Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Kaitlyn Johnson - Celebrating the Olympic Opening Ceremonies used CrossFit to Train for Trials

Transcript

Kaitlyn Johnson - Celebrating the Olympic Opening Ceremonies used CrossFit to Train for Trials · Clydesdale Media Podcast

• 0:00
  I was born to kill it.
• 0:07
  I was meant to win.
• 0:08
  I am down and willing,
• 0:09
  so I will find a way.
• 0:11
  It took a minute,
• 0:11
  now it didn't happen right away.
• 0:13
  When they get hot in the kitchen,
• 0:15
  you decide to stay.
• 0:15
  That's how the winners made it.
• 0:17
  Stick a fork in the hay to
• 0:26
  What's going on, everybody?
• 0:28
  Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,
• 0:30
  where today it's a really
• 0:32
  special edition.
• 0:33
  It's something that is a
• 0:34
  little different than what
• 0:35
  we normally do.
• 0:36
  But I've been more nervous
• 0:39
  for this interview than I
• 0:41
  have been for a lot of the
• 0:43
  ones I've done.
• 0:45
  We have Caitlin Johnson with us today.
• 0:47
  Caitlin competed at the
• 0:57
  Um,
• 0:57
  and she's a CrossFitter and she uses
• 1:00
  CrossFit to train for
• 1:02
  swimming and we're going to
• 1:03
  get into all that.
• 1:05
  But as I was researching her,
• 1:08
  our worlds collide in a weird, weird way.
• 1:11
  And so we're going to dive
• 1:12
  into that a little bit.
• 1:14
  Um,
• 1:14
  and I have no idea where we're going
• 1:16
  with this show.
• 1:16
  We're just going to have a conversation,
• 1:18
  see where it goes and have
• 1:19
  a good time with it.
• 1:20
  So welcome Caitlin.
• 1:22
  Thank you.
• 1:24
  So let's start just with
• 1:26
  this year's Olympic trial.
• 1:27
  I went over for the opening
• 1:31
  weekend because it was only
• 1:33
  a two-hour drive.
• 1:34
  Yeah.
• 1:35
  My mom is an Olympic nut,
• 1:38
  and she supported me
• 1:39
  through my swimming career.
• 1:40
  So we went over for that,
• 1:41
  and what a cool atmosphere
• 1:44
  in a football stadium to
• 1:46
  have swimming trials.
• 1:47
  Yeah.
• 1:48
  Were you there?
• 1:48
  Did you get to go for finals as well,
• 1:50
  or did you just go for prelims?
• 1:51
  Both.
• 1:52
  Both.
• 1:52
  Yes.
• 1:53
  Finals was amazing.
• 1:55
  Like so cool.
• 1:57
  Yeah.
• 1:57
  Yeah.
• 1:58
  So they, they built what?
• 2:00
  Three pools?
• 2:02
  Yeah.
• 2:02
  Well,
• 2:03
  two of like the warmup pool had a
• 2:04
  short course and a long
• 2:05
  course course pool connected.
• 2:06
  So it was like two in one.
• 2:08
  So like one big one, the rate,
• 2:10
  like the competition pool and then two,
• 2:11
  yeah, two others that were connected.
• 2:13
  So one big one.
• 2:14
  And they built it on the
• 2:15
  floor of where the
• 2:17
  Indianapolis Colts play football.
• 2:20
  And I was the opening night.
• 2:21
  It was like 23,000 people.
• 2:24
  Yeah.
• 2:25
  It was crazy.
• 2:26
  Yeah.
• 2:26
  It was insane.
• 2:27
  Just like look around and
• 2:28
  see all those people.
• 2:29
  And that was the largest
• 2:32
  crowd to ever watch us with me.
• 2:34
  Yeah.
• 2:36
  Like bigger than even the
• 2:37
  Olympics themselves.
• 2:39
  Right.
• 2:39
  It broke the Olympic record in Rio.
• 2:41
  Right.
• 2:42
  Yeah.
• 2:43
  which was crazy.
• 2:44
  Yeah.
• 2:44
  That's crazy.
• 2:45
  But,
• 2:47
  but what was odd is you're going into
• 2:49
  a football stadium and it
• 2:50
  smells like a swimming pool.
• 2:54
  It brought back all those
• 2:55
  memories like immediately.
• 2:57
  Yeah.
• 2:59
  The smell of chlorine,
• 3:00
  like out of a swimmer's nose.
• 3:01
  Like maybe my parents say that,
• 3:02
  like my parents weren't swimmers,
• 3:04
  but like going to my swim
• 3:04
  meets all the time.
• 3:05
  They're like, takes me back.
• 3:08
  I think it took me 20 years
• 3:09
  to get rid of the green tint in my hair.
• 3:11
  Yeah,
• 3:12
  my mom used to have to it was like a
• 3:13
  secret.
• 3:14
  I don't know.
• 3:15
  It was like lemon juice,
• 3:16
  like crushed up Advil or
• 3:18
  something was like supposed
• 3:19
  to get it out.
• 3:19
  But I went through a lot of
• 3:20
  those treatments.
• 3:21
  Yeah.
• 3:23
  Back in my day,
• 3:24
  Speedo used to sell a swimmer shampoo.
• 3:28
  Yeah.
• 3:29
  It didn't make any difference.
• 3:31
  Yeah,
• 3:31
  I remember I'd go get a haircut or
• 3:32
  whatever, and my hair would be green,
• 3:34
  and the hairdresser would be like,
• 3:36
  you should try washing your
• 3:37
  hair before you get in the
• 3:38
  pool so it doesn't get saturated.
• 3:39
  I'm like, yeah, I'm not doing that.
• 3:41
  I go to the pool constantly.
• 3:43
  We're not doing that.
• 3:44
  Yeah, yeah.
• 3:47
  So it was a really cool...
• 3:53
  with the big jumbotron board
• 3:55
  all that stuff when you
• 3:56
  came out how did it feel as
• 3:58
  a swimmer like and it's run
• 4:00
  like like better than any
• 4:02
  competition I've seen live
• 4:03
  like so it's out this eats
• 4:07
  in like boom boom yeah
• 4:09
  they're very efficient how
• 4:12
  did what was that experience like for you
• 4:15
  I mean, so I went to trials in 2016.
• 4:16
  So like,
• 4:17
  obviously that was amazing as well.
• 4:19
  But just like you said,
• 4:20
  being in a football stadium
• 4:22
  was just like massive.
• 4:24
  Like it was just so big.
• 4:26
  And like you said,
• 4:27
  seeing like the huge jumbotron and like,
• 4:28
  I've been to plenty of like NFL games.
• 4:30
  So like,
• 4:32
  it was just like crazy to walk in there.
• 4:34
  Like the first time I walked,
• 4:35
  so I swam the very last day
• 4:36
  of the meet and the meet was like a 10,
• 4:38
  11 day meet.
• 4:40
  And so everybody had already
• 4:41
  been there and like taking their pictures,
• 4:42
  this and that.
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  So I get there,
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  I don't swim until Saturday.
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  So I got there Wednesday and
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  I went in between sessions
• 4:48
  to like go warm up.
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  And I was in the competition pool,
• 4:50
  like taking my pictures and stuff.
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  And one of the, um,
• 4:52
  like workers came over and he was like,
• 4:54
  are you going to take pictures?
• 4:55
  Are you going to get in and swim?
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  I was like,
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  I just got here and I'm in a
• 4:58
  football stadium and I'm
• 4:59
  going to take my pictures back off.
• 5:03
  This is awesome.
• 5:04
  So yeah, that's, it was insane.
• 5:07
  It was so cool.
• 5:08
  so I just pulled up your Instagram.
• 5:09
  This is so CrossFit and yet
• 5:14
  so swimming because you've got the big,
• 5:16
  the big swimming thing behind you,
• 5:17
  but you're doing the
• 5:18
  CrossFit handstand to get
• 5:20
  your picture outside of
• 5:21
  Lucasville stadium.
• 5:23
  Yeah.
• 5:23
  My friends were real troopers.
• 5:25
  I was like, guys,
• 5:25
  I need to take this picture.
• 5:27
  Like where was here?
• 5:27
  We got to get the perfect picture here.
• 5:29
  So I had like three friends,
• 5:30
  like take all kinds of
• 5:31
  pictures trying to get the
• 5:32
  best one for me.
• 5:33
  So got all the angles.
• 5:35
  Yeah.
• 5:37
  Um,
• 5:38
  So yeah, that's really cool.
• 5:39
  And then let's get into your
• 5:42
  swimming career so people
• 5:43
  know how good you were.
• 5:46
  I don't know about that, but thank you.
• 5:49
  So first, you grew up in Uniontown,
• 5:52
  Pennsylvania.
• 5:53
  Yes.
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  Which, for people who don't know,
• 5:56
  is just south of Pittsburgh.
• 5:57
  Yep, about an hour south.
• 5:59
  Yeah.
• 6:01
  And it's funny because my
• 6:01
  daughter lives in Pittsburgh right now.
• 6:03
  So,
• 6:04
  so we drive 70 over to Washington and
• 6:07
  then up into Pittsburgh.
• 6:09
  So we're what, like 15,
• 6:11
  20 minutes North of
• 6:12
  Uniontown when we're doing that.
• 6:14
  Yeah.
• 6:14
  Not too far.
• 6:17
  And then you went to Clarion
• 6:19
  University to swim, which is wild.
• 6:23
  And just for the audience to know,
• 6:26
  that is where I went.
• 6:28
  I grew up in Oil City, Pennsylvania.
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  Okay, Oil City, yeah.
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  And when I was coming up swimming,
• 6:35
  my parents paid for me to
• 6:37
  get private lessons.
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  And I would go to swim camps
• 6:40
  at Clarion University.
• 6:43
  So my first counselor was Mark Van Dyke.
• 6:46
  Oh my goodness.
• 6:47
  It gets even better.
• 6:48
  I cannot believe this.
• 6:49
  Yeah.
• 6:50
  Yeah.
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  He was my first camp counselor.
• 6:52
  I'm going to have to call
• 6:54
  them after this and be like,
• 6:55
  listen to this.
• 6:57
  And then,
• 6:58
  and the first year I went to swim camp,
• 7:01
  I went from like,
• 7:04
  below average swimmer to like really good.
• 7:07
  That's how good the coaching
• 7:08
  was at Clarion back in the day.
• 7:11
  And then, um,
• 7:12
  so then my mom and dad hired Bill Miller,
• 7:14
  who was the head coach of
• 7:15
  Clarion at the time and to
• 7:18
  be my private coach.
