In a million years Swimwatch was never intended to be a personal blog. We did this, we did that, or as Jane calls them, “we packed up the car to go to Waimarama” stories. Swimwatch had a purpose, to comment on issues affecting swimming. Occasionally we strayed into other sports, and if the injustice was serious, such as the ridiculous American Supreme Court’s abortion tyranny, we dabbled elsewhere.

But today we break new ground. I have a Waimarama story. Yesterday I tested positive for COVID. There they were two bright red lines on my RAT test. Bugger. Are there any other symptoms, you may be asking? Well, here are the full gory details.

·        I’m breathless and tired. Right now, that is the most significant and concerning symptom.

·        I have a cough, but no more that a very mild cold.

·        I have a runny nose, but also no more than a mild cold.

·        I’m going to the loo more often, but they say that’s a side effect of the five-day course of Paxlovid they have put me on. And just a thought for anyone still tearing into Jacinda on the subject of health reform. Consider this. Within half an hour of testing positive I was prescribed and taking Pfizer’s Paxlovid treatment. The cost of each course is $850.65. I got mine, without a cash register in sight. That alone is worth my vote next year.

And so, from someone who I’m told is “at risk of severe illness and are more likely to need hospital care due to underlying risks,” I will sign out of this in-depth medical report.

But, before I leave, I must congratulate sport’s journalist Mark Reason. He has published an opinion piece on the Stuff website that tears into Sam Cane, Ian Foster and the NZ Rugby Union. Reason identifies exactly where responsibility for the current mess needs to fall. The examples used by Reason are as shocking as they are relevant.

Without a doubt when things are at their worst, character is tested most. We are about to see, this week, whether New Zealand rugby deserves or is capable of doing well in next year’s World Cup. Deal with this like grown-ups and New Zealand has a chance. Blink and take the easy option and that trophy is headed somewhere else. My guess is France. Le jour de gloire est arrivé.  

This is a Swimwatch post that should never be written. But really, when Newshub publishes the nonsense that comes out of Justin Marshall someone has to say, “Hey, hold on a moment.”

Newshub must surely realise the guy was a terrific halfback. With Andrew Mehrtens and Robbie Deans around to tell him what to do and which way to play at the beginning of each half, Justin Marshall did just fine. But he is no Albert Einstein. I swear there is more compressed air between Marshall’s ears than in the balls he used to throw.

In his most recent brain deflategate Justin Marshall points the finger at NZ Rugby over its handling of Ian Foster. According to Marshall, “whatever process is needed should be behind closed doors – out of the eye of the public. If there’s any review needed that should be done internally.”

What a load of rubbish. The more fresh air the review receives the better the resulting decisions will be. What does NZ Rugby have to hide? Who is Justin Marshall trying to protect? The CEO of NZ Rugby’s press release acknowledging the poor results demonstrated the honesty needed and appreciated.   

Marshall goes on to expel more compressed air by saying he has, “some sympathy for Ian Foster… the COVID situation, the red-card situation in Dunedin, plus they’ve got some injuries to key players.”

Oh, dear God, here we go again. COVID caused the two-test loss. The only contribution COVID made to this series was to keep Foster away from the team’s preparation for the first test, a game the All Blacks won. And if Foster can’t coach his way around ONE red-card and an injured player he definitely should be away doing something else.

And then Marshall revealed this fact that only he knows, “I think they’re the top team in the world right now, Ireland.” Well, no not actually Justin. You see World Rugby publish lists on this sort of thing. Check it out, and you will see France is first, followed by Ireland, then South Africa and, in fourth place, New Zealand. If those rankings hold true New Zealand will lose the B final at next year’s World Cup. That’s where Justin Marshall’s thoughts are leading. I use the word thoughts in the very broadest meaning of that word. 

