Redondo Beach Triathlon 2009

After making an appearance at the 2007 Redondo Beach Triathlon I got another chance at it in 2009. Once again I teamed up with Scott Webb as a relay. He did the whole bike, run thing while I just swam. I don't do triathlons myself because the biking thing involves too much equipment that I don't want to deal with. The swim was 1/2 mile along the beach south of King Harbor in Redondo. The weather was great for the race, the sun even came out early for a typical June morning. The water temperature was also very comfortable after swimming in Huntington Beach with no wetsuit. I kicked off the swim with a nice 6 minute lead and Scott finished it up with a strong win in the relay group.

I like triathlon swims because the crowd just kind of meanders into the water. It isn't the elbow flying fight to the death to get to the first buoy that is open water swimming. Plus it is the only time I can legally wear a wetsuit for a race. Although, if I was a pro triathlete that comfort would go away.

I was a bit surprised with my swim being the second day of competing in one weekend for the first time since shoulder surgery. During my warm up the shoulder was feeling rather tired, but the water temperature and the wetsuit kept me warm and comfortable. The shoulder loosened right up by halfway through the swim. The shoulder still has some time to go to get strong again, but my speed is still there. I just pay for it with a lot of soreness later.

Huntington Beach Pier Swim

This morning I headed a few miles down the beach to Huntington Beach for the 59th Annual Pier Swim. This was my first swimming of the pier as during previous years I was a wuss about the cold. However, after a couple years of ocean swimming in Southern California I have gotten pretty acclimated to cold water. I was informed that the water temperature this morning was 65 degrees. Once I was wet there was really no thought about the water temperature, after all it didn't cause my pinky toes to freeze.

Laid out on Google Maps the swim equates to about 1/2 mile. It was my first official competition back after having shoulder surgery last September. The shoulder still gets sore during distance swims, but I push through it. It doesn't weaken however, which is key. There was a strong current pulling everyone into the pier during the return leg of the race. Getting pounded by a wave was a sure way to end up close to the pier footings. I caught a couple good waves, then got pummeled by one and had to get back out from the shadow of the pier. I guess I ended up 1st or 2nd for females in the end. I didn't stick around to see the results because my 2 hour parking meter used up all my change and expired well before everyone finished.

Temescal Canyon Pool

I just discovered this pool at the base of the hills in Temescal Canyon. I came upon it after I read an article about teenagers dying in car accidents speeding on Pacific Palisades Blvd (it doesn't look extremely curvy, just wide, teenagers can be stupid). I used the satellite view of Google Maps to check out the road, of course in satellite view I always check out the nearby pools as well. Upon discovery of this pool in its serene location I thought, "Hey I want to go check it out one day!" I inputted its location into Google and sadly I was confronted with an LA Times article describing the recent bulldozing of this swimming hole.

The Malibu/Western Valley area has a big lack of regulation size pools. I know because I searched far and wide to see what options I had for swimming after work when commuting through that area. Backyard pools are ok and all, but most are tiny and you don't meet anyone new in your own backyard. Community pools are wonderful and they are disappearing at a high rate due to their high maintenance costs. This pool's case is particularly disheartening because the true owners (the city) would not invest in its repair. The leasing operators (YMCA) said they would fork up for the repairs, but they wanted to make sure their investment would see many years of use which could not be promised by the true owners. I miss the East Coast at times, where many pools are private.

6 Weeks Out, I Can Streamline

I am just over 6 weeks out from shoulder surgery now. I can finally get my arms in a decent streamline position again. I still have 6 more weeks to go before full swimming again, however. Until then I keep it up with kicking and breaststroke. Right now is when it is really paying off to be a breaststroker. The ability to throw a bit of breaststroke in with the never ending kick sets is keeping my sanity in check.

I can't feel my arm

This morning Dr. Neal ElAttrache poked into my left shoulder and cut out the bursa. He stated that I had impressive bursitis and old damage had left my shoulder beyond the ability to fully heal without the surgical cleansing. Everything went well and, thus far, it looks like the future is bright for my left shoulder. Now it just need to get the feeling back in it...

