How Do The Swimmers Keep Breaking These Records?

The Olympics are in full swing right now and Michael Phelps is tearing up the pool. The guy has already won his 5th gold medal. He will probably break Mark Spitz's record of 7 golds won. He has already broken the record for most career gold medals won, surpassing Carl Lewis and someone else (I can't remember, it could be Spitz).

All that is great. But here is the question I would like someone to answer for me. Why is it these swimmers continue to break records all the time? There isn't a record broken once or twice, but every big swim meet records are falling.

I'm a track guy and I equate running like swimming. Pushing your body to the extreme, trying to go as fast as you can just using your body as the engine. But in track you don't see records falling like you do in swimming.

Currently, there are 34 events in track and field for the Men that they keep records for. 2 were set this year (100M and 110M hurdles), 1 last year, and 4 others this decade.

Swimming on the other hand has short course and long course records. I'm not familiar with what those mean, but there are 20 long course events for the Men. Every one of the world records was set this decade with all but three of them coming since 2005.

So, why does that happen. People have been swimming for years. Do those slick suits really help them glide through the water that much faster? Does the training just evolve so rapidly that new and better training methods pop up once every 6 months?

Now, if the training just keeps getting better, than why is it I looked at a local swimming club's records for its 8-18 year olds and found only a handful of the records set this year. A few in 2007, but most were set earlier this decade and the late nineties.

Something doesn't compute. Are the national level swimming coaches that much more knowledgeable than everyone else that they can keep getting the best out of their athletes?

Or, is there some extra help, such as what we have seen in baseball and track (begins with an 's' and rhymes with air-roids)?

I honestly don't know the answer, but here is what I want you to do. If you have knowledge of swimming tactics, are a swimming coach, or know a swimming coach you could forward this to, please do. I would like to know the answer.

I've always wanted to know why these swimming records keep getting broken.