What a bunch of bunk. O.k., having competed in both sports, I can agree that running pounds your joints more, but it takes so much more time to be tops in swimming.
Isn't part of the big deal in getting a medal how hard one has had to work to get it? I suspect Phelps has put far more time into training than the track folks mentioned in this article. One thing I loved about the track season was how short the workouts were compared to swimming, and I competed in the one mile and two mile! The amount of time the folks spent training that specialized in running the 200 and 100 was a joke and it wasn't because those events beat you up.
Even if the body could recover to do a ton of running events, training for the 100, 200, 400, 800, the hurdles, the long jump, and the relays could never compare to the amount of time required to be tops in the events that Phelps swam. The lack of respect for swimming in Hersh and in the running community (as evidenced by the commentary that started the thread about Phelps and running) has got to go. There needs to be respect for hard work in addition to natural talent. Swimmers are awesome athletes that work hard to get where they are. That is why so many of them can kick the living you-know-what out of runners on triathlons. (For you triathletes in the SE - think Bruce Gennari.)
The risk of a false start on swimming relays is minimal? Right.
What a bunch of bunk. O.k., having competed in both sports, I can agree that running pounds your joints more, but it takes so much more time to be tops in swimming.
Isn't part of the big deal in getting a medal how hard one has had to work to get it? I suspect Phelps has put far more time into training than the track folks mentioned in this article. One thing I loved about the track season was how short the workouts were compared to swimming, and I competed in the one mile and two mile! The amount of time the folks spent training that specialized in running the 200 and 100 was a joke and it wasn't because those events beat you up.
Even if the body could recover to do a ton of running events, training for the 100, 200, 400, 800, the hurdles, the long jump, and the relays could never compare to the amount of time required to be tops in the events that Phelps swam. The lack of respect for swimming in Hersh and in the running community (as evidenced by the commentary that started the thread about Phelps and running) has got to go. There needs to be respect for hard work in addition to natural talent. Swimmers are awesome athletes that work hard to get where they are. That is why so many of them can kick the living you-know-what out of runners on triathlons. (For you triathletes in the SE - think Bruce Gennari.)
The risk of a false start on swimming relays is minimal? Right.