Shoulder Surgery

Los Angeles Laker's player Kwame Brown has had the same shoulder problems as me. That is why I am going to see the same orthopedic surgeon for my procedure:
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/Kwame_Shoulder_Surgery.html
If I don't do something about my left shoulder now, I will seriously regret it when I am 70. I already see the example with my aunt having enough shoulder problems without the athletic background. I should be go to go again come next year. I am eager to get to the rebuilding phase as opposed to the try not to break it worse and just hold out for a few more weeks phase...

Bad Shoulder

I have been a bad blogger lately. That is my fault though because I push myself pretty hard and I have to let something give most of the time. I let the writing slip when I need a break because I would rather not spend my life stuck behind a computer or television. I feel guilty for only spending 9 hours at work most days. I also get down on myself when I am too drained to spend a couple hours at night scouring the internet for interesting automotive news to post on Autoblog. I am too busy during my day to keep up with all the posts and news going on, so I have to spend time catching up before I can even begin browsing for items that have yet to be covered. Now I also have two pets (the new one is pictured above) I don’t want to ignore. They grab my attention for a significant period every night. I have me time scheduled in everyday in the form of swimming or gymnastics after work though. Generally my workout time keeps me on my toes and re-energizes me for the evening. It is amazing though how everything can turn sour when things don’t go well in the pool anymore. For the entirety of the summer my left shoulder has been killing me. It has gotten me feeling a tad dejected.

My left shoulder problems first surfaced when I was 14 years old and a freshman in high school. It was hard to process the injury back then because the pain wasn’t so apparent. I just got to a point where I could hardly get my arm to keep turning over in order to make it through a 200 freestyle. My time kept going backwards and I was so devastated. The more I tried to push, the slower I would go. I was lucky enough to find a sympathetic physical therapist however. She had been a competitive swimmer herself. She was amazed I could even move my arm because my shoulder was so impinged and inflamed. Working long and hard though, we managed to get my left shoulder back into working order. In the end it ended up being my right shoulder that I eventually had surgery on in order to relieve inflammation (internal bleeding… no big deal…).

With all my shoulder experiences every doctor has commented on my shoulder geometry. I have pronounced protrusions coming out of my shoulders that are the connection points of my clavicles. This setup apparently naturally pulls my shoulders forward, reducing the size of the pocket available for joint rotation. Of course all that easily disposes me to impingement and inflammation. The fun part is that a tiny bit of inflammation can offset a chain reaction that takes weeks, even months to recover. Since having my right shoulder cleaned out in the middle of college, it has been going pretty strong. My left shoulder is a different story though. Lately it has been causing me agony. It seems that increasing my shoulder stretching, and thus increasing my shoulder flexibility, has awoken some old scar tissue. Tendons can’t move where they wanted to, they have become inflamed and of course that has created more scar tissue. Without taking action to break up the scar tissue I am stuck in an endless cycle. That is why, despite the cost, I have said screw this and have paid a few visits to various doctors.

I am currently in the midst of my 4th week of therapy on the shoulder. Thankfully I have been able to find the exact type of treatment I had hoped for, due to the recommendation of fellow Long Beach swimmers. Over this period I have been able to get back from crawling pace to cruising. I still have no speed though and that is very frustrating. Anytime I really try and grab the water pain shoots down the side of my shoulder. It takes a few strokes to recover from that jolt in order to find the right pace again. I had sights set on many ocean races this summer, but all have been put on hold for other years. I just want to glide through the water again without extreme calculation every time I place my left hand in the water. I am giving it until the end of August to further improve its condition. If not, then I think it is about time to send it under the knife. It wasn’t difficult for my right shoulder to recover, so I know what it involves. It just sucks getting dressed for a couple weeks and driving might be a tad difficult…

Article on FLUENT use for Speedo LZR Development

ANSYS, the company that makes CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software FLUENT has an article in their promotional magazine on the development of the Speedo LZR. You can read the article for yourself here.

As I suspected Speedo utilized New Zealand's University of Otago for their water flume and NASA for use of a wind tunnel. The media likes to play up NASA's part though, which really casts shadows the real development effort behind the suits. Also, with all the suit controversy, many people need to understand that the only real controlled modeling that could be used for the suit development was of the body in the streamline position. All the drag benefits are maximized for that position because when a swimmer's moving arms and legs are brought into the equation things get very very complicated. Once a swimmer begins swimming, it can't be certain what is going on with the fluid flow. It will be interesting to see what sort of things can come about once people start tackling the modeling layout of the different strokes at different velocities. That could take a long time though, in the automotive world there are books of papers on the subject of modeling simple parts in CFD. Regardless, there may one day be a different suit for every stroke, that would make an IM suit very interesting...

