congratulations
I look forward to watching Chris' swims when I get home
it's good he's 43, that might mean I have one year of protection before he turns 45,
the 200 backs are some of the softest records in the
45 - 49 age group
SCY
050 Back Steve Wood 03-25-07 24.81
100 Back J Clay Britt 05-14-06 52.88
200 Back J Clay Britt 05-14-06 1:58.75
SCM
050 Back Clay Britt 12-03-06 27.24
100 Back Clay Britt 12-03-06 58.48
200 Back Frtiz Lehman 03-29-03 2:13.36
LCM
050 Back Steve Wood 08-13-07 28.60
100 Back Steve Wood 08-10-06 1:01.73
200 Back Fritz Lehman 08-17-03 2:19.07
ande
... is this the Chris Stevenson that used to swim age-group in the San Jose area in the 1970s? If so, I swam for Santa Cruz Aquatic Team at the same time...
Yep, it sure is. Geez, what a memory! I swam for a number of teams -- Morgan Hill, Sanata Clara, Golden Hills, San Jose Aquatics -- before we moved overseas when I was 12. I don't know why my parents kept changing clubs. A little while back Pablo Morales visited the NOVA pool in Richmond on a recruiting trip; I missed him but subsequently we traded emails and reminesced about the old days (we were age-groupers together on SCSC). I don't think I've seen him in person since NCAAs our senior year.
Philipp, I glad the roll feels good for you. It is probably most useful in the 200, it is hard to get a good turnover going with an exagerrated roll. When I swim against fast guys, my coach always tells me that -- comapred to them -- it look like I'm swimming a 200 even in the sprints.
Ande, fair warning: Eric Ericson (who was a 4-time backstroke all-american in college) was motivated by losing his records, he said he was going to try to put some out of reach before I aged up. He is 45. I don't know how much he is training or anything, but he still looks fit! But who knows, maybe he was blowing smoke. Awesome talent, though; when he was in his 30s he could still do 50+ 100 back even with almost no training.
Good luck to everyone in their swiming; Ande, I enjoy peeking in on your training log every now and then. My own coach is a big believer in race-pace training too. (We do lots of "test sets" like 5 x 200 on 7 minutes, where he records our times and charts our progression. Brutal.)
Chris
In addition to riling up Fritz's by calling his 200 back record soft Ande, you missed the fact it was one of the greatest 200 back races in Masters. It was at long course nationals at Rutgers. It was the only time I have seen 4 swimmers go under the World Record in the same heat. Not only were they all in the same heat, but each of them held the lead at some point in the race if I remember correctly.
To really appreciate the unique stroke that Chris has, one should watch him sprint freestyle. It just doesn't seem natural and it is confusing how he goes so fast looking like that.
Ande,
We do this set probably every 5-6 weeks (we have other test sets too). Last year I always did backstroke, I started out averaging 2:03 and got down to a 2:00 average by the end of the year. This year I resolved to do these sets fly. I've only done two so far; I missed the last set because I was tapering. I averaged 2:09 and then 2:07. I hope to get under 2:05 by summertime.
First time fly really really hurt. Read 'em and weep (I nearly was): 2:05, 2:05, 2:08, 2:12, 2:14. I haven't hurt that badly in 20 years; it is definitely bad news in a 200 fly
Chris
Is that SCY, or SCM??
If it's SCM, then you went really fast for the fly in work-out
Not bad for a young 43...
... is this the Chris Stevenson that used to swim age-group in the San Jose area in the 1970s? If so, I swam for Santa Cruz Aquatic Team at the same time...
congratulations
I look forward to watching Chris' swims when I get home
it's good he's 43, that might mean I have one year of protection before he turns 45,
the 200 backs are some of the softest records in the
45 - 49 age group
SCY
050 Back Steve Wood 03-25-07 24.81
100 Back J Clay Britt 05-14-06 52.88
200 Back J Clay Britt 05-14-06 1:58.75
SCM
050 Back Clay Britt 12-03-06 27.24
100 Back Clay Britt 12-03-06 58.48
200 Back Frtiz Lehman 03-29-03 2:13.36
LCM
050 Back Steve Wood 08-13-07 28.60
100 Back Steve Wood 08-10-06 1:01.73
200 Back Fritz Lehman 08-17-03 2:19.07
ande
I'll try not to be offended since two of them are mine.
Is that SCY, or SCM??
If it's SCM, then you went really fast for the fly in work-out
Not bad for a young 43...
Chuckle...SCY. (Averaging 2:00 in 200 SCM back would be quite a feat.)
That's why I'm doing the test sets fly this year, I've lost A LOT of fly endurance since the college days.
Any youtube vids of this? Is it loping like his backstroke?
Chris: Do you ever go to any of the Colonies Zones meets?
Uh, let's not forget Clay. He's a competitive type too!
Yes, he certainly is.
I missed Colonies this year -- I went to the Raleigh meet instead -- but I went the year before. I hadn't gone before, though many of my teammates had. For five years or so I didn't go to many swim meets, although I trained for fitness reasons. I spent much more time on the bike than in the water, though. But I guess I rediscovered my love of racing...I think I'm old enough now that I no longer mentally compare my times to what I did in college.
No Youtubes of the free, thank goodness. Mark is being too kind in describing my freestyle as fast. I can't sprint it very well, mostly keeping to middle distance events where I am adequate. It is loping but I definitely throw a fly kick in there somewhere. I don't think I use my legs very efficiently in the stroke, but you know...old dogs, new tricks, etc.
