Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast with Christine Coppola - Open Water Marathon Swimmer

This week on Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast we have Miami marathon swimmer Christine Coppola as our guest. We explore her dedicated open water marathon swimming journey, delving into her training routine and experiences with local swim squads in Miami. Christine shares insights into transitioning from pool to ocean swimming with her weekly sessions in both environments.

We discuss Christine's 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan, a 48km endurance challenge, detailing her strategies and mental resilience for navigating open waters. 
What happens when you have a loss of confidence halfway through such an epic swim? Hear how Christine overcame her own self doubt to refocus during the swim. She also shares her preparations for her upcoming the Catalina Channel swim.

From Fort Lauderdale's Hall of Fame pool to dreaming of swimming in Bondi Beach's Icebergs Pool, her passion for the sport is evident. Join us for a deep dive into Christine's swimming journey, bound to leave a lasting impact on your imagination and perhaps inspire your own aquatic pursuits.

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Torpedo Swimtalk is sponsored by AMANZI SWIMWEAR

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Hello Swimmers and welcome to another episode of Torpedo Swim Talk podcast. I'm your host, danielle Spearling, and each week we chat to a master swimmer from around the world about their swimming journey. For today's podcast, we sat down and chatted with open water marathon swimmer Christine Coppola. Living in Miami is the perfect place to swim and train in the pool and in the ocean, and we find out all about Christine's recent Manhattan swim and her upcoming Catalina one. Let's hear from Christine now. Hey there, bob. Hi Christine, welcome to the podcast. Hi, thank you so much for having me. Oh, you're really welcome. Where are you based in the US and what pool do you swim out of?

Speaker 2: 0:56

Sure, I'm in Miami, florida, and I'm lucky enough to have lots of outdoor pools, so I swim at one, right down the street from my house it's like less than a mile. But then I also swim at another one that's local as well as the ocean.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Awesome. So the two pools that you mentioned, are they 25 meters or yards? What's the configuration? Like the one that's really close.

Speaker 2: 1:20

They switch it so in the morning, from 6 to 8, it's 50 meters, and then from 9 until the rest of the day it's 25 yards, and the other one I swim at, which is ransom Everglades high school pool. They also switch between meters and yards as well 50 meters and 25 yards.

Speaker 1: 1:39

And so do those pools, have their crossover lines going each way.

Speaker 2: 1:44

So one of them does and one of them doesn't. One just sort of has the lines going 50 meters and then they just switch the lane lines and it'll go 25 yards. The other one does have those bulkhead dividers because there's actually three pools in the ransom Everglades high school pool that I swim at as well.

Speaker 1: 2:03

Yeah, you're blessed with lots of pools. Are they outdoor or indoor? Outdoor, and is there a squad that you train there with or you do it by yourself?

Speaker 2: 2:11

Tell us about that. There is a group at ransom, everglades. It's a masters team that I train with and I also train at the Fort Lauderdale swimming hall of fame with the sort the fourth Lauderdale swimming masters team as well.

Speaker 1: 2:24

Oh, nice. Okay, give us a bit of a sort of insight into that. Do they have one coach that coaches you there, or a panel of coaches? How does that work? I'm always really interested to hear about how other masters set ups happen.

Speaker 2: 2:36

Yeah it's a great facility. First of all, it was renovated. I used to train there. I'm not originally from Florida, I was born in the northeast, so in the cold and lots of indoor pools and no outdoor pools. So I moved down here. It was just such a blessing. But the Fort Lauderdale pool was sort of fell into a state of disrepair and so they did a huge renovation. It was closed for I think it was around three years, kind of during the pandemic, and it reopened and it's just better than I ever expected. The masters team has actually almost three coaches. I know two full time for sure and one person that's becoming more full time. So it's almost three coaches really and they have lots of offerings. It's a little bit farther for me so I don't get there as much. I mostly swim meets with them, but I do get there occasionally on the weekend. It's about an hour from my house and they structure their workouts, they divide people into groups by speed and they have a lot of different options and daytime, nighttime training options as well.

Speaker 1: 3:35

Oh wow that sounds amazing. Yeah, and you mentioned that you also get some open water swimming in. Is that a weekly thing or are you close to the ocean to have a swim there?