Only in Southern California

I am a nut for the Olympic Games. For so many athletes the ultimate goal is just to participate in this one international competition that only occurs every four years. There are very little to no financial incentives, it is simply the thrill of the challenge. The empowerment of knowing you can rise up over others and compete for the top place in the world is quality very few people can rightly posses. If you want to get close to the Olympics, no matter what the year, there is really no other place like Southern California. The area is the home to many of the best training centers in the world. It kind of boggles my mind how, in my typical week, I rub elbows with all sorts of world class athletes.

Southern California has been a swimming mecca forever. The competition level available here is the top at all age levels, from age group through masters. Growing up on the East Coast, there was the occasional swimmer to rise through the ranks and make it to the Olympic Trials, but it was an experience for so few that it all seemed unreal. There were not many examples of the path to the sport's ultimate goal, for that reason the education to lead athletes along the best path was not readily available. Los Angeles is a different story however. There are meets taking place year round with top levels of competition. Many club teams have taken multiple swimmers from average athlete, to Olympic Trial competitor. Just hopping in the pool for a master's swim practice you can find yourself surrounded by many folks with impressive swimming resumes. Swimming in Southern California keeps me on my toes, and training amongst so many top athletes reminds me that I could have achieved so much if only my health had been on my side.

Southern California isn't just a swimming mecca, it is also a haven for water polo. During the weekends, when I want do a pool workout of my own design, I stop by the local pool for a little lap swim session. The key element happens to be that the local pool is the U.S.A. Water Polo National Training Center. I've shared the water with the USA Olympic Women's and Men's Water Polo Team training squads. It is also interesting to note that many of the women happened to have attended USC. Thankfully they haven't taken up to stealing my towels again... It is inspirational to observe the team workouts in their run-up to Beijing. The passion and drive they emit makes you want to go out and work harder in all your everyday activities. I don't even know much about the rules to water polo, but it will be riveted by the games none the less.

The days of the week I am not in the pool I head to the gym. To satisfy my curiosity about what would of happened if I had stuck with gymnastics over swimming, I hit up an adult gymnastics class a couple times a week. I am just there to learn some new tricks, but many of the team girls training there have Olympic aspirations. After all, the name of the gym is All Olympia Gymnastics. The name derives from the fact that the head coaches are former Olympians (does that term make sense? are you a former Olympian or always an Olympian?) from Eastern European countries. Perfection is key in this gym. Watching the girl's team train is an illustration of the best form in action. Just getting a skill around isn't enough. The highlight is watching USA Gymnastics National Team members Mattie Larson and Samantha Shapiro train. While Samantha happens to be too young for an Olympic bid, Mattie has made it all the way to the final Olympic Team selection training camp. Her floor exercise at the Olympic Trials really got the media and audience's attention. I've been trying for a long time to do things as effortlessly as she makes them look. Her mom is wonderful as well, always inquires about how things are going. That family is riding on cloud nine right now. Go Mattie!
Check out her rocking FX:

Save ASU Men's Swimming

ASU Cuts Athletic Programs
Yesterday Arizona State University announced the end of three men's athletic programs. The sports on the chopping block were men's swimming, tennis and wrestling. However, they somehow managed to save diving despite dropping the men's swimming program. While budget reasons were given for the cutbacks, all removed programs had to be male due to Title IX regulations.

Too many men's Olympic sports have gone the way of the dodo bird. No prestigious program is safe either. UCLA knocked off its men's swimming and gymnastics programs, two teams consistently in the running for NCAA titles. I can see the appeal of pouring all of the men's athletic budgets into big media sports like football, basketball and baseball though. I am sure top performing teams in those areas equal greater general student interested and increased enrollment, meaning more money for the school. It just hurts to see schools stuck in a vicious cycle of funneling all revenue back into the same programs in order to make them grow, while in turn neglecting the real needs of an institution. Turning your back on the core structure that got you through to where to you stand, does not make for a lasting relationship. I don't see these economically challenged institutions sustaining high level programs in the future, since their ineptitude lead to improperly balanced athletic budgets in the first place.

