The token freestyler' talks shop（自由泳的长距离与短距离）

小臭贝

There are two disciplines within freestyle swimming: long distance and sprints. The longer races, such as the 1,500m and 800m, require a more hip-driven technique. Shorter events like the 100m call for more speed, so a shoulders-and-arms method is employed.

For a swimmer to master both of these vastly different techniques takes countless hours of work in the pool and a strong desire to be the best at both.

Enter Peter Vanderkaay.

The American swimmer, who cut his teeth in the freestyle distance events -- mainly the 1,500m, 400m, 200m and the 4x200m relay -- swims an interesting program. Last month at the Charlotte UltraSwim, he competed in six events: the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 1,500m freestyle, 400m medley relay, 400m freestyle relay and the 100m freestyle.

How does he manage to train for events that happen to fall at opposite ends of the spectrum?

“I started this weekend doing the 1,500 and I have a pace and a stroke for that,” said Vanderkaay, who sat down with Universal Sports for a few minutes in Charlotte. “Swimming the 100 is totally different and I kinda have to refocus and take a different approach to how I enter the race and leading up to it mentally. I’ve kinda transitioned to some of the more sprinting-type stuff to work on my speed and I’m still learning a lot about that.”

He came away with four gold medals and a silver medal at the UltraSwim -- not bad for a guy who started the weekend swimming the 15-lap marathon that is the 1,500m (it’s almost a mile), then moved to some middle-distance races before closing out the four-day meet with the 100m sprint.

Vanderkaay, who trains at the University of Michigan with the Wolverines’ new coach, Mike Bottom, said he’s been working hard at improving his sprinting technique. And he’s made some definite progress.

“On the distance side, it’s what Mike will call more hip-driven oriented. I use my hips to generate most of the power,” Vanderkaay explained, using his hands to demonstrate. “In the sprinting, it’s more shoulder-driven oriented. That’s kinda the main difference between the stroke changes.

“I pretty much mastered the hip-driven, shoulder-driven not so much. But I’m working on it, it’s exciting for me. I’ve been in the sport a long time and it’s always fun to work on new things.”

‘Right on track’
Vanderkaay’s career record is littered with gold medals. He is the owner of two Olympic titles, both in the 4x200m freestyle relay from 2004 and 2008 (the squad set world records both times). He’s got a pair of World Championships wins (2005, 2007) and a 2006 Pan Pacific Championships victory in the same event.

Also at the Beijing Games, the fantastic freestyler earned the 200m freestyle bronze medal. During the 2003 World University Games, Vanderkaay won the silver medal with the 4x200m freestyle team and the bronze medal in both the 800m and 1,500m freestyle.

And don’t forget countless other victories on the collegiate and junior circuits, plus a hefty pile of accolades.

Vanderkaay’s next big challenges are the U.S. Championships, which serve as the trials for the 2009 FINA World Championships. Both meets are in July.


“Training’s going well,” said Vanderkaay. “We’re coming off a pretty
hard training camp at altitude, I was pretty consistent there and I felt pretty good about the work that I was doing. And I’m pretty happy with how I swam here. I was tired, but ready to race. I had a couple season [best] times for me so I think I’m right on track and looking forward to
the rest of the summer.”

‘The token freestyler’
The other interesting side of Vanderkaay -- friends and other swimmers call him “PVK” -- is his family. His three brothers all swim and the three oldest of the group all attend or attended Michigan. Dane, the youngest of the poolside foursome, will be a freshman at Ann Arbor in the fall.

There’s Christian, 26; Alex, 22; and Dane, 19. Peter turned 25 in February. All four Vanderkaay brothers competed at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, something Peter said was very special.

“To have three brothers at Trials and to be able to share that moment with them, my parents and my family, was something special for us,” Peter noted. “Since then my older brother [Christian] moved on to deeper years of medical school. Alex and Dane, my two younger brothers, are here [in Charlotte], still swimming. We’re still kinda all hanging in there. It’s been a great ride for us, it really has.”

So, which brother would win in a 100m race?

“I think me because I am the token freestyler in the family,” Peter admitted. “Alex does more fly, my older brother does fly and breaststroke. Dane is six years younger than me so he can still take me down when his time comes. I have a little bit of size and experience on him right now [laughs].”

Vanderkaay swims six days a week at Michigan, normally taking Sundays off. He goes through about 10 two-hour workouts in that stretch. The number of meters he swims varies because of the wide spectrum of events on his docket, but he averages anywhere from 4,000-8,000 meters a day.

At 25, Vanderkaay is entering what normally is the tail end of a swimmer’s career. And he’s certainly accomplished a lot during his time in the water ... is there anything left in the tank for this distance/sprint specialist, i.e., the 2012 London Olympics?

“I’m definitely considering it, I haven’t committed to anything that far in the future,” he said. “It’s kinda year by year right now. I think if things keep going the way they’re going, maybe I’ll give it a shot.

“But who knows, maybe I’ll wake up someday and say I want to do something else with my life.”

Like going from the mile to a sprint.

