USA Swimming Olympic Trials

Wow! What a great week for USA Swimming. The trials were great to watch and the venue looked fantastic. Who ever thought of holding the trials in a sports arena was a genius. The crowds looked packed and were rocking for every event. By holding it in an arena, they were able to use all the lights like a basketball or hockey game. And how did they get a 50 meter, 8 lane pool into an arena and make it look like it always was there?

Not to be out done by the venue were the swimmers. Everyone expected Michael Phelps to do well and he delivered, winning every event he entered. Ian Thorpe said you can't swim eight events at the Olympics and win gold in each event but Phelps is going to give it a try. If anyone can, he's the one.

The women are being lead by Katie Hoff who qualfied in five individual events and one relay. Backing up Hoff will be Olympic veterans Natalie Coughlin, Amanda Beard (4th Olympics) and Dana Torres (5th Olympics). Torres at 41 smoked the field winning both the 50 and 100 free, setting American records along the way.

Swim Test

After doing the same swimming workouts for weeks, I finally broke down and purchased Workouts in a Binder. Even though I've been on swim teams for years, I never really paid attention to the workouts, I just did them.

The first step in Workouts is to determine your pace. There are two fitness test: 3 x 300 and 3 x 100. Since I had plenty of time at the pool, I decided to do both test with a 200 recovery between sets.

My times for the 300s were 4:20, 4:15 and 4:10 which averages out as 4:15 for an average 100 pace of 1:25. On the 100s, I did 1:15, 1:14, 1:15 for an average of 1:15. I was really please with both paces, especially the 100s since I haven't been that quick in a while. I'll now have to see if the Workouts make me faster or just add variety, hopefully both.

SwimLabs

I went to Swim Labs the other day to have my stroke analyzed and it's official. I can't swim.

They put you in an endless pool with three different video cameras, one above the pool, one underwater from the front and the other from the side. You swim, they film and then they show you what you look like. I look pathetic. It was really evident when they showed the demo swimmer who has a perfect stroke. It's not like I can't swim, I did a 1500 open water swim in 23 minutes the other week. Compared to the swim model, I'm a thrashing, flailing mess.

At least I have things to work on now. The first things for me to correct are my head position (too high) and my pull (need to bend the elbow and drop the s-pattern). It was funny watching my stroke and talking to the coach. We both learned to swim back in the 70s and he commented that everyone from back then swam like that.