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.