Marshall added that much of the blame needs to be directed towards the players. “At the end of the day, he’s (Foster) not out there dropping the ball. He’s not out there kicking the ball away, when they should be holding onto it.” I believe Marshall’s brain doesn’t go to the top floor. He may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. But I really, really do hate these guys who blame the players for this sort of mess. When Toni Jeffs swam slowly in the Barcelona Olympic Games that was down to me. When Alison struggled through one Track Series that was because of mistakes I had made. Sure, occasionally bad results can be because of errors by the players. But normally, and certainly in this case, the fault lies at the door of the coach. When Marshall shifts the blame for the loss onto the players, he does the NZ Rugby review no favours at all. That sort of compressed air got us into this mess. Hopefully a razor with brains will get us out.

And finally, Newshub reports this gem. “Marshall is adamant the current group has what’s needed to turn their fortunes around. “They’re a very good side and we have great depth. There were still signs in that test series, that the All Blacks can get back to the top of the world.” So, Justin Marshall is one of those guys who tears the players apart for, “dropping the ball and kicking the ball away” and then tries to fix it by calling the same players, “a very good side” capable of getting back to the “top of the world.” But then the inside of a football doesn’t know that 2+2 doesn’t equal 5.

New Zealand would be well advised to turn the volume down when Justin Marshall opens his mouth. The truth is 15 brilliant All Black players were beaten by an Irish team. Farrell can coach a team, so can Erasmus, so can Galthié, so can Jones, so can Rennie and so can Razor. Foster cannot. Justin Marshall does the players no favours by suggesting the current coaching staff has the potential to coach a world class team  by next year. Give Foster a hundred years with the world’s best players and he would have them running around wondering which end of the field to defend.

And finally, would someone keep Justin Marshall away from a microphone?   

Swimwatch was and is a blog primarily focused on the sport of swimming. However occasionally exceptional events occur in other sports and politics that should not pass without mention. Last night, one such seismic event occurred right above the fault-line that runs along the Wellington waterfront. For the first time in quarter of a century the All Blacks lost a home test series. Surely that qualifies as an “exceptional event” deserving our attention.

Two weeks ago, the following paragraph in Swimwatch recorded my concern about Ian Foster’s coaching.

“And then we have the All Black’s coach, Ian Foster. I don’t see it. I don’t feel it. I never have. The gift of coaching greatness is missing. He accepted the job of coaching a New Zealand foiling rocket ship and somehow has produced the Mary Celeste. Please excuse the mixed metaphors but his team of brilliant players run around the field like headless chickens – without direction, purpose or belief.”

I hate the expression, “I told you so.” It is so arrogant, so full of righteous indignation. The German word “schadenfreude” has a similar meaning but somehow sounds less pompous. Either way, Foster’s barren coaching skills were further revealed in the Wellington test. In Dunedin he may well have turned a foiling rocket ship into the Mary Celeste. In Wellington the Mary Celeste became the Titanic.

Fifteen brilliant players and their reserves lie lifeless on the ocean floor, in serious need of CPR. Silver Lakes has invested $200million dollars in a ship that hit an Irish iceberg and is going nowhere. Is Ian Foster capable of administering CPR? Is he capable of raising the black Titanic? Does he have the skills required to rescue Silver Lakes’ $200million? No, of course not. It’s a joke to think Foster could come close.

If it is that bad, I hear you say, what should the NZ Rugby Union do instead. Well, believe me I am no expert in coaching rugby but here is what my years of coaching are saying.

• Sack Foster and his coaching team.
• Replace Foster with Razor Robertson
• Employ Joe Schmidt as the Head Assistant Coach
• Pay both twice as much as Foster is paid. After all they have to rescue the mess Foster has left behind.
• Sack Sam Cain as All Blacks Captain
• Replace Cain with Sam Whitelock as captain. Ironically have you noticed that if you Google “All Black captain”, Google replies with “Sam Whitelock”. Even the world wide web is pointing the NZ Rugby Union in the right direction. And I doubt you could accuse Mr. Google of being a one-eyed Cantabrian.
• Always pick Richie Mo’unga as first choice number 10. Beauden Barrett is fine in the reserves but should never be selected ahead of Mo’unga.

