is.

Here is a link to Ian Crocker's gallery page. Scroll down to the link that says ads. [link]

VNSO swimming today - Clay Evans coached

It was one of those workouts where you just try to hold on. Clay does this real cool thing whereas he times every body's interval so perfectly that we all arrive at the same time. This includes the fast, the slow and the ugly; (the ugly guy is me.) What makes this so cool is that we all touch the wall at the same time and the suffering is mutually shared from lane 1 to lane 12 and it has a socially equalizing effect.

Clay's workout hammer me and I become a better swimmer as a result but I actually black out after each set like an amnesiac or like that guy in the movie "Memento". I think this issue is due to a lack of O2 in my "brizzle" or post traumatic stress, I can't figure it out. Here is what I remember and please correct me if anyone remembers it differently:

Warm up: Fast swimmers: 6 x 100 @ 1:30, Medium swimmers: 5 x 100 @ 1:45, Slow swimmers: 4 x 100s 2:00[?]

Transitional sets: We did a kick set that was pretty involved. I remember something regarding a sprint 100 and 200 but I am blanking out despite the fact it was less than 2 hours ago. My kick is so spindly and useless that I was nearly lapped by the slower swimmers. (Actually, I was lapped!)

There was a breath control set in there too that I screwed up.

Main set part A: 4 swims with an interval time of 1:50.

In my case I swam 125 yards. Faster swimmers like, Doug K. and Jeff, swam 150 yards. Sub-groups swam 100 yards and some others swam 75.

Main set part B: 2 swims with an interval time of 3:40.

In my case I swam 250 yards. Fast swimmers like, Doug K., swam 300. Sub-groups swam 200 yards and some others swam 150.

Main set part C: 1 swim with an interval time of 7:20.

In my case I swam 500 yards. Fast swimmers like, Doug K., swam 600. Sub-groups swam 400 yards and some others swam 300.

Easy 50

Main Set Part D: All out 100 for time:

I did a 1:05 which was encouraging since I had to breathe a lot on laps 3 and 4.

If you want to try a free workout with SCAQ, I have a link on the right side of this page called Free Swim Clinic.

What fire is to air, bubbles are to water

When fire begins as a result of friction, it travels upward and licks the sky. When a swimmer dives into water, the resulting shattered vacuum creates a myriad of bubbles. So I like to believe what fire is to air, bubbles are to water.

Here is Michael Phelps front and center with streaming, underwater, "fire" just "burning" the water behind him.

Mark goes hydro with my monofin

I endorse the Finis Monofin.

I am not getting any payment to endorse this fin and and I spent about $140 to own it. However, if Finis wants to hook me up with real cool toys... (Pssst, call me.)

This toy is a blast. The speed you can create is so massive that the walls become a threat and you have to consciously slow down to avoid an injury. Here is an image of Mark going crazy with my fin. He is about 12 feet deep at the VNSO pool and moving fast; (Of course Adobe Photoshop helped), but he is really moving fast despite the Photoshop "radial blur" image filter.

Besides having fun, the fin stretches out your ankles nicely and also helps you develop a correct and defined dolphin kick

The 17th man blog brought us a new visitor

This snippet from Scott's profile is inspiring.

"...I know for someone who’s had a broken back I’ve been very lucky but in August, 2004, having not worked out for at least a couple of years and packing on several additional kilos of flab, my continued neglect finally caught up with a vengeance. My back gave out. Three months bed rest and a further six months forced to work on my stomach gave a lesson not to be forgotten. Even then months more therapy, yoga, and light exercise (and two further relapses) were necessary before I reached the point where I could start regular physical workouts. ..."

I got back into swimming after I herniated 3 disks and partially lost the use of my left leg so Scott's story really resonated with me. When I got injured, I was a train wreck and now the doctors are amazed and credit my swimming as the healing factor.

You can read the 17th man blog here: [Link]

Race Training For Swimming Sprints from Timed Finals

Timed Finals posted a great article on swim sprints. A reader wrote in with a question and one of the answers given was rather clever:

• Colin M. answers: For what it’s worth, in swimming 50s with my TI stroke, I focus on getting more out of each pull, instead of turning the arms over faster. I make sure I complete the entire stroke, and also focus on the front quadrant swimming part. If I want to increase my speed, I do so by letting my hips set the pace. Since focusing on this TI stuff, I actually swim faster by taking fewer strokes, and making those count.

The article can be read here: [link]

Don't forget to RSVP for the SCAQ lactic workouts with Bonnie and Erik at LMU this weekend.