• 7:21
  And I would go over every
• 7:22
  Wednesday night and just
• 7:25
  work on technique,
• 7:26
  work on pacing with Coach
• 7:29
  Miller throughout my career,
• 7:31
  all the way until I
• 7:32
  graduated high school.
• 7:35
  The most disappointing thing
• 7:36
  for me is I wanted to swim
• 7:38
  for Clarion so bad.
• 7:41
  And Coach Miller said, sorry,
• 7:42
  you're not good enough to
• 7:43
  swim on my team.
• 7:45
  They were really good back then.
• 7:47
  They were really good.
• 7:49
  Now,
• 7:49
  I was recruited by West Virginia where
• 7:51
  you end up.
• 7:52
  No way.
• 7:53
  I walked on at Ohio State.
• 7:55
  Okay.
• 7:56
  I couldn't make Clarion's team.
• 7:58
  That's so funny.
• 8:00
  Which is insane.
• 8:04
  So you went there.
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  Yes.
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  And I used to coach those swim camps.
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  What's that?
• 8:10
  I said I used to stay over
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  the summer and coach those
• 8:12
  swim camps that you used to go to.
• 8:14
  Yeah.
• 8:15
  Yeah, back when I went,
• 8:17
  the dorms were so bad.
• 8:19
  They weren't much better when I was there.
• 8:21
  I think they were the same ones.
• 8:23
  They didn't get new ones
• 8:24
  until after I left.
• 8:28
  It's unrecognizable when I go back now.
• 8:30
  I know.
• 8:32
  I don't even recognize...
• 8:33
  Because my wife is from the Clarion area.
• 8:35
  Okay.
• 8:37
  And so we're back there periodically.
• 8:39
  So you go there.
• 8:41
  And how good were they then?
• 8:42
  Because...
• 8:45
  You did amazing things there.
• 8:47
  I did.
• 8:47
  So Uniontown, like what growing up, I mean,
• 8:51
  I joined the swim team when I was four.
• 8:53
  And so I was like an eight
• 8:54
  and under forever.
• 8:56
  And so like we had talent,
• 8:58
  like there were always,
• 8:59
  always like older kids that
• 9:01
  were good at like
• 9:02
  I trained with that were better than me.
• 9:03
  So, um,
• 9:04
  but it wasn't like a big swimming area.
• 9:06
  Like I didn't go,
• 9:07
  my high school wasn't like
• 9:08
  super into swimming.
• 9:09
  I didn't, I swam YMCA growing up,
• 9:11
  which like, isn't the same,
• 9:12
  like quite as intense as
• 9:14
  like USA swimming, like club swimming.
• 9:16
  So, um, I feel like.
• 9:19
  I was good in high school.
• 9:21
  Like I went to States and stuff like that,
• 9:22
  like placed at States and everything.
• 9:24
  But I, there, I,
• 9:26
  that was just kind of like on my own,
• 9:28
  like hard work.
• 9:29
  Like I never really had
• 9:31
  anybody that pushed me or like,
• 9:32
  I didn't really know what I
• 9:33
  was doing at that point.
• 9:35
  Um, so when I went to Clarion,
• 9:36
  like I like dropped my freshman year,
• 9:38
  like I dropped so much time
• 9:39
  and like from my freshman year,
• 9:41
  like my times in high school.
• 9:42
  So by the time I graduated as a senior,
• 9:44
  um,
• 9:45
  Like it was a huge difference.
• 9:46
  Like I think I dropped like
• 9:47
  10 seconds in my 200 freestyle.
• 9:48
  Like that's insane.
• 9:50
  It was like four seconds in my hundred fly,
• 9:52
  like a second and a half or
• 9:54
  something like that in my 50 free,
• 9:55
  which is a ton of time in a 50.
• 9:58
  So yeah,
• 9:59
  I got a lot better under Mark Van
• 10:01
  Dyke's coaching since I
• 10:03
  actually had a coach that like,
• 10:04
  that was like the first
• 10:04
  time I'd ever trained.
• 10:05
  Like a lot of people like
• 10:06
  are training in high school
• 10:08
  and they go to college or
• 10:08
  like burn out at that point.
• 10:10
  But I had just started
• 10:12
  training in college and I
• 10:13
  learned so much and like
• 10:15
  was actually pushed and coached.
• 10:16
  And so I got a lot better in college.
• 10:21
  So just some numbers so
• 10:22
  people know is you are a 28
• 10:24
  time All-American at Clarion.
• 10:26
  Yes.
• 10:27
  Which is the maximum amount
• 10:28
  you can be because you can
• 10:30
  only be All-American in
• 10:31
  seven events a year.
• 10:34
  That's right.
• 10:34
  You can only be in seven
• 10:35
  events at Nationals.
• 10:36
  Yeah, times four, that's 28.
• 10:39
  So you did it.
• 10:41
  So you improved quickly in
• 10:43
  your freshman year.
• 10:44
  I did, yeah.
• 10:45
  So I like walked on and I
• 10:48
  got a scholarship.
• 10:48
  But as soon as I got there,
• 10:49
  like most people,
• 10:50
  I would have to work their
• 10:51
  way onto relays.
• 10:52
  But I can't remember what
• 10:54
  the situation was if
• 10:55
  somebody had graduated,
• 10:55
  but I was able to like walk
• 10:57
  right into those relays and
• 10:58
  take that spot.
• 11:00
  So from the beginning, I was like in it.
• 11:03
  So yeah.
• 11:05
  Yeah.
• 11:06
  And you ended up breaking
• 11:07
  four individual records and
• 11:09
  five relay records?
• 11:11
  That's right.
• 11:14
  50, 100, 200, 100 fly.
• 11:16
  Yeah, that's right.
• 11:19
  And that was my next.
• 11:20
  So you did the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle,
• 11:21
  200 freestyle and the 100 fly.
• 11:24
  Yes.
• 11:27
  I think I did.
• 11:28
  I had never swam the 200 fly
• 11:30
  at that point in college.
• 11:31
  So I think I swam the 200 fly maybe four.
• 11:33
  four times in college so
• 11:37
  yeah I growing up and it's
• 11:40
  it's weird you talk about
• 11:41
  why because that's where I
• 11:42
  got my start too uh was why
• 11:44
  swimming and and why was
• 11:46
  much bigger in pennsylvania
• 11:47
  than like it is here in
• 11:48
  ohio or other certain areas
• 11:51
  like ymca's or like usa
• 11:53
  swimming is like huge in
• 11:54
  ohio but yeah it was more
• 11:56
  so ymca where we're from I feel like
• 12:00
  Yeah.
• 12:01
  When I was growing up,
• 12:01
  there was a divide between
• 12:03
  us swimming and another organization.
• 12:05
  And basically you had to pick one.
• 12:07
  And once you pick that, you couldn't.
• 12:10
  Yeah.
• 12:10
  Cause you couldn't swim for three teams.
• 12:11
  Like you couldn't swim high school,
• 12:12
  USA swimming and YMCA swimming.
• 12:14
  Like you only swim for two.
• 12:16
  Yeah.
• 12:17
  Yeah.
• 12:18
  I think there was another
• 12:18
  organization when I was a
• 12:20
  kid that no longer exists.
• 12:22
  Oh really?
• 12:22
  Yeah.
• 12:24
  I, I, I can't even remember.
• 12:27
  But yeah, it's been, my gosh, I'm 54 now.
• 12:31
  So it's been a long time.
• 12:33
  Yeah.
• 12:35
  So I swam 100 fly.
• 12:38
  I swam 200, 500.
• 12:39
  So we're close, but not the same.
• 12:46
  And then later in my high school career,
• 12:48
  I went to IM.
• 12:49
  Okay.
• 12:52
  With a really, really bad breaststroke.
• 12:54
  Same.
• 12:55
  Can relate to that.
• 12:56
  Yeah.
• 12:58
  Uh,
• 12:59
  and so did you stuck with those pretty
• 13:01
  much throughout?
• 13:02
  Um, yeah.
• 13:04
  So after college, um,
• 13:07
  that's when I moved to Ohio
• 13:08
  at one point and I was
• 13:09
  swimming under Jerry Holtry,
• 13:11
  which I'm sure you're
• 13:12
  familiar with that name.
• 13:13
  So he was very much like a distinct coach.
• 13:15
  Um,
• 13:16
  so I had built a pretty good base at
• 13:17
  that point and my aerobic
• 13:19
  capacity was just like insane.
• 13:21
  So I got like decent at the 200 free,
• 13:23
  but I got really good at the 200 fly.
• 13:25
  Um, so I like to think that like, I,
• 13:28
  I mean,
• 13:28
  I was good at the 200 fly and I
• 13:29
  didn't really focus on that.
• 13:30
  Um,
• 13:31
  because I obviously had to pick between
• 13:32
  the 50 and the two fly.
• 13:33
  Those don't really like go
• 13:34
  together training wise.
• 13:35
  Um,
• 13:35
  Um, so I stuck with the 50, but I mean,
• 13:37
  I love the two fly.
• 13:38
  Like when I was in swimming shape,
• 13:39
  like that was,
• 13:41
  that was a fun event for me.
• 13:42
  I loved it.
• 13:43
  But probably again, because like,
• 13:44
  I didn't start swinging
• 13:44
  until I was like 22.
• 13:45
  So most people are like,
• 13:47
  I don't want us to the two
• 13:48
  or fly at that point,
• 13:49
  but it was fun for me.
• 13:50
  Yeah.
• 13:51
  I,
• 13:51
  I loved butterfly and I got kind of
• 13:53
  pulled out of it when I got
• 13:54
  to high school where I just
• 13:55
  got two five and, and I, I,
• 13:59
  it bummed me out big time
• 14:00
  until I got to do I am and
• 14:01
  at least swim it again.
• 14:02
  A little bit.
• 14:03
  Yeah.
• 14:04
  And then, um, so 50 freestyle, I,
• 14:08
  I hate it.
• 14:09
  Yeah.
• 14:10
  I feel like you either love
• 14:10
  it or you hate it.
• 14:11
  And even if you love it,
• 14:12
  you still kind of hate it.
• 14:13
  Because if you make one mistake,
• 14:16
  it's over.
• 14:17
  I know.
• 14:18
  It is so fast.
• 14:19
  So it's like,
• 14:20
  it's like the hundred and track.
• 14:22
  Yeah.
• 14:23
  Like it's a, and that's a 10 second event.
• 14:26
  This is a 20 second event.
• 14:28
  And like you have a bad start.
