Open water swimming is nothing more than a big oxgen deprived mind numbed freak show.

I had a buddy that used (may still) swim for the US open water team. When iswam against himhe would go so hard his hands and feet and lips would turn blue due to lack of o2. he was one tough bastard, I thought simming till I puked was tough till I met him.

---

----------------------------------------------------------
I'm just a 10 cent rider on a $2,500.00 Bike

If you are going to talk about population as a factor, you should focus on the actual number of people who competitively swim in each country. This data could swing either way: if there are an equal number of swimmers in each country then clearly, the US is dominant. If there are a 10 times as many swimmers in the US, then you've made a good point.

Also, 400 IM is not considered a distance event, its mid distance stroke event. I mentioned that the US has done well in the strokes as opposed to distance swimming in my previous post.

sback

400im IS a distance event. sorry. no two ways about it.

This is spot on with what Grant said in a radio interview the day before his shoulder operation. He said he normally swims 70k per week split up in two sessions a day with some gym stuff in the middle.

Hmmmm...get a clue. Usually it is the "distance" guys who swim the 400 IM rather than stroke guys...still think it is a mid distance stroke event? Look at the guys who swim it, and look at their other events, you will find it is predominantly distance swimmers.

http://www.usaswimming.org/...d=643&ItemId=564



Club coach. Been at pool for 26 years. Used to coaching big numbers (130 kids). Separated from junior squad 8-10 athletes in elite squad. Attention to developing kids and working with those coaches. Pass on your expertise to other



Club philosophy is about having fun and selling the program to the younger kids. Kids have got to have technique early and keen to challenge themselves. Develop character in the young swimmer. Kids need to be self-regulated at an early age.

Good support group. Raylien Ryan assistant coach.

Now have to provide what used to come through PE and play with younger kids.

Grant came into program when he was six years old. Moved into senior program when he was 12 years old. Up until 14 coming 4-6 times per week. 15 came to attention of people in 1996 Trials where he placed 5th. Grant is now 21 years old.

Technique. Great age groupers don’t become great open swimmers without great technique.

His health doesn’t always hold up very well-has sinus problems and gets sick easily.

Only goes over 70K/week a couple of times a year-realize that is against the grain for a 1500 swimmer.

Only two weeks off in a year.

Made 1996 World short course championships-1996-97 first time he trained 10-11 sessions per week. Starting to develop specific endurance. Firmly believes in seven-month training time with no competitions-tries to do this from May to December.

Three sessions dryland per week in 96-97

Had some troubles from sponsor appearances in 1998. 1998 broke 1st world record in short course worlds 1500. Tried to keep kick up with six beat kick the whole way.

Added two weight sessions for the 1st time in 1998 while he was 18 years old. Did this to add some power for him to swim the 200 also. Very difficult balance to achieve this.

200 was looking very good in 1999. After Pan Pac’s he was up and roaring to go.

Kicked the volume up in 2000. His body wouldn’t take the high volumes at distance training camps-he’d tried to win everything and come back sick.

Was sick for 200, 400 and 1500 in Olympic Trials. He did Qualify in individual events



2 x 3 x 100 (1:50, 1:40, 1:30) 57.1 58.2

56.1 57.6

52.5 51.2 THEN

4 x 100 on 2:00 dive 53.23 52.11 52.39 51.71

Got real sick after this set

Macrocyle is between 12-18 weeks.

Mesocyle is 3 weeks in length

Microcyle is 1 week

Build in a ½ week adaptation period after 2½ to 3 weeks.



Basis of a lot of work is short rest interval challenge. Grant would often challenge himself so would change the work to max. VO2 from pace.

Use test set of 10x300 or 6x500 almost every Monday (will do this 2 out of 3 weeks in a mesocycle).

Any distance needs some base speed including the 1500.

Saturday morning some type of pace set

Challenge the athletes so they are chasing the clock. Find out what the kids limits are then challenge them to chase that time. Put in small digestible chunks, but repeat it a couple of times. Have to know your athletes, what they’re capable of and what they’re capable of that day. Easy to manipulate the overload factor.

Need to keep pounding the legs for over distance kicking.

Likes to spend some time training in the 6-8 ml. mole range for lactate tolerance. If you can get an athlete to train in that range can increase buffering so athlete gets used to swimming with lactates similar to the 2nd & 3rd 100 of a 400.



Huge problems after Trials. Had five wisdom teeth pulled. Started weight program with his brother that Denis didn’t know about. Very susceptible to infection and was not recovering properly. Made decision to train for the 1500 about 10 weeks ago. Didn’t tell him about the lactates and lied to him also about his stroke rates. Couldn’t race anaerobically at the Olympics. Trying to be too powerful in the middle of the 200. All starts in the top of the stroke worked with pull buoy, then pull buoy with soft legs.

Give me a break, people who swim IM are versatile at every stroke (especially breastroke) and every distance, people like Tom Dolan and Phelps. Last time I checked, Michael Phelps won a medal at the Olympics in 8 events including the 400 IM, but the 1500 wasn't one of them.

Additionally just because distance swimmers like Erik Vendt swim 400 IM doesn't make it a distance event. Thats like calling the 400m Free a sprint because a 100m freestyler can swim it well, like Thorpe.

