Julie Bachman and John Bradley join to discuss a proposal that fell flat at USA Swimming for short, low official count meets for 14 and under swimmers. We discuss why it’s important to innovate in the swim meet space and find a way to bring new swimmers to the sport.
Relationship Between Training and Performance
This week, I take some time to reflect after a meet weekend on the relationship between training and performance. What does it mean to create a training effect? How do you make sure your training is holistic? Finally, how can and should you evaluate performance?
Eddie Reese Retiring: Emergency Pod
You read the title, you know what it is about!
Joel and Erik: NCAA Men 1 Event, Women Wrap up and Recruiting
Joel and Erik are here once again for the Thursday pod where we talk NCAA swimming. We start by giving our snapshot analysis of the men’s meet, and then look back at the women’s meet the week before.
Finally, we discuss the morality of how much pressure is appropriate to put on kids at 16-17 years old in the recruiting process.
Joel and Erik: Women's NCAA Predictions and Second Guessing Bob Bowman
Today on the Swim Brief we make our official NCAA Women’s meet predictions. Surprise, there was a lot of buzz about Virginia.
Before that, we revisited Bob Bowman’s decision to redshirt his entire ASU team: was it a good move or did his competitors get a leg up by going ahead this year?
From Race Pace to Work Works
Hi, this week on the podcast I decided fresh off a meet to go through how I set up my practices. I go into the history of why I had a strong bias towards race pace training way back to my own swimming career, and why I now run practice in what I would consider “high volume”:
News: Sjoestrom, Meet Cancellation, Costs of Swimming
Today on the podcast I am joined by Joel Rollings and Erik Wiken to discuss the news. We talk about the recent news that Sarah Sjoestrom broke her arm, the cancellation of multiple college national championship meets.
Finally, we talk about the cost of club swimming and drinking coffee.
Matt Crispino
This week on the podcast I am joined by the Head Coach of Men's Swimming and Diving at Princeton University Matt Crispino. We talk about his time both as a swimmer and a coach at William and Mary, the fight to bring that program back, and his decision to step into a leadership position at Princeton.
We also discuss coaching trees and stick around for the end where I unveil my most devious lightning round yet.
News: Olympic Trials, NCAAs and Austin Surhoff
This week on the news, Joel Rollings and Erik Wiken join once again to talk through the biggest stories of the week.
We talk about the announcement of a split Olympic Trials, and the implications for swimmers, coaches and clubs.
Then we turn to Greg Earhart’s letter about the possibility of an NCAA championship at the end of the year.
Finally, we discuss Austin Surhoff’s recent podcast where he talks about the 45 minute workouts that have propelled him to lifetime bests in the 50 and 100 free:
Swim Brief: Paul Donovan
This week on the podcast I talk to my boss Paul Donovan. A lot of people have been asking about this interview and I think if you like this podcast, you're really going to like this one.
We talk about some of the reasons he's gone beyond Ireland to pursue coaching, as well as some nitty gritty about season and workout planning. Finally, stick around for the lightning round at the end where we compare Irish and Danish soccer players.
Also if you prefer watch the youtube version:
Swim Brief: Katie Hoff Anderson and Todd Anderson
This week on the podcast I am pleased to welcome Katie Hoff Anderson and her husband Todd Anderson. Katie has a new book out called Blueprint, and she gets pretty personal about some of the ups and downs of her swimming career.
Todd was an elite athlete in his own right, and the two of them have launched a joint venture in the dryland/strength and conditioning space that takes a really holistic look at athletes.
Through Synergy, they are launching a virtual dryland program today! Listen here or subscribe on ITunes:
Abbie Fish
Happy Thanksgiving! Last week I called up Abbie Fish of Swim Like A. Fish. We talked about how her own experience as an athlete turned her away from the sport before pulling her back in as a coach.
We also talk about inventing a job that doesn’t exist and cover a couple of technique hot topics. Enjoy:
Season Start Up Considerations w/Trever Gray
Hopefully just in time for season start ups, a conversation with Trever Gray about some considerations you should take into account.
Also, a discussion of the wonderful filmography of Gerard Butler:
Michael Andrew, Keto and Race Pace
The lightning rod of international swimming, Michael Andrew, is going on a ketogenic diet. To discuss this startling development, I brought on keto dieter (and race pace trainer) Shawn Klosterman along with resident nerd Trever Gray to hash it out.
We discussed the synergy between the two, and some of the science behind it (and not behind it):
Nerd Alert: Concurrent Training
Nerd Alert is back with Professor Trever Gray, who’s here to school me on concurrent training. What does that even mean? We get into it on the podcast straight off the top.
If you’re a coach and you’re doing any kind of cross-training this is a must listen.
Trever Gray on High School, PAC-12s and Oregon St
The Swim Brief returns with Trever Gray to talk about a smorgasbord of topics. First Trever and I get to the follow up on our respective high school seasons before turning to the big meet, PAC-12s, that we got to watch this past weekend.
Finally we talk about the recent decision made to cut Oregon State’s program that I have already shared some personal feelings on.
Chris, Sarah and Trever
Today I return with Trever Gray and Sarah Ehekircher, to follow up on our podcast of last week. If you want to read more from Trever go here. If you want to hear more from Sarah her blog is here and she’s active on twitter.
Both Trever and Sarah have new research to bring to the fray this week. We turn from there to a discussion of Steve Lochte and Swimswam beginning to report on interim Safe Sport suspensions. Finally. we discuss Steve Penny, the former head of USA Gymnastics, getting arrested this past week and I go on an extended rant about Tom Brokaw. Enjoy.
Nerd Alert: Supplements
Today I am joined once again by Trever Gray. Trever schools me on a topic that I don't that much about, but should know more: supplements.
We go through the Madisyn Cox case and talk about some of the reasons people take supplements, as well as some of the free resources that are out there for making more informed decisions.