Times: Training Secrets of Swimmer Ryan Lochte

I'm in the pool every day. And every four years the Times rediscovers the sport of swimming, just in time for the Olympics.

Faster, Higher, Stronger
A Swimmer’s Different Strokes for Success
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

RYAN LOCHTE may be the best American male swimmer not named Michael. At the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens, he won a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley, losing only to that Michael (Phelps, of course).

He also earned a gold medal as part of the 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay in Athens. And at the 2007 World Championships last March, Lochte shattered the world record in the 200-meter backstroke on his way to capturing a gold medal, serving notice for what may come at the Beijing Olympics this summer.

Lochte (pronounced LOCK-tee) swims 3 to 5 miles most days, sometimes even twice a day. Few non-Olympic hopefuls could, or would want to, replicate that kind of distance. But other aspects of the 23-year-old Lochte’s training (such as his use of fins and buoys) and routines (his dryland exercises) can be adopted by recreational swimmers or athletes, and perhaps even by parent coaches facing a rough patch with their teenage protégés. ...