That is it. Then I would leave Razor and Schmidt to sort out the mess Foster has left behind. Those two can deliver CPR. They can raise the black Titanic. They can make sense of Silver Lakes $200million investment. And I can put away my search for finding another way of saying, “I told you so.”

This is interesting.

Did you see the 2025 Wellington Junior Championships, being held in Nelson, are on the same weekend as the Comet Club dual meet with Enterprise? That will mean swimmers wanting to compete in both will need to scoff a steak and cheese pie and leave Gisborne on the 5.30am flight to Auckland to connect with a flight to Nelson, unless they drop both meets and the pie and go to Ashburton for the Chocolate Fish Carnival. On second thoughts, keep the pie and have the chocolate fish for dessert. That’s what Greg and Gary would have done.

Sadly, Ashburton clashes with the Washington State dual meet with Stanford. How are Stanford swimmers going to qualify for the Dargaville Up and Comers Meet and the NCAA Championships, when the trials were in Auckland the very next weekend, the year before? I don’t know how Andy didn’t see that.

Invercargill has a meet at their Olympic learn-to-swim pool (15m) two weekends later in 2027 – an ideal opportunity for Eyad, Chris and Chelsey to set New Zealand 15m records.

Also, Invercargill ties in well with the Commonwealth Games in Fiji on the same weekend. But Otaki swimmers wanting to swim the following weekend, a year later in 2028, in the Olympic Open Water swim in a newly created lagoon at Pitcairn Island will have to have qualified in the Kapiti Island to Paraparaumu Beach swim in 2021. If they missed that – bad luck. Blame Jon Winter – everybody else does.

They will also miss the gumboot throwing championships in Taihape, the Golden Shears in Masterton, and the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake in Gloucester, England (Steve Johns is favorite to win all three).

However, Swimming New Zealand has entered a junior team in the Delray Beach, Florida, Aqua Crest Club’s Grab-a-Time Invitational. This should work out well except Amanda has lost the tickets.

Never mind, they are transferable to the Final Battle Meet at the Northern Lights swim club in Anchorage, Alaska. Note to Graham Smith – get in early – sledge and dog teams are selling fast.

Gary Francis won’t be there – he is opening the new, naturally heated, high altitude training camp next to the Mount Ruapehu crater lake, featuring a crater lake 50m butterfly by the red-hot William Benson and on-the-boil, Hazel Ouwehand.

This new program and the lost tickets are all the work of Cloe Francis, who I’m told is in training to swim backstroke up the Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel to celebrate next year’s Matariki holiday. Is there anything Chloe can’t do? Not, it seems, from what I’ve read.

Best of all, don’t miss this occasion. It does conflict with the first round of the underwater netball finals at the Pitcairn Olympic Lagoon. But Sir Nick Tongue has modestly accepted a knighthood for services to marine life in the Owen Glenn aquarium.   

Thank you for explaining all this to me. Where would SNZ be without your knowledge, expertise and Shakespearian prose?

Now I think I need to lie down.  

Ironically, for someone who is a devout member of the aerobic training club, I have been fortunate enough to have helped more sprinters than middle- or long-distance swimmers.

Oh sure, there have been some good middle-distance and distance swimmers. For example, Jane Copland was an open New Zealand 100m and 200m breaststroke champion and open New Zealand SC 200m breaststroke record holder and an NCAA Division One finalist. Rhi Jeffrey was an Olympic 200m freestyle swimmer and Gold Medallist.  John Foster was a sub-4minute 400m swimmer, ranked 12^th in the USA. Jessica Marsden was a New Zealand open 800m medallist. Bridget Mahier was a silver medallist in the New Zealand 5k open water swim and Darcy La Fountain won the American Age Group 5k open water championship three times.

But the list of sprinters is longer.

Toni Jeffs – New Zealand 50m and 100m free open champion. Pan Pacific bronze medal and World SC Finals bronze medal. Broke 18 New Zealand open records.

Nichola Chellingworth – New Zealand open 50m fly champion. Set 24 New Zealand Age Group records. New Zealand representative.

