US Olympian Dave Sims Returns to Swimming With a Unique Approach, EP 256

Can a former US Olympian and Stanford University Star rediscover the joy of swimming decades after his peak?  A member of the Santa Barbara Masters, meet Dave Sims, who not only embraced the sport again in his 40s but also shattered national records along the way since returning to the sport two decades ago. 

In this fun on-deck edition of Champions Mojo, we chat with Dave about his journey from the 1980 Olympic team to becoming a masters swimmer. Hear how Dave made the remarkable transition from excelling in long-distance events to mastering breaststroke and butterfly, and even taking on the challenge of learning breaststroke at 47. His story is an inspiring testament to keeping the sport fresh and fun by continuously challenging oneself with new events and strokes.

At 62, Dave Sims is more passionate than ever about swimming and committed to a lifetime of active living. Inspired by swimmers in their 90s and even over 100 who still compete, Dave shares his training regimen that balances swimming three times a week with dryland exercises. Join hosts Kelly Palace and Maria Parker as they explore Dave’s philosophy on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and his unwavering enthusiasm for the sport. This episode is packed with insights and motivation for anyone looking to embrace lifelong fitness and the joy of swimming.

Email us at HELLO@ChampionsMojo.com. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.

You can learn more about the Host and Founder of Champions Mojo at www.KellyPalace.com

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to the award-winning Champions Mojo hosted by two world record-holding athletes. Be inspired as you listen to conversations with champions and now your hosts, kelly Pallas and Maria Parker.

Speaker 2 0:16

Hello friends, Welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast. I am your host, Kelly Pallas, and, as usual, I am with my co-host, Maria Parker. Hey Maria, hey Kelly, it's great to be with you here today. Yes, and Maria, this is a special edition of Champions Mojo from the Pool Deck and we have a great interview for you today. It's brief, it's short, but it's powerful.

Speaker 3 0:47

Yeah, interview for you today. It's brief, it's short, but it's powerful. Yeah, I wasn't there, but I was able to listen to the interview and some great takeaways.

Speaker 2 0:51

Yeah, we hope you'll stick around and catch the takeaways. And here we go. I'm on deck at US Masters Long Course. Mash is with Dave Sims, who was an Olympian in 1980, but now he is a master swimmer and he swam at Stanford with my good friend Zena Courtney and I just met him on deck. And, Dave, I just wanted to check in with you. How is your meet going?

Speaker 4 1:16

So far, so good. I'm a sprinter now just focusing on the freestyle and the butterfly and yeah, I've got two wins in a second so far.

Speaker 2 1:28

Okay. So you made the Olympic team in 1980 in the 1500. So I ask you, as a fellow 1500 swimmer did you swim the 1500 here? You said no.

Speaker 4 1:40

In order to swim the 1500 and then the other long events, you really have to train for it, and it's a different type of training than what most master's programs do and it requires probably a little more pool time than I have at the moment. So I just like trying new things and trying different events and trying to just you know, find new challenges within the sport.

Speaker 2 2:06

So I love that, that it seems like you're really having a lot of fun, and that is finding those new challenges. One thing you said to me before we started recording that I'd love you to expand on is you said you learned to swim breaststroke at 47.

Speaker 4 2:21

Yes, that's right. So I started master swimming at age 47 and I entered the 200 IM and realized that if you want to have a good 200 IM you have to know how to do breaststroke. So I took a couple of years and focused on it and, you know, even went so far as to enter myself in the breaststroke events at the nationals. Lo and behold, I wound up breaking the 200 IM record that year by a pretty substantial margin at age 49, which is at the top of the age group. So that was very satisfying and gratifying to do that, because I had never done breaststroke as a youngster.

Speaker 2 3:00

That is really cool. There are many, many things that we can do as master swimmers that will still challenge us, Even if we've swum the same events. There are four strokes, aren't there?

Speaker 4 3:09

Yes, right, and most people go through their swimming careers without really becoming proficient at all. Four, and there's no reason that you can't I mean nobody can be the best at everything but you can certainly improve in all areas, and so that's actually a lot more fun to make improvements on things you haven't done when you were younger. It keeps the sport fresh for me. So I love trying new things and trying new events and, you know, not letting anything get too stale.

Speaker 2 3:40

So you're 62 now. What does your future of swimming look like?

Speaker 4 3:46

Well, I hope to never stop as long as I live. You know, I watch these swimmers who are in their 90s or over 100 and they're still swimming, and you know, I don't see why I shouldn't also think that I can do that, because it's a great sport, it's very healthy and I love it. It's always fun, so why not just keep doing it forever?

Speaker 2 4:13

What kind of training are you able to fit in?

Speaker 4 4:16

It's different from year to year and it depends on what else is going on in life, but this year, for instance, I am swimming three times a week maybe, and doing some dryland training on my own.

Speaker 2 4:30

What does that dryland encompass for you?