自由泳这门学问中有两个学科：长距离泳和短距离泳。较长的距离，如1500米、800米，要求运动员有更强的臀部驱动技术。而较短的距离，如100米，要求更高的速度，那么就应该重视肩部和手臂并用的方式。

一个游泳运动员想要熟练掌握这两种截然不同的技术，必须花费大量时间在游泳池中训练，同时热切希望成为这两个领域中的强者。

搜索Peter Vanderkaay

美国游泳运动员，他的游泳生涯始于中长距自由泳比赛——主要是1500米、400米、200米和4X200米接力赛——而且感觉游泳十分有趣。上个月在夏洛特，他参加了6项比赛：200米自由泳、400米自由泳、1500米自由泳、400米混合自由泳接力、400米自由泳接力和100米自由泳。

他是如何训练自己完全适应这两种频率截然不同的比赛项目呢？

“我从这个周末开始联系1500米游泳，也琢磨出了速度和姿势”，Vanderkaay向在夏洛特采访的的环球体育简短的几分钟谈话中说道。“而100米游泳完全不同了，我似乎要重新集中注意力，用另外的方法感知速度，思想上也要转变过来。我有点向短距离游泳运动员转变的趋势，从中找到速度，关于这方面，我还在努力学习。”

在这次比赛中，他一共拿了4枚金牌和一枚银牌——对于一个从周末开始训练15圈的马拉松式1500米自由泳（几乎是一英里），在比赛结束前四天转而进行100米冲刺的训练的运动员来说，这已经相当不错了。

Vanderkaay在密歇根州大学由Wolverines的新教练Mike Bottom指导训练。他说他一直致力于强化短距离冲刺本领，而且也取得了很大进步。

“在长距离方面，正如Mike所说的要注意臀部的驱动。我用臀部来产生最大一部分的动力。”Mike Bottom一边说一边用手比划着。“而短距离冲刺的时候，要更注重肩膀的驱动。这大概是两者划水的最大区别。”

“我更擅长的是控制臀部的驱动，而肩膀的驱动欠佳。但我在努力练习这个方面，我觉得很棒。我游泳已经有很长一段时间了，学习新东西总是那么有意思。”

金牌遍布Vanderkaay的游泳生涯。他获得2004年和2008年奥林匹克4X200米自由泳接力赛的冠军（团队两次创下世界记录）。他是2005年和2007年的世界锦标赛冠军，还获得2006年泛太平洋锦标赛的胜利。

此外，在北京奥运会上，这位神奇的运动员赢得了200米自由泳铜牌。在2003年世界大学生运动会，Vanderkaay赢得了小组4X200米自由泳银牌和800米、1500米自由泳铜牌。

还有各种学院和初级巡回赛的胜利，再加上数不完的荣誉。

Vanderkaay的下一次挑战是美国锦标赛，这次比赛作为2009FINA世界锦标赛的选拔赛，两个比赛都在七月份进行。


“训练进展得很顺利，”Vanderkaay说，“我们目前在高海拔十分艰苦的训练营中练习，我在那感到很习惯了，对于正在进行的工作也感觉不错。在那里游泳我恨快乐。虽然很累，但我为比赛做好了充分准备。我为此训练了半年多，我感觉已经步入轨道了，也很期待这个夏末（的比赛）。”

另一件关于 Vanderkaay 的趣事是——朋友们和他的泳友们叫他“PVK”——他的家人。他有三个兄弟，他们四人中较长的三人都出席或出席过密歇根州的比赛，而最小的弟弟，戴恩，也是今年安阿伯秋季比赛的新人。

Christian,26岁,Alex,22岁,Dane,19岁,Peter(Vanderkaay),2月份满25岁——兄弟四人都参加了2008年美国奥林匹克选拔赛，其中Peter说了一些话非常有意思。

“在比赛中有三个兄弟和我竞争，能够与他们分享成功的那一刻，我的父母和我的家庭，对我们来说是十分重要的，”Peter说，“从那以后，我的哥哥（Christian）到医学院进修。我的两个弟弟Alex和Dane则留在这儿（夏洛特），继续游泳。我们依然坚持着，这是一段很不错的旅途。

那么，四人中谁会赢得100米比赛？

“我认为是我，因为我是家庭里出类拔萃的自由泳运动员，”Peter坦白说。“Alex多半是在游蝶泳，哥哥游蝶泳和仰泳，Dane比我小6岁，所以，时机到时他自然可以打败我。我也经历过他的年纪，有经验。（笑）”

Vanderkaay在密歇根每周游泳6天，通常星期天休息。每周进行约10次为时2小时的训练。而游程时时改变，因为赛事表上的比赛游程也是变化的，不过他每天总共游的距离变化在4000-8000米。

25岁的Vanderkaay开始走向他游泳生涯的终点。而他也在泳池中竭尽全力完成了许多梦想...对于这位长/短距离游泳专家,还有什么遗憾留在池水中吗?2012的奥林匹克运动会还会参加吗?

“我当然在考虑这件事，我从来没有为未来做过这么远的打算，”他说，“那貌似是年复一年。我觉得事情如果要发生早晚都会发生的。我想尝试一下。”

“但是，谁知道呢，或许某天我醒来对自己说，我想做点别的呢。”

就像一下从马拉松长跑转向冲刺。