Speaker 2: 3:47

Yes, I'm about a mile from the ocean, but not the actual place I train at. It's a little bit far. It's like a 10 or 15 minute drive. Pretty close though, and it's South Beach, miami. So it's a group called the Dolphins and Rainbows. They're a phenomenally great group of people that I feel so blessed to have met. I think today we had 60 people swimming with us, so it's a nice group. We usually just go up and down the beach. Sometimes we do longer, but most of the time it's about two miles. On Sunday mornings there's smaller groups that go during the week. I just can't make it because of work and getting my son off to school, so I stick with Sundays.

Speaker 1: 4:25

That sounds beautiful. Do you have a water safety kayaker with you, or is it just you have a buddy that you swim with? How does that work?

Speaker 2: 4:34

We've split into groups so it's pretty easy, since there's so many people, to pair up with people that are the same speed, and we use buoys and there's lifeguard stations every I don't know 500 or so yards, so it's pretty safe. Do they swim in wetsuits, or is it just by this? I never use a wetsuit here because I don't think it gets cold enough. Some people do, but it's I mean, the coldest it's really going to get is like right now, which is it's 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the water, which is pretty warm.

Speaker 1: 5:02

Yeah for sure, absolutely. Is there much wildlife in the in the water around there?

Speaker 2: 5:09

There is not as much as some other places probably, but we have seen there's a hammerhead that sort of frequents the area. There's some black tips that we've seen. Right now it's actually man of war season, so that's not that fun. So depending on the way the wind is blowing, you may or may not have an encounter. And then there's manatees and things like that down here which are beautiful to look at.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Yeah, they're harmless, aren't they Manatees? Yes, yeah, thankfully so. You swim in college and you've done lots of triathlons and, obviously, us master swimming competitions, but you recently discovered the open water marathons swimming. What attracted you to the open water and why you enjoying it so much?

Speaker 2: 5:52

Yes, so I had it as part of triathlon for a while and shorter distances, and then my dad got really sick and ended up passing away in 2021. And I just felt this urge to just swim more in the ocean. And we have a great swim down here in the Keys called the Alligator Lighthouse Swim and it's an eight mile out and back swim to this beautiful lighthouse Four miles out, four miles back in the ocean, and it's like being an aquarium. Really, it's really a gorgeous swim and I did that and I was like, ok, like what's next? I absolutely fell in love with that kind of swimming and so I started to do more and more of it.

Speaker 1: 6:36

Well, that sounds amazing and you recently completed the 20 bridges swim in Manhattan. Is that 48 and a half kilometers? Am I right?

Speaker 2: 6:44

Yes, yes 28.5 miles.

Speaker 1: 6:47

Yes, wow, wow. That's amazing. Share with us what that was like, what were the highlights and what were the challenges that you encountered in doing that it was the best.

Speaker 2: 6:56

Such a great experience, an awesome organization. New York Open Water is a terrific organization with truly wonderful, helpful people that work that run the event. I was. I moved, actually, to Miami from New York, so for me it was like going back home and seeing the city that I love from a completely different vantage point. I had swum in the Hudson side a bit for New York City Triathlon, but I had never swum around the entire island, and just to be there and look at some of those iconic buildings but from the water was truly a privilege. I had a great day an amazing kayaker, a great observer, just a wonderful experience overall.

Speaker 1: 7:37

And what, and what sort of? What was the water quality like on the day?

Speaker 2: 7:42

I thought it was great. So when I used to live there, which was now about nine years ago, I remember it being, you know, less than clean, but they've really done a lot to clean up the rivers and there's a lot of organization and attention to cleaning up the river, which is great. So I noticed a huge difference. I didn't even think I was going to be able to really see my hand, but I did and it felt clean. I didn't have any issues, the water temperature was perfect, so I had a great experience. How long did the swim take you? It was eight hours and 45 minutes.

Speaker 1: 8:15

And did you start in the dark, or was it all daytime swimming for you?

Speaker 2: 8:20

It was all daytime, so you started and finished. I started and finished from Pier A in Lower Manhattan and I think my start time was around 11, 11, 30 in the morning, and I finished eight hours 45 seconds and 45 minutes and some seconds later.