SCAQ: VNSO Swim Workout

Dimitriy coached a quasi-sprint workout. The only downside was that the lazy-bones, pool attendant forgot to put the covers on the pool after closing last night and the water has been cold. Watr temp was like, 78-79 degrees.

Total workout 2900 yards.

Warm-up:
200 easy

Transitional set, 1050 yards - 20 x 50's total done in this fashion:
5 x 50s moderate @ 1:00
5 x 50s build @ 1:00
5 x 50s descending @ 1:00
5 x 50's descending interval - 0:55, 0:50, 0:45, 0:40, 0:35.
easy 50

Main set, 1650 yards total:
5 x 100s @ 1:30 (Hold 1:20)
easy 50

2 x 100s @ 1:30 (Hold 1:20)
1 x 100 @ 1:25
2 x 100s @1:30
easy 50

1 x 100 @ 1:30 (Hold 1:20s)
1 x 100 @ 1:25
1 x 100 @ 1:30
1 x 100 @ 1:25
1 x 100 @ 1:30
easy 50

Warm down 200

Good News: This blog is going global

I just registered us with Technorati, both a blog portal and a blog search engine so we can make many more friends. I have to use this source link in this post to be recognized: Technorati Profile

Contrast this dive in slow motion to Dawn Fraiser's dive in the video below

The human body is getting more and more graceful as each generation passes. This dive is a both a work of art and a functional illustration of body coordination and hydrodynamics. Enjoy.

Video of the first woman ever to break a minute in the 100 free

Meet Australian super hero, Dawn Fraiser, the first woman ever to break a minute in the 100 free at the Tokyo Olympics. How about that groovy suit? I bet she would would have gone a 58 if she wore a Fastskin II pro and didn't belly-flop on the dive. (You know, she is kind of plushy and cute and I love that hair style but enough about my problems.)

SCAQ VNSO Swim Workout: I tried Lauren Matthewson's flip-turn tonight

Well, it appears Lauren Matthewson will still be the only swimmer in the United States doing that innovative and amazingly fast turn.

Let it be known that I have an anemic kick. It has gotten a lot better but it is still far below the average. The only reason that I am a moderately good swimmer is due to my enthusiasm for the art of swimming and my love for water itself rather than any sort of intrinsic talent. In my age group I finish in the middle-third when the final placings of a race are posted. In Open water I place in the upper third so basically that is where I am as a swimmer.

Tonight, I tried LMU swimmer, Lauren Matthewson's, innovative turn as noted below in the 'You Tube' video while swimming at VNSO tonight; (Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Pool). Though I was a little bit faster off the wall, it took up a massive amount of my oxygen store to accomplish. Since my kick was weak the advantage obtained is negated by my body going lactic much more quickly. Maybe I could integrate it into a 50 Free but I need a solid kick first.

If you have a strong backstroke kick, I recommend hooking up with Bonnie Adair and doing a turn-clinic with her. (Be sure you donate to LMU after learning the dark arts of a superior turn.)

IM workout at VNSO:

3 X 200's Free warm up

This set done 2 times through:

1 x 100's Fly/Free by 25s @ 1:40
1 x 100's Back/Free by 25's @ 1:40
1 x 100's Breast/Free by 25's @ 1:40

This set done 2 times through:

1 x 150's Fly/Free by 50's @ 2-something (Mark like he was a seeing eye dog tonight)
1 x 150's Back/Free by 50's @ 2-something
1 x 150's Breast/Free by 50's @ 2-something

150 warm down.

I sprinted a 50 under 30 to make sure I was ok.

LMU's Lauren Matthewson in the 50 SCY Free at the PCSC Championship

To regain lost momentum in a sprint is very hard task especially if you have a bad start. Lauren Matthewson did just that in the 50 Free. This quote by LMU Head Coach, Bonnie Adair, sums it up beautifully:

• Anyway . . . out of the first turn, we have Lauren stay on her back and do her 'kick magic' underwater, then when she does surface; (about 1/2 way down the pool), she is STILL on her back. ... Then she does a roll over stroke; [pulling with the downward arm], and sprints freestyle to the finish. As far as I know, she is the only one in the country that does this and it is super effective for her because of her great back kick.


• Nathalie Coughlan should actually try it this way. She's already super fast in the 50 but I bet she'd be even faster if she did it the way Lauren does.

Well, I am going to attempt to be the second person in this country to do it.

