Russian world champ Vlad Morozov is giving fans an inside glimpse at his road to the 2016 Rio Olympics today, answering questions in an “AMA” interview on reddit.com.
An “AMA” is a reddit feature that stands for “Ask Me Anything.” Celebrities, athletes, politicians or even just regular people with interesting jobs or experiences will post a thread inviting reddit users to ask them anything. The results are often unpredictable and wide-ranging in topic, but do provide a more personal level of fan interaction than traditional Q&As.
You can find the full thread with Morozov’s AMA here.
The AMA appears to be ongoing as of publication time, so you can join in on the Q&A interaction by registering for a reddit account.
We’ve also pulled out some of the answers that may interest SwimSwam readers specifically, including Morozov’s thoughts on the limits of sprinting and USRPT training.
Q: How harsh was it growing up in Siberia?
A: I was a kid back then and didn’t know any better. You know the 90’s before computers and cell phones we could run around all day and explore. Do all the things kids did back then. I had a pretty good childhood and wouldn’t have it any other way.
The weather in the winter, of course, is harsh. In the ages 10-14 I’d wake up at 5 am to go to morning practice. Sometimes I’d have to literally crawl through the snow to make it to our tiny pool. If your eyelashes were still a bit wet after they would often freeze together when you blink. So in general you can’t be outside for more than 20 minutes. That’s about how far the pool was from my home.
My meal of the day was often two packs of ramen noodles with ketchup. Each cost 10 cents back then. Economical crisis was felt strongly for years after the Soviet Union fell apart. But I think I had it better than most.
As harsh as it could have been for a kid I remember all of it with a smile on my face now 🙂
Q: Is there a point in witch [sic] sprinters can’t physically pass? Or a time that cannot be broken?
A: I’m sure there is one, for example, you can’t go 50 meters under 10 seconds. World record is 20.9. That is of course exaggerated but there were numerous times in different sports we’d put such limits and those would be broken eventually. As we often say records are there to be broken. Maybe you’ve seen before that we used to swim in full body suits looking like super-heroes that enabled us to reduce drag, align body position and break nearly every record in the books. After the body suits were banned due to unnatural bolster of results – they were banned in 2008. People were saying that it would take decades to come close to those records but here we are not only coming close but breaking them already. Swimming is growing very rapidly and consistently. I can’t even imagine what kind of results will be posted in 20 years from now.
Q: Hi Vlad, I was wondering what you think of USRPT. A lot of people say there are similarities between it and Coach Salo’s practices but what are some differences that you think are important?
A: It’s hard to describe coach Salo’s practices and his theories but he is much more than USRPT. He is a genious, one of the best in the world. We do more USRPT closer to the mid-end of the season but before that we do a solid block of high HR/lactate repetitive sets with short rest. It’s the work that kills you and your speed but in the end produces the result imo.
Q: What is your view on supplements like pre-workout or caffeine before races? Also what is your fastest 50m free from a push?
A: I’m not very big into supplements, I try to get my nutrition naturally. Coffee on the other hand is something I can’t live without. Not a morning person for sure.
I believe it’s a 23 something in training, haven’t done that in awhile. Consistent 22’s off the blocks.
Q: Although your coach Dave Salo is a very highly regarded coach multiple of his swimmers such as Jessica Hardy, Ous Mellouli, Yulia Emifova (twice now) have failed drug tests. What is your response to this?
A: I wouldn’t like to talk about other athletes on the subject, it’s not mine to do. But I can assure you that Dave Salo has no connection to these incidents. One time I took creatine post weight workout in front of him and he completely flipped out. He said something along the lines that I don’t need it to be great. I believe and trust him.
some interesting insights. love to see swimmers be this honest with things.
Did not mean to put the question marks
Pretty big goal times ????
My theory with some of my goals is “aim high, score low”. Even if he is .5 off his goal time in his 10, and .25 off in his 50, that puts him in prime medal positions for both events
Would be nice if he actually came to a USC practice once in a while.
“My target times for this year are 21.1 and 47.0” 0.o well…