Speaker 1: 8:36

And do other people go off on the same day, but you're all sort of spaced apart. Is that the way it works?

Speaker 2: 8:42

Sometimes there's one swimmer and it could there could be a handful. So I had four that day with me and we did kind of all go off sort of right after one another, and did you see each other on?

Speaker 1: 8:55

the swim, or were you spread out enough that you would just buy yourself?

Speaker 2: 8:59

Yes, one of the other swimmers in particular that I was swimming with, we just kept like he was ahead and I was ahead, he was ahead and I was ahead, and then we finished within seconds, so it was almost the same time. It was a lot of fun to have that. And what do you?

Speaker 1: 9:15

think you learned from that swim that you're going to take forward into future swims.

Speaker 2: 9:20

Yes, there was a lot of learning experiences. I think I had never swum that far before that long. I had hopefully trained, I think, appropriately for it. But I think once you get to the day and you're actually swimming continuously for that amount of time I think up until about six hours, six and a half hours I felt great and I was really surprised. I was like wow, like this is hard but it's actually going really well and I don't feel anything. And then all of a sudden I actually passed the 20th bridge, which is the George Washington Bridge. I was like wow, I still have because I used to live in New York and I know how far where the finish was. I'm like I have over 280 city blocks to go. And then my shoulders started to hurt. So I think, just continuing to train but I know Catalina will take, which is my next one will take me longer and I'll have to really just double down on those long swims to make sure I'm adequately prepared. Yeah, when?

Speaker 1: 10:13

you hit that point and you realized you had 280 blocks to go. How? What did you do with your mindset that kept you going, because obviously you've got a sore shoulder. How did you overcome that?

Speaker 2: 10:25

That's a great question because I think that's really important, like moving forward and an important part of training to to prepare. I started to think about okay. I started to think about okay, it's 200 plus blocks, it's probably going to take me another two hours. Oh, my God, that's a long time. You know, you go through all those things and I said, okay, don't think about how long, don't think about how far, let's just take it one feet at a time. And I was starting to count strokes a little more. At that point I was like okay, like I'll just count 30 minutes is. You know, just keep counting your strokes and you know, maybe count to 500 and start all over and see how, see where you are there. And I started to do that and just focus on the moment. And that really changed for me and it went by really fast after that initial like 15 to 30 minutes that were a little bit painful, I can imagine.

Speaker 1: 11:15

What did you do with your sort of your, your feeding and hydration during the swim?

Speaker 2: 11:21

I use something called precision hydration. I love it and I've used it now for two really lots, so Manhattan and then around Coronado Swim and I've had really good luck with it, like the stomach handles it really well. So every 30 minutes I would drink basically a half of one of my 22 ounce bottles of that and eat one of their gels as well, and I just did that for the entire time. It wasn't cold, so I didn't have to worry about warm drinks there.

Speaker 1: 11:52

So you don't need to use any sort of wool fat or anything like that for that swim, which obviously people use for the English channel, because it's a lot colder Right.

Speaker 2: 12:00

It was. It was pretty warm it was. I think the water when I got in was 74 degrees Fahrenheit and the air was pretty similar. So that was. It was a nice, comfortable temperature.

Speaker 1: 12:10

Oh, that's nice. Are you a right hand or left handed braider? Did you see the buildings on the way past?

Speaker 2: 12:16

I did so. I predominantly breathed to the right side, but I did try to change it up so that I can see some landmarks, okay, like there's the Empire State Building and just kind of look out, just kind of see where I was, and then there's the Minky.

Speaker 1: 12:30

Stadium Nice. Yeah, one lady I spoke to who's done the 20 bridges. She actually did backstroke under every bridge just to look at the bridge and see what it was like, so I thought that was a really innovative way to approach it.

Speaker 2: 12:42

Yeah, I heard of someone doing that, so I did it only for the George Washington, only for the last one. I did Cause I thought let me just check this bridge out from underneath. I've never been underneath them, really, only driving over them.

Speaker 1: 12:55

And so give us a bit of an insight into the training that you did cause. You mentioned you hadn't ever swum eight hours before. How did you adjust your training, coming from sort of like pool competitions and training for that into such a long swim? What did you do?

