I had a good seat just above the finish line, but up high.
Prelims the weather was nice overcast. Some good swims in prelims indicated the best races would be the mens 400 free, and it was.
Prelims ended at 11 am, sat down to lunch, and who sets down next to me? Just the best looking and one of the greatest women swimmers ever, DARA Torres. Still looking like she could beat the other women, and still beautiful. She swam in the 1984, 88, 92 and 2000 Olympics!!!! Made my day, the first time I saw her was in 1988 and she lit up the airport with her smile.
Then had a drink with Mo Chambers and her husband. Mo writes the great workouts and is one of the woderful masters coaches and people we have.
Then the first event, WOW 4:08.41 by Michael Phelps
Splits:
Fly 55.66
Back 1:02.19
*** 1:12.90 (great split)
Free 57.66
Some good swims in the womens 100 fly prelims, took 59 seconds to make the finals.
Then the best race of the night, mens 400 free, Keller in 3:44.19
beating Phelps american record by almost two seconds. And the kid from Mission Viejo swam a great 4:46
This was the USAs worst event for the last 3 Olympics, but if the Torpedo has a poor day Klete will be there.
Then a 15 year old girl broke Summer Sanders american record in the 400 IM with a very good 4:37
Mens 100 *** semi finals were good, Hansen swam an American record 1:00.19 and looked good. Moses did not look good, so my prediction of Hansen in 59+
Of course I always look like a cooked lobster at these meets, darn Scottish background I never tan. At least I used sun tan lotion:D
Former Member
wouldn't surprise me one bit if Moses did make the team in 100BR
I can 2nd Wayne's enthusiasm that it is awesome being here to watch the trials. I'm lucky to have my hotel room on the same floor with some of the Olympic greats. There's definitely a lot of excitement in the air and so much anticipation. This beats going to work!
The following link is to a press group here that is covering the trials and issuing daily newspapers on the trials. The link should give some of the same info. they are putting in print on the events.
www.presstelegram.com/olympics
Dan
Originally posted by breastroker
I watched the starts during warm up, the average woman went 9 feet, man 10-11 feet from the starting blocks. A good two footed grab start can get 13-14 feet off the starting block. That will reduce your time to 15 meters by 0.2 to 0.4 seconds.
The rest of the world does the grab start, they want to win!
and the US doesn't want to win?
Obviously this topic still up for debate. Martin Hull, aka Mr. Zoomers, has posted his thoughts on the two types of dives. www.zoomers.net/new-bestdive.htm His basic opinion is that a track start gets off the block quicker, but the extra oomph from having both feet forward makes the grab start a better alternative. In the end, it's really a personal preference.
As a word of advice for anyone changing their start, make sure you practice with a racing configuration, i.e. cap, same goggles, etc before the meet. The first time I tried a track start at a meet, Rick had a good laugh watching me trying to chew a pair of googles in the fly leg of an IM.
I read somewhere that the track start gets you off the block quicker BUT you tend not to get the distance that you get with the grab start. Can't remember where I read that, but the author thought moving through the air/distance was more important that getting off the block faster.
I would think the reaction time would be slower for a track start, too. Most people who use it seem to rock back slightly. Then when the horn sounds they need to rock back forward before they can leave the block. It doesn't seem like you get more power, either. So unless you're prone to false starting, I don't see the advantage.
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I may be mistaken here, Kirk, but I believe that people leaning back in the track start aren't quite doing it right. Your weight should be primarily over your front foot, as close to the front edge of the block as possible. I'm just speculating here, but because the back leg is already partially extended, the muscles can start the body forward sooner than during a grab start. This could lead to faster reaction times. Here's a paper that points out the faster reaction times at the Sydney Olympics: www.technion.ac.il/.../paper_18.pdf
My experience, switching to a track start this year after 20+ years of a grab start, has undoubtedly been positive. I just dropped about 6 tenths off my 100 fly and I'm sure that at least a tenth or two came from the different start.
Just my $.02 on the subject,
Jason
I remember in another thread, someone posted a link to a study that showed no advantage for either grab or track start out to 15m. (Advantages of each balanced out over the phases of the start and glide.) Could someone repost that?
One of my coaches snarls at people who lean or rock back on their track starts. Much as he would snarl at somone who does an arm wind-up during their grab start. :D
I prefer a track start, because it is difficult (for me) to get my center-of-mass, from balanced to in front of my legs, quickly. I can do that with an arm pull and a back leg pushoff. I try to hold the start leaning as far forward as possible (while still stable).
(Edit: I didn't see Jason's response before I posted. But I did find the link I was looking for- www.coachesinfo.com/.../88 )
The results are interesting, but the authors' discussion isn't very good. They talk about which events showed significant advantages for the TS, based on the study data, and these events don't seem to agree with the table data.
Also, why even bother comparing reaction times? The only thing that should really matter is which start gets you out to the 15 meter mark faster.