I seriously feel great sorrow for the ASU program. For a bit of time I had a roommate who was an alumni of their men's swim team. In the past I visited friends at the school, swam in their pool and enjoyed the hospitality of their team. Aside from my own USC crew, I really enjoyed the ASU team atmosphere. This whole thing just blows chunks.

Speedo LZR

The LA Times ran a story today about the new Speedo LZR suit. The suit is a technological revolution a long time in the works. Its release coincides with the run-up to the summer games in Beijing of course. The suit is approved by FINA for competition use however, it is still causing a stir in the swimming world. A lot of people feel violated by the invasion of high technology into the sport, but I love it. I have yet to see this suit in person, but hopefully I will get to try it out in the not too distant future. In fact, I would love to try out/test all the new suits from the varying manufacturers. I find them fascinating. In future posts I will look into the details and engineering behind all the designs, but right now I don't have the spare time. One thing I do know though is that the LZR features ultrasonically welded seams. You might know those from the giant plastic bubble packaging you get when you buy anything from a memory card to an electric tooth brush. It is what makes those packages so damn hard to get open.

The Australia Olympic trials are currently in action and it is prominently featuring the suit. Swimmers are smashing world records left and right. It will interesting to see what happens at the U.S. trials although we have a good bit of time to wait.

Tired of Tendonitis

Beginning about a month ago my left shoulder began giving me trouble. Actually, it wasn't so much the shoulder as the clavicle (collar bone). Having previously gone through two years of extensive physical therapy on the shoulder during my teenage years, I was prepared to handle it. I starting with icing the shoulder (unfortunately I am allergic to ibuprofen), but it still seemed to feel worse over time. I think a lot also had to do with the fact that I kept poking at the area. Sitting at work I kept cracking my sternum and shoulder. I finally made it to the doctor yesterday to see if my feelings of a manageable tendonitis flare were correct, or whether the problem was worse. X-rays confirmed no issue with cartilage and my pain was diagnosed as sternoclavicular tendonitis. Pretty much the joint where my clavicle meets the sternum is extremely pissed off. It has caused a lot of discomfort in my shoulder, pulling it forward and causing huge knots in my traps and neck as well. Now at least I also have some anti-inflammatory drugs to take that don't cause me to bust out in severe hives.

I kept out of the pool for a week while trying to rehab the shoulder/clavicle. I kept my workout going by running a lot. I've run many in mile in my day without issues, so I wasn't going overboard, at least I thought. It seems that now my right achilles tendon has decided to join the tendonitis club. I've had plenty of tendonitis issues with that foot, in the top of the foot and ankle, but the achilles has never before been too sore to function. Although, the tendon has always made me twinge a bit when doing calf raises. As of yesterday though the tendon is too uncomfortable to even attempt to stand on the tip toes of my right foot. I couldn't even stand the pressure of my shoe on my heel throughout the day. Not wanting to face the same fate as University of Georgia gymnast Courtney Kupets I have now decided to take a break from everything.

Right now I have too many issues that need to heal. I also have a lot going on with planning a move into a new house. Hopefully it all won't take too long to straighten out and I will come back stronger than before. It just isn't worth it when you have to compromise your technique for injuries. It causes much more harm than good.

Map of Southern California Pools

I will be moving from Marina Del Rey to Long Beach in a few weeks. While researching potential places to swim in the area I decided to just record my findings with a Google Map. I know I have not encompassed every pool around, but thus far, I have listed ones that make sense for me. They all have lap swim times and/or masters swim teams. Scanning around with the satellite view of Google Maps makes finding new pools pretty easy as well, especially in Southern California where they are almost all outdoors.

View Larger Map

USA Swimming Needs a Wakeup Call

In recent years Web 2.0 websites delivering new media content such as Blogger, My Space and You Tube have shaken up the status quo. Many traditional media outlets and corporations have been unsure how to react. Some have resisted change by shunning and criticizing new media sources, one example being NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. Others have been quick to realize the monetary benefits and have thus acquired popular new sites, incorporating them into their existing methods, like AOL/Time Warner’s acquisition of Weblogs Inc.