How about next time you respond, you bring examples instead of insults and faulty logic.

sback

Out of curiousity, what was your pb for a 1500m, or, if you never did that event, what do you think you could have pulled off?

---

________________
Adrian in Vancouver

"Thats like calling the 400m Free a sprint because a 100m freestyler can swim it well, like Thorpe. "

First, Thorpe is not a 100m freestyler. He a middle distance freestyler (200-400). He can go down to the 100 or up to the 800.

Second, in the swimming world the 400 IM is considered a distance event. This is most likely because most people that swim the 400IM train in the distance group. Phelps isn't a great example for you b/c when he medaled in 8 events he trained with the distance group and was able to swim down to the 100s.

400 IM is definitely a distance event. Swimming the 500 free, 400 IM and the 1650 freestyle is very common for distance swimmers at college championship meets. I think that is what Tom Dolan swam, and I think Tom Dolan held the American record at 1650 yards for a while. Most people consider the 200 fly to be a distance event too.

[reply][b]"Thats like calling the 400m Free a sprint because a 100m freestyler can swim it well, like Thorpe. "[/b]

First, Thorpe is not a 100m freestyler. He a middle distance freestyler (200-400). He can go down to the 100 or up to the 800.

Second, in the swimming world the 400 IM is considered a distance event. This is most likely because most people that swim the 400IM train in the distance group. Phelps isn't a great example for you b/c when he medaled in 8 events he trained with the distance group and was able to swim down to the 100s.[/reply]

A few things...

I'll agree that Thorpe is the best mid distance swimmer in the world, that being said, just because, he is, doesn't mean he isn't a 100m freestlyer as well, as evidenced by the fact that he anchored the Aussie 4 by 100 m freestyle relay in the past two Olympics. In 2000, he out sprinted Gary Hall at the end of the race

second, I think its funny how you call him a mid distance swimmer because he swims the 400m free and yet you consider the 400m IM a distance event. 400m is the same length whether or not its free or IM.

Third, your logic makes no sense, just because someone trains in a "distance" group doesn't make the 400IM a distance event. Thats like calling the 1500m a sprint because, a sprinter who trained for the 50 and 100 all year decides to swim the 1500

Fourth, even if your logic made sense, you don't provide any examples that "most people that swim the 400IM train in the distance group".

sback

Examples of distance swimmers/400 IMs:

Brian Goddell: won 500, 1650 and 400 IM at NCAA Division I nationals three times.

Tom Dolan: won 500, 1650 and 400 IM at NCAA Division I nationals a couple times.

Erik Vendt: swam the 400 IM and the 1500 at the Olympics.

Janet Evans held the world records in the 400, 800 and 1500, may have also done so in 400 IM and certainly swam the race.

I can run through numerous less famous people, including myself that swam the 500, 1650 and the 400 IM at college meets.

You guys aren't paying attention--for starters, Ian Thorpe is a 100m freestyler for one simple reason: He swam it in Greece and won the Bronze medal.

2--the 400IM is a distance event, that's just the way it is in swimming, why argue about it? Every swimmer knows that from one end of the pool to the other is a 'lap' and the 400IM is a distance event. Do those 2 statements make sense? Maybe not. Can they be well-argued against? Maybe.

But that's just the way it is in swimming.

He had FIVE wisdom teeth pulled!

They took four out, implanted one, let it grow, and then pulled THAT one out! That's just how tough he is. In fact his coach did it on deck right before he got in and swam a 3,000 in 27 minutes while wearing a drag chute.

And his ping pong game is sick-nasty.

Tom Dolan's current SCY American records-

500 free- 4:08.75
400 IM- 3:38.18

The 400 IM/200 free decision usually comes down to which swimmers can and cannot swim breaststroke in some sort of effective manner.

Never swam a 1500M rested so my Pb really sucks I want to say near 16:30 maybe even 17:00. I did swim the 1650 rested several times, this may sound odd but I am having a hard time remebering exactly what my PB was in the 1650. I want to say it was in the 15:20's -15:30's which converts roughly to a 15:45- 15:55 1500LCM.

Hackets Wr is a 14:34 a full 1:10-1:20 seconds faster than me- basically he was about 130 meters ahead of me in my prime. Freaky fast very scary.

To put it in perspective Hackets 14:34 1500 LCM converts to a 14:12 1650 SCY. A 14:12 is holding an average 100 yd time of 51.60!!!

Hackets 800 LCM Wr is 7:38 which converts to a 8:26 1000 SCY or 50.6/100/yd

Thorpes Wr for the 400 LCM is 3:40 which converts to a 4:03 500 SCY or 48.6/100 yd

Can any one here imagine hold those paces for just a single 100? Freakish I tell you

---

----------------------------------------------------------
I'm just a 10 cent rider on a $2,500.00 Bike

Here's some additional perspective. Hackett's 800m SPLIT of 7:44(!) when he set the WR in the 1500m is faster than the 800m American record. Jensen is the only American to go under 7:50 for the 800m. If Jensen had not lowered his AR at this year's Worlds from 7:48 to 7:45, Hackett's 800m split of 7:46 in the 1500m this year would have also been faster than the American Record.

amazing swimmer

good job brother - I see what you're doing - you're bumping it all the way off the page

bu-bump

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly