The Swimming GEEK.....tourist photos: Part one.

The image to the left is one that would evoke memories of some of the hardest, most specific, most successful training maybe ever accomplished for both athlete and coach. This is a statement that could evoke resentment from many of the collegues, countrymen, and athetes I have had the good fortune of working with on deck. The image was taken last year while I was a guest speaker in Australia. The pool: Miami Aquatic Center on the Gold Coast. The coach: Dennis Cottrell. The lane belonged to Grant Hackett. This is what he stared at for hours everyday as he trained for that 14:34 mile that we just can't seem to catch(yet). These were his tiles, his black line. The feeling I experienced when I asked Dennis what lane Hackett trained in was a that of a shy tourist asking for directions to the beach in Santa Barbara. He pointed to the lane as if is was a dumb question. The reason I grabbed this image was so I could look at it and remind myself that it is just another lane in another pool. You have to be told the story to appreciate the work that happenned in it. Even then I'm sure it doesn't have the impact on most people it does on me. I might remember more about Hackett's race stats than either he or his coach. In the Carvin-Mortimer-Jensen years in Mission Viejo, I studied Hackett's every move made in those races and tried to break them down and figure out what type of training he did to get to those times. Also during those years in the Mission Pool as Coach Rose's Assistant, I relentlessly studied Hackett's numbers not to mimic that swim but to help our guys see how that particular guy did it. The 1500's he did are still the World Standard. The way he put the parts of that race together has still not been matched by anyone. Again, look at that lane. It is similar to every other lane in every other pool. There was no magic happening in that lane. Just the work needed everyday to do something that would stand tall and not be touched even in the so far short lived era of the flotation and compression suits. Whether this blog angers you that is seems to be an homage to Grant Hackett, or it inspires you that a great swim can be built from any lane in any pool. Good. Now get to work and maybe some day a coaching geek will take a picture of your lane.