Speaker 2: 13:10

Yes, it's great. Well, luckily I have the sort of temperature here that I could swim outdoors, actually in the ocean, quite a bit. So, even though I did a decent amount of pull training, so Monday through Friday and even Saturday, I'm mostly in the pool. Sundays I would be in the ocean, but then on the long weeks. So it was basically building up to what was my longest swim weekend was a six hour swim on a Saturday, followed up by a three to four hour swim on a Sunday, and I was able to do that in the both in the ocean, which was great.

Speaker 2: 13:41

So it's nice to just have you know currents, wind, waves, all the things that you're going to encounter. It's just helpful. I think the pool training offers something else and I think it's it's great to have to be able to do both. But it was nice because there was some really, really choppy, rough days out on the ocean here and I think it just really helped because when I came around you know, even though the rivers in New York when I came around, where the Staten Island Ferry is at the bottom of Manhattan, there's just a lot of boat activity there, headed under the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was very choppy and wavy, but it was very fun and it was nothing that I hadn't encountered, so from that vantage point it was really helpful.

Speaker 1: 14:21

That's really good. Yeah, I think swimming in the ocean does give you that advantage when you're moving into a river situation. Yes, so that's good. And you mentioned your training in the pool each week. How often do you train and how do you fit that into your schedule?

Speaker 2: 14:37

So I usually swim four to five days a week. The off days I do try to do some strength training, but towards the end of the training for New York it got a little bit hard. I was sore and wanted to rest as well, so it kind of was just swimming at that point. And I swim Monday. When I'm swimming during the week it's usually around 5am, because it's the only time that I can really go in order to fit it in before I have to get started with, you know, child swimming. I'm off to school, I'm off to work and then I get out late and he gets out late and it's the dinner and the cleaning the house and getting ready for the next day. So I train pretty early, get up at 430. I'm there by five and usually swim until about 630.

Speaker 1: 15:19

Okay, and how far do you go in a normal pool session in training?

Speaker 2: 15:23

Four to 5,000 meters, and I was gonna say, in the longer weeks it's just, you know, it just builds up to a little bit longer distance. It's basically, you know, there's a build week, a recovery week, a speed week, a build week and a bulk week. So that's kind of how we structure it.

Speaker 1: 15:41

And do many of you rather squad what squad mates? Do you do open water swimming as well, or are they more focused on the pool swimming?

Speaker 2: 15:48

They're more pool swimming focused, although there are a few that have. You know they're doing some longer distance events, so it's helpful, or if they're not, they're just nice enough to sometimes keep me company for the longer swims, which is terrific.

Speaker 1: 16:02

That's nice. So the training that you're doing is can you give us a bit of an insight into that? Like, what kind of sets do you do for those kind of open water swims?

Speaker 2: 16:11

Sure. So for on the longer weeks of the big, the bulk weeks, some of the workouts that I did were like if it was yours, I would be doing like 6, 1650s. At one point I did, I think, 12, 1650s to just do those on repeat. Or if I was in the ocean doing the longer swims, I would do continuous swims and just stop for feeds and so try to mimic. Like every half hour I would stop and try to do the same nutrition that I was going to do on the day of the event or that I planned to do, and just swim continuously in the ocean, usually like back and forth, like half an hour out, half an hour back, just so that it's you know, timed for the feedings.

Speaker 1: 16:51

Yes, yeah, that sounds good, and you mentioned the strength work that you do, so do you do that in the gym or is that something you do at home? Give us a bit of an insight into that.

Speaker 2: 17:01

I used to go to the gym and then I just found it was too hard to fit it all in with everything else. So I have a decent setup at the house with enough sort of weights and stuff and a you know pull up bar to be able to do enough on those Tuesday, thursday, saturdays usually that I'm doing the strength training.

Speaker 1: 17:19

Yes, and do you have a program that you follow?

Speaker 2: 17:22

Yeah, I don't know if you've heard of Dan Daly, but he's on Instagram and so he has a great set of you know, swim specific strength workouts, and so I've been working with him to kind of build up some, some strength as well.

Speaker 1: 17:36

Yes, yes, I've actually had him on the podcast. He's um, oh he's great yeah he's a great strength and conditioning coach and, yeah, coaches quite a few open water swimmers as well. Yes, yes, I'm actually heading over to New York next. Oh, this this year actually May, May this year so I'm planning on having a swim, catching up with him and having a swim there.