• 14:31
  If it's short course,
• 14:32
  if you have a bad turn, it's over.
• 14:34
  Yeah, it's completely over.
• 14:37
  But yet you've done that in
• 14:39
  the Olympic trials two different times.
• 14:40
  Yes.
• 14:42
  It's like my baby event.
• 14:44
  I've swam that event my whole entire life.
• 14:47
  I love that event.
• 14:49
  No matter how frustrating it is, tens,
• 14:52
  hundreds of a second,
• 14:53
  I just love that race.
• 14:54
  It's so fun.
• 14:56
  And shaving time off is nearly impossible.
• 15:00
  Right, yeah.
• 15:01
  Yes.
• 15:04
  So I'm going to jump into
• 15:06
  the CrossFit piece of this a little bit.
• 15:08
  When did you find CrossFit?
• 15:12
  So after Olympic trials in 2016,
• 15:14
  I retired and I like tried
• 15:16
  for a little bit to just
• 15:17
  like go to the gym,
• 15:18
  like keep up my normal like
• 15:19
  lifting routine that I had
• 15:20
  done when I was swimming,
• 15:21
  just like bodybuilding stuff.
• 15:22
  And I was like, this is so boring.
• 15:24
  Like, I hate this.
• 15:25
  And so CrossFit had like a
• 15:28
  CrossFit gym and like just
• 15:29
  opened up in my hometown.
• 15:30
  And I knew some people who did it.
• 15:32
  There was a guy that used to go, well,
• 15:34
  we did CrossFit in college, I guess,
• 15:36
  for a little bit because we
• 15:36
  didn't have like a real strength coach.
• 15:37
  It was just our assistant
• 15:38
  coach that did stuff.
• 15:39
  And she had started doing CrossFit.
• 15:41
  So we did dabble with CrossFit in college.
• 15:44
  So then after like I was
• 15:45
  done swimming and I wasn't
• 15:47
  really into just like lifting, I was like,
• 15:49
  you know what,
• 15:49
  maybe I'm going to try this
• 15:50
  CrossFit thing.
• 15:51
  Like I said,
• 15:52
  it had just opened up in town.
• 15:53
  So I like gave it a try and I was like, oh,
• 15:54
  this is kind of fun.
• 15:56
  So that's how it started.
• 15:58
  And,
• 15:59
  and you made the 24 trials by swimming
• 16:02
  one day a week.
• 16:03
  I did.
• 16:04
  Yes.
• 16:06
  Yeah.
• 16:06
  Which,
• 16:07
  which is unheard of in the swimming
• 16:09
  world.
• 16:10
  I mean, yeah, it's insane.
• 16:11
  Cause as a swimmer, like you swim,
• 16:13
  like no matter what event,
• 16:14
  even if you're a sprinter,
• 16:15
  like you're doubling every day,
• 16:16
  like you're swimming.
• 16:18
  Yeah.
• 16:18
  Like my high school,
• 16:20
  high school was an hour and
• 16:22
  a half before school,
• 16:23
  two hours after school.
• 16:25
  And then some, some dry deck stuff.
• 16:27
  Yeah.
• 16:29
  And, and you're saying,
• 16:31
  and I think I read you like
• 16:33
  around 2,500 yards one day.
• 16:36
  I literally,
• 16:37
  I wouldn't even call it a practice.
• 16:38
  Like I was swimming as recovery.
• 16:40
  Like I'd go in and do like a
• 16:41
  bunch of drills,
• 16:42
  like maybe a little bit of like explosive,
• 16:44
  like fast stuff,
• 16:45
  but like no more than 2,500 yards.
• 16:47
  Yeah.
• 16:49
  Because I would go like when
• 16:50
  I did start swimming again,
• 16:51
  I would go to like prelims, finals meets.
• 16:52
  And like when I had to warm
• 16:54
  up and race and cool down,
• 16:55
  like I was swimming more
• 16:56
  than at a meet than I was
• 16:58
  like used to training.
• 16:59
  And I was like, oh,
• 17:00
  I maybe need to start
• 17:01
  swimming more if I'm going
• 17:01
  to be doing these prelims, finals meets.
• 17:03
  Like this is kind of a lot of swimming.
• 17:07
  Yeah.
• 17:08
  Which is crazy when you do
• 17:09
  one length of the pool.
• 17:10
  I know.
• 17:11
  Yeah.
• 17:12
  Uh, but I,
• 17:13
  I read that like you trained
• 17:15
  kicking like during that,
• 17:17
  that one session you,
• 17:18
  which is super important for a sprinter.
• 17:20
  Yeah.
• 17:20
  Cause I was like never, um, I mean,
• 17:22
  not a terrible kicker,
• 17:23
  but definitely not a great kicker.
• 17:26
  So I was like, if I'm going to like,
• 17:27
  I'm going to keep up with
• 17:28
  this because that's not,
• 17:29
  it wasn't never my strength
• 17:30
  to begin with.
• 17:31
  So that like breath control
• 17:34
  stuff for the 50,
• 17:35
  like that's pretty much all I did.
• 17:38
  And you said that after
• 17:39
  doing CrossFit and training,
• 17:41
  like the end of the 50,
• 17:43
  you felt stronger than you ever had.
• 17:45
  Oh yeah.
• 17:46
  Yeah.
• 17:48
  And you attribute that to CrossFit?
• 17:51
  I do.
• 17:53
  Because like I said,
• 17:53
  like when you're training for swimming,
• 17:56
  like you're just swimming so much.
• 17:58
  So like,
• 17:59
  Um, yeah,
• 18:00
  like obviously I felt better in
• 18:01
  practice when I swam all the time,
• 18:02
  but I wasn't like when you do dry land,
• 18:06
  like strength training for swimming,
• 18:07
  it's very much just like to supplement.
• 18:09
  At least what I was doing
• 18:10
  was more so to supplement my swimming,
• 18:12
  but not necessarily getting
• 18:14
  like super strong from it.
• 18:16
  Um,
• 18:17
  so I think like taking that time off
• 18:19
  away from swimming and like
• 18:20
  just getting so strong with CrossFit,
• 18:21
  because I was never like
• 18:23
  super strong to begin with,
• 18:24
  especially my legs.
• 18:25
  Like I always had upper body
• 18:27
  strength just from butterfly.
• 18:28
  Um, but just, yeah,
• 18:30
  the strength from CrossFit.
• 18:32
  And again,
• 18:32
  it was kind of like a mental thing, like.
• 18:34
  I go through these CrossFit
• 18:35
  workouts that are sometimes
• 18:36
  like 30 minutes, like an hour long,
• 18:38
  you know,
• 18:38
  like something like Murph that's
• 18:39
  an hour long that you're pushing through.
• 18:41
  And my race in the pool was
• 18:42
  only 25 seconds.
• 18:43
  I was like,
• 18:44
  I don't even have to think about this.
• 18:45
  Like I just have to dive in
• 18:47
  and swim as fast as I can.
• 18:48
  So like that was kind of
• 18:49
  like the mindset I had at first was like,
• 18:52
  I've done this my whole life.
• 18:53
  Like I've literally swam
• 18:55
  since I was four years old.
• 18:56
  Like I don't even have to,
• 18:57
  I just have to dive in and
• 18:58
  swim as fast as I can.
• 18:59
  I don't have to think about it.
• 19:01
  Yeah.
• 19:02
  See,
• 19:02
  that's the difference between a
• 19:03
  sprinter and a distance
• 19:04
  swimmer is we overthink everything.
• 19:06
  Yeah.
• 19:08
  Well, I was definitely there.
• 19:09
  I mean, sprinters do that too,
• 19:10
  but I've been there in my
• 19:11
  swimming career.
• 19:12
  So like,
• 19:13
  I feel like I've had grown a lot
• 19:15
  in over the years.
• 19:17
  So in college I was very
• 19:19
  much an overthinker and
• 19:20
  that ruined my 50 here and there.
• 19:21
  So I've learned from that for sure.
• 19:24
  Yeah.
• 19:25
  Um,
• 19:27
  Gosh,
• 19:27
  so many fun stories that we'll talk
• 19:29
  about at the end of this,
• 19:30
  but I want to get through
• 19:31
  this part of it.
• 19:32
  So one of the things that
• 19:34
  really was hard for me when
• 19:36
  I retired from swimming is
• 19:38
  there was no CrossFit back then, right?
• 19:40
  I had nothing to go into
• 19:43
  that gave me that competitive feel.
• 19:47
  How cathartic was it to have
• 19:49
  something where you can
• 19:51
  compete in a class every day?
• 19:53
  yeah it was nice and now
• 19:54
  like I have so many like
• 19:56
  friends who were swimmers
• 19:57
  that have like either been
• 19:58
  like hey like what's this
• 19:59
  crossfit thing all about or
• 20:00
  like decided to go into
• 20:01
  crossfit like also love it
• 20:02
  like so many of my friends
• 20:03
  from college like we're
• 20:04
  doing crossfit and stuff
• 20:05
  but yeah there were like so
• 20:06
  many times because like as
• 20:07
  a swimmer you're just used
• 20:08
  to training you know so it
• 20:09
  was like even before I was
• 20:11
  like taking crossfit
• 20:12
  seriously and I was just
• 20:13
  like doing extra because I
• 20:14
  felt like it people would
• 20:15
  be like what are you
• 20:15
  training for and I'm like
• 20:17
  nothing I'm just working out like I'm
• 20:19
  just having fun working out.
• 20:21
  So yeah, it was, it's a great outlet.
• 20:26
  And did the,
• 20:27
  did the competitiveness in you
• 20:29
  ever leave?
• 20:32
  Well, at CrossFit, it was just like,
• 20:33
  so I remember, um, so I started in town,
• 20:35
  then I had moved to Iowa
• 20:36
  for a little while and
• 20:37
  started a CrossFit gym there.
• 20:38
  But so that's like where I
• 20:39
  really got into CrossFit
• 20:40
  because the people who owned it, um,
• 20:42
  had previously had like,
• 20:43
  like games athletes.
• 20:45
  We're talking like early, like 2012 ish,
• 20:47
  you know, like that area.
• 20:49
  Um, so like everybody was so good.
• 20:51
  I'm like, Oh my gosh,
• 20:52
  these girls are so strong.
• 20:53
  These girls are so good.
• 20:54
  And I remember going in and
• 20:55
  I'd like scale everything.
• 20:56
  And they got to the point where like,
• 20:58
  Caitlin's like, you can't,
• 21:00
  keep scaling these workouts
• 21:01
  and crushing everybody.
