The Fastest Age

Well, I agree many of these kids are tall. But being a breaststoker I knew of exceptional novice swimmers that were faster than me. I think the fastest I did at 12 years old was a 40. something, it faster than I did at a 46 years old woman. I did a 46 in 50 meter which is similar to a 41. Both of them were shorter than me. They both did 36 and 35 times in 50 yard *** back in 1969 and early 1970. That's similar to a 11-12 year old girl now doing 34 or even 33. One of them went to an AAU team and made the olympic trails in 1972 at 15 years old. Also, I read on the Lane 9 board, that a vietnamize girl from a Calfiornia team set the national record in the 50 yard back. Most people that are familar with the Vietnamize realized that they are not tall on the average.

Maglischo has a nice discussion of the catch-up style, which he discourages because of the loss of forward velocity. He does advocate front quadrant swimming, but points out that this simply means that both hands are in the front quadrant at the same time (and thus can be up to 180 degrees apart). I thought that anchoring was more a figure of speech, although I did read in TI that your arms/shoulders are much less important than your core muscles (which I still find hard to believe). Is Ion at a relative disadvantage compared to lifelong swimmers? I have no doubt that he (and other late starters) are. There are probably multiple reasons why. Does it matter? To Ion it does, because he wants to excel.

I agree with Connie. In my observations, most people who learn to swim later in life usually do so for fitness, not to compete. Therefore they do not "train", they swim laps, and we don't see them at meets. People who are at the top of their sport such as Olympians, and professional athletes 99% of the time are identified as a child as having a gift for that sport. In fact, even at the college level, these athletes are identified as having a gift for the sport. You don't go to the Olympics on hard work alone, there has to be a lot of natural ability and unless you want to play with the gene pool, there is not anything anyone of us can do about that!

Originally posted by Ion Beza I always said 'yes' to this: never avoided it, providing that it is in men 40 to 44. maybe you could re-iterite your criteria for all of us and then stick to it, instead of adding bits and pieces to it to suit your argument. First you ask for proof, then when it's offered, then you change the criteria. Are you now suggesting that Vo2Max only comes to play with men in 40-44 age group? ust moer inconsistencies in your arguments. There are so many, it's hard to tell what is it that you stand for in this argument, other than changing the scope as the wind blows. That Tom Ellison post mentioning you fighting with a rubber knife comes to mind.

This: Originally posted by kaelonj ... He is demonstarting a common mistake in swimming by triathletes (sorry, no offense to triathletes) and that is to get in and pound away without thinking about what they are doing. ... is blatantly wrong: .) triathletes don't kick, they don't work on their kick flexibility like me; .) triathletes -and even USMS in this forum- don't know overlapping style and rotary style like I do; .) triathletes don't roll their hips like I do; .) triathletes don't spread their fingers to increase their palms, and keep their arms lined up in front of their shoulders without crossing; .) triathletes -and even USMS in this forum- don't train with the five types of workouts like I do, they do mindless forever-fitness. triathletes don't taper; swimmers taper; .) triathletes -and even USMS in this forum- don't know swimming news and books like I do. I think you got suck into parroting USMS cliches (like no good start, no good flipturn, some critics who superficially saw my asthma in meets = I am a triathlete) without knowing my coaches, what they teach, how I train, and how I race.

Originally posted by kaelonj Why just age 40-44 ; how about someone younger or older, obviously if someone did it at say age 35 or 55 they still did it, which means it is possible at any age, would you agree ? I agree for men under 45. In the higher age groups, the times -with a few extraordinary exceptions- are slow. In men 40 to 44 I already know who is who.

I like to do triathlons in the summer time just for a little variety. I am not in the best of shape and diffently not in the same shape as most of the other triathletes I compete against. Yet when I swim I find myself finishing the swim in a faster time then most of the other competitors. When it comes to biking I fall way behing the ones that I swam faster then. This comes down to technique. It can not be that I am in better shape then the others. Ion your comparisions to triathletes almost proves that technique plays a major factor in how fast you swim. As for arguing about size. It may play a factor but how can my small five year old swim faster then other five and six year olds that are much bigger then her? I beleive it comes down once again to technique.

Originally posted by SWinkleblech ... Ion your comparisions to triathletes almost proves that technique plays a major factor in how fast you swim. ... It does. That's why I say in this thread to my detractors in technique, that I practice more technique than most. San Diego is the land of triathletes. I consider them low-tech compared to pure swimmers like Popov. However, for Popov and for me, conditioning is first. Technique is tagging along with conditioning, but not ahead of conditioning like T.I. claims.

I didn't say that the core isn't important. And I'm aware of the baseball analogy, however there is a difference--the pitcher has a foot on the ground.

Originally posted by aquageek Yes, Ion, you and Popov are one in the same. Quite lofty company you keep compared to the rest of USMS swimmers who regularly school you. Well you don't school me, do you?