a Life less ordinary indeed!

mad m

A great read....Total dedication...

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/kieran-shannon/a-life-less-ordinary-193714.html

Ben D Bus

A really interesting article. The dedication is hard to fathom. It really dictates the whole of their lives. To be honest I didn't find it a happy read. In some ways it seems like a bit of a sad existence considering the sacrifices they have to make.

And as for Chris Bryan, the long distance swimmer - swimming up to 200k per week in training. 200K? In a week? I wonder what his swim log looks like for this year.

mad m

Only thing I found sad was that Ireland unlike China and USA has only a couple that might stand in for Grainne shoes if she got injuried, well maybe we might not have even that!!

Yeah 200k a week is unreal....But have you ever seen the pace of those Olympic 10k races...Unreal pace.

monkey9

Ben D Bus wrote: »

A really interesting article. The dedication is hard to fathom. It really dictates the whole of their lives. To be honest I didn't find it a happy read. In some ways it seems like a bit of a sad existence considering the sacrifices they have to make.

And as for Chris Bryan, the long distance swimmer - swimming up to 200k per week in training. 200K? In a week? I wonder what his swim log looks like for this year.

I'd have him barred from the swim log!!

Kevski

mad m wrote: »

Only thing I found sad was that Ireland unlike China and USA has only a couple that might stand in for Grainne shoes if she got injuried, well maybe we might not have even that!!

Yeah 200k a week is unreal....But have you ever seen the pace of those Olympic 10k races...Unreal pace.

Ireland has nobody to stand in! We've currently only got two swimmers qualified for the Olympics!

interested

Ben D Bus wrote: »

A really interesting article. ...To be honest I didn't find it a happy read. In some ways it seems like a bit of a sad existence considering the sacrifices they have to make.

+1
The collective will of this relatively small group to train at those volumes over long periods of time is a testament to them as athletes and their coach in motivating and challenging them.

re: sad existence
The majority of the people reading this article will probably come to a similar conclusion. IMHO the group themselves probably see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary with what they do week in week out and to them its far from sad. Everything becomes normal I guess, even 100+ km a week in a pool.

I wish every one of them every success this year and onwards. The discipline to work like this will stand to them.

swim2

Training paying off
Chris has just finished 3rd place in the Open water European Cup in Israel. Next up is the Olympic qualifying on 10th of June in Portugal. He needs to finish in the top 10 to qualify.