It's time for an on-deck interview to help you live well and swim well. Welcome to Champions Mojo. And now your host, Kelly Palace.
SPEAKER_02We are
doing an on-deck interview at the beautiful city of Fort Lauderdale Aquatics Center. We're at the fall classic short course meters meet. And I am with Lauren Anderson. And Lauren, we are going to start out just with our quick
10. So give us your name, your age, and your team. So my name is Lauren Anderson.
SPEAKER_01I'm 51, but I will be 52 in three weeks. And I swim per Palm Beach Masters Oahoos. Very good. And um, what do you do for a living? I am in social work. So I work for a national nonprofit and we work with kids in foster care group homes. We provide trauma mental health services and forensic interviewing in a few different states across the country. Very nice.
All right. What is your swimming history? So I'm the youngest of three. And so I started swimming on a swim team when I was um I was the only one that kept at it. My two older brothers eventually moved on to other things, but I swam all the way through college. I swam at Colgate University in New York State. And then I was done when I was 21 and I graduated. I was very much done with swimming. I ended up taking about a 25-year break after I graduated, got a job, got married, got a dog, got a house, got a kid. And so eventually back in 2018 is when I joined the master's team and came back to swimming. And it really was like I found a piece of myself that I didn't realize had been missing.
SPEAKER_02So that is beautiful.
So what is your best or favorite event? Doesn't have to be the same one. I think my best and favorite event is the 100 brushstroke. Okay. Um, nice.
So uh with that in mind, what kind of training regimen do you do to, you know, to get ready for a meet like this?
SPEAKER_01So I have started incorporating more strokes specific sets in for my meets because a lot of master's practices are very freestyle heavy or I am. So I've been trying to focus more on brushstroke. And so I'll do some rope-in 200 sets, either 450s or 75, 50, 50, 25. Um, and I've also started making sure I kick at every practice, and I'm doing breaststroke kick, so four to five hundred different sets of kicking and to get my legs strong because I need that for the 200. Did you swim the hunter
breast today? I did swim the hunter breasts today. How was it? It was my best short course meter time by almost a second and a half. So I'm happy with it. Very good.
SPEAKER_02Very good. So actually, I skipped this question for
some reason. Your favorite swimming accomplishment.
SPEAKER_01Um, I think when I went to Irvine for spring nationals a couple of years ago, and it was my best meet as an adult. And I swam next to Gabby Rose in the brushstroke events. Of course, this was like a year and a half before the she kind of came into the limelight in the um Olympic trials, but she was in the same age group as me. And I had a really great swim, and that was just like really fun to be able to do. And now to look back and be like, I swam against an Olympian almost, you know?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's very cool. Um, how about you alluded to a
favorite set? Um, is there anything other than like a broken 200 or another set you really love for your breaststroke?
SPEAKER_01So, one of the things that we've been trying to do is every so often actually do really all out off-the-block sets. Um, so we've been doing like 75 off the block, and then we get a good four or five minutes, but it's all out and then a 50 off the block and then a 25 off the block. And I'll do that for freestyle and for breaststroke. And usually on a Saturday, it takes a long time to do because of the recovery period, but it's I think gotten my body a little bit more used to that all-out swimming and off the blocks and turns fast because I think as a master swimmer, we don't get a lot of historically, I haven't gotten a lot of turn and start practice. And so being able to do that has been helpful.
SPEAKER_02Totally agree. I think that is the missing piece for people that really want to be competitive. All
right. What is your biggest comeback in life?
SPEAKER_01I do think it is swimming. 2018 was kind of a pivotal point for me because I came back to swimming. And then I had some the next two years, I would say, from 2018 to 2020, I had some big life changes. I ended up getting divorced, um, moving, and starting a new job all at once. And it was sort of, it wasn't even really a comeback, I guess. It was more of like a refresh. And it was in the middle of COVID, which made it even more interesting. But it was, I it was like a new beginning. And that was uh, I look back at that time very fondly.
SPEAKER_02Very nice. I would say a 25-year layoff is a comeback.
Um, okay, what Olympic swimmer, and they could be dead or alive, um, would you like to have lunch with? I mean, can I have lunch with Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglas? Sure, sure. They're friends, they'd probably allow that. I love it. Um, okay, fun fact about you.
I have a 23-year-old daughter and two grandcats, and that's about it. Nice, nice. That that's a fun fact. All right. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you would like to share with the master swimming community?
SPEAKER_01I think that swimming has been such a huge part of this period of my life, you know, my 40s and now my 50s, and helping me feel grounded, finding a community, staying healthy, staying sh structured, I guess, and disciplined. And I just think it's such an incredible community that we all have in master swimming. And I'm so glad that I found it. Wonderful. Thanks for spending this time with me today, and good luck. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast. Would you consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple? That's like getting a best time for us. Kelly and our team would be so grateful. See you next week for another boost of mojo.