Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Former Member — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:28:40 GMT

I feel a bit strange about all this recognition I hope you don't mind being a walking advertisement for Master's swimming and exercise in general. Like most billboards, you weren't given much choice, but you do the job well. Your swims at nationals were impressive but I think you have shown people what can be done and this is the big attention draw. Some of the older age groups might become a lot faster now that age isn't a good excuse for not swimming fast, and maybe someone half your age might be thinking they need to train a little harder because they are tried of being beaten by a 65 yo. And I am probably not the only one thinking this :)

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Former Member — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:21:44 GMT

Nine stroke cycles in 8.4 seconds on the second 25. That's a stroke rate of 64. Yikes.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Rich Abrahams — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 11:19:13 GMT

I like seeing a great grab start like that. Nothing fancy, just a straight dive like an arrow into the pool. Rich gained half a body length on the start alone. Rich: do you take any breaths on a 50, typically? Kirk, After our state meet in April I started training with my buddy Mark Johnston from the Swim Dogs team. As a high school coach he had access to their pool and several of us trained at noontime. He video taped my start, found some flaws (I took off with too much of an upward trajectory and went way too deep) that we were able to work on. All my starts at nationals were a significant improvement from my typical start where I feel like I'm wearing a parachute. SCY or SCM I never take a breath unless I've had to swim another event within 20 or so minutes prior. I try to slightly hyperventilate before the start. I'm really not conscious of even wanting to breath. LCM I'll typically take one breath at about 40 meters. If I don't breath that once, the need can become distracting. Rich

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

knelson — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:14:48 GMT

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Ahelee Sue Osborn — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:42:07 GMT

SCY or SCM I never take a breath unless I've had to swim another event within 20 or so minutes prior. I try to slightly hyperventilate before the start. I'm really not conscious of even wanting to breath. LCM I'll typically take one breath at about 40 meters. If I don't breath that once, the need can become distracting.Rich I like this advice. See a lot of sprinters way over breathe in races. I call it nervous breathing. They don't really need the air. Thanks for the nuggets Rich - great stuff!

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Rich Abrahams — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:21:58 GMT

Jeff, Thanks for the link. I feel a bit strange about all this recognition, especially when so many others rocked the pool in Atlanta, but I do think it is fantastic for masters swimming. I buddy with better tech skills than me posted my 50 and 100 free videos on youtube (links below) I do feel bad for Keefe Ludwig who was in lane 6 on both those races. He is a great swimmer but was feeling ill all weekend and wasn't able to do what he is capable of. YouTube- Rich Abrahams 65 years old 50 freestyle Atlanta 2010 YouTube- Rich Abrahams 65 years old 100 freestyle Atlanta 2010

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Jeff Commings — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:04:18 GMT

Our Rich Abrahams love fest continues at Swimming World: Read this.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Former Member — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:53:34 GMT

Working on pure speed is much easier. An example is 10-15 50's on 2:00 in groups of 5. Number 1, do a breakout and 6 all out strokes. Number 2, the same with 7 strokes. and progress so that number 5 is 10 strokes. Then repeat 2 more times. This really stimulates the nervous system and there is lots of technique to work on like keeping your face totally relaxed during numerous all out efforts. Fun set. I like to take things the other direction as well: start with a lot of strokes and decrease the number with each repeat, to maintain speed with increasing fatigue. Or do a pyramid.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

__steve__ — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:29:42 GMT

I recognize the clip of his 50 fly during the interview :D.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Former Member — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:30:08 GMT

Super cool interview with Rich about his Atlanta Nationls performances and his training- check out at SwimmingWorld.com Really? It came across that Peter Busch didn't know enough about swimming to ask Rich questions. I hope someone takes the time to do a real interview with Rich. It is super cool that Rich has been recognized by Swimming World. Well deserved.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Ahelee Sue Osborn — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:44:16 GMT

One of you guys should get together with Rich and interview him! Put it on YouTube and send it out to the media. Someone will pick it up because you know you're good - and Rich is great! Love that he is willing to share his ongoing training - and efforts toward transcending his past ...unbelievable successes.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Allen Stark — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:35:59 GMT

Rich was great,but it would have been nice if the interviewer had been more specific in asking about his workouts and meet preparation.Rich evidently had a plan from 1/1/09 getting ready for this meet and I'd have been interested to hear more about that.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Robert Strand — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:22:33 GMT

Well I agree with the interview but Rich was great. I am just glad Rich is getting the respect and publicity he deserves.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Chris Stevenson — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:07:01 GMT

I liked the interview, it was nice. I suppose I don't really expect such things to get too detailed & technical in that forum. Anyway, Rich has always been willing to explain his training here whenever he's been asked. I think it was also great that Rich's was the first master's performance that was ever labeled as a "performance of the week." All the accolades are well deserved.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Former Member — Mon, 31 May 2010 08:28:27 GMT

Really? It came across that Peter Busch didn't know enough about swimming to ask Rich questions. I apologize. That was immature. I was disappointed that Peter did not choose to go further in depth with Rich on the answers Rich provided during the interview. Swimming World's target audience is not me, and the Swimming World interviews are meant to be short. The interview was beneficial to USMS. The more exposed USAS athletes are to USMS, the better it will be for USMS in the long run.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

ande — Mon, 31 May 2010 08:13:59 GMT

here's the link www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../24243.asp Morning Swim Show, May 31, 2010: Rich Abrahams on His Record-Setting Performances at Masters Nationals

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Former Member — Mon, 31 May 2010 07:45:48 GMT

