You are oh so wrong. Long course swimming sucks ass. The length of the pool you actually swim excludes the bit from the wall to the flag and the last yard or two before the flip turn. Call it seven yards. So a 50-meter pool is effectively 48 yards long vs. 18 for a real pool. Nearly 3 times as long!
Deep water is also good. Easier to start, easier to turn, no turbulence off the bottom. Once there's enough water to drown in, additional depth doesn't matter.
How can it so be set up once a week? Do they lengthen the pool and then shorten it again?
I like your math. But! The Zen! In long course (and I admit today was my first time swimming long course) you can swim rather than turn. (I might care about this less if I didn't go into oxygen debt every time I did a flip turn....)
How can it so be set up once a week?
One day a week the lanes are set lengthwise, the other days, crosswise.
The pool is 50 meters one way, 25 yards the other.
I guess this is the difference between swimmers and turners - I look at turns as an opportunity to give my legs and arms a rest for a few seconds.
50 meters isn't long. Across Lake Ontario is long. And loaded with lampreys, too.
Actually, I'm with Jake. I never realized how much of a rest you get in a turn until the first time I swam a long course.
What is this rest during turns business? Turns kill me. I must be breathing wrong again.
Here are some vacation packages you might enjoy, Jesus.
I used to do long distance swimming, but the lampreys and barnacles ended up making it just not worth it.
The lampreys were the main attraction for me.
What stroke? The turns happen in the same place each lap, so you can take a really big breath or two as you're coming up to them.
The crawl. Breathe...stroke stroke...flip...rock the dolphin kick...stroke, breathe--that's a long time without a breath!
the lampreys and barnacles ended up making it just not worth it
Weak, John.
9: 5k a day? That's half again as long as I've ever swum at once. No thanks.
That Lake Ontario swim is insane. I remember seeing something on TV ages ago about a teenager who did it, and there was a piece about it in the NYT around the same time. I wouldn't mind losing several pounds in a single day, but the sight of that girl freaking out, reaching down to grab the lamprey that had attached itself to her and hurling it across the water pretty much put me off wanting to immerse myself in the Great Lakes. Pool's fine for me.
14: How can a person write about swimming in the Amazon and fail to mention the candirú? (Wikipedia hit brought to you by Google search terms "amazon" and "urethra".)
14: I think that all swimmers should swim the Amazon at least once, and a film crew should be along to catch them being flensed by piranhas. Mmmmm. That's a movie I'd pay to see.
you're looking down (but not straight down!
Why not?
7: Can the lampreys still get to you if you're going fast enough? Stocking the pool might liven up the Olympics some.
Do lampreys really attack people? I've seen leeches 3-4" long up that way.
Whenever Sea Grant staff give public programs about lamprey, the question always comes up: will lamprey attack people? Doug Jensen responds:
"There's really no risk of sea lamprey attacking humans. The risk would almost be negligible for a sea lamprey to encounter a person and then for that sea lamprey to actually attach to someone that's out there swimming in Lake Superior.""Through the evolutionary process, sea lamprey have evolved to search for cold-blooded fish, not necessarily warm-blooded humans."
almost negligible
That's your key phrase right there. The one this swimmer plucked off looked about a foot long. Horrors, I tell you.
Perhaps the lamprey spokesman understands that the general public thinks of swimmers in any quantity as negligible, sort of like Elvis impersonators or coke whores.
Long course rocks.
1. 50 meter pool
2. 25 yard pool
3. 25 meter pools suck
Why not?
It tends to screw up most people's body alignment, and unless you've got a wicked good body roll, makes it harder to breathe without lifting your head, which also slows you down; if you watch the really good swimmers, most of them are looking at least 45% up from straight down.
"if you watch the really good swimmers, most of them are looking at least 45% up from straight down."
Sitting at the bottom of the pool watching the high school girls again, ogged?
Also, that's where lampreys nest.
Long course can be brutal on your shoulders. You have to get used to it. But, once you do, it is much better than short course.
Sitting at the bottom of the pool watching the high school girls again, ogged?
