SnappingT wrote:
Quote:
but I've always felt he's just another one of us that just isn't cut out for top pro tri swimming (or elite swimming in general). I think of him as an example of the potential of what can happen if the most motivated non-swim-gifted triathlete who started swimming as an adult could reach after years of busting their tail with good coaching input. .....Like it or not, there's a bell curve to natural ability in swimming, as there is in run and bike, and no amount of technique or fitness training will get you to the elite ranks if you don't have that level of innate talent.First, the fastest pro triathlete is no where near elite swimming level. Second, you're placing too much emphasis on "innate talent" and not enough on just the work that needs to get done. Swimming in triathlon at the elite level isn't that fast. I won't speak specifically about Lionel, since I coached him in the past, but you don't have the best insight into what you're talking about.
I hope this helps,
Tim
If you coached Lionel in the past, why isn't he as fast as he saw he should be?
What the heck does he have to do not just to become a front-pack triathlon swimmer, but just to be faster than most of the AA+ teenage boys that he hasn't already done?
He's not swimming a lot less than the other pros in the field. For sure, he's swimming a lot more than a lot of the teenage boys that can outswim him. And do you honestly think by him swimming 40k/wk, he's going to make front pack?
What makes you so sure he has the potential to swim as fast at a top pro elite triathlon swimmer when he's shown no capacity or history of doing so, despite some really good efforts?
Unless you have clear answers to these, I don't see how it's NOT talent that's limiting him in his case.
(Note I'm not saying LS has no swim talent - I'm just saying I suspect he doesn't have the same swim talent compared to the strongest swimmers in the pro tri field, almost all of whom were proven outstanding swimmers in their youth. And unfortunately, those are the folks he's gonna have to go through to win the big races in today's fields)