• 21:01
  Like you can do the weight, just do it.
• 21:03
  And so like,
• 21:04
  they kind of like pushed me into like,
• 21:06
  like gave me that confidence.
• 21:07
  Like you can do this, like you're fine.
• 21:08
  Or like,
• 21:09
  you could be really good at this
• 21:10
  and like kind of taught me the movements,
• 21:11
  like how to butterfly.
• 21:12
  Like I remember I started
• 21:14
  CrossFit and then like,
• 21:16
  I started CrossFit in like September,
• 21:18
  October,
• 21:18
  and then the open came up in February.
• 21:20
  So like I hadn't ever done
• 21:22
  half those movements at that point.
• 21:24
  So they were like teaching
• 21:24
  me like a week before they opened,
• 21:25
  like how to do handstand pushups,
• 21:27
  how to do ring muscle ups,
• 21:28
  like all this stuff,
• 21:29
  like teaching me how to butterfly.
• 21:30
  So I was ready.
• 21:31
  So they're like, yeah,
• 21:32
  it's just like swimming,
• 21:33
  like the movement.
• 21:33
  It's just like butterfly.
• 21:34
  And I was like, great, I got this.
• 21:38
  So yeah,
• 21:38
  my friend's stat gym like really
• 21:40
  helped me a lot,
• 21:41
  like gain confidence and
• 21:42
  like get into it.
• 21:43
  And so I'm really thankful for them.
• 21:46
  What gym was it in Iowa?
• 21:49
  It was called The Foundation
• 21:50
  when I was there,
• 21:51
  but previously it was Quad City CrossFit.
• 21:53
  Okay.
• 21:54
  Yep.
• 21:55
  Heard of them.
• 21:58
  So eventually you get enough of a bug.
• 22:03
  Let me ask you this first.
• 22:04
  How many years have you done the Open?
• 22:08
  Not that many, actually.
• 22:10
  Maybe like four or five.
• 22:13
  Maybe four.
• 22:13
  Okay.
• 22:15
  Okay.
• 22:16
  four or five, I think.
• 22:18
  And when you went back into swimming,
• 22:20
  you couldn't do the open, right?
• 22:21
  Like you had to focus on
• 22:23
  what you were working on.
• 22:25
  I did the open.
• 22:26
  I did the open in 2022.
• 22:28
  Wait, well, I guess it'd be 2023.
• 22:33
  So I started swimming again in 2022,
• 22:35
  like realized I'm going to
• 22:37
  do this in 2022.
• 22:37
  Then I did, uh,
• 22:41
  open like quarterfinals like
• 22:42
  was taking crossfit very
• 22:43
  seriously at that point in
• 22:45
  2023 and then this past
• 22:47
  year 2024 I didn't do the
• 22:48
  open because I was like I'm
• 22:49
  not risk like I have
• 22:50
  olympic trials in like four
• 22:51
  months I have swim meets
• 22:53
  coming up like last last
• 22:54
  like tune-ups and stuff I
• 22:55
  was like I'm not risking
• 22:56
  this so I didn't do the
• 22:58
  open this past year but I
• 22:59
  did do it and take it like
• 23:00
  seriously in 2023. and so
• 23:02
  23 you made it all the way
• 23:04
  through quarterfinals
• 23:05
  Yeah, I actually, um,
• 23:06
  cause my gym used to follow comp train.
• 23:08
  So I was like a comp train
• 23:09
  athlete and I actually got
• 23:10
  to go up and like do quarterfinals with,
• 23:13
  um, the comp train crew.
• 23:14
  So that was really cool up at CFNE.
• 23:15
  Oh, that's awesome.
• 23:17
  Yeah.
• 23:18
  It was a lot of fun.
• 23:19
  Yeah.
• 23:20
  I think I was definitely a
• 23:21
  little intimidating at first,
• 23:23
  but by the end of the weekend, I was like,
• 23:24
  this is awesome.
• 23:25
  Like this is such a great experience.
• 23:26
  So.
• 23:27
  Yeah.
• 23:27
  I think I've seen where like
• 23:29
  Ben Bergeron was commenting
• 23:30
  on some of your stuff.
• 23:31
  Yeah.
• 23:31
  Ben's great.
• 23:32
  Ben's been really great through it all.
• 23:35
  Um, and so then it,
• 23:38
  but before you go back into swimming,
• 23:39
  you dip your toe in the
• 23:41
  competitive water of
• 23:42
  CrossFit by doing TFX.
• 23:46
  Yeah.
• 23:47
  Well, I got lucky with water Palooza, but,
• 23:50
  um, yeah, so I had, I was like,
• 23:53
  I'm doing all this training.
• 23:54
  Like I said, people would always be like,
• 23:55
  Oh, what are you training for?
• 23:56
  And I was like, you know what,
• 23:57
  if I'm going to do this,
• 23:58
  like maybe I should get out
• 23:59
  of my comfort zone and like,
• 24:01
  see if I can qualify for
• 24:03
  some kind of competition.
• 24:04
  And like most,
• 24:05
  like I had never competed at that point.
• 24:06
  And most people like would
• 24:07
  do one close to home or something.
• 24:09
  I was like, no, I like,
• 24:10
  this is going to be so embarrassing.
• 24:12
  Like,
• 24:12
  I don't want any of my friends coming
• 24:13
  to watch me.
• 24:13
  Like I'm going, I'm going elsewhere.
• 24:15
  I'm doing a competition.
• 24:16
  I'm going to mind my own business.
• 24:18
  No one's going to watch me suffer.
• 24:19
  So I was like, yeah, let's try TFX.
• 24:22
  And I like ended up just sneaking in,
• 24:24
  I think.
• 24:24
  And I was like, oh my gosh,
• 24:25
  I cannot believe I qualified.
• 24:29
  But you did.
• 24:29
  So, and how,
• 24:30
  what was that experience like?
• 24:32
  Um, it was a lot.
• 24:35
  It was great.
• 24:35
  I'm glad that I did it.
• 24:37
  Um,
• 24:38
  but I didn't expect it to be that cold
• 24:40
  in Texas,
• 24:40
  like with all those outdoor events.
• 24:41
  So that was like something, uh,
• 24:44
  that I wasn't ready for, but it was,
• 24:46
  I mean, it was a lot of fun.
• 24:47
  I'm glad I did.
• 24:47
  I met like a lot of great girls that like,
• 24:49
  I'm still friends with today.
• 24:50
  So like,
• 24:50
  that was super cool that like our
• 24:52
  paths crossed.
• 24:53
  And then like later we ran
• 24:53
  into each other and we're like, wait,
• 24:54
  did you do DFX?
• 24:55
  And we're like, yeah.
• 24:57
  So we're like friends now
• 24:58
  and stuff like that.
• 24:58
  So it was, it was a good time.
• 25:00
  What year did you do it?
• 25:02
  That was 2022.
• 25:02
  Oh my God.
• 25:05
  Like I was there.
• 25:06
  We were covering.
• 25:08
  I remember, I think I remember that.
• 25:09
  Yeah.
• 25:10
  Oh my gosh.
• 25:11
  Another, another weave.
• 25:14
  Yeah.
• 25:16
  And it was cold.
• 25:17
  My wife was with me and she was freezing.
• 25:20
  Yeah.
• 25:21
  I mean, it was really, really cold.
• 25:25
  I think like the last day we
• 25:26
  had that event,
• 25:26
  like outside on the rig and it was like,
• 25:30
  32 degrees or something in
• 25:31
  the morning like I was like
• 25:33
  oh gosh I don't know how
• 25:34
  I'm gonna do this my hands
• 25:36
  were so cold I was like how
• 25:37
  am I gonna hold on to the
• 25:38
  rig and you enjoyed the
• 25:39
  cold so much that you
• 25:40
  decided to move there I
• 25:42
  know in july summer so
• 25:44
  definitely not cold here
• 25:46
  right now no um so then you
• 25:50
  you did a team at wadapalooza yes
• 25:54
  And were you, you asked to be on a team.
• 25:56
  Did you help organize the team?
• 25:58
  How did that come about?
• 26:00
  So I was actually had done
• 26:02
  the qualifier with some
• 26:04
  friends up in West Virginia
• 26:05
  and we did not make it.
• 26:06
  But the girls down here at
• 26:09
  CrossFit Car Hoop had
• 26:11
  qualified with another girl
• 26:12
  and she ended up backing out.
• 26:13
  So they were looking for
• 26:14
  somebody to fill the spot.
• 26:16
  And I had come down here to Rogue.
• 26:21
  the rogue invitational that October.
• 26:23
  And like, we had a mutual friend.
• 26:24
  So he had introduced me to
• 26:26
  like all the girls down here at the gym.
• 26:27
  We hung out, like I came to the gym,
• 26:28
  dropped in for a workout.
• 26:30
  So like I'd met everybody
• 26:31
  and then they had qualified
• 26:32
  for water Palooza.
• 26:34
  And then the girl, um,
• 26:37
  didn't want to do it so they
• 26:38
  were looking for somebody
• 26:38
  to fill in and I was like
• 26:40
  at the meet trying to
• 26:41
  qualify for olympic trials
• 26:42
  and they called me the
• 26:42
  night before and they were
• 26:43
  like hey do you want to
• 26:44
  fill in and I was like
• 26:45
  absolutely like yes so it
• 26:48
  was like that night I got
• 26:49
  asked to be on a water
• 26:50
  palooza team and then the
• 26:51
  next morning I ended up
• 26:52
  qualifying for olympic
• 26:53
  trials and I was like two
• 26:55
  check marks in the the goal
• 26:56
  box so that was a really
• 26:57
  cool time were they like we
• 26:59
  know there's one swimming
• 27:00
  event and we want to win
• 27:02
  that so let's get caitlin
• 27:04
  Yes,
• 27:04
  except then the swim event was paired
• 27:06
  with Squatch,
• 27:07
  which is like literally my
• 27:08
  worst thing ever.
• 27:09
  And so like I had to get
• 27:11
  through the squads and then
• 27:12
  I swam like past everybody.
• 27:13
  But the squads were I was
• 27:15
  like the probably the
• 27:16
  fourth to last person in the water.
• 27:18
  And I think I was the second
• 27:19
  person out of the water.
• 27:20
  So thank God for the swim.
• 27:22
  But it was a struggle for sure.
• 27:24
  Are you comfortable open water?
• 27:28
  Um, yes.
• 27:29
  Yeah.
• 27:30
  I, so I had never swam open water before.