Thanks for keeping my spot warm, will.
Oh thanks John, now I have to spend the rest of the evening imagining this (audio of lampreys seething and squeaking)
26
Okay, that makes sense. I've been (mostly on breastroke) trying to balance the better streamlining of looking straight down with the difficulty from having to move your head more. The resistance to bending your neck upward when you go for air is suprisingly strong.
I can't be the only one who thinks of JFK every time they see the title of this post, can I?
Oh, sorry, breaststroke is different, and it sounds like you're doing it right. During your glide, you do want to be looking straight down, and when you come up, you really shouldn't be moving your head much, just bring up your torso and keep your head in roughly the same neutral position; in fact, in breaststroke, when you come out of the water, you should still be looking down-ish, rather than forward. Check out Brendan Hansen.
I think that all swimmers should swim the Amazon at least once, and a film crew should be along to catch them being flensed by piranhas
My dad (ichthyologist) has a nice little scar from one. Did field work in Peru a few times when I was a kid, and would pull all kinds of cool stuff in the seine like piranha and caiman. Was always chucking that kind of stuff out of the net without gloves, and a pirahna took a nice piece out of him about the size of a nickel right over the second knuckle on his thumb.
You long-course heathens disturb me. Next thing you know people will be claiming that the best events aren't the 400 freestyle relay, the 200 individual medley, and the 100 butterfly.
The 200 IM is unquestionably the best event, followed by the medley relay.
I may have residual college-dual-meet tendencies; the 400 free relay was always the last event and so frequently decided the outcome of the meet. But the medley relay is also a good one.
Oh, did you make an appointment for those fancy personal lessons?
I emailed her, but...guess what!...I haven't heard back. I tried the email address on her personal site, but I think I might have to go through official channels at USF.
Everyone knows that the best events are the following:
1. 400 im
2. 400 free (lc)
3. 200 free
4. 500 free
5. 200 fly
400 relays rock, but I cant sprint so I could only watch.
#1: Once there's enough water to drown in, additional depth doesn't matter.
Wrong. Additional depth = greater chance of sharks
What is the pool situation in Tokyo, Giijin?
1. 50 meter pool
2. 25 yard pool
3. 25 meter pools suck
I just remembered that the pool the Swede and I swam in most often was, bizarrely, 100 feet long. So all the "50s" she had me do were really 66.67s. Man, I miss the Swede.
If piranhas and lampreys were routinely involved, normal sensible people wouldn't despise boring swimming events the way they do now. There's be some zest.
43: They're all on top of hotels and full of Bill Murray being maudlin and elliptical.
What is the pool situation in Tokyo, Giijin?
They seem fairly hard to come by, although since I am not someone who swims regularly, I have not made any effort to seek them out. I think some of the ritzier health clubs have microscopic pools that you can access for exorbitant monthly fees. Or you can travel to the Tokyo outskirts and get a slightly larger and cheaper pool (as I did one time with a health nut whose idea of a good first date was swimming and yoga. Let me know if you want her number, Ogged!), for the price of a longer commute.
For basic fitness, I'm more of an eliptical-machine guy.
43: They're all on top of hotels and full of Bill Murray being maudlin and elliptical.
That's why I use an elliptical machine. Now I just need to find a maudlin machine, and I can start making bittersweet comedies.
I left out five-star hotel pools in #47 since there is no way a Tokyo resident is going to use one of those on a regular basis.
48:
I'd be happy to hang out with Seu Jorge.
idea of a good first date was swimming and yoga. Let me know if you want her number, Ogged!
Did she dump you because of your reprehensible political views? If so, I might be interested.
#51: See, that's why I try to help people. The expressions of gratitude.
The 200 free is a good one too, not least because you have both the sprinters and the distance swimmers doing the same race with different strategies, which results in exciting finishes.
40: did the email you send her talk about going to lunch and was it signed "the iranian guy"? that might explain the no-writing-back.
I'm thinking ogged's potential swim coach called the other Iranian guy at the pool and arranged lessons.