Speaker 2: 17:57

Oh great. Yes, every time I get up there for work, I usually try to meet him at the pool and do some. I always need to do technique work. It's just checking in and making sure I'm spending enough time looking at that, and he's really great with that.

Speaker 1: 18:09

Yes, yeah, yeah, he's a good technician. That's really good. Do you listen to the podcast on Apple or Spotify? If you do, we'd love you to write a review for us. It really helps other swimmers find the podcast, and we're all about spreading the word about the fantastic swimming journeys of the people we interview. So how do you juggle a career and family and these ambitious goals that you have? How do you feel about it?

Speaker 2: 18:37

I think it's a little bit of organization, a lot of teamwork. So my husband's phenomenal my son goes with the flow as well. For the most part my mom is incredible as well. She steps in like she watched my son when I was swimming around Manhattan so that my husband could be the crew chief. And then I just try to be patient.

Speaker 2: 18:58

I think I used to get really worked up if I couldn't fit in training because work was getting in the way or something personal. And now I just step back a little bit and just say you know, this is just how my life, my life, is compartmentalized. I have a lot of responsibilities and sometimes you just have to go with the flow of what's happening and it's not always going to be perfect and I'm not going to hit every workout, just like I'm not going to be, you know, running at 110% all the time at work. It's just you just kind of have to ease off the gas a little bit when necessary and divert your attention somewhere else. I had an extremely busy fourth quarter this year at work, with a lot of travel, and I just got to the point where I said you know, this requires more of my attention right now. So I have to bucket. You know more of my energy and time here and the swimming will. It'll get done.

Speaker 2: 19:49

Exactly what do you do in your professional life? I work in human resources for NBC Universal. Okay, so that's a big job. Yes, the keep is busy. It's a lot of fun to. I have been there for 12 years and it's like the best to work with the best people. It's a ton of fun as well, which is always great when you can work and have fun at the same time.

Speaker 1: 20:10

And is the travel interstate? Oh yeah, interstate.

Speaker 2: 20:14

Yes, it's mostly New York, mostly New York and then some LA.

Speaker 1: 20:18

And so do you find pools to swim in? Obviously, when you're in New York, new York, you do. Do you find pools to swim in when you're over in LA?

Speaker 2: 20:25

Yes, sometimes I mean sometimes it's such that my schedule just doesn't allow for it, but then other times it's okay and I could, especially early in the morning some of the pools open pretty early, so I've gone to Santa Monica and they have a great facility there. Van Nuys also opens pretty early so I was able to squeeze in some workouts there, which was great, and the Southern California Aquatic Masters team there was so welcoming and they let me join them every time I go.

Speaker 1: 20:54

Oh, that's nice, that's really nice. And did your husband swim as well?

Speaker 2: 20:57

Because you mentioned, he's the crew captain, he was a little bit of a swiver and he's mostly a triathlete at this point. Okay.

Speaker 1: 21:07

Yeah, and I was going to ask you a little bit about that because you've done triathlons as well. Tell us a little bit how you got involved in the triathlon scene and what's sort of been your most memorable try that you've done.

Speaker 2: 21:18

Sure. So I swam in college and then after that I really just burnt out and I didn't want anything to do with. So I didn't want to have wet hair and I didn't want to. I want to have a little bit of a social life and probably ended up having too much of one. But it took a big break, so about 10 years but then started to get hungry to do something again. I thought you know, I was watching the New York City Marathon on TV and I lived in New York and I was like you know, I could probably train and do that. Let's see what that's like.

Speaker 2: 21:44

Just running is like, because when I was swimming, I, when I was younger, I did not like running at all, so sort of running, fell in love with it but then started to get pulled back to swimming but didn't want to just swim. And so I was watching Iron man Kona on TV and I thought, well, I used to swim, I run. Now, if I bike, I could probably try to do this. So I started doing triathlon and love the switching of the sports. I just really liked having sort of three things to train for this is pre-child and also just the in the actual day of the event or whatever the swim. Just switching from sport to sport, I loved it, so did that for quite a bit. I did about 20 half Iron Man's and three full Iron Man's. I think my favorite full Iron man most memorable is Iron man Maryland. It's a great event. I had my best time there and just a beautiful day and an awesome venue and really well run as well.

