the17thman

Michael Phelps in the UltraSwim from Universal Sports

Universal Sports and Swimnetwork.com to provide live broadcast of UltraSwim

I'm being lazy so here is a pr copy/paste job:

The Charlotte UltraSwim will be broadcast LIVE on the Universal Sports television network and webcast LIVE on Swimnetwork.com. Fans across the country will have the opportunity to see Olympians Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Christine Magnuson, Aaron Peirsol and Cullen Jones compete at the four-day meet May 14-17 in Charlotte, N.C.

The Charlotte UltraSwim will be the first long-course meet back in the water for U.S. Olympians and world-record holders Phelps and Jones. In advance to their finals coverage on Friday evening, Universal Sports will broadcast Phelps’ first race, the prelims of the 100m fly, the morning of May 15th LIVE on Universal Sports.

Universal Sports will air footage from the A, B and C finals Friday, May 15 through Sunday, May 17. Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines will provide color commentary for the broadcast and Steve Schlanger will handle the play-by-play duties. For a current list of TV markets that air Universal Sports, click here.

Swimnetwork.com will provide a LIVE online stream of the Universal Sports broadcast. In addition, Swimnetwork.com will also webcast the finals on Thursday, May 14 and the prelims from each day of competition. Swimnetwork.com will also feature on-demand footage of the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night finals as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with Olympic gold medalist Mel Stewart.

The competition will follow the traditional meet schedule of morning prelims and evening finals. The full competition schedule can be found online here. Finals begin at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday and at 6 p.m. ET, Friday through Sunday. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. ET, Friday through Sunday.

The Charlotte UltraSwim is the fifth stop in the six-meet USA Swimming Grand Prix Series, which awards the overall series winner a $20,000 grand prize. A leaderboard can be found online at www.usaswimming.org. The final stop in the Series will be the Santa Clara International Grand Prix in Santa Clara, Calif., June 11-14.

Eamon Sullivan Fights Back

Eamon Sullivan speaks with the Sydney Herald about his world record being smashed and how he is doing in his training.  You can read it all online LINK but here are a few snippets:

"There have been a few issues to do with this kind of training," he told The Sun-Herald. "But my coach [Grant Stoelwinder] and I have worked together to find a specific program that takes pressure off my shoulders and hips. I'm gaining the fitness I need in the pool outside. I don't think people realise the toll the constant repetition of swimming takes on the shoulders. It gets hard, they get fatigued.

His boxing trainer said it had been fun to introduce Sullivan to a world of pain. "He's being pushed," said Christian Marchegiani. "I try to relate his training to his swimming events, so we concentrate on short, sharp bursts of combinations which focus on his conditioning. I break up the boxing by incorporating body weight exercises which replicate his swim stroke, we do power throws with a medicine ball and sit-up rows for abdominal muscles.

Warm-up: Skipping, shadow boxing and stretches.

Exercises: His boxing training-specific exercises relate to his race events by concentrating on short, sharp bursts of combinations. All focus is on his anaerobic conditioning.

Reason: This allows Sullivan to focus on building power through his arms and upper body without all the power weightlifting training which can cause muscles to tighten excessively. He spends a lot of time swimming laps so he needs to be careful that there is not too much repetitiveness through his shoulders.

Aim: To also lose some body fat which will happen with the amount of anaerobic training he does through the boxing.

Natalie Coughlin’s Wedding PIctures

This past weekend Natalie Coughlin married her longtime boyfriend, Ethan, See more online source

PopEater - Dara Torres Talks Her Book, Michael Phelps and if She'll Be Back in 2012

Dara Torres chatted it up with Gossip Blog Popeater about her new book "Age Is Just A Number".  You can read the full interval at PopEater LINK but here a few snippets:

Will She Return for the 2012 Olympic Games in London? "I'm not sure yet. I'm taking it day by day. Mentally I know I can do it, physically I don't know how long my body can last. I just have to wait and see, but I am going to try for World Championships this summer."

Will female athletes ever rise to the same prominence that men athletes have? "I hope at some point it will get to that level, but right now it’s still not at the level and hopefully one day it will. We were lucky to have Title IX come into effect and have more equality in women's sports."

Has Title IX done enough? It's certainly set a standard and … if women's sports aren't at the same level as men's sports, there still needs to be stuff done."

The interview ended with a Michael Phelps question of course.  I sorta feel bad for every swimmer who is interviewed only to the the interviewer ask about Phelps.  I would be rolling my eyes if that was me.

Burnt Out & Maybe More Ink

Before I get to the headline of being burnt out I will talk about my day today.  I overslept for the 2nd day in a row.  I then decided that I wanted to try the Tuesday 6pm spin class at 24 Hour Fitness in WeHo so I figured I'd put off doing my weights to later in the day.  I got to the gym about 4:40.  Did ten minutes of warming up doing some cardio  The gym was so hot that I was already moist.  Then I went and started about 50 minutes of circuit weight training a quick bit of ab work before heading down a little early to the locker to get my water bottle befrore spin class.  The gym is a bit busy at this hour so I skipped around and altered my circuit training.  It's sorta funny how people at the gym seem to gravitate towards certain machines.  People tend to go for the chest and arm machines.  Leaving about 70% of the other gym areas empty.  I use that to my advantage on the busier days zipping from one empty machine to another. 

