I've never started one of these Lance threads, they always seem to evolve into a Chuck Norris discussion. But I want to be serious here. We can all guess as to what his riding capabilities are, they are well documented. He has done some running the past few years, and done well, running a mid 2;40 I believe, but what about his swimming?? I see threads where people think he will do an hour for an Ironman, maybe as fast as a ;56..I'm one of the few that was actually around in the olden days and swam against the "kid", and as I recall he was a solid front pack swimmer. Never off the front, but could hold the feet of our lead group in any race. We were all the guys that would go :49 high to ;51 low in Hawaii, year after year..So after a pretty much 15 year layoff of swimming, what can he get back to??
I think this from his twitter lately, just did a set with Jimmy, finished with 10x100IM meters (SCM I'm assuming), on the 1;45. Descended down to a 1;15. It took me about 2 seconds to figure out that he is already as fast as I am right now, and it tells me that the only thing holding him back from his old speed is yardage. For a conversion, that is about a 1;07+ for 100IM for yards. That tells me that he has all his strokes back, and at his age, there is nothing holding him back from the lead pack in Hawaii except fitness.
For me at 55, I cannot get much faster, and with a lot of training I might hold 2nd group around the ;53 to ;55 range, but at 40 it is a different story. Look at all the late 30 somethings that are still pro, and make the lead group in Hawaii, and you see age is not the factor. It was awhile ago, but I remember swimming with Wolfgang in my late 30's, and doing his birthday set of 33X100SCM on the 1;10. He held 1;01's to 1;04's, I just held onto his feet with my paddles. Probably the hardest set I had ever done as a master swimmer, right about the age Lance is now...
I think it would take an incredable amount of swim focus to get there, but entirely possible. Most likely he will get into very good shape and be 2nd pack, somewhere in the sub;55 range..
Just wanted to throw this out there as I was suprised when I saw that set he did this early. Forget about any 1 hour swims for Lance, the kid is back in the swim....
I think this from his twitter lately, just did a set with Jimmy, finished with 10x100IM meters (SCM I'm assuming), on the 1;45. Descended down to a 1;15. It took me about 2 seconds to figure out that he is already as fast as I am right now, and it tells me that the only thing holding him back from his old speed is yardage. For a conversion, that is about a 1;07+ for 100IM for yards. That tells me that he has all his strokes back, and at his age, there is nothing holding him back from the lead pack in Hawaii except fitness.
For me at 55, I cannot get much faster, and with a lot of training I might hold 2nd group around the ;53 to ;55 range, but at 40 it is a different story. Look at all the late 30 somethings that are still pro, and make the lead group in Hawaii, and you see age is not the factor. It was awhile ago, but I remember swimming with Wolfgang in my late 30's, and doing his birthday set of 33X100SCM on the 1;10. He held 1;01's to 1;04's, I just held onto his feet with my paddles. Probably the hardest set I had ever done as a master swimmer, right about the age Lance is now...
I think it would take an incredable amount of swim focus to get there, but entirely possible. Most likely he will get into very good shape and be 2nd pack, somewhere in the sub;55 range..
Just wanted to throw this out there as I was suprised when I saw that set he did this early. Forget about any 1 hour swims for Lance, the kid is back in the swim....