You're all very funny. Meanwhile, no swimming lesson stories for you. Maybe ever!
So I was at the pool today, and I asked a guy if I could share the lane with him, and he said "ok." And we swam. Then he left, then I left. Wow. What a day.
Dear Diary,
At least you will hear my swimming tales and guard my hopes and dreams.
Sigh.
Love,
ogged
They were honest questions, ogged. Go through channels at USF.
And did you circle swim, or straight swim?
We circle swam, for no discernible reason; but he only stayed for about five minutes after I got in, so it was mostly moot.
Tomorrow: Official channels!
DAMMIT I CAN'T WAIT THIS IS TOO EXCITING
(pees self)
How much for the movie rights? Does anyone have insights into bicycle racing? Specifically, how bad do you have to be before it's not worth trying?
I am going to PICK UP THE PHONE. And I think I'll DIAL. Woooo!
Are you serious about bike racing, Jake? I don't know if girl27 races, but she knows all about it.
What kind of bicycle racing? Are we talking crits, or are you looking for a velodrome?
Well. I bought a cyclocross bike because a) it's named after me, and b) a lot of my motorcycling is done on a bike that's a lot like a street-bike with off-road tendencies, so I was convinced of the basic soundness of the concept. The thought of a race that will only last half an hour is pretty appealing to this ex-sprinter. I've been riding to work (15 miles, probably 1200 feet of climbing, takes ~1 hr) a couple days a week.
Oh, and I have fun jumping off and throwing the bike on my shoulder and running down the stairs in the BART stations.
Oh, and I don't mind running at the back of the pack. That's what I did when I raced motorcycles - as long as there are going to be a couple of people my speed I can race with, that's all I need. But I don't know how slow the back of the pack is.
when I raced motorcycles
You should expect love notes from gswift now.
I was pretty bad at it. I mean, good enough that I could school non-racers at track days, but 215 lbs on a 250 smoker, a relatively complete lack of coordination, and a well-developed sense of self-preservation are all bad things for a motorcycle racer.
Well, enjoying running *down* the stairs has precisely zero relevance to cyclocross.
I'd say go for it anyway.
What years did you race? One of my cow-orkers raced F II and F III a few years back... wonder if you diced with him.
Not zero! Just not much. I'd run up the stairs but you have to get off the train last so there's always a big crowd. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.
You should expect love notes from gswift now.
For me bikes are appreciated from afar. I haven't touched one in at least 10 years. I didn't really ride that much. Mostly dirt. Rode streetbikes a bit, but never owned one of my own.
Streetbikes are just too fast, and way too fun. I intentionally never bought one because I knew it'd get me killed. A guy I work with is selling his Triumph Daytona for that very reason. H can't get on that thing without going 100+.
Ranking somewhere up among the worst feelings you can have is the realization that you are heading into a curve on a motorcycle with too much speed.
I am not a reckless daredevil, so I haven't had that feeling in its most extreme version, i.e., when you actually have too much speed (and/or not enough skill) to avoid a crash. But it's very easy to fall into the trap of going the same speed as the cars around you, while forgetting that cars can corner at faster speeds than motorcycles can.
while forgetting that cars can corner at faster speeds than motorcycles can
Really? I've found that high performance sport cars on roads that are either visibility limited or have reduced traction because of debris or rain can corner faster, but otherwise the skinniness and power-to-weight of the motorcycle lets you go much faster much easier on a bike.
Watching the gap open and close while following an E30 M3 and a Saab 9-5 Turbo up Page Mill Road was very instructive.
You can definitely accelerate faster in a straight line on a bike, because of the power-to-weight ratio as you say. But most cars have a lower center of gravity, spread out over a wider footprint, with four contact patches versus just two on a bike. Sure, you could out-corner a tall SUV or a Kia or something... but as for a decent sports car, well... here's the proof. I don't appreciate Clarkson's anti-bike bias, but he has a point.
I'd also add that it takes more skill to corner at a given speed on a bike than it does in a car. So even if the bike could handle the turn in theory, you might not be able to make it happen in practice.