Speaker 4 4:33

It's about an hour of just like body weight exercises and some light dumbbells and some kettlebells. Nothing heavy, nothing too strenuous.

Speaker 2 4:44

And your three swims a week. Is that 2,000, 5,000?

Speaker 4 4:49

So the swimming is generally about 3,000. With the team I'm on, we train for about, which is the Santa Barbara Masters, and we train about an hour and 15 minutes. We have workouts six days a week so you can go when you need to go or want to go. In those workouts we do about 3,000 meters and then when it comes close to competition I switch and I kind of go off on my own a little bit and I do more sprint training now that I'm a sprinter.

Speaker 2 5:18

Yeah, I love it. So your day job. What do you do during the day?

Speaker 4 5:24

So I have a commercial real estate company and we specialize in hotels and resorts. I have four partners and currently we're spread across four time zones, but we manage to make it work. Yeah, I hope to keep doing it for a couple more years, then spend a lot more time swimming.

Speaker 2 5:44

I love it. Wow, we better look out for that. I might want to see you in a 1500 at some point. Well, maybe.

Speaker 4 5:48

I'll try it again when I can really devote the time and energy to it. Yeah, you know you can't fake it.

Speaker 2 5:54

No, you cannot fake it. I try to do that in this meet. What would you tell other Olympians or people that were at a super high level of the sport of swimming that are just their egos are stopping them from coming out here, or maybe there's something else that's stopping them? But what would you tell fellow Olympians that, hey, you really need to get out here.

Speaker 4 6:14

Yeah, so a lot of fellow Olympians are truly burned out by the time they're done and you know some of them even have like PTSD when it comes to getting in a pool. But what I learned in the last 15 years is that there are so many other challenges that you can focus on that keep it fresh and, you know, sort of reignites and reinvigorates the love for the sport that we all had when we were growing up as kids. You know, just starting out in the sport. So I would encourage former swimmers that take up master swimming. Don't swim the events they used to swim when they were younger. Try something new. Try to better what you were worse at back then, because it's going to be fresh and it's going to be fun and it's going to reignite that passion that you had for the sport.

Speaker 2 7:06

I love it. Is there anything that I have not asked you that you would like to share with our listeners?

Speaker 4 7:12

Master. Swimming is a fantastic form of physical activity and recreation and the competitions are, I think, a real benefit to anybody who wants to do it, because if you train without competing you can get very stale and you can get very old when you compete. It forces you to focus a little more and you know no one's getting faster here as they get older. So it's not really so much about the times, but it's really about the focus and you know how you spend your energy times. But it's really about the focus and you know how you spend your energy and you know seeing how you can push your body and mind to do things that maybe you didn't think you could do.

Speaker 2 7:55

Great. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.

Speaker 4 7:57

You're welcome.

Speaker 1 7:59

Stay tuned for the takeaways. Want to succeed like a champion? Five-time Olympic coach Bob Bowman, coach of Olympic legend Michael Phelps, says Kelly's book Take your Mark Lead is a powerful addition to your personal improvement library, and learners from all walks of life will gain key insights and enjoy this inspiring book. Take your Mark Lead debuted as an Amazon number one bestseller in five categories and is available online. And now the takeaways.

Speaker 2 8:31

So the takeaways on Dave Sims, olympian and amazing Stanford swimmer. So, maria, what was your first takeaway on him?

Speaker 3 8:40

Again. Great interview. Need to listen to the whole thing. It's not that long. This is what I just loved. He learned the breaststroke. This guy's an Olympian, but he really learned the breaststroke at age 47. It's so important, as we age, to be confident enough to try to learn new things, and that just inspired the heck out of me.

Speaker 2 8:56

Yes, yes, and my thing that I asked him, which I really love. For any elite swimmer you don't have to be an Olympian. But let's say you were a great swimmer in your youth and you are terrified to come back to master swimming. His advice was just do something different than you did. And he's inspired me where I've kind of been hanging in my normal events that I swam really well when I was younger and I think because of this I'm going to branch out. I'm going to say I don't care if I get last, you know, I'm going to try the 200 back or I'm going to try the 200 IM or something that is not in my wheelhouse, and I love that for coming back, because then you're not comparing yourself to maybe what you were and you can just dip your toes in the water and still have a really good time and improve and have some goals that aren't going to be compared.

Speaker 3 9:44

Yeah, Great, it's a self-confident approach. I really love that.

Speaker 2 9:49

Yes, and they say we should do things that we could potentially fail at right, things that scare us. So, yeah, all right. Well, dave Sims, what a great guy. Yeah, all right, love you, kelly, bye, love you Bye.

Speaker 1 10:04

Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast. Did you enjoy the show? We'd be grateful if you would leave us a five-star review on iTunes to help others find us, and we'd also love to hear from you. We're on all social media platforms or you can reach us at championsmojocom.