Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool

That's a lot of goggle adjustments! Who knew!! Cool ad. I am still a fan of the both feet forward start. I played with the track start and I did get in the water sooner- as to say I didn't get out as far (distance wise) as with two feet; so because I entered the water sooner, it felt quicker. I also went deeper. Being a mid-distance person, I've decided to stay with my two-foot start (it's pretty good- I usually come out ahead of my heat, and then, drat, I have to swim! :p ) Two-footers of the world UNITE! :)

Originally posted by Frank Thompson In One Year: One Swimmer: 26,208 goggle adjustments 2,184 practice hours 17 swim suits 1 shot of Glory Then we hear a "take your mark, beap" Then we see Katlin Sando raising her arms up in victory from the 800 Free Relay in Athens. Mutual of Omaha Proud Sponsor of USA swimming. I saw this on TV today. What do people think of this ad. Sounds like a pretty awesome commercial to me. I may be slightly biased though, I am a big fan of Kaitlin Sandeno.

Originally posted by Frank Thompson In One Year: One Swimmer: 26,208 goggle adjustments 2,184 practice hours 17 swim suits 1 shot of Glory Then we hear a "take your mark, beap" Then we see Katlin Sando raising her arms up in victory from the 800 Free Relay in Athens. Mutual of Omaha Proud Sponsor of USA swimming. I saw this on TV today. What do people think of this ad. I saw this ad too, thought it was great. A little exaggerated in the "one shot" aspect (Kaitlin in particular has already been to the Olympics twice, I believe), but clever and well produced. Thanks for the info on the ESPN background. I didn't know all that about ESPN backing out after Montreal lost Worlds originally, and I can't say I blame them.

I agree. I wonder where Mutual of Omaha got there figures. Those hours are as much as some people work in a year. I also would question the goggle adjustments. If you swam 52 weeks a year, you would have 504 goggle adjustments per week. I could believe the 17 swim suits because a lot of swimmers get them from sponsors and they are free.

I don't believe any of the statements they made. I say this because I've been a swimmer for 27 years and have been around many, many swimmers. ** Most swimmers do not go through 17 suit changes in a year. They might go through five. They get a couple of drag suits and then they buy another when one wears out because they don't take care of them. And then one or two competition suits, one for unshaved meets, one or two more for the big meets. I've only had three suits in the past three years: one drag suit that has not faded in two years, one regular competition suit and one Aquablade. Even when I was sponsored by Speedo, I only got (read: asked for) eight suits in those two years. ** Not even Larsen Jensen could swim 2,184 practice hours. Even if you include dryland. The top swimmers are actively working out 6 hours a day, and many don't swim every day, and swim less during taper and meet days. The only person I can see doing this is Michael Phelps, who swims every day. He'd log in 2,190 hours. And he's not typical. I can't vouch for the goggle adjustments, but it seems like a lot in one year. I think that swimmer needs tighter or new goggles.

Debbie Santos was telling me that Nike gives their athletes a couple of suits per event. One swimmer was given 12 suits for one meet....

Do you realize that 2,184 hours of practice a year translates to 42 hours per week ... I don't think even the best of the distance swimmers are doing 42 hours a week, that's 7 hours a day 6 days a week ... that's A LOT!

Nike would need to since their suits fall apart after one race ... I am not at all impressed with anything Nike swim ... but that is a story for a different day ... I probably adjust my goggles 30 times a practice if we have a long interval they come off then I play with them several times before I go on my interval ... if that is considered an adjustment then there ya' go ... I think many swimmers do work out 6 hours a day but they do that 4 days a week and do 3 or so the other two, right? That's always the impression I got 4 days of doubles, one weekeday the morning or afternoon is off and then on Saturday a 3 or maybe four hour workout ... EDITED to add ... NCAA also limits workouts to 20 hours a week now there are ways of skirting around that of course but most teams do about 20 hours week when in-season and that's where most of the top swimmers are training ... there are of course exceptions (Larsen Jensen took last year off of NCAA for example so he could train more for the Olys)