Adam Peaty became the first man to break 58 seconds for 100m breaststroke (LC) during the British Championships/ WC Trials this week (57.92).http://swimswam.com/race-video-watch-adam-peaty-break-world-record-in-100-meter-breaststroke/
It was while ago (1990 to be exact) when I watched another Brit: Adrian Moorhouse equal his own world record at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland. At the time the record was 1:01.49.
A couple of rule changes have allowed times to drop, and back then the suits were quite a bit smaller and less technical, but three seconds is an astonishing amount of time (5%).
Who would have ever thought that this was possible - Just a few years ago in Athens (2004), 1:01.36 made the Olympic finals, and gold was won by Japan's Kosuke Kitajima in 1:00.08. The world record at the time was 59.30 held by the silver medalist, Brendan Hansen.
The point of all of this is that in order to really get better, an athlete can't place limits on what they think they can achieve. This is true during training first. This is where we can make huge strides; aiming to beat PBs or swim times close to these repeatedly. We do this in 50m swims often and occasionally in one off swims over 100m. Where we can get MUCH better is when we swim large quantities of repeats and holding time. Remove the limits and watch your PBs tumble!