Speaker 1: 22:41

I'm so. It's so much admiration for people that do a full Iron man. I think it's just amazing. I watched Lucy Charles Barclay win the Kona Iron man this year. She's incredible. Yes, I'm a bit of a fan. I love watching all her training videos and everything. But just such a big task to do and it must take a bit of a toll on your body.

Speaker 2: 23:02

Yes, yes, and I think after I had my son, I think some people bounce right back and they go right back at it and I kind of maybe assumed that I would be like that. So I was surprised when I had a very hard time. It was just like emotionally, physically, I just it wasn't happening as easy as it was before and I felt really guilty leaving him and so I just kept trying to do all three, trying to do all three, and my mom actually said to me and I kind of did it for a while, I did another couple of half Iron Man's and some smaller distances and she said you know, why don't you just start with one? Why don't you pick one first and if it works out well, she's not at all into sports or an athlete.

Speaker 2: 23:43

Only kind of through me vicariously my dad was the one that got me into sports. So to hear her say that, I was like you know, you're probably right. And she said you know you were a swimmer, like why don't you just do that and just see if you can manage that and then start to tack on one or the other and do all three and maybe it'll be less overwhelming? So I started just swimming again and I was like, actually I want to just do this again. I love it again. So I fell in love with it again, which was a beautiful process. That is a beautiful process?

Speaker 1: 24:12

Yeah, absolutely Did you. Well, where did you go to college? Where did you submit college? University of Massachusetts, Okay. And did I have a great swimming program?

Speaker 2: 24:24

I'm not. I haven't been following their sports too much these days, but it used to be a good program. The coach was amazing, the swim coach was amazing and the diving coach was amazing as well. I dove for a little bit too, just for a little bit.

Speaker 1: 24:37

Wow, that's impressive. I can't even dive up for one meter board.

Speaker 2: 24:41

My son is actually diving now. He's in a program at University of Miami, and so it's just cool to watch him do it now.

Speaker 1: 24:49

Yeah, I think that's the key Do it when you're really young, before you have that sense of fear. He's a very good idea.

Speaker 2: 24:55

Now I have that fear, and I'm certainly not going to be diving too much.

Speaker 1: 24:59

Absolutely. Now you've got you coming up for a Catalina swim this year in August, what preparations and what mindset are you putting in place to be successful in that swim?

Speaker 2: 25:10

Yes, so I did. My last event was around Coronado in 2023. It was the end of September and after that I told myself deliberately it was getting very busy in quarter four and I said I'm just going to take some time and do some unstructured training. I'll kind of do some strength work and have fun in the pool, do the master's workouts and just not have to worry about taking off a certain distance. And then December got really crazy and it was like travel, travel, sick, vacation and but it was the most perfect disconnect that I actually think I really needed, because I came back in January very refreshed, hungry and just ready to attack this plan. So I have 32 weeks until Catalina, so I'm starting to build up.

Speaker 2: 25:58

My first kind of long swim weekend is next weekend, so it'll be nice to. I'm actually really excited to start to plan for some of those longer swims and just see how it goes. It's similar to New York in terms of distance and structure up until around, I think, april, march or April, and then it's a whole another ballgame, nothing that I've ever done before. I think my longest weekend is like an eight hour swim on Sunday and an eight hour swim on Saturday, and I'm really excited to see if I could do it. I'm really excited to see if I could do it, because that's another problem, so it's nothing I've ever done before, so I'm really excited to see if I could do it.

Speaker 1: 26:38

Yeah, how far is the?

Speaker 2: 26:39

Catalanus swim again. It's depending on what course you take or which way you go. It could be between 22 and 26, I think, but it will take me a lot longer than New York, because New York has those fabulous currents that are working with you and I think Catalanus will probably throw me some stuff that will work against me. What kind of stuff do you think? Well, I've never started it at night, I've actually never done an event at night, so that's part of the training I'll have to do, to kind of get used to that, like the sighting and just being kind of, you know, not able to see well, at least till sunrise, and I think there will be more sea life that I'm probably used to here. And I think, some of the currents depending on what kind of day and what kind of weather that you could get, a current that you have to work through to get to finish.