• 27:33
  And then in West Virginia,
• 27:33
  I live like super close to
• 27:35
  the lake and I was like,
• 27:35
  it is beautiful here.
• 27:36
  Like I love it.
• 27:37
  So I'm going to like start
• 27:38
  trying to do open water and
• 27:39
  it took me a while to like
• 27:39
  put my face in the water,
• 27:40
  like open my eyes.
• 27:41
  But yeah, I was fine with it,
• 27:43
  especially like in the competitive, um,
• 27:45
  like environment.
• 27:46
  Like you don't, for me as a swimmer,
• 27:48
  like comfortable in the water anyway,
• 27:49
  like I didn't even think about it.
• 27:50
  So.
• 27:51
  Yeah.
• 27:52
  To me, the only difference in,
• 27:53
  in the open water is sight lines.
• 27:56
  Yeah.
• 27:56
  can you make sure you're
• 27:57
  swimming straight?
• 27:58
  If you can make sure that's happening,
• 28:00
  you're okay.
• 28:02
  Sorry, my dog is a psychopath.
• 28:05
  Mine usually is interrupting as well.
• 28:08
  So first event of the
• 28:11
  CrossFit Games is Run Swim.
• 28:14
  How much would you like to try that?
• 28:17
  What is it exactly?
• 28:18
  Do they release what the
• 28:19
  distance are and stuff?
• 28:20
  So the speculation is,
• 28:22
  and Dave has kind of
• 28:23
  confirmed that everybody's
• 28:24
  speculating is correct,
• 28:26
  is it's a 3.5 mile run into
• 28:31
  a 800 meter swim.
• 28:33
  Okay.
• 28:35
  So I could probably like do
• 28:36
  that on my own if I wanted to.
• 28:37
  I don't want to say anything though,
• 28:38
  because sometimes people get into,
• 28:41
  I don't want to be putting
• 28:42
  any times out there or anything.
• 28:43
  I'm just having fun.
• 28:44
  So I don't want anybody to be like, oh,
• 28:45
  you should do this.
• 28:46
  What's your time?
• 28:46
  Yeah.
• 28:47
  Yeah, and it's a man-made lake,
• 28:50
  so it's not going to be too
• 28:53
  bad of a swim for most people.
• 28:55
  Yeah,
• 28:57
  I always feel like an 800 swim to
• 28:59
  most people is probably a lot,
• 29:00
  but I always feel like the
• 29:01
  swim is never that long.
• 29:05
  Maybe a little longer.
• 29:07
  When I was swimming,
• 29:08
  it was not uncommon for our
• 29:11
  warm-up to be 1,000.
• 29:12
  Oh, right.
• 29:13
  That's standard, yeah.
• 29:14
  Standard warm-up.
• 29:16
  And so like when they're doing 800,
• 29:18
  it's like, and I used to judge.
• 29:22
  And so like, this is so bad.
• 29:24
  I shouldn't even say this out loud,
• 29:26
  but when I was a judge,
• 29:28
  I would do events where
• 29:29
  they were swimming and I
• 29:30
  was not only judging the event,
• 29:32
  but I was judging like the
• 29:33
  swimming style.
• 29:36
  Like crossfitters are not good swimmers.
• 29:39
  No, I've had so many people like,
• 29:41
  can you help me out?
• 29:41
  Like, can you teach me?
• 29:42
  And I like try to go and I'm like, yeah,
• 29:43
  you're like,
• 29:45
  that bad I'm like no be
• 29:46
  honest I'm pretty bad I'm
• 29:47
  like you're not that bad
• 29:48
  it's okay some of them are
• 29:51
  really bad yeah I did I did
• 29:54
  a master's event years ago
• 29:57
  where I wasn't sure people
• 29:58
  were going to survive I
• 30:01
  believe that so yeah it was
• 30:03
  and that was in a pool yeah
• 30:06
  yeah it would be pretty
• 30:08
  sketchy if you're not a great swimmer
• 30:10
  Yeah,
• 30:10
  I think the first year that he went
• 30:12
  to Madison,
• 30:13
  one of the favorites in one of
• 30:14
  the Masters divisions had to be saved.
• 30:17
  Really?
• 30:18
  Yeah.
• 30:19
  Yikes.
• 30:20
  And that made him ineligible to compete.
• 30:24
  Oh, my.
• 30:25
  Yeah.
• 30:26
  It's crazy.
• 30:28
  Yep.
• 30:30
  So now you've done the Olympic trials.
• 30:33
  You go...
• 30:34
  You're doing your CrossFit.
• 30:35
  You're training once a week.
• 30:37
  Did it ever pick up more
• 30:38
  than once a week as you got
• 30:40
  closer to the trials?
• 30:41
  It did.
• 30:42
  So, um,
• 30:43
  that first year that I started
• 30:45
  swimming again,
• 30:45
  I was just following the general, um,
• 30:47
  calm train programming.
• 30:48
  I didn't have a coach.
• 30:50
  And so my national meet for
• 30:51
  swimming was literally a
• 30:53
  week apart from the CrossFit games.
• 30:56
  So the like taper worked out
• 30:59
  perfectly because obviously
• 31:00
  like people were coming
• 31:01
  down for the CrossFit,
• 31:02
  like it was tailored around
• 31:03
  the CrossFit games.
• 31:04
  And so that first year,
• 31:06
  like it worked out great.
• 31:07
  And so then the next summer, 2023,
• 31:10
  Um,
• 31:11
  it was a world championship year for
• 31:13
  swimming.
• 31:14
  So our national meet was
• 31:15
  actually in June rather
• 31:17
  than at the end of July.
• 31:18
  It was like the beginning ish of June.
• 31:20
  And so again,
• 31:21
  like I was still following
• 31:22
  just general programming for CrossFit.
• 31:25
  And so I was like mid
• 31:26
  training cycle and I tried
• 31:27
  to taper like myself off
• 31:29
  that for the swim meet and
• 31:30
  I didn't do terrible,
• 31:31
  but I just didn't do,
• 31:33
  I wasn't like as snappy as
• 31:34
  I felt like I normally am.
• 31:36
  Um,
• 31:37
  And I'd also like run into a
• 31:38
  couple like weird injuries
• 31:39
  and I've like never had
• 31:40
  really any injuries.
• 31:41
  So there was like one point
• 31:43
  like hurt my back doing
• 31:45
  stupid 35 pound dumbbell
• 31:46
  snatches and couldn't bend
• 31:48
  over for literally like a month.
• 31:49
  And I was like, this is terrifying.
• 31:50
  Like I'm this, I can't do this.
• 31:54
  So that's when I decided to
• 31:56
  go with a coach and do more
• 31:57
  like swim specific stuff.
• 31:59
  And I started swimming a
• 32:00
  little bit more with WVU again.
• 32:03
  So I ended up, I was splitting my time,
• 32:05
  like three days in the pool,
• 32:07
  three or four days in the gym.
• 32:09
  But even my time in the pool,
• 32:10
  like one day was a circuit.
• 32:11
  So I still probably wasn't
• 32:12
  doing more than like 25, three grand.
• 32:15
  And all of it was like
• 32:16
  sprint specific stuff.
• 32:17
  And then another day was like recovery.
• 32:20
  So again, like easy stuff.
• 32:22
  And then another day was
• 32:23
  like stuff from the blocks
• 32:24
  to like race pace.
• 32:25
  So it was still very minimal swimming.
• 32:27
  And I like called the shots.
• 32:29
  So if there was a set that I
• 32:31
  didn't feel like I needed to do,
• 32:33
  or like didn't need to do
• 32:34
  the whole thing of like, I would just
• 32:36
  kind of still tailor it to me basically,
• 32:39
  but at least I had people
• 32:39
  to train with at that point.
• 32:43
  So having gone through this,
• 32:46
  do you think that we can
• 32:47
  change the way that at
• 32:50
  least sprinters could train for swimming?
• 32:54
  I mean,
• 32:54
  I think it shows that it could change,
• 32:56
  but I don't think that
• 32:57
  anybody will adopt that training.
• 33:05
  I think it's very hard to
• 33:07
  change people's minds about
• 33:10
  like swimmers are so old
• 33:11
  school and it's just,
• 33:12
  I think that's just how it's going to be.
• 33:16
  Like, I don't think they're going to take,
• 33:18
  they might do like swim a little bit less,
• 33:19
  but I don't think that
• 33:20
  they're going to take day.
• 33:21
  I don't think it's going to
• 33:22
  convince anybody to take days,
• 33:23
  even though like I proved
• 33:25
  that it can be done.
• 33:25
  Like it obviously works for
• 33:28
  sprinters at least,
• 33:29
  but I don't think anybody will,
• 33:32
  will do it.
• 33:34
  Well, when I first got into CrossFit,
• 33:36
  we had a bunch of marathon
• 33:37
  runners that joined our gym.
• 33:40
  And they were able to train
• 33:41
  less for the marathon when
• 33:43
  they did more CrossFit.
• 33:44
  Right.
• 33:45
  Well, which I forget who it was.
• 33:46
  I'm terrible with names and such.
• 33:47
  But one of CrossFit Games
• 33:50
  athlete like ran her
• 33:51
  fastest marathon or something,
• 33:52
  didn't she?
• 33:53
  She used to be a marathon
• 33:53
  runner and then she like wasn't training,
• 33:55
  but she did a marathon and
• 33:55
  she was like super fast.
• 33:56
  I don't know.
• 34:00
  I have,
• 34:01
  I have friends that ran multiple
• 34:02
  marathons,
• 34:04
  started CrossFit and dropped their time.
• 34:06
  Yeah.
• 34:06
  Like multiple.
• 34:08
  And like,
• 34:08
  if you can break into the running world,
• 34:11
  I mean, it takes time.
• 34:13
  There's still people that
• 34:13
  were still going to run 8
• 34:16
  million miles of running
• 34:18
  and swimming are very
• 34:19
  similar training wise.
• 34:20
  And I feel like it's like
• 34:21
  the same mindset.
• 34:22
  Like, yeah, runners run,
• 34:24
  swimmers just swim.
• 34:25
  That's just what it is.
• 34:27
  Andrew Sten answered the question for you.
• 34:29
  It was Christy Aramo O'Connell.
• 34:31
  Yes.
• 34:32
  Yes.
• 34:33
  Who is my coach now?
• 34:35
  Oh, and how I didn't remember that.
• 34:37
  I don't know.
• 34:40
  Um, yeah.
• 34:41
  Um, and she was a swimmer too.
• 34:47
  Yeah.
• 34:47
  She swam at the university of Louisville.
