Fascinating. Envious of the opportunity to have a conversation with Ryan.
After watching the Indy GP online, among the things I'd ask him is how he maintains his confidence after training heavily through (and getting beat during) meets in-season. At this Grand Prix, he was beat by guys who will not beat him come trials--how does he know he will be able to step it up? Most athletes--even elite ones--need a reminder that they can hit the wall first. Lochte seems totally chill with winning a console or getting 5th from lane 7 three months out and then making the team when it counts.
Recent training philosophy seems to say that you need to practice swimming fast in order to do just that. How does Ryan swim a 1:59 in the 200 IM for a year and know that he can drop a 1:54.00 when he needs to? it's a very different race (at that level) , with major differences in number of strokes per length, rhythm, etc.
I also wonder what his plans are after London. Seems clear that MP is retiring, but no one seems to be commenting on what RL is doing. I don't see any reason for him to retire. Would love to have some continuity as we hope for the next generation to step it up.
Fascinating. Envious of the opportunity to have a conversation with Ryan.
After watching the Indy GP online, among the things I'd ask him is how he maintains his confidence after training heavily through (and getting beat during) meets in-season. At this Grand Prix, he was beat by guys who will not beat him come trials--how does he know he will be able to step it up? Most athletes--even elite ones--need a reminder that they can hit the wall first. Lochte seems totally chill with winning a console or getting 5th from lane 7 three months out and then making the team when it counts.
Recent training philosophy seems to say that you need to practice swimming fast in order to do just that. How does Ryan swim a 1:59 in the 200 IM for a year and know that he can drop a 1:54.00 when he needs to? it's a very different race (at that level) , with major differences in number of strokes per length, rhythm, etc.
I also wonder what his plans are after London. Seems clear that MP is retiring, but no one seems to be commenting on what RL is doing. I don't see any reason for him to retire. Would love to have some continuity as we hope for the next generation to step it up.
