I was just reading this blog:chuckiev.blogspot.com/.../swimming-thoughts-galore.html
This guy claims that he never swam before in his life. At first it took him 36 minutes to swim 1500 meters. After only one year he could swim that in LESS than half the time.
After 17 years of swimming I can't swim 1500 meters in less than 18 minutes. Either I'm doing something wrong or that guy is full of.....
Is it possible to get that fast THAT FAST?
My gut feeling is this guy did make incredible improvements in his swimming in a short time, but he may be exaggerating a little, or maybe just not remembering his time from 20 years ago exactly. We can throw away the 48 minute 5K bit. Hopefully that part was a joke.
I wont say who, but an Olympian claimed he was going to swim an openwater 1500 in 13 minutes to a group of star-struck triathletes. Maybe he was planning on drafting, I hear you can get some amazing results from that strategy.
There are some OW events where this is theoretically possible for top swimmers, rivers and ocean with a serious current. But, I think this guy is full of it.
1500M in 18 min is just 1.x min over world record time. Some people are fast bloomers
Actually it is 4 minutes from the world record, which is a significant amount. I only frame that because a 15 minute 1500 (ie 1 minute off the WR) would be close to world class and I doubt that any non-swimmer could pull off that feat in one year. BUT clearly this guy has a ton of raw athletic / endurance talent and I am super-impressed with this achievement.
I also suspect that the 36 minute 1500 was not exactly a best effort. Kind of like the Biggest Loser: contestants pack on weight the week before the first weigh in.
okay not to pooh-pooh anyone but I do have one small problem:
This was in the blog: "So, JD, ready for some 5K TTs at Scott Carpenter Pool when I return to Boulder?! Give me 12 weeks and we'll get you down to 48-minutes!"
Not one single soul in the world can do 5,000M in 48 minutes. It is possible he was referring to a 5,000Y in which case I would say there are a few people who can do that but none of them are swimming Masters, much less triathlons.
Sub 19 would have easily been a top 10 swim in 1990 in the 1500M (when the swim feat was accomplished) Hmmm, I wish the top 10 went back that far so we could see exactly what this guy did.
Lefty-
I think in cycling and in running, 5K is either 2.7 or 3.2 miles. I can never remember. Definitely do-able in 48 minutes.
:twocents:
Read the article. It is very clear he is talking about a 5,000 swim (he mentions breaking it up into 10x 500's) The only question is meters or yards.
Based on other info he was born probably in 1969. He says he was 21 when he did that swim.
The guy is certainly a great athlete. He was 11th in the Hawaii Ironman in 1994 and won Ironman Canada one year. In Hawaii he was 15th coming out of the water with a time of 51:44. That's a pace of just over 20 minutes for 1500 meters.
ironman.com/.../1994.pdf
Yeah the dude has awesome credentials. He Q'd for Boston with a 112 Mile Bike as warmup.
I am having deja-vu.
The claim of the 5,000M swim in 48 minutes is...well... outrageously stupid. It is funny the things people claim when they think noone is listening. I wont say who, but an Olympian claimed he was going to swim an openwater 1500 in 13 minutes to a group of star-struck triathletes. Maybe he was planning on drafting, I hear you can get some amazing results from that strategy.
I wonder if push ups were his secret weapon. :bolt:
Maybe 100 x 100's on 1:10
:bolt::bolt::bolt:
(I promise this comment was for comedic reasons only!)
Oh and I don't know what GIYF means.
"Google is your friend." At least, that's what I found out when I googled it... :) And it seems to make sense in the context of the post.
