Rich Abrahams- Atlanta

Hey Rich, I train with more focus and have more developed goals in the years that I age up. ... a great venue/facility definitely increases focus I agree with both. didn't know you went through a period "hard core mountain biking" Do you still mountain bike, if not why'd you stop? I think you do a great job with anaerobic conditioning. Many swimmers don't get how important this is or how to really do it right. You've been under the knife several times, how did you bounce back & rebuild your conditioning? "I find it very difficult to fully prepare physically and psychologically for SCY, LCM and SCM in the same year. Actually, I’ve never done it successfully but I’m going to try this year" I bet you'll do it great just take it one season at a time Rich I didn't see many mistakes in your Atlanta races. I knew I had the anaerobic conditioning to be aggressive on my first 50 in my 100 free. 100's are tricky you have to balance speed with effort and leave something for the 2nd 50. Have you ever tried a 100 where you split the first & 2nd 50's within 1.5 to 2.0 of each other? The only real surprise was my 50 back leading off a medley relay. ended up going a pr and new national record (27.74). hey rich congrats on your 50 bk, I totally missed watching that swim in all the mayhem. how many SDKs did you do on each length? that's interesting, "when I thought I was going very easy, I was going too hard (based on blood lactate and HR). This from the guy (me) who preaches that when masters swimmers swim slowly, they swim too fast. Perceived effort can be very misleading. Anyway, he convinced me that at least one day a week I had to go very easy and preferably non-stop. For me that was keeping my HR below 120 for around 30 minutes total swim time." That's surprising that your best effort was your 10th swim at the end of the third day. I was pretty done by that point How do you stretch your mid back? I think swimmers who have loose shoulders might have an advantage over tighter swimmers. Phelps seems to have very flexible shoulders. Re your question about predicting 20 years into the future when I was 45, I’m pretty sure I’d have been very skeptical about only going only .23 slower in the 50. During that period the things that really helped staying fast were better technique, smarter training, more consistent training, the new suits and having much younger training partners, especially for drylands. Oh, and a new supportive wife! Huge difference. All big factors, should I write a SFF tip about how to get one. My prediction for the impact of not having the long suits overall is that masters will be impacted way more than young swimmers, and the impact will be greater the older you are. We’ll have some answers soon. I'd agree with that, we will soon see What LCM meets are on your schedule? Got any SCM meets on your schedule too? do you ever test any of your strength bench marks? like # of pull ups or test your vertical jump? I'd be curious to see where you are. Do ever test your 25 & 50 kicking speed in practice? like flutter kicking with a board & SDK with out a board

Hey Rich, I train with more focus and have more developed goals in the years that I age up. ... a great venue/facility definitely increases focus I agree with both. didn't know you went through a period "hard core mountain biking" Do you still mountain bike, if not why'd you stop? I think you do a great job with anaerobic conditioning. Many swimmers don't get how important this is or how to really do it right. You've been under the knife several times, how did you bounce back & rebuild your conditioning? "I find it very difficult to fully prepare physically and psychologically for SCY, LCM and SCM in the same year. Actually, I’ve never done it successfully but I’m going to try this year" I bet you'll do it great just take it one season at a time Rich I didn't see many mistakes in your Atlanta races. I knew I had the anaerobic conditioning to be aggressive on my first 50 in my 100 free. 100's are tricky you have to balance speed with effort and leave something for the 2nd 50. Have you ever tried a 100 where you split the first & 2nd 50's within 1.5 to 2.0 of each other? The only real surprise was my 50 back leading off a medley relay. ended up going a pr and new national record (27.74). hey rich congrats on your 50 bk, I totally missed watching that swim in all the mayhem. how many SDKs did you do on each length? that's interesting, "when I thought I was going very easy, I was going too hard (based on blood lactate and HR). This from the guy (me) who preaches that when masters swimmers swim slowly, they swim too fast. Perceived effort can be very misleading. Anyway, he convinced me that at least one day a week I had to go very easy and preferably non-stop. For me that was keeping my HR below 120 for around 30 minutes total swim time." That's surprising that your best effort was your 10th swim at the end of the third day. I was pretty done by that point How do you stretch your mid back? I think swimmers who have loose shoulders might have an advantage over tighter swimmers. Phelps seems to have very flexible shoulders. Re your question about predicting 20 years into the future when I was 45, I’m pretty sure I’d have been very skeptical about only going only .23 slower in the 50. During that period the things that really helped staying fast were better technique, smarter training, more consistent training, the new suits and having much younger training partners, especially for drylands. Oh, and a new supportive wife! Huge difference. All big factors, should I write a SFF tip about how to get one. My prediction for the impact of not having the long suits overall is that masters will be impacted way more than young swimmers, and the impact will be greater the older you are. We’ll have some answers soon. I'd agree with that, we will soon see What LCM meets are on your schedule? Got any SCM meets on your schedule too? do you ever test any of your strength bench marks? like # of pull ups or test your vertical jump? I'd be curious to see where you are. Do ever test your 25 & 50 kicking speed in practice? like flutter kicking with a board & SDK with out a board