Speedo and I have done this set! :) I've done this set too and I 'm sure it's better with friends...I had breakthroughs and I believe that some of that "last 25" power that I needed was in part due to practicing that set.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

swimshark — Mon, 31 May 2010 06:46:31 GMT

As to drylands, I've also grown fond of your med ball game and med ball slamming. Though a partner would help! What other drylands do you recommend? Have you done or considered TRX? Fort, we'll have to get together again and do that med ball game again soon. Setting a goal - training for it from Jan 2009 - May 2010. This is so interesting to me as a coach and as a swimmer. As a coach, trying to even introduce this type or concept of specific "race effort training" to a group of masters swimmers who are mainly interested in 4,000 yards in an hour... pretty close to impossible. It constantly blows me away how much athletes love junk yardage training and unfortunately, GoTheDistance has only made things more troublesome in this area. This is something I have struggled with as a former junk yardage swimmer. My former team is so into this and it did wonders for my GTD. They are now up to 10,000 yards in 2 hours! My new team believes quality over quantity. I constantly have to remind myself that my times are getting faster with the new team and junk yardage isn't worth it. I like Rich's idea of the race effort training. We do this a lot (did it today in fact).

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Former Member — Mon, 31 May 2010 06:31:08 GMT

Rich: are you saying 15,000 meters of race effort per week or per month? I am pretty sure it is per day. Joking aside, Rich's goal means that the only swim that really counts is a 50 from the blocks sub 24, or from a push sub 26. If I did 15k of those efforts, I might look as good as he does too.

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Ahelee Sue Osborn — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:34:04 GMT

I apologize. That was immature. I was disappointed that Peter did not choose to go further in depth with Rich on the answers Rich provided during the interview. Swimming World's target audience is not me, and the Swimming World interviews are meant to be short. The interview was beneficial to USMS. The more exposed USAS athletes are to USMS, the better it will be for USMS in the long run. I thought Rich set up Peter for some more in-depth questioning as well, but I think you may be right about the time constraints. USMS has a great video crew now operating under Ben C. and the resource of SWIMMER Magazine as well. Hopefully they will spot the opportunity for a goldmine of training information. But jeez - how fun would it be to have our Forum favs ask the questions?

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Ahelee Sue Osborn — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:18:11 GMT

a goal of a minimum of 15,000 meters of race effort swimming between Jan. 2009 and nationals in May 2010. Now this is not hard swimming, but true race pace and it's much harder than it sounds. Actual competions were included in the yardage, but it also included lots of all out broken 100's. I did meet my goal and had a total 0f 17,000 meters of what I call "race effort" swims during that period. Setting a goal - training for it from Jan 2009 - May 2010. This is so interesting to me as a coach and as a swimmer. As a coach, trying to even introduce this type or concept of specific "race effort training" to a group of masters swimmers who are mainly interested in 4,000 yards in an hour... pretty close to impossible. It constantly blows me away how much athletes love junk yardage training and unfortunately, GoTheDistance has only made things more troublesome in this area. As a swimmer, trying to do this type of training alone. It involves an incredible amount of discipline and drive. I'm happy to hear that Rich has a few training mates to share the fun on some days. I wonder how their results went at Nationals? Those of you who have not seen Rich in person - the 30+ years of dry land work shows. He doesn't just look like a swimmer. He looks like a man who could take on most any challenge. That overall athleticism is another key word I heard in the interview. Congratulations Rich! I hope we have the chance to hear more from you. Sounds like we will soon :)

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

The Fortress — Mon, 31 May 2010 03:19:32 GMT

Now this is not hard swimming, but true race pace and it's much harder than it sounds. Actual competions were included in the yardage, but it also included lots of all out broken 100's. An example is 4 X broken 100 on the 10 minutes. You start with a 50 off the blocks @ all out race pace. On the :45 go an all out 25 (the watch starts when your head goes under) and then on the :30 go an all out 25 kick. I would alternate fly and free 100's. Speedo and I have done this set! :) Rich, How many x a week do you swim? How many days per week do you do true race pace efforts? Do you need recovery days in between? As to drylands, I've also grown fond of your med ball game and med ball slamming. Though a partner would help! What other drylands do you recommend? Have you done or considered TRX?

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Patrick W. Brundage — Mon, 31 May 2010 02:03:34 GMT

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Allen Stark — Mon, 31 May 2010 01:38:02 GMT

Alan, I did have a plan that I credit Eric Hochstein for inspiring in late 2008. I've always centered my training around racing (like you) but Eric inspired me to have a goal of a minimum of 15,000 meters of race effort swimming between Jan. 2009 and nationals in May 2010. Now this is not hard swimming, but true race pace and it's much harder than it sounds. Actual competions were included in the yardage, but it also included lots of all out broken 100's. An example is 4 X broken 100 on the 10 minutes. You start with a 50 off the blocks @ all out race pace. On the :45 go an all out 25 (the watch starts when your head goes under) and then on the :30 go an all out 25 kick. I would alternate fly and free 100's. I did meet my goal and had a total 0f 17,000 meters of what I call "race effort" swims during that period. Working on pure speed is much easier. An example is 10-15 50's on 2:00 in groups of 5. Number 1, do a breakout and 6 all out strokes. Number 2, the same with 7 strokes. and progress so that number 5 is 10 strokes. Then repeat 2 more times. This really stimulates the nervous system and there is lots of technique to work on like keeping your face totally relaxed during numerous all out efforts. Regarding the interview, my only real disappointment was not being given an opportunity to discuss the many positive aspects of masters swimming to a wider audience of swimmers. Rich Thank You!!!

RE: Rich Abrahams on Swimming World Morning show...

Rich Abrahams — Mon, 31 May 2010 01:02:20 GMT