I tried doing a search in the forums on this and couldn't find anything. I am curious to know how many yards people in Masters are swimming a practice. I swim on average 3000-4000 yards a practice, 3 times a week.
I hestitate to post this, but oh well. People in the past have congratulated Ion, most recently on the 200 free best time. Some how the whole thread turned into what this thread has turned into. In part because of the way Ion belittles everyone else and think only he deserves kudos and partly because people bait him, because he is easily baited.
I have to admit, this time around, he seems to be getting a better sense of humor. Some posts on the other 30 page thread seem to indicate this.
There are many people in USMS that overcome different odds, they are not asking that everyone bow down to them.
Tim:
Take a look at the July/August issue of USMS Swimmer. It has a story about a swimmer in Indiana named Dimitar Kalchev. Thirty-four years ago he endured a frightening, life threating experience when he swam for his freedom from Bulgaria to Turkey to escape communism. He had to train to swim 9 miles and had to do the swim at night and finish it before day light.
Dimitar was never a swimmer when he was younger so he was a late bloomer to the sport. However, he was a track star in both running and high jump so he had a little VO2 Max development. After college while working for a company that had sports, he was able to have access to a 50 meter pool. He started swimming with a focus on time rather than speed. Sometimes he would swim twice a day both in the pool and in the Black Sea.
The Black Sea was so cold, he would swim sometimes for 4 to 5 hours to get used to the escape swim. With nothing but a compass, watch, and a water proof pouch he made a successful ecscape. After spending time in Italy he came to the USA in 1972.
Without knowing a word of english, he learned it and pretty soon he could speak 5 languages. He was employed as an engineer and settled in San Diego. He then moved to Indianapolis and started swimming masters there. Past USMS Treasurer Doug Church says that Dimitar is unassuming and unfailingly enthusiatic, "His story is extremely inspiring. When you compare your swimming life to his, it just amazing".
This is an example of a swimmer who started later in life, you had to overcome being a foreigner in the USA, who had the will to escape to freedom, who enjoys master swimming and what it has done to his life. He appreciates life every day and the story was very inspirational. This is just another example of many stories of swimmers who have not been swimming forever or may have returned to swimming from the high school, college, olympics, etc.
Originally posted by BillS
...and it struck me as funny that so many were taking the time to frantically leaf through their swimming books for quotes to use in debating the most arcane of points.
No, what's funny is that my wife thinks I have an on-line girlfriend when she sees me on the computer.
Anyway, who needs to leaf through the books looking for quotes? We've committed this stuff to memory.
Originally posted by Ion Beza
Could be applied, but on a more tangible note it is certainly applied to the person who misjudges it but doesn't even do that himself, does a 3:06.17 instead.
Man, that's fast...
What about my quote? If you are talking times, get over the speed comparisons, someone is always going to be faster than you (or me for that matter) unless you hold the world record, you have NO room to talk.
I don't care if you are a late bloomer or started swimming out of the womb. I am so sick of the fact you see anyone who calls you on an outrageous statement you either put them down (i.e. their career, intellect, faith, etc, etc, etc). If you know they are slower than you the next place to go is attack their times.
Connie:
You can do swimming times like golf. The idea is supported by both Total Immersion on page 107 of there book and by Emmett Hines on page 27 of his book Fitness Swimming. Swimming golf is more a test of technical abilty than conditioning, and you can use it as a benchmark to indicate technique improvement over time.
What you do is count your strokes for a 50 swim and add your time for doing it. That total is your score. Do this many times and you can get an average score and that will be your working par. Better swimmers get lower stroke counts and fewer seconds than less accomplished swimmers. Clever types can also figure a way to cheat by gliding or kicking after push off more than they usually do.
TI says always lower your score by reducing stroke count first and later by trying to swim faster. "Remember, speed equals stroke rate (SR) multiplied by stroke length (SL) and just about everyone has enough SR. It's your SL that needs work. Your golf score will be an unerring measure of how well you're using SL to create speed".
Originally posted by newmastersswimmer
The point I'm making is that every conversation on this board that Ion joins becomes the silliest conversation ever.....I'm just getting a little tired of it that's all.
Newmastersswimmer
Yes I agree, you can see a pattern emerge when reading archived posts. But... why drive yourselves crazy arguing?
It seems like the point of this forum is to share our love of swimming, learn, and have some fun. But critisizing someone for not being as fast as you, or insulting someone's intelligence, style, etc... defeats that purpose completely, and only ends up ballooning into a huge argument that's beholden to 4 year olds.
(I suppose you could say it does keep things spicey though right?! )
:rolleyes:
cheers and peace!
Originally posted by Frank Thompson
Ion:
That 3:06.17 was swam doing backstroke in the event 200 Free because they did not offer the 200 backstroke as an event at the meet.
...
And what makes you think that the circumstances explaining your 3:06 are the only acceptable circumstances and there are no other possible circumstances for my 2:47?
Please advise.
Originally posted by BillS
Ion, I admit that I am not as familiar with your "theories" (sic) as are some others here (due at least in part, I suppose, to the fact that I find your ranting screeds to be largely unintelligible, and your opinions expressed in them to be woefully misguided and unsupported by anything other than your own anecdotal evidence and snippets of quotes which, even when not taken out of context, generally fail to bolster your allegations a whit.)
...
Ahhhh, but Billy, you need to support these claims with data.
Without supporting data, they are:
your wishful sentiments.