I then head to the spin area and am early by about 10 minutes.  The annoying guy is already there with his red towel on his bike.  I wonder if he even washes that towel. Then again I wonder what his deal is.  I will admit today he was a bit less annoying than his usual whoping it up.  As for the instructor he is now my 2nd favorite spin instructor at the West Hollywood 24 Hour Fitness.  I love Karla on Thursday nights but Trevor on Tuesday is pretty good.  Well at leastI love his music selection, well most of it.  A bit of Cake some Violent Femmes and They Might Be Giants.  He had some other typical gym music in between but overall it was pretty good.  Guessing that he was also gay by his mannerisms I so will be there every Tuesday.  He gave general feedback during the class so I liked it.  His two weakness' were that he seemed unsure of himself and had issues with the mic,  Sometimes his voice trailed off into the music.  Plus I do miss the one spin instructor that I loved at LA Fitness who got off her bike from time to time and would correct your mistakes in spinning.  I forget her name but seriously I still think of what she taught me during class. 

Now back to being burnt out.  After swimming a lap swim yesterday I may hit a few more lap swims and a few less coached workouts.  I swim faster at coaches workouts but I think I think more about my technique in lap swims.  I am also sorta burnt out about getting up at 5am to go swimming.  I just don't have 5am in me this week.  In the past I just worked it out and kept on going putting in bad swims for a week or two till i got out of my funk.  But I just can't do it right now.  Nationals are a week away and I'm 75% sure I am not going so I'm in a funk big time.  Today I was even thinking of taking this time to get that tattoo i've been putting off due to swimming.  I spent an hour or so today looking at tatts.  I want a big tatt on my chest that would not only cover my old tatt but would just be so huge.  Think Frederick Bousquet and his tatt that takes his chest and shoulder.  I like that look.  No tribal arm bands for me.  

So to wrap it up.  I am skipping tomorrow morning's workout and will do a lap swim.  Then by the weekend I will decide if I will go to Nationals or will I take a break for a new tattoo that I have wanted for the last 4 years.  Feel free to chime in with comments.  Oh as an added bonus if you comment I may reply to you about the dream I had about Rowdy Gaines.  It's sorta NC-17!!!

Lap Swim Workout It Is

I overslept this morning so I skipped the morning swim workouts.  Basically I woke up, felt beat up from the gym and swimming yesterday and just went back to sleep.  Since I have plans in a bit I decided I swim a lap swim workout instead of the 7pm workout.

Warmed Up
400 Swim
300 Pull
300 Kick (1000)

Then during the workout I had to share the lane at various times with people so I just swam a bit in between the other swimmers.

I did a 200 Pull fast in about a 2:20 then a 100 Pull fast in about a 1:05  I did a few easy 50's in between. (1300)

I then did 5x100's free kick on 1:50 and 5x100's free kick on 1:45.  Normally I hate kicking but I was kicking as fast as my lane mate was swimming so it made sense.  Plus I need to work on my kicking. (2300)

I think I then did a 150 pull / drill work. (2450)

300 Sprint Pull.   I was cranking pretty good.  I forgot what I did but I did it under 3:30 I think.  Ahh...i can't remember but I know I was doing under 1:10's when I look up to get my splits. (2750)

Then did a 100 the same way before doing 5x50's pull burnouts.  In that I sprint for a 25 and come easy back on 45 seconds.  By the 5th one the sprinting part is getting harder. (3100)

Then I warmed down a 100. Hmm...I think I left out a 200 IM.  So My workout was about 3400 yards.  Not bad on my own.  I really worked my kicking since normally I slack off during kick sets.  The last 5 of them on 1:45 I was coming in on 1:30.  I was huffing and puffing but I kept going.  Someday I'll be able to kick without feeling like crap.

MTD Yardage: 53,300
MTD LCM:  3,700

YTD Yardage: 232,700
YTD LCM 2,000

AQUAview: Alain Bernard's New Arena Suit

Alain Bernard wearing a prototype of the Arena X-Glide swimsuit.

Universal Sports Chats With Ryan Lochte

Universal Sports sat down with Ryan Lochte from an interview which you can read online LINK.  If you have read any interview with Lochte this year you can just skip it.  Pretty much it asks him the same questions about Beijing with the standard question of "Are You Friends With Michael Phelps?" and "What about Lezak's leg of the relay?"  Here are a few interesting snippets:

What does your normal diet consist of?

I don’t really focus on my nutrition. All I know is that I have to intake about 8,000-12,000 calories a day while training. So that means I am eating constantly. My nutritionist back at school said, ‘If you’re ever hungry during your day, something’s wrong.’

What is your weekly workout schedule?

I swim nine times a week -- Monday-Saturday, Sundays off. I swim about 30-35 hours a week, so it’s almost like a full-time job. But that’s including ... I do weight lifting three times a week for an hour and a half and I do dry land -- sit-ups, running, medicine ball passes, stuff like that. Anything for the core. I do that for an hour three times a week.

I usually swim about anywhere from 12,000-16,000 meters a day when I do doubles, when I do singles it’s about 6,000-7,000. It’s about 80,000 [meters] a week.

The interview was pretty lame plus I'm waiting for someone to interview his abs. Universal Sports actually has two great photo galleries along with this interview.  The first gallery is filed with pictures of him training LINK and the other is various older pictures of Lochte at non-swimwear wearing events LINK.  Heather at Universal Sports sent me this LINK to the Ryan Lochte page.

A Current Affair: Nick D'Arcy

Aussie swimmer Nick D'Arcy sat down with A Current Affair which I can't embed but you can watch online LINK.  The interview is in several clips and is mixed with A Current Affair's interview with Simon Cowley the swimmer D'Arcy had the drunken brawl with.    Here is a few snippets from the interview:

"Obviously there are going to be some parts of the public that aren't going to be very receptive to what I say," D'Arcy said.

"I'm trying to do the best I can to rebuild my image and I think this interview is a good way to move forward with that.

"If people don't believe I am sincere there is not a lot I can do about that unfortunately."

The interview goes into the most depth that I've seen so far on the brawl from both sides.  When watching the interview remember it is a Current Affair so it's a tabloid news show.