• 34:49
  Oh, who knew?
• 34:50
  Yeah.
• 34:51
  So, um,
• 34:54
  I think in the piece I was
• 34:55
  reading about you,
• 34:56
  you said that you think
• 34:58
  that swimmers could go to a
• 35:00
  50-50 style instead of a 75-25.
• 35:04
  Meaning they could go 50 in the pool,
• 35:06
  50 out of the pool from a
• 35:08
  75 in the pool to 25 out.
• 35:13
  And you're a firm believer
• 35:14
  that that and they could
• 35:15
  still do as well?
• 35:16
  Well, when I said that,
• 35:19
  that was before I was doing
• 35:21
  the 50-50 split.
• 35:22
  That was when I was like only swimming,
• 35:24
  like I was mainly doing CrossFit.
• 35:25
  So then I switched.
• 35:27
  Basically what I was doing
• 35:27
  was the 50-50 split and I
• 35:29
  found it very hard.
• 35:31
  Like, I guess being a swimmer,
• 35:32
  I never realized how hard
• 35:36
  swimming was on my
• 35:36
  shoulders until like I
• 35:38
  started trying to swim more
• 35:39
  without actually being a swimmer.
• 35:41
  And so I was trying to do CrossFit,
• 35:42
  which is obviously tough on
• 35:43
  your body and also swim,
• 35:44
  which is very tough on the body.
• 35:47
  And it was rough.
• 35:48
  So like I that was like one
• 35:49
  of the other reasons why I
• 35:50
  switched from CrossFit to
• 35:51
  just like more specific training,
• 35:52
  because I knew that I
• 35:54
  wanted to swim more.
• 35:55
  And it was just it was too
• 35:58
  much on the body.
• 35:59
  But I was fine to swim a very little bit,
• 36:02
  like basically just racing
• 36:04
  and do CrossFit full time.
• 36:05
  So like I said,
• 36:05
  I don't know if it would
• 36:07
  work for like 100 or so.
• 36:09
  Maybe I mean, maybe 100,
• 36:11
  depending on the training and stuff.
• 36:13
  But it worked for the 50s.
• 36:15
  But I feel like you just
• 36:18
  have to play around with it.
• 36:19
  I mean, it was a lot of, I mean,
• 36:20
  I didn't know what I was doing.
• 36:21
  I was just listening to my
• 36:22
  body and adjusting like as I went.
• 36:25
  So I think it would take
• 36:26
  some trial and error, but it might.
• 36:29
  Yeah.
• 36:29
  I mean,
• 36:30
  I don't think that sprinters need
• 36:32
  to swim as much as they do.
• 36:34
  Period.
• 36:34
  Like, I just don't think they do.
• 36:38
  And that makes sense to me.
• 36:39
  Like,
• 36:41
  I don't think people who
• 36:42
  sprint in running just run all the time.
• 36:45
  Right.
• 36:46
  Like explosive race space.
• 36:49
  That's in that's like resistance training,
• 36:52
  different things like that to,
• 36:53
  to get explosiveness.
• 36:54
  And yeah, that, that makes total sense.
• 36:57
  I think you just play around
• 36:58
  with the programming too.
• 37:00
  Right.
• 37:00
  Like maybe you don't do as
• 37:02
  much shoulder work in CrossFit.
• 37:03
  Right.
• 37:04
  Like I was still trying to
• 37:04
  do the fun stuff like ring muscle-ups,
• 37:06
  like handstand push-ups,
• 37:07
  like all my favorite things
• 37:08
  or upper body stuff.
• 37:09
  So like I probably didn't
• 37:10
  need to be doing that stuff.
• 37:11
  It would have been fine.
• 37:12
  But yeah,
• 37:13
  I think it would just take some
• 37:14
  like playing around and
• 37:15
  figuring out like what works for you.
• 37:16
  And I've had like a lot of
• 37:17
  people DM me and stuff like
• 37:18
  swimmers saying, hey,
• 37:19
  how did you do this?
• 37:20
  Like what was your training plan?
• 37:20
  And I'm like, honestly,
• 37:22
  like I was just making it up.
• 37:24
  Like if I felt like crap,
• 37:25
  like I just adjusted that day.
• 37:26
  Honestly,
• 37:27
  they were like just played around
• 37:29
  with it.
• 37:29
  Yeah.
• 37:30
  It worked like you just got
• 37:31
  to figure out what works for you.
• 37:33
  I think it's a fascinating
• 37:34
  concept and it's cool that
• 37:35
  you tried it and were successful with it.
• 37:39
  So you get to the trials and
• 37:43
  correct me if I'm wrong,
• 37:44
  I'd sense that you were
• 37:45
  disappointed with how it turned out.
• 37:49
  I was.
• 37:49
  Yeah.
• 37:50
  I mean,
• 37:50
  I hate to say that I was
• 37:51
  disappointed because it was
• 37:52
  like an amazing experience.
• 37:54
  Like the whole journey,
• 37:54
  like even the fact that like you said,
• 37:56
  like it's great.
• 37:57
  Like I still can't believe
• 37:58
  that I made Olympic trials
• 37:59
  swimming one time a week.
• 38:01
  So I hate to say that I'm disappointed,
• 38:02
  but like,
• 38:04
  obviously you always want to do your best,
• 38:07
  but I mean, they even say at Olympic,
• 38:08
  like the 50 is a hard event
• 38:09
  to go a best time anyway.
• 38:11
  And even at the Olympic
• 38:12
  trials meet across like all the events,
• 38:15
  they say that there's only like,
• 38:16
  I don't know,
• 38:17
  10% of people go best times
• 38:19
  at Olympic trials.
• 38:20
  So like it is what it is.
• 38:22
  Um,
• 38:23
  but I had like full confidence going into,
• 38:25
  I mean, I didn't,
• 38:26
  my body definitely didn't feel great,
• 38:28
  but I was like,
• 38:29
  I didn't let it get me down.
• 38:30
  And I was like,
• 38:30
  I'm just going to do the best I can,
• 38:32
  but that's how the cookie
• 38:34
  crumbles sometimes, I guess.
• 38:36
  And we haven't mentioned this.
• 38:38
  You were older than all but
• 38:40
  two swimmers at the trials, right?
• 38:42
  Yeah.
• 38:42
  And the youngest girl at the
• 38:44
  meet was actually in my
• 38:45
  same heat in the 50.
• 38:47
  So that was kind of funny
• 38:48
  how that worked out.
• 38:49
  I was like, Oh, great.
• 38:51
  So for you to do this at 34 is,
• 38:54
  is an amazing accomplishment.
• 38:57
  Yeah.
• 38:57
  I keep, yeah,
• 38:58
  there's definitely positive
• 38:59
  things to look at.
• 39:00
  So I don't let, let my time overshadow it.
• 39:02
  Cause like you said, it's the 50,
• 39:03
  like it's a crap shoot for the most part.
• 39:05
  So
• 39:08
  I want to do a quick
• 39:09
  comparison with CrossFit.
• 39:10
  So you have these athletes
• 39:11
  that work their tail off
• 39:13
  all year and they make it to semifinals,
• 39:16
  which is a pretty big stage
• 39:18
  for the CrossFit world.
• 39:20
  Right.
• 39:21
  And some people that is,
• 39:23
  that is everything they
• 39:24
  want is to get to that stage.
• 39:27
  Right.
• 39:28
  And then you have the people that,
• 39:30
  that fight for that top,
• 39:32
  whatever it is at that
• 39:33
  semifinal to make it to the games.
• 39:34
  Right.
• 39:36
  Olympic trials,
• 39:38
  they only take the winner
• 39:39
  and maybe one other,
• 39:42
  depending on relays and stuff like that,
• 39:44
  whether you get to go
• 39:45
  because they have a cap
• 39:47
  that they're allowed to
• 39:47
  take to the games.
• 39:49
  Yeah.
• 39:51
  Yeah.
• 39:51
  Swimming is absolutely brutal.
• 39:52
  I mean,
• 39:53
  they say that the US Olympic
• 39:56
  swimming trials is more
• 39:57
  competitive than the Olympics.
• 40:00
  I would not doubt that.
• 40:02
  Yeah.
• 40:03
  I mean,
• 40:03
  it's heartbreaking because like you
• 40:04
  see all these amazing swims,
• 40:05
  but then you feel so terrible,
• 40:07
  like so much highs and lows
• 40:09
  that you know what they're going through,
• 40:10
  like all the training.
• 40:10
  I mean, it's the same with any sport,
• 40:12
  but like to get third place
• 40:14
  or second place by like 0.02,
• 40:17
  like something that's faster than this,
• 40:19
  like you can't even fathom
• 40:20
  how fast that is.
• 40:21
  And you don't get to go like
• 40:22
  that's so heartbreaking.
• 40:25
  I think when I was at the trials,
• 40:27
  the men's hundred
• 40:28
  breaststroke from one to 12
• 40:31
  was 0.8 seconds.
• 40:34
  It's insane.
• 40:35
  There was, um,
• 40:36
  at one point there was a swim off.
• 40:39
  There was a swim off for a relay spot.
• 40:41
  I think it was a relay spot
• 40:44
  at the Olympics or something.
• 40:45
  It was between two girls.
• 40:46
  So literally you have two
• 40:48
  girls swimming in the pool
• 40:49
  next to each other.
• 40:49
  And you know that one of you
• 40:50
  is going to the Olympics
• 40:51
  and one of you is not like,
• 40:56
  Can you imagine?
• 40:57
  I cried before I even started.
• 41:02
  I don't know.
• 41:03
  This is so terrible.
• 41:08
  In front of all those people.
• 41:11
  So when you go into an event
• 41:12
  like the Olympic trials,
• 41:15
  what is your goal?
• 41:16
  Is your goal like a certain place?
• 41:18
  Is it a time?
• 41:19
  Is it...
• 41:21
  I mean,
• 41:22
  because only two people are making
• 41:24
  it to the Olympics.
• 41:25
  And 50, what, you get four maybe.
• 41:27
  Yeah.
• 41:28
  Because of relays.
• 41:29
  Yeah.
• 41:30
  Well,
• 41:30
  the 100 you get four because of relays.
• 41:32
  The 50 is only the top one
• 41:34
  or two depending on spots.
• 41:36
  But, yeah.
• 41:39
  So, I mean, it's hard.
• 41:40
  And I learned this.
• 41:41
  I feel like in college it
• 41:42
  was very much I want to go
• 41:43
  this time or I want to go this place or,
• 41:44
  like, I want to win, like, this and that.
