Absolutely nuts! I really think his career trajectory is fascinating. Makes me wonder if he chose the right or wrong college program. Did going low volume in College (Auburn) to high volume as a pro (Indiana) help him? Or did it simply delay his development?

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Yeah, I think so based on his results.
I’m rooting for him to make it in 2020.

Thanks for posting and the interesting discussion. After reaching such a high level in the sport - I am wondering - do you still enjoy swimming?

Do you want to bring your heels almost to your butt so that it feel like a "jump" from squat with your feet pointed outwards? At least the starting half before snapping your soles of feet together?

On feeling the water flow through the toes, today I tried that but to get that feeling I had to splay apart my toes almost like "spanning piano keys"....but I did feel it....interesting thing in doing so, it almost feels like you make the foot surface larger....it's probably all in my head, but still felt "wider"

But don't you think though that it was about time for someone to lower the 1650 record by more than a few tenths??? The 1650 AR has been in the 14 min and mid 20-something seconds for around 10 yrs or more. The WR for 1500 scm is 14:08 so he has some room to go to match that time. While i've only swum scm infrequently, my understanding is that 1500 scm and 1650 scy times should come out pretty similar for the same swimmer at same fitness level.

Changing subjects, I was able to feel the water flowing through my toes today when kicking, but mainly between my big toe and 2nd toe b/c my other 4 toes sit very close together. I mainly feel the water on the top of my foot, espec when doing dolphin kick.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I still love the sport. It's pretty much the only way I can get any exercise. I have a hard time pushing myself consistently without a workout in front of me a coach/teammates to hold me accountable. The bike trainer in my basement gathers more dust than watts...

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

I couldn't keep weight on at 50-60k yards a week my senior year of high school. I started the season at 155, ended at ~147. I can't imagine how much you had to eat to survive 90-100k meters :o

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Probably not just in your head. Just like you don't want to squeeze your hands together, squeezing/tensing your foot works against you. Actively spreading toes may be a bit extreme, but staying loose you'll get some benefit from the surface tension between your digits.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Perhaps the secondary effect is that actively spreading the toes during the kick forces the ankle area to be more relaxed and thereby the shin and quad. Try to do quad/leg extensions and actively spread your toes inside your shoes and you will see what I mean. It seems to generate more force from upstream muscles regardless of surface area of the foot.

Anyway, I will keep working on this and report back.

The hammer he drops on the last 150 here is astounding:

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Yeah it's just shocking. I didn't realize he was so far off the American record until then.

Ya, Grothe went 1:13.94 for the last 150, 49.18 last 100, and 24.06 last 50, vs 22.65 for 1st 50, 47.58 1st 100, and 1:12.75 1st 150. Given his start from a dive, I'd call that negative splitting.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."