My comment was that I would guess that Ryan would beat Michael in a short course yard 200 IM. If he broke his record by nearly a full second within a month, then I would say he would stand a pretty good chance. I did not make a comment about the 400 IM which requires more "above the water" swimming than the 200 since staying under water for long periods of time creates oxygen deprivation which would severely hinder your performance at the end of a long race.
The point is Ryan can make up for a lack of height and perhaps "above the water" swimming ability when compared with Michael Phelps because of his tremendous under water ability. This can be achieved because of the ratio of under water to above the water is inverted when comparing LCM to SCY.
I keep seeing that people say they feel that short course causes less fatigue than long course because of the rest on the turns. I think that it all depends on how you approach your turns and your race. If you don't create that much oxygen deprivation on the turns, resurface quickly, and don't maximize your under water kicking then you probably will be less fatigued. Certainly your arms will have more rest. My feeling, however, is that if you maximize your under water you do create oxygen deprivation that will cause your muscles to fail to respond. So either way, you need to strive to find the correct balance between under water and straight swimming and my guess is that everybody optimizes using different approaches for each individual.
I would agree that it would be a guess and speculation about Ryan beating Michael in a 200 Yard IM. Unless they race in this format, which I don't believe has happened in the last 5 years, its hard to analyze who would be having what advantage in both underwater swimming and surface swimming. Race conditions sometimes dictate how a person swims in the races. When Phelps did that 1:41.30 in Austin last year, it was the last event of the meet after he set 2 American Records. He basically had no one pushing him in this event and the 200 Fly and 400 IM. So you never know what would happen in racing conditions and all we can do is speculate and guess.
In watching Michael Phelps swim both in a practice and in a meet I believe one of his strengths in his swimming compared to others is his turns and underwater breakouts before swimming to the surface. He is an absolute expert in Fly and IM events when I have seen him. And it doesn't matter if its a 200 IM or 400 IM. I will give you an example of this and I think most people here will remember the race I am talking about because I believe Michael Phelps had one of the best turns and breakouts that I have ever seen a swimmer do.
The race was the 400 IM at the 2002 Nationals in Fort Lauderdale. He was racing Eric Vendt, who was ahead of him going into the 350 turn and at that wall Micheal did a turn and his dolphin kick and breakout was tremendous. He was a body length behind going in and a body length ahead coming out of the breakout. He ended up out touching Vendt at the wall for the win for his first World Record in the 400 IM breaking the mark by Tom Dolan. In fact Eric Vendt broke the World Record also.
The point I am making in this is that everyone needs to find a correct balance between there underwater swimming and the straight surface swimming based on there ability and technique. Michael proved in this one race that it can be done in a 400 just as well as a 200. Now I know this was Long Course as opposed to Short Course but some swimmers can do this and not have oxgen deprivation and not be more fatigued. When they maximize there underwater swimming, there muscles don't fail to respond and they resurface swimming pretty fast to the finish. Also another race that comes to mind is the 200 Fly at last years Pan Pacific Championships in Canada. Micheal was behind those 2 Japanese swimmers and came up a body length ahead after the 150 turn.
My comment was that I would guess that Ryan would beat Michael in a short course yard 200 IM. If he broke his record by nearly a full second within a month, then I would say he would stand a pretty good chance. I did not make a comment about the 400 IM which requires more "above the water" swimming than the 200 since staying under water for long periods of time creates oxygen deprivation which would severely hinder your performance at the end of a long race.
The point is Ryan can make up for a lack of height and perhaps "above the water" swimming ability when compared with Michael Phelps because of his tremendous under water ability. This can be achieved because of the ratio of under water to above the water is inverted when comparing LCM to SCY.
I keep seeing that people say they feel that short course causes less fatigue than long course because of the rest on the turns. I think that it all depends on how you approach your turns and your race. If you don't create that much oxygen deprivation on the turns, resurface quickly, and don't maximize your under water kicking then you probably will be less fatigued. Certainly your arms will have more rest. My feeling, however, is that if you maximize your under water you do create oxygen deprivation that will cause your muscles to fail to respond. So either way, you need to strive to find the correct balance between under water and straight swimming and my guess is that everybody optimizes using different approaches for each individual.
I would agree that it would be a guess and speculation about Ryan beating Michael in a 200 Yard IM. Unless they race in this format, which I don't believe has happened in the last 5 years, its hard to analyze who would be having what advantage in both underwater swimming and surface swimming. Race conditions sometimes dictate how a person swims in the races. When Phelps did that 1:41.30 in Austin last year, it was the last event of the meet after he set 2 American Records. He basically had no one pushing him in this event and the 200 Fly and 400 IM. So you never know what would happen in racing conditions and all we can do is speculate and guess.
In watching Michael Phelps swim both in a practice and in a meet I believe one of his strengths in his swimming compared to others is his turns and underwater breakouts before swimming to the surface. He is an absolute expert in Fly and IM events when I have seen him. And it doesn't matter if its a 200 IM or 400 IM. I will give you an example of this and I think most people here will remember the race I am talking about because I believe Michael Phelps had one of the best turns and breakouts that I have ever seen a swimmer do.
The race was the 400 IM at the 2002 Nationals in Fort Lauderdale. He was racing Eric Vendt, who was ahead of him going into the 350 turn and at that wall Micheal did a turn and his dolphin kick and breakout was tremendous. He was a body length behind going in and a body length ahead coming out of the breakout. He ended up out touching Vendt at the wall for the win for his first World Record in the 400 IM breaking the mark by Tom Dolan. In fact Eric Vendt broke the World Record also.
The point I am making in this is that everyone needs to find a correct balance between there underwater swimming and the straight surface swimming based on there ability and technique. Michael proved in this one race that it can be done in a 400 just as well as a 200. Now I know this was Long Course as opposed to Short Course but some swimmers can do this and not have oxgen deprivation and not be more fatigued. When they maximize there underwater swimming, there muscles don't fail to respond and they resurface swimming pretty fast to the finish. Also another race that comes to mind is the 200 Fly at last years Pan Pacific Championships in Canada. Micheal was behind those 2 Japanese swimmers and came up a body length ahead after the 150 turn.