• 41:48
  But, like, I feel like you learn, like,
• 41:50
  as an athlete in anything, like –
• 41:51
  you can only control like how you do,
• 41:54
  like you can't control the
• 41:55
  people around you and how they do.
• 41:56
  So, um,
• 41:58
  very much my goal this time around
• 41:59
  was just like, enjoy the experience,
• 42:01
  like take it all in.
• 42:02
  And I very much did that.
• 42:04
  Um,
• 42:04
  so I know like when I touched the wall
• 42:05
  and I was like super disappointed,
• 42:06
  but I had all my friends
• 42:07
  and family there.
• 42:08
  So I was like, okay,
• 42:08
  like as much as I want to
• 42:10
  cry in the locker room and
• 42:11
  crawl in a hole,
• 42:12
  like I have so much to celebrate here.
• 42:14
  So,
• 42:16
  That's cool.
• 42:17
  Yeah, that's cool.
• 42:19
  And are you planning on doing this again?
• 42:22
  Or was was this the final retirement?
• 42:25
  Everyone keeps asking me that.
• 42:27
  I'm not sure yet.
• 42:28
  I'm still like, I mean, it's great.
• 42:30
  It feels like I've lived a
• 42:31
  whole life since Olympic trials,
• 42:32
  but it's only been a month ago.
• 42:35
  So I don't know.
• 42:36
  But
• 42:37
  being in Texas,
• 42:37
  like there's so many more
• 42:38
  swimming opportunities down
• 42:40
  here than there are in West.
• 42:40
  I mean,
• 42:41
  I was very lucky to have the pool
• 42:42
  West Virginia and we
• 42:43
  definitely had like a lot
• 42:44
  of meets and stuff like that.
• 42:44
  I was so thankful to have
• 42:45
  that in my backyard.
• 42:47
  Um,
• 42:47
  but there's just like a lot of more
• 42:48
  opportunities just in terms of, I mean,
• 42:49
  there's masters swimming
• 42:51
  and stuff down here.
• 42:51
  If I want to get into that
• 42:52
  or I can continue like
• 42:54
  regular club swimming with
• 42:56
  big little kids.
• 42:57
  So there's just a lot of
• 42:59
  opportunities down here and we'll see.
• 43:02
  If I do,
• 43:02
  I'd probably go back to the
• 43:04
  swimming one day a week and
• 43:05
  just doing CrossFit and
• 43:06
  seeing how long I can do that for.
• 43:10
  But we'll see.
• 43:12
  Is there any goal in the
• 43:14
  CrossFit world to compete?
• 43:17
  Um, I don't know.
• 43:19
  So my goal in CrossFit was
• 43:20
  always to make water Palooza and I was,
• 43:22
  um, lucky enough to, I mean,
• 43:24
  I didn't necessarily qualify,
• 43:26
  but I got to compete there.
• 43:27
  So, um, that was kind of the goal there,
• 43:30
  but the gym that I'm at
• 43:32
  right now in Texas is pretty competitive.
• 43:34
  Um, and it's been fun,
• 43:36
  like training with other
• 43:37
  people who are very
• 43:38
  competitive and like push
• 43:39
  me and stuff like that.
• 43:40
  So we'll see where that takes me.
• 43:42
  Uh,
• 43:43
  And I know,
• 43:45
  I know they're great at putting
• 43:46
  together teams.
• 43:47
  They are great at putting together teams.
• 43:49
  Yes, they are.
• 43:51
  Yeah.
• 43:52
  You're close to masters,
• 43:56
  which is cool too.
• 43:59
  I want to ask a couple of things just like,
• 44:02
  what are the major
• 44:03
  differences between
• 44:04
  swimming training and CrossFit training?
• 44:08
  So it's funny because I love swimming.
• 44:12
  And if I have to pick,
• 44:14
  I don't even want to think
• 44:15
  about picking because that's too hard.
• 44:17
  But I love swimming,
• 44:21
  but I hate getting wet.
• 44:24
  So I love CrossFit because it's fun.
• 44:26
  It's more fun than swimming is.
• 44:30
  You get to do with your
• 44:30
  friends and laugh and have fun.
• 44:32
  And swimming,
• 44:33
  you're just by yourself with
• 44:34
  your face in the water all the time.
• 44:37
  But I like swimming because
• 44:39
  like you have an event and
• 44:40
  that's what you're good at.
• 44:41
  And you put,
• 44:43
  every second of every day of
• 44:44
  training into making
• 44:46
  yourself the best at that
• 44:47
  one event and CrossFit,
• 44:49
  you have to be good at
• 44:50
  everything and you have to do everything,
• 44:52
  even if you're bad at it.
• 44:52
  So like we said,
• 44:53
  like I'm terrible at breaststroke.
• 44:55
  I haven't raised
• 44:55
  breaststroke since I was 16
• 44:56
  years old and I have no
• 44:57
  problem with that.
• 44:59
  Great.
• 44:59
  Love that.
• 45:00
  But like CrossFit, I suck at squatting,
• 45:03
  but I have to squat anyway.
• 45:05
  And I hate that.
• 45:08
  A swimmer that hates getting wet.
• 45:11
  I mean, I,
• 45:13
  Does anybody like getting wet?
• 45:15
  I mean, once I'm in, it's fine.
• 45:16
  But like that initial jump
• 45:17
  in is just terrible.
• 45:21
  I never even thought about that.
• 45:23
  Really?
• 45:24
  Yeah.
• 45:25
  I hate it.
• 45:27
  What's funny to me is like,
• 45:29
  I think like why I
• 45:30
  gravitated across it so
• 45:31
  much is I got pigeonholed as a 200,
• 45:34
  500 guy.
• 45:35
  And I swam freestyle like all the time.
• 45:37
  And I just, you know, almost burnt me out.
• 45:41
  I would swim high school those two events.
• 45:44
  I swam them every event from
• 45:46
  freshman through junior year.
• 45:48
  Yeah.
• 45:49
  That's a grind.
• 45:50
  I would go to the Y swim meets,
• 45:52
  like the invitationals,
• 45:54
  and I would sign up for
• 45:55
  every single event just for variety.
• 45:58
  Yeah.
• 46:00
  Even breaststroke,
• 46:01
  which I was terrible at.
• 46:03
  I mean, I only swam the 15.
• 46:04
  That's why I started doing
• 46:05
  butterfly again.
• 46:06
  I was like,
• 46:06
  I don't want to just swim
• 46:06
  freestyle all the time.
• 46:07
  What fun is that?
• 46:08
  I'm going to do a little bit of butterfly.
• 46:09
  Yeah.
• 46:10
  Yeah,
• 46:11
  it just... It was just something to do,
• 46:13
  something fun to do.
• 46:15
  Exactly, exactly.
• 46:18
  So then those are the differences.
• 46:20
  The one thing I found very
• 46:23
  similar was interval training.
• 46:25
  Swimming is nothing but interval training.
• 46:28
  Yeah, that's why I was initially,
• 46:30
  I feel like,
• 46:31
  pretty good at CrossFit
• 46:32
  because I already knew how
• 46:32
  to pace myself pretty well.
• 46:34
  I've always been pretty good at pacing,
• 46:38
  so...
• 46:39
  that definitely helped out in CrossFit.
• 46:42
  Do you find any other
• 46:43
  similarities between the two?
• 46:45
  Um, I don't know.
• 46:46
  I feel like they're very different,
• 46:48
  but like mentally,
• 46:48
  like just being able to
• 46:49
  like push through those things.
• 46:52
  Um, yeah.
• 46:54
  And it's like,
• 46:55
  it's weird because in CrossFit, like,
• 46:58
  like in swimming, you can't stop.
• 46:59
  Like if you get tired in the
• 47:00
  middle of the pool, like you can't stop,
• 47:02
  you have to keep going.
• 47:03
  But in CrossFit, um,
• 47:05
  like if you get tired,
• 47:05
  you can drop the barbell,
• 47:06
  but like swimming kind of
• 47:07
  helped in that way.
• 47:08
  I'm like, okay, like that mentality,
• 47:10
  like I can't stop, like just keep going.
• 47:13
  Um, kind of carried over into CrossFit.
• 47:15
  I mean,
• 47:15
  I still stop a lot and take a lot
• 47:17
  of breaks in CrossFit,
• 47:19
  but I think that definitely
• 47:20
  like mentally that helped.
• 47:22
  Yeah.
• 47:23
  I see that from swimming
• 47:25
  definitely carried over
• 47:26
  into CrossFit to this day.
• 47:28
  Occasionally that part of
• 47:29
  that brain clicks in,
• 47:30
  like you can't put this down.
• 47:31
  Like you, you've got,
• 47:33
  you've got to bike more.
• 47:34
  Like,
• 47:36
  Like it,
• 47:37
  it sometimes kicks in and it's
• 47:39
  cool when it does.
• 47:40
  Yeah.
• 47:41
  Um, so when you were training,
• 47:46
  you said you're doing comp
• 47:47
  train and just kind of their,
• 47:49
  their online programming.
• 47:51
  Yeah.
• 47:51
  My gym, um,
• 47:53
  the whole gym followed comp train.
• 47:54
  So I was just following their,
• 47:56
  like they follow the
• 47:56
  regular class stuff and I
• 47:57
  would do like the semis track.
• 47:59
  So it had like a,
• 48:00
  like some extra
• 48:01
  weightlifting and just extra pieces,
• 48:02
  but yeah,
• 48:03
  it was just the standard programming.
• 48:06
  Yeah.
• 48:08
  Do you think you'd ever get
• 48:09
  to a point where you do
• 48:10
  more specific programming,
• 48:12
  something designed for you?
• 48:14
  Like if you decided to come again,
• 48:17
  maybe get someone to work
• 48:18
  with you and play with that
• 48:20
  experiment of what kind of
• 48:22
  training works best with
• 48:23
  this swimming thing?
• 48:26
  Yeah, so I did.
• 48:28
  When I had switched to like 50-50-ish,
• 48:30
  I did have a strength coach
• 48:32
  at that point.
• 48:32
  He was a PT, Kevin Kirsch.
• 48:35
  um,
• 48:35
  does program for several other cross
• 48:37
  athletes.
• 48:38
  But so he's like familiar with everything.
• 48:39
  He used to keep compete in
• 48:40
  CrossFit as well.
• 48:42
  So he's familiar,
• 48:42
  but I didn't do a whole lot
• 48:43
  of CrossFit stuff, but, um,
• 48:46
  he probably could program that for me,
• 48:48
  but yeah, there's,
• 48:49
  I feel like there aren't a
• 48:50
  lot of CrossFit coaches
• 48:51
  that are like super familiar, um,
• 48:54
  with swimming.
