Are SCM World Records Easier?

This woman has a SCM world record. Do you know who she is?

Before we begin- let me assure you all that I will resume posting in earnest in approximately two weeks. Why? Because the fall signing period will arrive and I will have my life back again. Until then, please feel free to do exactly what I'm doing and head on over to www.theswimmerscircle.com. Also, forgive them for their overly long URL. Today, I'm rousing myself up to post because of something I read there. Something that I disagree with.

A Brief Conversation About The Michael Phelps Video Game

Friend: "Turn on the TV."

Me: "Why?"

Friend: "Michael Phelps is on."

Me: "What's he doing?"

Friend: "Flailing his arms."

These Hands

Nothing has ever come easy for my girls.  Born more than 10 weeks prematurely they weighed 2lbs each when they were born.  They spent their first few months in the hospital;  tubes, needles, wires.  Monitors  incessantly beeping.  Sometimes the monitors became frenzied, a baby was crashing.  Doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists.  Hand washing, the smell of disinfectant.   All my girls have scars from their time in the NICU on their hands and feet.  Their physical tolerance from pain is unusual and I've been told it's due to the "programming" their little nervous systems endured from their first couple of months.  Sometimes I'm like, "seriously, that had to hurt."  It's made them tough.  Tough in many ways.

Gus Needs Help

Of course I do. That's not the issue.

What I really need are YOUR resources. I'm starting a column over at USA Swimming which follows the experiences of four Olympic Trials qualifiers. Please check out my "Open Letter to USA Swimming Members" here. 

Do you know anyone who's got a great story, and has also qualified for the Olympic Trials? GIVE ME THEIR NAMES. NUMBERS. EMAILS. AND A LIST OF THEIR PERSONAL FEARS.

Kidding about the fears. But the rest, please forward on to me. I've set up an email for this project -- Trials.Tribulations.2012[at]gmail.com. Any help or leads or pointing in the right direction would be of great benefit to me. Hopefully this can be a cool project. And if it's not, I will blame all of you. Personally.

Thanks for reading this. Now get back to work, people.

Headcases: Does Swim Training Make You Crazy?

If you've been involved with swimming, you probably know one or more swimmers that has been labeled a "headcase". It's possible that term hasn't been used, that they've been described as someone who crumbles under pressure at the end of the season, or doesn't race up to the potential of their training. Their coach might say "if only he/she could get out of his/her own way she would do well". I've been playing around with a theory regarding this for the last few weeks. I think, in many cases, describing a swimmer as a "headcase" belies a total misunderstanding of how they got that way. Let me explain