2009 Grand Prix

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

ande — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:18:16 GMT

there were some truly impressive swims, I enjoyed following the meet & really look forward to World Championship Trials It's 2 weeks away. Wonder what surprises are in store?

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

tjrpatt — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:04:25 GMT

In practice I am often guilty of this, since I am hellbent on maintaining the target stroke count (9 or less) no matter what. But preparing for competition I am very paranoid - when I do starts & sprints in warmups, I do backstroke sprint lengths all the way through the flip to verify that I know exactly where the wall is and that I'm turning at the right time. Every pool is supposed to be the same regarding flag distance/height, but none of them actually are, in my experience. Then in the races it is always an adventure, fearing the DQ that has yet to come... In warmup, I just do some practice turns to make to verify the flag to the wall stroke count right before the warmup ends. I have done that since forever.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

knelson — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:11:05 GMT

I think the wind might have thrown people off at Santa Clara. The wind can really make the flags bow out and swimmers in the middle of the pool probably found themselves farther from the wall on backstroke than they thought they'd be.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

Jim Clemmons — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:12:04 GMT

He also likes to get his blood taken, like two or three times after his races, all of them before, between, or after warmdowns (something I didn't notice about practically every other one of the swimmers). That was probably lactate testing to help determine how much warmdown was needed after his races. He and his coaches rely on it to help provide a more accurate indication for the length of time required. I heard that after the 400, they eventually gave up on his warmdown, and he got out, as his lactate level plateaued and wasn't coming down to normal/acceptable levels.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

That Guy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:42:44 GMT

In warmup, I just do some practice turns to make to verify the flag to the wall stroke count right before the warmup ends. I have done that since forever. Right, I do that prior to sprint lanes opening up, and then once sprint lanes are open, I do some backstroke sprint 25's at race pace to make sure I've got it right. Those sprints also ensure that my starts are good to go using what might be unfamiliar blocks. BTW, on backstroke starts, I follow Ande's awesome tip of holding my legs at a 90 degree angle. I don't know why it works, but I rip every entry so I'm just going to keep doing it... (thanks Ande :))

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

tjrpatt — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:39:38 GMT

Correct. (I used to swim there) Good to know. I think that there are two 50 meter pools that the city owns in PA(Eastern side). I think that Philly owns the Kelly Drive pool and the town of Ephrata runs a 50 meter pool as well. Other than that, every other long course(of lack there of) are private. But, these pools are no where near the caliber of the Santa Clara pool.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

knelson — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:00:35 GMT

Yeah, Santa Clara is such a small Club. A small club don't even have their own pool, let alone a 9 lane 50 Meter pool. Pretty sure the pool is owned by the city of Santa Clara, not SCSC.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

That Guy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:25:34 GMT

Did anyone see some of the swimmers with the long backstroke flipturn. Some of these guys are on their stomach for quite a while. Yes, it was one continuous motion but man, was it long. I saw Coventry do that. In practice I am often guilty of this, since I am hellbent on maintaining the target stroke count (9 or less) no matter what. But preparing for competition I am very paranoid - when I do starts & sprints in warmups, I do backstroke sprint lengths all the way through the flip to verify that I know exactly where the wall is and that I'm turning at the right time. Every pool is supposed to be the same regarding flag distance/height, but none of them actually are, in my experience. Then in the races it is always an adventure, fearing the DQ that has yet to come...

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

tjrpatt — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:24:30 GMT

I am so sick of Rowdy Gaines's suit analysis. Who the heck cares about what suit people are wearing. I can see what suits they are wearing. Did anyone see some of the swimmers with the long backstroke flipturn. Some of these guys are on their stomach for quite a while. Yes, it was one continuous motion but man, was it long. I saw Coventry do that.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

Former Member — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:05:07 GMT

Pretty sure the pool is owned by the city of Santa Clara, not SCSC. Correct. (I used to swim there)

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

Former Member — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:40:49 GMT

I was there. Saw him in prelims, saw him make the final time, saw him do the windmill arms and everything. He's amazing. He doesn't even look like he's going that fast. Just another day swimming for him. He also likes to get his blood taken, like two or three times after his races, all of them before, between, or after warmdowns (something I didn't notice about practically every other one of the swimmers). Another great race was the 200 free final, that came down between Ricky Berens and Brent Hayden. Fantastic race! Hayden led the way for the first 150, and then Berens completely crushed him with a tremendous underwater DK (and Hayden was pulling off a pretty long underwater himself!). The swimmers I'm housing (who train with Hayden at UBC) say he doesn't usually stay underwater very long, but I guess Berens was drawing him out. BTW, I'm confused about which thread I should use for Santa Clara stuff- there's another thread that's Santa Clara-specific, but this one is more generalized, but includes SC. :confused:

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

tjrpatt — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:39:12 GMT

Yeah, Santa Clara is such a small Club. A small club don't even have their own pool, let alone a 9 lane 50 Meter pool.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

Former Member — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:48:05 GMT

Another day, another round of prelims. We got to see 20 heats of 50 frees dive in the water one after the other in quick succession. One of the swimmers I'm housing was in the third heat but got out-touched to first place by a hundredth of a second. My other guy took second in the 200 backstroke. We went to Quiznos for lunch and none other than Ricky Berens walked in while we were eating. Once again, Phelps is the only person I see getting his blood taken. He had a banana in between.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

That Guy — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:31:26 GMT

No kidding. That is a beautifully split 200. Wish I could say I always do that, but alas I cannot. --mj p.s. Nice to meet you at T-hills! Thanks MJ! Nice to meet you too. I wish I could say I've ever swum a 200 fly like that, but 1:54 is faster than my lifetime best in yards...