More and more institutions are attempting to ride the Web 2.0 wave. However, the potentials of new media are still difficult to grasp for most. For that reason companies hoping to develop their own media presence are relying on consultants or other outside entities. The problem is that most deals are made simply for the money. The consulting companies might know a bit about marketing and media delivery, but they don’t necessarily know the inner-workings of the industry with which they are getting involved. They apply similar templates to each client without the core knowledge of what features their audience really wants. The most credible and successful new media sites have risen through the ranks because they are run by industry insiders. They are not journalists required to write about a wide array of topics, they are passionate individuals working at the heart of the topics they cover.

Recently there has been a deal made between USA Swimming and Wasserman Media Group. This union falls into the previously mentioned category of the miss guided institution teaming with the media consultant. Wasserman has a range of sports experience, but by no means are they swimming experts. Normally this sort of contract would not illicit much attention from the industry insiders, but the devil is in the details. As put forth in an interview with USA Swimming Executive Director, Chuck Wielgus, and SwimNews.com , the contract between USA Swimming and Wasserman gives the organization 50% of the revenue, but it also gives Wasserman 100% control. Traditionally communications groups, such as Wasserman, act as a middle man between the organization and the media. They package news items and deliver them to the right media outlets. This particular deal however, sees Wasserman become the one and only media outlet.

Resulting from the deal, Wasserman intends to produce a website where all swimming media content will be published. The site, SwimNetwork.com, has yet to be launched, but is currently available for viewing in alpha release. In the meantime USA Swimming is already receiving great flack for the handling of the union. Independent swimming media sources are feeling left out in the cold by the organization. Long existing news reporting entities such as Swimming World Magazine and SwimNews.com see a huge conflict of interest potential. New media entities such as bloggers like Tony Austin of the SCAQ Swim Club Blog and Garrett McCaffery of Floswimming.org, are even being sufficiently hindered in their reporting abilities due to shady tactics in the restriction of fair use laws.

During a the recent Missouri Grand Prix swim meet Mr. McCaffery received media credentials from USA Swimming to gather interview content. The issuance of the media credentials also came with severe restrictions. One of those restrictions was the taping of any swimming footage. It just so happened that while filming a poolside interview Natalie Coughlin chose that moment to break a world record in the 100 m backstroke during the preliminary heats. Part of the race was captured in the background of the interview. After the footage was uploaded to FloSwimming.org USA Swimming issued McCaffery a letter of cease and desist. They also revoked any future privilege of media credentials. The actual discourse is available for reading on the Floswimming.org blog .

Without a doubt USA Swimming believes their actions to be for the betterment of the sport. However, it seems that they are merely naive about new media technologies. Sports become mainstream successes because of their potential for many individuals to make money. The USA Swimming and Wasserman deal leaves potential for only two entities to generate significant revenue. There is no information provided as to whether any finances float down to the swimmers or national team members as well. A system that strong arms the competition and expects the team members to work for peanuts does not work, just ask the Soviet Union.

Caution Wet Floor

In case you didn't notice... showers make the floor wet.
I caught this picture in the locker room of the pool. I found it amusing that it was necessary to inform people that the floor might be wet in the vicinity of the showers.

Swim Practice

I have spent about 19 years of my life swimming competitively. Although there have been a couple significant periods of time where I only hit the pool to stay fit (or more like recover from surgery). Even when I didn't take the time to race others, I was still competing with myself so I believe it still falls in the competitive swimming category. Anyway I hardly have any digital evidence of all my swimming efforts. I have a few videos of swimming from age group through college. However, it is all on VHS. I have put some on DVD now, but I digress. I particularly lack any underwater swimming shots though. That is the good looking stuff too. I really can't say that I know all that much about what I look like swimming underwater. At USC I did some underwater stroke analysis, but I don't have copies of any of the footage. That is why I was excited today when fellow masters swimmer Lauren was taking shots at practice. I asked her to send me photos so I had something for the memories. The images below are what she captured.





Next time she is going to try and capture some video for me. I really need to get a lot of underwater breaststroke footage... just for my own analysis benefit.

You Said the Main Set was How Long?

I was reading this blog on Floswimming.org and it got to me thinking that I really need to write down my views/experiences in swimming training. I have been through a lot and I believe my experiences combined with my education have provided me with a different perspective than others in the swimming world. I think there is a lot left to be explored in training methods. Coaches streamline their programs around a chunk of athletes and do not leave room for change to develop new methods, they stick with only what the past has proven to work for a few. While the blog I mentioned discusses the need to fluctuate yardage I believe entire program structures could use more new advancements/more individual alterations.