• 48:55
  So that's why I kind of felt at first,
• 48:57
  like I, since I do both, um,
• 49:02
  why I just kind of handled it myself.
• 49:04
  I was like, okay,
• 49:04
  like I've swam long enough.
• 49:06
  I don't know a whole lot.
• 49:07
  Like I've done CrossFit long enough.
• 49:08
  Like I get it.
• 49:10
  So yeah, I feel like if I did it again,
• 49:13
  like it would just take a
• 49:15
  lot for a CrossFit coach to
• 49:16
  like sit down and tailor
• 49:17
  like a whole season of that.
• 49:20
  I feel like, so I don't know.
• 49:23
  I think you could be with it.
• 49:27
  Innovation for the swimming sport.
• 49:29
  What do you say?
• 49:29
  I think it could be a major
• 49:31
  innovation for the sports.
• 49:32
  I know.
• 49:33
  That's what people actually
• 49:34
  keep telling me.
• 49:34
  They're like, you should write a book.
• 49:35
  I'm like, I don't know.
• 49:36
  The first thing you're writing a book,
• 49:37
  like I made this stuff.
• 49:39
  I was just making this up.
• 49:41
  Should have made more notes along the way.
• 49:45
  So I want to finish this up
• 49:46
  with a little fanboy stuff.
• 49:49
  Because when I was a little kid,
• 49:52
  when I was a teenager and
• 49:53
  going to Clarion all the
• 49:54
  time for lessons and camps,
• 49:57
  Tippin Gymnasium and
• 49:59
  Auditorium was full of
• 50:00
  these pictures in the hallways.
• 50:03
  of hall of famers uh from
• 50:05
  clarion university who went
• 50:07
  on to do great things and I
• 50:08
  would I would walk the
• 50:09
  halls and I always wanted
• 50:11
  to be one of those people I
• 50:13
  wanted that was my goal
• 50:15
  yeah and you became one of
• 50:19
  those hall of famers I know
• 50:22
  it's crazy so when when you
• 50:26
  were approached saying hey
• 50:27
  we want to induct you into
• 50:30
  the clarion hall of fame
• 50:32
  And you knew you were going
• 50:33
  to get one of those
• 50:33
  pictures up on the wall.
• 50:35
  Like, what went through your head?
• 50:38
  It was, like,
• 50:38
  super cool because my coach
• 50:41
  is actually the only other
• 50:42
  swimmer at Clarion that was
• 50:44
  a 28-time All-American,
• 50:46
  Christina Tillotson.
• 50:47
  So it was so funny because growing up,
• 50:49
  we always had, like,
• 50:49
  state meets at Clarion.
• 50:50
  And I actually hated that pool.
• 50:52
  So when they called to recruit me,
• 50:53
  I was like, I don't even want to go.
• 50:54
  Like, I hate that pool.
• 50:56
  I don't want to go to Clarion.
• 50:57
  I told my parents,
• 50:58
  but I really liked our assistant coach.
• 51:00
  She went by Tilly.
• 51:01
  So she did a really great
• 51:03
  job recruiting me.
• 51:03
  And then I went on a trip up
• 51:05
  there and the team was just so nice.
• 51:07
  Like all the girls were amazing.
• 51:08
  Like I just loved everything about it.
• 51:10
  So it was so funny that I ended up there.
• 51:12
  And then the Hall of Fame
• 51:13
  banquet was always like my
• 51:15
  favorite time of the year
• 51:16
  when like all the alumni
• 51:17
  would come back and like
• 51:18
  we'd all party together or
• 51:19
  something like that.
• 51:20
  it was always a lot of fun
• 51:21
  so it was like always my
• 51:22
  favorite time of year I
• 51:22
  think it was my freshman
• 51:23
  year that my our assistant
• 51:25
  coach that recruited me she
• 51:27
  I we watched her get
• 51:28
  inducted to the hall of
• 51:29
  fame so and it never really
• 51:30
  occurred to me like and
• 51:31
  probably until my senior
• 51:32
  year that like hey if we if
• 51:35
  we can just seal the deal
• 51:36
  with these relays like I
• 51:38
  got it in the bag here the
• 51:39
  whole 28 time all-american
• 51:40
  thing so um at the time I
• 51:42
  didn't really like think
• 51:43
  too much of it because my
• 51:44
  goal was to always be like
• 51:45
  a national champion and the
• 51:47
  highest I got was second so
• 51:49
  I remember when I was in college,
• 51:50
  like at that point,
• 51:51
  I like didn't even care
• 51:53
  that much about like,
• 51:54
  like wasn't even thinking
• 51:55
  about the hall of fame.
• 51:55
  Like I would just knew that
• 51:57
  I was never a national
• 51:58
  champion and that like tainted it for me.
• 52:01
  Um, but then,
• 52:01
  so like years later when I
• 52:02
  got inducted and like looked back on it,
• 52:04
  I was like, actually like, no,
• 52:05
  that's like really freaking cool.
• 52:06
  Like I'm really excited about that.
• 52:08
  So,
• 52:08
  and I had a bunch of friends all come
• 52:09
  back for like my induction
• 52:11
  and stuff like that.
• 52:12
  My family was there.
• 52:12
  So it was a lot of fun.
• 52:16
  I, uh,
• 52:17
  I want to share just a quick
• 52:18
  story about Coach Miller.
• 52:20
  And so I was swimming.
• 52:21
  It was either a sectional or
• 52:23
  district meet in at Edinburgh.
• 52:27
  And did you get you?
• 52:28
  Did you guys still swim them
• 52:29
  when you were?
• 52:30
  Yep, we were up in Edinburgh.
• 52:32
  And my mom was sitting right
• 52:35
  in front of Coach Miller.
• 52:37
  And we've been working on
• 52:38
  the 200 and on and on.
• 52:40
  And anyway,
• 52:41
  I break break my PR by two seconds.
• 52:44
  And when I see it,
• 52:45
  I almost came out of the water.
• 52:47
  I was so excited.
• 52:48
  My mom almost fell out of the stands.
• 52:51
  Coach Miller grabbed her by
• 52:54
  the shirt and saved her life.
• 52:57
  Oh my gosh.
• 52:58
  That's so funny.
• 53:00
  Um, but it was, it was really cool that,
• 53:02
  that he was there.
• 53:04
  Cause it was not a college
• 53:05
  meet by any stretch.
• 53:06
  And he was there to support
• 53:07
  me even as a little high
• 53:09
  school swimmer at the time, uh,
• 53:11
  to do that.
• 53:12
  And, uh, he's just,
• 53:14
  he is a great guy and I
• 53:15
  want to go on to say,
• 53:16
  so he did that for you.
• 53:18
  And, um, in 2016,
• 53:19
  when I went to Olympic trials,
• 53:20
  so I was four,
• 53:22
  five years removed from
• 53:23
  college at that point.
• 53:24
  Um, and.
• 53:25
  Coach Van Dyke actually
• 53:26
  surprised me and drove out
• 53:27
  to Omaha to see me swim at
• 53:29
  Olympic trials.
• 53:31
  And it was like, I cried.
• 53:33
  It was so nice.
• 53:34
  I was so happy that he could
• 53:35
  be there to watch me.
• 53:37
  He was the coolest counselor
• 53:38
  when I was at camp.
• 53:40
  I'm sure he was.
• 53:41
  The coolest.
• 53:42
  He was the best coach.
• 53:45
  Um, so yeah, so we'll, we'll end it there.
• 53:48
  Um, this has been a lot of fun going down.
• 53:51
  I didn't want to ask.
• 53:52
  I cannot believe all that.
• 53:54
  What was your favorite
• 53:55
  restaurant in Clarion?
• 53:57
  Oh my gosh.
• 53:58
  Everybody loves Bob sub,
• 53:59
  but I don't like mayonnaise.
• 54:01
  So I was never a Bob sub fan.
• 54:03
  Oh my gosh.
• 54:03
  We're twins.
• 54:05
  Really?
• 54:05
  You don't either.
• 54:06
  We are twins.
• 54:07
  I don't know anybody else
• 54:08
  who doesn't like Bob subs.
• 54:10
  Yeah.
• 54:10
  I hate Bob sub because of the mayonnaise.
• 54:12
  Yes.
• 54:13
  Was pizza pub there when you were there?
• 54:15
  Oh yeah.
• 54:16
  Oh yeah.
• 54:16
  Pizza pub's where it's at.
• 54:18
  It is.
• 54:18
  That's my, that's my, see?
• 54:20
  Oh my God.
• 54:22
  Oh my God.
• 54:23
  I'm clearing and go to pizza
• 54:24
  pub and reminisce.
• 54:26
  Yeah.
• 54:26
  Do you know Bob's up burnt down?
• 54:28
  It did.
• 54:28
  Yeah.
• 54:29
  And I would,
• 54:30
  I keep telling my wife it's
• 54:32
  because of all that damn
• 54:33
  mayonnaise caught on fire
• 54:35
  and they couldn't control it.
• 54:39
  Went up in flames.
• 54:40
  Yeah, that's awesome.
• 54:42
  Well, this has been a blast.
• 54:44
  It has.
• 54:45
  I'm so glad we got to do it.
• 54:46
  Thank you for having me.
• 54:48
  Are you going to the games?
• 54:49
  You're now in Texas.
• 54:51
  I know.
• 54:51
  It was actually very poor planning.
• 54:53
  I'm going to a concert in
• 54:54
  Philadelphia on like
• 54:55
  Tuesday and the games start Thursday.
• 54:57
  So I'm not going to be here for the games.
• 54:59
  I have to go home for this concert.
• 55:03
  And I'm heading to Texas that week.
• 55:05
  Oh, dang.
• 55:06
  I'll wait until you pass on my way.
• 55:10
  Well,
• 55:10
  it's so awesome to meet you and
• 55:11
  hopefully our paths cross again.
• 55:13
  I'm sure they will.
• 55:15
  And I can't wait to see what
• 55:16
  you do in the future.
• 55:17
  Thank you so much.
• 55:18
  It's been so much fun.
• 55:20
  Yeah.
• 55:20
  Thank you for joining us, Caitlin.
• 55:21
  Thank you to people in the chat.
• 55:23
  This has been awesome.
• 55:24
  And we will see everybody
• 55:25
  next time on the Clydesdale
• 55:27
  Media Podcast.
• 55:28
  Thank you.