larsen is about 2m tall aint he? his slow turnover is NOT going to work for a swimmer who is 1.7m.



and 4.58 for 400 kick is FAST. (altho i do know of someone who can do 100m kick in 60 seconds)

Given that we sometimes stand only in awe of these people and don't take enough tips from their training outside of one's like "Set a goal and work towards it," it is also, I think, important to note the critical nature of descending intervals sets. The Auburn U. swimming videos put out by Dave Marsh emphasize this for distance swimmers.

If you want to really get faster, do descending intervals.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Do you mean swimming each 100 faster, but on the same rest, or doing something like 10x100 starting on 2:00 minutes, then 1:55, 1:45, 1:35 etc etc

You can do either. Mix it up. Both are good.

10 x 100 ON 2:00, so first one would be, say, 1:50 + 10sec rest, then try 1:45 (then you get 15sec rest). The nice thing about doing it this way is that you get more rest the faster you go.

You can also do an interval with a set amount of rest, regardless of how fast you go, such as (my favorite) 3 x 800 with 2:00 rest.

Masters Teams tend to do intervals "ON" rather than "WITH" because it keeps everyone swimming together. But they both have value. I know that Jensen (and this in unbelievable) once did 20 x 1500m. He had to finish each one under 18 minutes (yes, that's right) and then got 2:00 rest, regardless of how much under 18 minutes he went. He finished 15 of them, but then couldn't make it under 18 minutes. So ridiculous. That workout would have taken almost 7 hours to complete... So there are examples of both working well for people. Do both, mix it up, keep your thoughts fresh.

The key is just to swim faster as the set progresses... You can also mix in a ladder. Like if you are doing 10. Do 1-5 descending, and then slow down and do 6-10 descending (although do #6 faster than you did #1).

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Whaaaaaaat..

That's 30-f**king-kilometers!!! And all under 18 minutes?

Yes. He didn't make the last few, so it was "only" 24K.

Remember, during his long weeks, he swims OVER 100K per week, so that means at least 14K per day, although he did say this was a bit of a "long" workout, even for him

The real question is this... with only 2 minutes in between, did he pee in the pool?

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

I swam on Vendt's USS team in Boston...as an 8-9 year old, Coach would have him race very fast (Junior National level or just below) 16 year old girls at 400m...if he won, guys were out of the rest of practice, if they won girls got out.

Sometimes Vendt would beat one girl and Coach would decide he didn't win "convincingly enough" so he'd choose a average girl, give Vendt about 60secs to rest and have him race the average-level high school chick...he was the toughest, fastest kid anyone had ever seen...huge Red Sox fan too, so he's happy this morning.

A good set at Univ of Florida started in the 80's with Anthony Nesty. 100x100m on 1:10.

Now that he's coaching there, Nesty decided to bring it back for Ricardo Monestario, a distance swimmer a few years ago. Rumor is that at number 100 Monasterio looked up at Nesty and smiled. At number 110, Nesty told Monasterio that he could keep going if he wanted to, but that he was going home.

A couple current UF swimmers have done it, notably Ryan Lochte, who I think descended the last 10 to about 55sec.

bump for more crazy swimming stories

Do you know about Lynn Cox who swam a mile (or so) on consecutive days in Antarctica (yes, that is not a joke) wearing a regular swimsuit (not even a fancy full body one) and a bathing cap. That is 32deg water... There were icebergs that could have crushed her. She is incredible. She is a crazy distance swimmer. Set the English Channel record twice, swam the Bearing Straits (yes, those bearing straights), holds the Catalina Island Swim Record (one way, her brother holds the other). She does marathon length swims like most people do 1000's. When she does "sprints," they are usually a mile or so.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

friend's brother was swimming a 39km race in a lake in Quebec. Water temp was very cold and he was relatively new to the marathon swimming world. Each swimmer had their own support boat but wetsuits were not allowed. About 5 km from the end, his support boat pulled him out. He had only taken 6 strokes in the last minute and was barely moving (this is a sub 16 minute 1500 guy). They rushed him to the hospital because his body temp had dropped significantly. Supposedly the doctor said to his parents as the ambulance was leaving, "We think we can save him.."

Only 5 of 30 something finished, all very experienced marathon swimmers. They were taking regular breaks to eat and drink. Therefore helping to keep their body temperature up. He knows better now.

thats bs about jensen. thats fucking nuts.



14km a day aint that hard. 30 kms in one session is nuts.

The article was August 10 in the NYT.