Joe Scuba – Florida State 100m free champion. US National Championships, Mare Nostrum and World Cup finalist.

Andrew Meeder – Florida State schools 50m free champion

Jane Ip – New Zealand open 50m breaststroke champion

Ozzie Quevedo – masters (30-34year) 50 and 100m butterfly world record holder

Lindsay Meeder – Florida State schools 4x100m freestyle champion.

Eyad Massoud – World Refugee team 50m and 100m fly 2022 World Championships. Finalist 50m free open New Zealand Championships.

All those sprinters included a high percentage of aerobic swimming in their training. Their normal 6-month training cycle was divided into 10 weeks of aerobic swimming, 4 weeks of anaerobic swimming and 12 weeks of speed swimming and racing.

As you can see, about 40% of a sprinters training time is spent on aerobic conditioning – swimming up to 100k a week, doing weekly swims of 100x100m on 1.30, swimming sets of 2x3000m – all that sort of thing. Five of the sprinters named above swam 1000k in the 10-week aerobic period. I agree 1000k in 10 weeks is a long way to swim – from Auckland to Taupo four times.     

Of course, I have been asked a million times, “Why should someone who races for less than a minute spend 40% of their time swimming at a steady aerobic pace?”

There are several reasons. Let me explain.

First, it would be right to ask, “Does the long aerobic swimming work?” The list of good sprinters named earlier in this post suggests a yes answer. But when you add names like Alexander Popov, Michael Klim and Alain Bernard to that list of aerobically prepared sprinters, the answer of, yes aerobic swimming does work, seems to have merit.  

Second, the results of exhaustive academic study by Sir Peter Snell at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre confirm the benefit of aerobic exercise. In fact, Snell found that if aerobic exercise is continued for long enough (10 weeks of 100k for example) fast twitch muscle fibres will be called on to assist. Run or swim far enough and fast twitch sprinting muscle fibres will directly benefit from the training.

Third, at the recent World Swimming Championships in Budapest, High Performance Sport New Zealand provided a video analysis technician to film New Zealand swimmer’s races and provide a report on time, velocity, stroke count and stroke length. Eyad’s 50m races produced this shape of graph. Excuse my unsteady hand.

View post on imgur.com

The initial downward slope shows the drop in speed during and after the dive – out to 15m.

The second flat section shows Eyad held his velocity, turnover and stroke length between 15m and 35m.

The final slope down shows Eyad lost velocity, turnover and stroke length in the final 15m from 35m to the finish at 50m.

That shape of result is pretty consistent for every sprinter in the world. The trick to improving a 50m time is to

• Slow down less in phase one. Maintain more of the speed generated by the dive.
• Maintain a faster velocity through the middle of the race. Improve velocity, turnover and stroke length.
• Avoid the last 15m drop-off in velocity, turnover and stroke length. In other words, maintain the middle section numbers all the way to the finish.

There are three ways to address these three sprinting problems – technique, power and fitness.

Technique is most important in maintaining more of the speed generated by the dive. How can I kick better under the water? Can I improve my streamline? Is my transition smooth and does it lift me quickly up to full sprinting speed? Those features need to be drilled over and over and over again.

Power is most important in improving velocity, turnover and stroke length through the middle portion of the race. A good heavy gym weight program is essential. You will not get stronger by lifting puny weights. A sprinter’s life is too short to be small.  

Fitness is most important in avoiding the last 15m drop-off in velocity, turnover and stroke length. This is where the ten weeks of steady swimming are needed. The drop-off in the final 15m is hugely expensive. Ten weeks of swimming around the Waitakere Ranges will certainly reduce that cost.

And so that is why aerobic conditioning should be part of a good sprinter’s training. Of course, technique plays an important part in all three stages of the race. Of course, good power is required at the start, middle and end of the race. And of course, good fitness benefits the start, the middle and the finish. It is a balanced package. Aerobic fitness fits into that package as an important portion of a good sprinter’s training. If you are a sprinter, miss aerobic conditioning at your peril.