Speaker 1: 27:31

Yes, how are you going to approach the darkness? Do you wear a light on your head, or is there a light from the kayak? How does that work?

Speaker 2: 27:40

Yes, so you bring glow sticks, but then also there's the light. I actually had bought them because I wasn't sure what time I was going to have to swim in New York or Coronado. So I bought one for sort of the back of the bathing suit and one for the cap and I think the boat will have some lights, although I don't think they shine them all that much, because I think that attracts sea life as well.

Speaker 1: 28:05

Okay, we don't want to do that. Then Absolutely. And after the Catalina swim, are there any other of the big sort of oceans around the world that you're interested in doing, or are you going to stick to the US to do those?

Speaker 2: 28:18

So I have an English channel for 2025. I have a boat secured for September. So September I can't remember the date I think 16th 2025. So it seems like a long way out there, but I feel it'll probably come fast.

Speaker 1: 28:33

Yes, absolutely That'll be good. So that's the triple crown. Excellent, yeah well fingers crossed.

Speaker 2: 28:39

I don't know. I like we didn't want to say it out loud. It was so funny. Craig, with endurance swim, is the person who gives me my training plan and he's my coach. And he's like so what's next after New York? And I was like Catalina and he's like you know, if you do Catalina, you probably have to just go over the English channel. So he planted the seed and then I started looking for boats and I was like yes, why not? Like let's just go for it.

Speaker 1: 29:05

Yeah, and you have to book so far ahead. You might as well have that in the program and just see what happens.

Speaker 2: 29:11

Yes, exactly, I think Catalina will be a good experience. Hopefully, if all goes well and I can finish it, I think it'll be a good experience and a lead up to English channel.

Speaker 1: 29:23

Yeah, and obviously the English channel is a lot colder, even though September is probably one of their warmest months. But how will you sort of deal with that kind of because you're coming from Florida hot water or hotter water, how are you acclimatized?

Speaker 2: 29:37

And last year was extremely warm and I was even worried for New York, but Coronado was 64 and it felt amazing. But I still I have a cold tub, so I try to use that. It's not the same though. So I plan on doing this year some trips to colder places just to get some training in and at least feel confident that I could do it. I try to, like you know. Ok, fine, I'm from the Northeast Like I still have it in me but but I am in Florida for nine years and it does make a difference in your tolerance and the water is just very warm here. So training trips it is.

Speaker 1: 30:13

Yeah, absolutely. Have you watched that film, niaid? Yes, yes, yes, I saw. I wasn't going to talk about the controversy around it, but just the the water temperatures seem to be quite, quite hot. But they were mentioning a lot during that film and I, yeah, I didn't realize it is.

Speaker 2: 30:32

I swam around Key West last June and it was extremely. It was 90 degrees the water, which was 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which was just that's all. That's very hot.

Speaker 1: 30:45

Yeah, where I swim in. I'm in Victoria in Australia with and we're in summer at the moment, and I've just been down at the beach, but our water temperature would have been 18 or 19 degrees Celsius, which is, oh, which is, yeah, a lot cooler than you, but for us that's pretty warm. Yes, yeah, summer weather, summer weather. Yeah, so Queensland, which is up north. They have a lot warmer water, so up to sort of 2526 in the water over summer. Oh I don't know the Fahrenheit conversion, sorry, yeah.

Speaker 2: 31:19

It's that's close to. I think that's mid to mid 80s or upper 80s Fahrenheit yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:24

Yeah, so that's quite warm. Yeah, now, everyone that comes on the podcast, I always like to ask them the deep dive five, which is a bit of a snapshot of your swimming, so where you are at the moment. So give us your favorite open water swimming location. I would say New York, swim around Manhattan, around Manhattan. And what about your favorite Florida pool? I think you might have mentioned this already.

Speaker 2: 31:45

I think it may be the Hall of Fame. This Fort Lauderdale swimming Hall of Fame yes.

Speaker 1: 31:50

What are you most admire?