SPORTS DESK | August 10, 2003, Sunday

SWIMMING; Jensen Is Set to Go to Great Lengths

By FRANK LITSKY (NYT) 820 words
Late Edition - Final , Section 8 , Page 4 , Column 4

Unfortunately, it is past the point of being free, but if you want to read it, that is it. It is definitely NOT BS.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Yes, what makes Lynn Cox so incredible is that her body temperature does not drop in cold water. It actually raises somewhat (up to a point) and then stabilizes as the water gets really, really cold. She is a phenom. Buy her book if you want to read more about her... It is called "Swimming to Antarctica" ISBN: 0375415076.

30 minutes in 32F water... It is incredible... She slept without sheets or blankets or anything on her bed, so that her body got used to being cold. Although I suspect she had some genetic predisposition to begin with.

Another incredible swimmer is Candian Vicki Keith who does marathon swims... BUTTERFLY. She has done the 22 mile Catalina Island swim butterfly... Craziness...
http://soloswims.com/keith.htm

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

more :)

An excerpt from an old Phelps article...

Swimming Technique January - February 2003 Feature Article

TRAINING MICHAEL PHELPS
American Flyer
One component of Michael Phelps' phenomenal success is his "made-for-swimming" physique. But the main component is the carefully-crafted training program that his coach, Bob Bowman, has created for him. Here, Coach Bowman_the 2001 ASCA Coach of the Year_explains his training philosophy and provides sample workouts.

By Bob Bowman with Michael J. Stott

....This fall and winter, Michael has worked hard on the backstroke. In fact, he's gotten really good. Recently, he finished a 15 x 200 yard back set with a 1:45. Not too bad! And his breaststroke, while still not flashy, is greatly improved.

We continue to develop Michael as a complete swimmer. That means some emphasis on the distance freestyle. On Halloween, he whipped off a 5,000 free for time in a 46:34. That's under a 9:20 per 1,000 average. I was impressed with that. In fact, it is probably the most impressive thing he's done, and it might be one of the most impressive things he ever does. That's the kind of thing I'm not sure you can ever replicate, but it's neat to give him some confidence, particularly since he has to swim against some of the super distance guys...

Thanks for the article. I have been sick the last 2 days and that read has me all fired up to get in the water tomorrow!

Vince

I posted that in one of the IM threads. We were postulating the fastest composite IronMan time. Obviously the Marathon, we know the world record.

And for cycling, Carmichael has said that he believes Lance could go close to 4 hours.

I theorized that Phelps could break 40:00.0 either in favorable conditions or with a wetsuit.

Phelps/Lance/Tergat go sub 7-Hours easily on a relay...

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Just like we mortals can't fathom how fast the top cyclists go uphill, y'all that aren't from a swimming background can't fathom some of these swim sets the really, really elite swimmers do. Though a 30K workout is super extreme even to those of us in the biz. I heard Vendt's club coach do a talk one time and she described a workout he did - 30 x 1000 yards- 10 negative split on 11:00, 10 Descend 1-10 on 10:30, 10 hold best average on 10:00...thats pretty freaking crazy...and 4:58 400 meter kick is pretty unreal as well...

I agree. I think it is often hard to fathom what athletes who focus on a single sport do in terms of volume.

I was a rower before I switched to triathlon, and people who "do the rowing machine" are blown away when I talk about how much we erged. I think we also forget that ALL Vendt, Jensen, etc. do is swim. Jensen sleeps 11 hours a day. And when he isn't eating or sleeping, he is, for the most part, swimming...

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Yards don't mean much to me as I've never swam in a yard-pool and the numbers/times don't really convert well in my head.

Oh and if anyone is interested I found a video of Vendt

http://weisenthal.org/swimming/vendt.mpg

Hackett is quite catch-up too.

And he beat Jensen easily at the olympics, so what's the fuss about that Jensen guy anyway (not a direct reply to you, but the first sentence is). People here seem to imply that he will dominate distance swimming in the next 5 years ????? I don't think so. There is still that aussie dude out there. Go get him first.

add 10% to the time and that is a decent approximation of a yards set in meters...

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f/k/a mclamb6

I am aware of Grant Hackett's stroke, which is far superior to Jensen's. I was simply refering to the timing of the stroke.

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"Yeah, no one likes a smartass, but we all like stars" - Thom Yorke


smartasscoach.tri-oeiras.com

Why? Vendt has a pretty nice stroke (check out the vid I posted)