So far in my lifetime I have trained with some of the most renowned swimming coaches in the United States. I have been apart of two NCAA programs that have achieved admirable greatness in the pool. The swim teams belonged to the schools of Kenyon College and the University of Southern California and, while I was in attendance, were under the guidance of coaches Jim Steen and Mark Schubert respectively. They were both coaches with their own outlooks on training. They each had tightly structured programs based on proven advances in swimming performance. While different in some ways, for the most part, the format of the two programs was extremely similar. Training involved short stretching sessions before practice with two practices a day most days, specific sets allocated for particular days ranging from fast quality work to slower recovery sets, weight lifting program tailored for swimming needs and the use of equipment to supplement sets in the pool.

I was in the "sprint" group at Kenyon. That meant it involved slightly less yardage than other groups and slightly more weight lifting. It also meant little to no stroke work, just freestyle freestyle freestyle. Morning workouts occurred three times a week during the weekdays. It involved a short warm up swim, then a session in the weight room. The weight room program involved some Olympic style weight lifting, some isometric exercises with machines and a variety of abdominal crunches. Personally, I kicked ass in the weight room. I was always the strongest female and put a lot of effort into my work. Most girls slacked off in the weight room and that really did not seem to matter when it came to swimming. The real pool workouts happened every weekday evening and Saturday morning. One day a week in the pool was dedicated to quality work, that meant race distances practiced at race pace. Some other workouts were cardio base training, that meant more yardage with less rest. Every fifth workout or so was a recovery day meaning a bit of a slower pace with more rest. There was not much time dedicated to stroke work, when it did happen it was taper time, which was way too late a point to begin making any stroke changes.

I was also in the "sprint" group when I transfered to USC. However, when swimming for a known distance coach such as Mark Schubert, that still meant a lot of yardage. Morning workouts occurred four times during weekdays. They involved more equipment related sets and stroke work. Kicking, pulling, stretch cord swimming, weight belt kicking and parachute swimming was the norm. We also had workouts every weekday afternoon and Saturday morning. Two days a week were dedicated to quality work. That meant race distances swam at race pace, sometimes including the use of Speedo Fastskin swim suits. Dryland training also happened after every evening and Saturday morning workout. Three days a week were dedicated to the weight room, two days a week we did yoga and one day was pool deck exercises. Once again the weight room involved Olympic lifting mixed in with isometric exercises using some free weights and machines along with abdominal exercises. I still kicked ass in the weight room. The football team respected me and the golf team was scared of me. Yoga also helped me gain some flexibility, but not a huge amount. At USC our time in the pool involved a lot of underwater work. That was a key element really missing from the Kenyon program. I greatly improved my underwater swimming and it really showed in my training times. Also despite a little more time dedicated to out of water work, most people still half-assed it and the body was usually to tired to give it an all anyway.

These are two programs that have produced great swimmers. Both have taken good talent and put them on the top of their game. However, I am not convinced all the time in the pool is necessary. I don't think it the best approach to break someone down constantly with lengthy practices, to only give them rest before the biggest meet in expectations of the fastest performance. I believe it just leads to injuries and bad technique. I feel that cross training out of the water can be just as beneficial, if not more than length pool sets. It has been about 3.5 years since I finished college swimming. Through my current schedule, involving only swimming three time a week, I believe myself to be in better shape now. I swim a mere fraction of what I used to, but I can finish my races stronger than ever. I even often train at slower intervals. It is all owed to the work I do outside of the water. Everything I do has a purpose, a goal in mind, I won't stand for garbage yardage. I won't swim a 1,000 yard cruise just to swim in circles where my body gets acquainted with a situation not pertinent to a race. If I want pure cardio work, I go for a run.

My solution is a mix of swimming, gymnastics, running, yoga and weight lifting. Working on basic tumbling skills and gymnastics conditioning is the perfect compliment to swimming. Perfecting my balance, muscle control and flexibility have given me a better body awareness in the water. I am tuned into a balanced body position and it is very apparent if my hips or back get out of alignment. Practicing handstands, press to handstand, balance beam, handsprings and flips have enlightened me on keeping my body tense in the right places to efficiently transfer power. Intense yoga also helps with this. The direct effect of efficiently producing power is not as apparent with yoga, but it does help with muscle control for balancing and flexibility. Also gymnastics conditioning such as numerous straight leg lifts to the bar, pull ups and dips build an extremely solid core. I believe in strengthening through actively engaging muscle groups rather than total isometric weight lifting. Power in swimming is never generated by one muscle at a time, it is the whole package working together. I think it should be trained that way. That is why I love Olympic style lifting, dead lifts, squat thrusts, etc. It involves generating power through efficient technique and works all sorts of areas of the body at the same time.