That clip is on a race track, which is wide enough that the difference between the line a car can run and the line a bike can run is much smaller. On a road like this or this this, or this, assuming you stay in your lane, motorcycles can straighten out the turns enough to make up for their reduced traction.
Now, if there's someone flogging the hell out of their Porsche Carrera Turbo, you can get in trouble trying to keep up, but I don't generally think of that as "going the same speed as the cars around you."
76: IMX the skinny factor can allow the bike to take a better line in lots of cases.
The pucker power generated by having all the 80mph traffic stop in front of me while I was day-dreaming was awesome. I really didn't think I was going to be able to slow it (it = Honda 900F) down enough before hitting, and there was lots of time to think about it. The usual stuff happens so fast there's no time to worry about it, and the adrenal glands don't react that quickly either.
Wow, those are some sweet-looking roads.
I guess what I really meant to be talking about in #74 is not so much going as fast as the cars around you, as getting lulled into going at a speed you feel comfortable at in a straight line, and realizing it's too fast for the turn up ahead. Which is more dangerous the worse your skills are, and I'm not yet at the point where I'm scraping my knees on the asphalt.
Gallardo vs. Ducatti, with the Ducatti edging out a better time.
78: Love the last one. Reminds me of Alabama. Riding in L.A. isn't quite as much fun.
79: Hah yes. Look at the space between the cars! Luckily, the brakes and tires on new bikes are really quite amazing. Out of curiosity, do you ever fly? I was in a discussion yesterday about how few people are interested in only one of guns, motorcycles, and private airplanes.
PS: Try falling asleep on a motorcycle on the pennsylvania turnpike. Scariest thing I ever did. Only for half a second, but pulled off the side of the road and slept for two hours on a picnic table.
lulled into going at a speed you feel comfortable at in a straight line, and realizing it's too fast for the turn up ahead.
Did that once in high school. Didn't lay it down, but yeah, not fun.
83: Wanted to fly but never got around to it. I think it's all intensity-junkie stuff. Got to have a fix at intervals or depression sets in. Guns, bikes, planes, explosions, heavy exercise, etc. all work. Time for a nap.
81: Over an entire track, the winner in a bike vs. car challenge will be determined by several factors, most notably the proportion of straightaways to curves. More and longer straights = the bike wins.
Focusing on performance in an actual curve, not over a whole track, the car will win -- unless, as Jake notes, the bike can "straighten out" the turns so that it's not actually turning as much as the car is. But that just proves the point that a car can corner at higher speeds than a bike; the only way the bike wins is by cornering less.
80: You might want to try riding dirt. Good way to get used to the "oh shit I'm going to crash" feeling, thereby minimizing the odds of freaking out and actually crashing on the road.
Compare this car video and this bike video for an example of the "different line" thing.
I loved the dirt racing in On Any Sunday.
Oh, and I've had several people recommend dirt riding as the best way to develop riding skills. It's definitely on my list of things to do.
Should the guy steering the Gallardo really be letting his wrists cross like that? Looks off to me.
In particular in the hairpin at about 1:11-1:17
Or even better, bike video and car video, both of which have similar vehicles in the picture.
w/d: dunno? i remember learning the "shuffle-steer" technique, but on a tight hairpin maybe it's better just to let them cross? The dubbed in tire screeching over the "backing it in" shot of the bike is amusing, and leads me to believe that the video is edited to the point of unreality.
Also awesome is the driver pronouncing it "Gay-yardo".
Speaking of gay (NTTAWWT), my motorcycle group stopped off at a roadside farm during our ride yesterday to pick strawberries. All the other pickers were families with young children. We are the least badass biker gang ever.
We are the least badass biker gang ever.
Well, y'all could probably take these ones in a rumble.
I dunno, that lady in the back looks kinda mean.
In Taiwan I've seen more people than that on a scooter. I've also seen two guys on a scooter, with the guy behind holding a bare pane of glass about 2 feet square. Taiwan made me appreciate the nanny state a lot more.