Speaker 2: 31:52

I think Katie Ledecky is definitely up there. I think she's just phenomenal. Also Leonie Beck from Germany's open water swimmer, and she's just so fast. It's like it's very inspirational to watch both of them. But so many others Everyone really inspires me.

Speaker 1: 32:10

And Katie's in Florida now, isn't she? She's training down in Florida. Yes, heansville, yeah, okay, very nice. What about your favorite freestyle training set, the go to set that you always use?

Speaker 2: 32:22

I love I do this. 11 by 400 set, Descend by 2. I just really love it. I don't know why. I just enjoy it Never, ever get bored doing it. Even though it seems boring, I love that set.

Speaker 1: 32:34

When you say Descend by 2, you mean you're rest interval.

Speaker 2: 32:39

Just the speed, just try to just descend the time by each 2. Every 2, 400.

Speaker 1: 32:46

2 seconds, yes, and how much rest would you have between the 400s?

Speaker 2: 32:51

Probably around 5 to 10 seconds. Okay, so the end. I'm sure We'll have a shorter, yeah.

Speaker 1: 32:58

Yes, actually, and something I didn't ask you before do you do much training of other strokes, or is it mainly all freestyle?

Speaker 2: 33:05

On Fridays we do, I am and I love it. So when I was younger I loved I am, and especially butterfly. But I just love the work with Go by so fast on Fridays when we do I am.

Speaker 1: 33:19

Where in the world would be your ideal swimming location, a dream location that you'd like to go and swim?

Speaker 2: 33:27

I'm not just saying this because you're from Australia, but Australia, probably Bondi Beach or Bondi, yes, bondi, yes, exactly, I've seen pictures of it and I've never been so.

Speaker 1: 33:37

Yeah, icebergs, you mean the pool on the beach. Yes, yes, yeah, no, it is beautiful. Yeah, it's pretty cold, there's some, but absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 2: 33:47

There's some videos and pictures on Instagram that just it looks like heaven. I'm like I have to go there someday.

Speaker 1: 33:52

Yeah, it is pretty stunning and, yeah, when it's big, surf waves actually come over the edge of the pool. Yes, yeah, actually I got a book for Christmas, which is Ocean Pools of Australia. And pretty much yeah, it's just on every single ocean pool and they're mainly in New South Wales. Right down the coast of New South Wales, when Bondi is, there's a coastal walk and you can walk along and go to all the ocean pools along the way. There's tons of them. Beautiful. I like that, but even more beautiful.

Speaker 2: 34:25

I'll have to add those in my bucket list, yeah definitely.

Speaker 1: 34:30

Yeah, it's a good book to look up and there's a lot of them, especially around Newcastle Ilawera. Up that way there's lots of surf beaches. One of them is sort of like 100 metres long.

Speaker 2: 34:41

Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, Australia is on our bucket list. My husband and I have just places to go. I figure it's such a swimming place that I have to definitely swim.

Speaker 1: 34:54

Yeah, we do love our swimming here for sure, Like you guys do. There's such a rivalry between the US and Australia at the Olympics in swimming.

Speaker 2: 35:04

Yes, and this one, I think, is going to be especially rivals, for sure, because it's just two really good programmes.

Speaker 1: 35:12

Yeah, absolutely, and I think there was a bit of a after the world championships. I think Australia won the most gold medals in swimming and the US won the most medals, and so I think both were claiming that they were the swimming nation of the world championships. Yeah, exactly so I think there's a bit of, you know, friendly, friendly sort of rivalry there. Yes, it'll be great to watch.

Speaker 2: 35:35

I can't wait.

Speaker 1: 35:37

It'll be great to watch. Yeah, absolutely Well. Kristin, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. It's been a pleasure chatting to you and hearing all about your swimming journey and really best wishes for the Catalina swim coming up later in the year.

Speaker 2: 35:49

Thank you so much for having me. It was such a pleasure. I really appreciate it too.

Speaker 1: 35:54

You're welcome. Okay, take care you too. Take care, mom. I hope you enjoyed my chat with Christine. If there's anyone or anything you'd like to hear on a future episode, drop us an email at torpedoswimtalk at gmailcom with your suggestions. Think of it as a suggestion box for any ideas that you may have that you want to see Come to fruition. Until next time, happy swimming and bye for now.