Cullen Jones has style, grace, and a sense of community

New Record in the Men's 1000 yard free: 8:42.64

Robert Margalis is his name and he swam a 1000 free in 8:42.64 setting a new national record breaking a six year old record by 2 seconds.

His splits are insane. He went out in a 23.96 and then held 25's thereafter. Here is a link to the USA Swimming news article: [Link]

Should L.A. Get The Olympics? I don't think so.

I am in a flame war over at Timed Finals as to why L.A. shouldn't get the Olympics. I think I am losing. Maybe we should all swim a 50 Fly and see who is right?

The thread can be read here: [link]

The Cal Tech Pentathlon

Cal Tech Masters Pentathlon today: I had a very good meet. I was able finish all my events without having to be assisted by a lifeguard or paramedic. ;-)

Times were mixed! Well, actually they were not entirely mixed. More pureed than solid but if you insist on the truth, my times were just not that good. So, I am going to blame the pool. "Beware, the Cal Tech pool is cursed and has slow water in it. Bring garlic and a Crucifix if you race there." There, I feel better now that the blame has been properly laid.

50 fly: 36.12 (Believe it or not I am happy with that time.)
50 Free: 26.74 (I am holding my nose as I write that.)
100 IM: 1:19-and-change (Hey, I made it across the pool, okay?)

Here is a link to the USA Swimming international swim teams roster.

Included are the 43 members of the FINA World Championship team which contain 22 Olympians and note that Gary Hall will be swimming Pan American Games.

Here is the pool that the World Swimming Championship will be held.

It is a temporary 50 LCM pool built by Astral Pools within the Rod Laver Arena in Australia. Astral Pools built the US Olympic trials pool in the Belmont Plaza parking lot in '04 as well.

Isn't it sad that all these pools are only temporary rather than permanent or even renovated structures?

This just in: I fixed this blog so that you don't have to have a "Blogger" account to make a comment.

Pentathlon at Cal Tech this weekend and I screwed up.

I forgot to send in my SPMA Masters Association thingy and $37.00 with it. Hopefully they will take it along with my deck entry but knowing my luck they won't and they will tell me what a miserable failure, a loser, and how much I suck anyways at backstroke and butterfly.

I am so not prepared! If they do let me in I think I will only do the fly, the free, and the IM. My backstroke is so bad that when I attempt it I look like I have a blood alcohol level of quintuple the legal limit. Oh well.

My fly on the other hand is much better. My strategy for the 50 is to start out slow and finish slower. At least I love doing it despite that if I was any slower I would be going backwards. BTW, I am the guy everybody is glad that had the courage to come and humiliate himself by swimming fly or back. This way even the elderly can brag that they beat somebody.

Here is a link to the Cal Tech Pentathlon: [Link]

The labels below say it all.

Timed finals is creating a "fantasy swim game" for World Swimming Championships; pass it on!

Athens Gold medalist, Scott Goldblatt; [His name is now spelled correctly and the correct medal placing as well], has created a really nice swimming related blog called Timed Finals. It is so current and topical that even Google News links to it. (That's a photo of Scott chilling with Michael Phelps.)

As the headline states, they are expanding the blog by adding a FREE fantasy swim game called FantaSwim. I copy pasted this promo for it from Timed Finals. I am going write a review once I am allowed in.

• Timed Finals announces the imminent launch of FantaSwim, the first ever chance for swimming fans to compete interactively with each other across the globe in a Fantasy Swim League for the World Championships in Melbourne at the end of the month. This will provide swimming fans the opportunity to be even more involved in what’s happening down under.
• FantaSwim will not just be limited to the World Championships. Timed Finals will be running FantaSwim for most major competitions, but our first event will be the World Champs.
• In typical Timed Finals fashion, FantaSwim will be 100% free for our readers. Check back soon to enter the game for the World Champs.

In a world where your life is not your own; in a land where no man is king; this March, in a deadly game of cat & mouse; 22 USA Olympians will face the world down-under in the land of Oz.

The actual headline read: "Twenty-Two Olympians To Swim For Team USA At World Swimming Championships". But I prefer a "Don LaFontaine", "voice of God", hyperbolic, headline to make it more jazzy. Yeah, that's what swimming needs, more hyperbole.

Great article which sums up who to look at and what exciting contests await this month at World Championsips. In other words, it details what events will be hotly contested, namely Ian Crocker versus Michael Phelps in the 100 fly et cetera, Larsen jensen versus Grant Hackett, and others so people like me can invest themselves in it.

The article can be read here: [Link]