Dara Torres-Amazing

What I am much more interested in is the alternative hypothesis: if she isn't cheating, what is she doing DIFFERENTLY that could account for her performance? I do recall that one of Ande's tip's suggest we change SOMETHING to get different results. I doubt that spending less time in the pool (relative to collegiate standards) and spending more time on core strengthening and resistance training is all that unique among master's athletes. From reading the NYTimes article, its clear that her nearly constant use of massage therapists is very unique; who among us could afford TWO full time therapists? I have no idea if this can be the critical factor. I would actually disagree about masters athletes and how they train. I travel all over the US and train with dozens of teams each year and there is one single constant; the majority of competitive masters swimmers overtrain and focus to much time on volumne and not enough in quality race prep training.. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I hear "I'm trying to get into shape" or "I can't go to a meet until I get a base". What Dara is doing and teams like The Race Club as well as a few others in masters swimming is recognizing that time spent in the water should be high quality, race pace and a focus on perfect technique...aerobic base training is better attained thru things like spin classes. Chris Carmichael was recently interviewed and said the biggest mistake recreational athletes with limited time do is low level aerobic work...given limited time he recommends extremely high intensity practice....try telling that to the soccer mom/dad you see on the elliptical at the gym every morning with the level set at 5! Additionally the lack of attention to flexibility amongst our peers is staggering. Its funny that each year at nationals I talk to at least a half dozen swimmers who STARTED stretching the week before the meet and pulled something...even more get injured because they have done nothing in this area then attempt to go 100% effort in multiple events over multiple days and staring something. Starts is probably the most neglected thing....people wait to practice them the week before a meet rather than do them at every practice then STOP doing them a week before the meet to rest the legs. I would encourage everyone who is interested in competition to really change things up for one 5-6 month training cycle and see what happens. If you can overcome the mental side of reducing Additionally and trusting your training and REALLY resting you might be surprised at the results.

What I am much more interested in is the alternative hypothesis: if she isn't cheating, what is she doing DIFFERENTLY that could account for her performance? I do recall that one of Ande's tip's suggest we change SOMETHING to get different results. I doubt that spending less time in the pool (relative to collegiate standards) and spending more time on core strengthening and resistance training is all that unique among master's athletes. From reading the NYTimes article, its clear that her nearly constant use of massage therapists is very unique; who among us could afford TWO full time therapists? I have no idea if this can be the critical factor. I would actually disagree about masters athletes and how they train. I travel all over the US and train with dozens of teams each year and there is one single constant; the majority of competitive masters swimmers overtrain and focus to much time on volumne and not enough in quality race prep training.. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I hear "I'm trying to get into shape" or "I can't go to a meet until I get a base". What Dara is doing and teams like The Race Club as well as a few others in masters swimming is recognizing that time spent in the water should be high quality, race pace and a focus on perfect technique...aerobic base training is better attained thru things like spin classes. Chris Carmichael was recently interviewed and said the biggest mistake recreational athletes with limited time do is low level aerobic work...given limited time he recommends extremely high intensity practice....try telling that to the soccer mom/dad you see on the elliptical at the gym every morning with the level set at 5! Additionally the lack of attention to flexibility amongst our peers is staggering. Its funny that each year at nationals I talk to at least a half dozen swimmers who STARTED stretching the week before the meet and pulled something...even more get injured because they have done nothing in this area then attempt to go 100% effort in multiple events over multiple days and staring something. Starts is probably the most neglected thing....people wait to practice them the week before a meet rather than do them at every practice then STOP doing them a week before the meet to rest the legs. I would encourage everyone who is interested in competition to really change things up for one 5-6 month training cycle and see what happens. If you can overcome the mental side of reducing Additionally and trusting your training and REALLY resting you might be surprised at the results.