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

knelson — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:38:28 GMT

Another great race was the 200 free final, that came down between Ricky Berens and Brent Hayden. Fantastic race! Hayden led the way for the first 150, and then Berens completely crushed him with a tremendous underwater DK Saw it on TV. Berens admitted afterward that his back foot completely slipped off the block on the start, so he had lots of ground to make up. That last turn was simply Phelpsesque. He obliterated Hayden just on that turn.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

swimmj — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:04:49 GMT

1 Phelps, Michael F 23 North Baltimore- 1:57.45 1:54.31M 25.67 54.55 (28.88) 1:24.52 (29.97) 1:54.31 (29.79) :applaud: No kidding. That is a beautifully split 200. Wish I could say I always do that, but alas I cannot. --mj p.s. Nice to meet you at T-hills!

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

That Guy — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:11:31 GMT

1 Phelps, Michael F 23 North Baltimore- 1:57.45 1:54.31M 25.67 54.55 (28.88) 1:24.52 (29.97) 1:54.31 (29.79) :applaud:

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

tjrpatt — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:52:04 GMT

It is a shame that Mary Descenza can't get things together during Olympic years. She always seems to do well during non-Olympics when history doesn't care about non-Olympic years.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

ande — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:46:43 GMT

some nice prelim swims 100 fr 1 Vollmer, Dana W 21 California Aquat 54.48 26.10 54.48 (28.38) 100 br 1 Spann, Scott W 21 Longhorn Aquatic 1:02.16 29.18 1:02.16 (32.98) nice swim 10 Lochte, Ryan S 24 Una UF-FL 1:04.49 29.76 1:04.49 (34.73) 40 Hesen, Benedict E 23 Indiana Universi 1:09.04 31.87 1:09.04 (37.17) 45 Staab, Austin K 20 Unattached-PC 1:09.47 31.76 1:09.47 (37.71) 67 Santos, Roque WCM-PC 1:12.49 34.17 1:12.49 (38.32) Event 6 Men 200 LC Meter Freestyle 1 Hayden, Brent 25 Ubc Dolphins 1:49.14 25.77 53.16 (27.39) 1:21.48 (28.32) 1:49.14 (27.66) 2 Berens, Richard C 21 Longhorn Aquatic 1:49.25 25.98 53.52 (27.54) 1:21.43 (27.91) 1:49.25 (27.82) 12 Walters, David W 21 Longhorn Aquatic 1:51.02 25.52 52.96 (27.44) 1:21.50 (28.54) 1:51.02 (29.52) 100 fly 1 Descenza, Mary E 24 Athens Bulldog S 58.94 27.91 58.94 (31.03) 2 Hersey, Kathleen E 19 UN-ST/Uni. of Te 59.07 28.30 59.07 (30.77) 2 Vollmer, Dana W 21 California Aquat 59.07 27.43 59.07 (31.64) 4 Breeden, Elaine S 20 Stanford Swimmin 59.72 28.30 59.72 (31.42) 200 fly 1 Phelps, Michael F 23 North Baltimore- 1:57.45 26.71 56.39 (29.68) 1:26.56 (30.17) 1:57.45 (30.89)

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

Former Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:44:49 GMT

Just got back from watching some of the 800 mens and 1500 womens. In the last 800 I saw, a guy from NBAC (Andrew Cosgarea?) made up a lot of ground in the last 100 to tie for second at 8:10.82 with some Korotkin dude from Florida. On the other side of the pool, one could see Bob Bowman shouting across the pool to Cosgarea in lane 7 and making the motion with his arms to kick faster. :) Oh, and you know who was standing right there next to Bowman, his nose stuck in his Blackberry.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

Former Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:03:15 GMT

This promises to be an interesting race: Event 16 Men 400 LC Meter Freestyle =============================================================================== Name Age Team =============================================================================== 1 Cochrane, Ryan 20 Island Swimming 3:44.85 2 Hurley, Robert 20 AUS 3:46.64 3 Phelps, Michael F 23 North Baltimore-MD 3:46.73 4 Klueh, Michael P 22 Longhorn Aquatic-ST 3:47.62 5 Fesenko, Sergiy 27 Indiana Universi-IN 3:47.75 6 Napoleon, Ryan 19 AUS 3:48.02 7 La Tourette, Chad E 20 Unattached-PC 3:48.59 8 Basson, Jean 21 Tucson Ford Deal-AZ 3:49.68 Our man Cochrane shaping up to be one of the distance greats... Im also looking forward to catching his 1500.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

ande — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:49:10 GMT

LIVE RESULTS 42nd Annual Santa Clara International Meet by SwimNetwork.com begins today

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

Former Member — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:52:43 GMT

I was at the swim center earlier and I saw him. None other than the man of the hour himself. Got to see Bob Bowman give NBAC an hour-long workout.

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

ande — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:09:21 GMT

Santa Clara Grand Prix is this weekend

RE: 2009 Grand Prix

Former Member — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:17:26 GMT

I will be there. Can't wait.