My ideal training facility would feature a 50 meter pool, a spring floor, a set of uneven bars, a balance beam, a tumble track, a treadmill, a weight bar and plates. Swimming would never involve much more than 5,000 yards (or meters) at a time. A lot of time would be spent on flexibility, active and static, and muscle control. Maybe someday I will put together a training program and get some people to try it out. It would be intense, but in a different way. I think Dara Torres would dig it.

The Ole Swimming Hole

Today I visited the Spring Hill Recreation Center in McLean, VA. It is the closest pool to the house in which I grew up. However, I did not swim there too often since it was not used as a USS practice facility until I was older and I was already content with my training facility. The team that did eventually move into Spring Hill Rec. was The Fish. Some of the kids I coached in clinics and summer league were apart of The Fish. The team quickly earned a reputation producing a whole bunch of young distance swimmers. When I was in high school they didn't really have any swimmers my age, they had a cutesy logo and a cutesy name so the older kids didn't want to join the new team. They have kept their swimmers over the years though and really built up some good ones to establish a well respected senior training group... One of The Fish's standout swimmers happens to be Kate Ziegler. She recently broke Janet Evans's long standing 1500m Freestyle World Record by almost 10 seconds. She is ridiculously fast. I am excited to she what she puts down in 2008.

Swimming on the Internet

Swimming being a low profile sport, especially in the United States, doesn’t allow for much scrutiny when it comes to reporting news. Only a handful of swimming related media outlets exist on the internet. None are a part of some giant media conglomerate with extensive international circulation however. The largest is now probably Wasserman Media Group since their scope encompasses more than just the sport of swimming. That doesn’t mean the group holds high standards for its news reporting though. TimedFinals.com, a swim blog that is part of the Wasserman clutches, has been berated multiple times for directly copying content from the next most prominent swimming news source, Swimming World Magazine. While some information might come in the form of pre-written content (ie press releases), that does not mean it is acceptable to directly post it without referencing the source it came from.

I noticed that TimedFinals.com has a Site Meter link at the bottom of the page. I followed the link hoping to check out their traffic report, however that was not available to see. I did notice the list of top Site Meter websites though. It just so happened that number 10 on the list is a site for which I write, Autoblog.com. Autoblog.com is owned by one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, AOL/Time Warner. One can imagine that such a large corporation has something to lose if one of its employees is negligent with their reporting. Oftentimes news is reported in the form of a press release. For such things a brief summary with some commentary is constructed, then the full press release is pasted in the post italicized and the source is noted. All images are either captured personally by the authors or they are supplied by companies for editorial use. TimedFinals.com does not reference any sources for the information it reports. I agree that it is a shady tactic. Editorial posts do not need sources, however if you begin reporting information on major corporations or organizations without giving a source and your story effects the stock market for the day, prepare to take the windfall.

Swimming is definitely not like the automotive industry in that there are gigantic corporations whose worth can be affected by journalists. Perhaps it could get that way though, Speedo is a company with something to lose. I really hope to see swimming media become more significant. First people really need to clean things up and get it together with modern times. There is so much technical information involved in swimming and I don’t see anyone exploring it. The print media coming out of Sports Publication International (Swimming World Magazine) typically has some more in-depth articles, however their circulation is abominable. There is no way for it to reach the general masses or even general fitness enthusiasts.

This post was brought on by a couple recent posts on other swimming related blogs such as Tony Austin’s SCAQ Swimmer Blog and the Texas Swimming Blog. They are both gathering more and more attention with their content. I think it is a very good thing for the sport. I like the opinions that get expressed. I may not agree with everything all the time, but it creates debate which is a wonderful thing. I hope they keep it up as it keeps swimming more grounded.

UPDATE:
Amazing, I wrote this post today and now it seems that Timed Finals has taken to noting their sources as this was recently posted: http://www.timedfinals.com/11122007/flash-swim-meets-can-make-money/. I suppose it is a start...