Elite IM Clinic

I went to the Elite IM swim clinic today, featuring Olympic gold and silver medalist (in the 200 fly) Tom Malchow. We had two practices, the first one was two hours long and the second one was an hour and a half. Overall we swam about 7500 meters (8200 yards). The locker room was huge (as was the rest of the building); it had a centrifigal suit dryer, six different colone dispensers and disposable combs. The only problem was that someone decided to put the locker room on a different floor from the pool... In between the two practcies, Tom gave an hour long talk, we had lunch, and then Alex Nikitin (one of the coaches) gave a talk about the technicalities of swimming IM. What I learned:

• You can use less energy proportionally by keeping up your speed for a whole length rather than slowing down (momentum keeps you going)
• A good back to breast turn can save you 4 tenths of a second
• In a fly or breast turn, you use less back and arm muscles if you have more momentum going in to the wall
• You should take several fast strokes off the wall to maintain your speed from your pushoff

Also, I got to have a private talk with Tom during lunch. He said he goes to the hospital right across the parking lot from our pool once a week for work!