I was at masters swim practice yesterday and our local pro triathlete was there. He is mid level pro but a very fast swimmer and biker (came from an elite swimming background with a 4:35 500 in HS). A the end of the workout the coach had us doing some all out sprint 25’s for fun.
Since I was in the lane next to him I was killing myself just to keep within his feet. During the rest period (doing them on 25) he mentions that is how fast the top ITU guys are going at the start of the swim. Basically all out anarobic, bodies bashing, seriously intense for first couple hundred meters. Now this is a guy who can do sub 1:00 hundreds over and over and used to be on the Victor Plata Kinesis team so he’s not BS’ing me.
I was just amazed. I could not imagine starting even an Oly race that fast. He also tried to show me pace once race got going and it still seemed fast as hell.
I just thought it was interesting and insight into another world I will never experience.
One of my best friends was an elite swimmer in college, and I asked him a couple weeks ago what his best time was for 100 yards. He said something like 44 seconds. Geez…I was happy nailing 100 in 1:20, but now I feel lame!
had a similar conversation with a college swimmer friend. i mentioned to hear that i’d seen something posted here about a 6min 500 swim – she found this incredibly amusing and started laughing. why so funny i asked? “because that’s pretty slow!” was the answer. hey, i wish i was that slow
What is amazing to me is how fast these guys are going (nearly equivilant to 1:00 hundreds in open water) when they still have to bike and run. Big difference from just being a swimmer.
Just remember when one of your swimming buddies laughs at a particular split time we might turn in, ask them how they do on a bike and then a run following.
What I find interesting is how important that first couple of hundred metres is. We did an elite homestay for the Edmonton WC and the french guy staying with us was saying that if you don’t get good position from that fight you’re in for a long race. He proved it himself. Fantastic swimmer, but not powerful enough against the stacked field at Edmonton this year. He ended up riding with one other guy behind the 3rd or 4th pack and had no chance to bridge up. Long day.
Hah! I split a 46.9 when I was 13 years old! For breaststroke too!
Then I had 25 yards to go.
Yeah, a 46.9/100y sucks compared to most…what? 100yd dashes? Maybe. Most swimmers in the top one thousandth of one tenth of a percent in history? Probably not. (arbitrary number there, can’t even figure out how small that is off the top of my head, but I think it is a good representation of how fast a 46.9 compares to “most”) :~)
I hear you, but as a HS swim coach, you certainly aren’t telling your 46 freestylers that there isn’t any room on the team, “were done all full of 46 freestylers.” The most I ever had on the team at once was 2, and this was in 2001. At the HS level this made for one HELL of a 400 relay (with 2 :48’s thrown in there). At the college level, only one of those kids went D1, and swam breast on a 400 medley at NCAA’s in 2004 that went 8 seconds faster than that 400 free relay from HS. Kind of puts things in focus, that.
My point was that a 46 something represents a hell of alot of talent, and “not being a sprinter” makes it even more impressive. A swimmer who has a flat start 47 for the 100 as a third or fourth best event is probably exceptionally good at what ever the 1st or 2nd event happens to be.
I thought Flanagan was being way too modest about his assessment of his ability. I wonder how many posters on this forum have actually seen a swimmer do a 46 100y, let alone do it themselves.
I know we do the 500y in the US, but I assume we do that because it is the closest whole distance to 400m. No one else does the 500m. The Canadians must be looking for an event they can get a world record in.
