Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast with Barbara Pellick - Triple Crown Marathon Swimmer

 Join us this week on Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast to hear about the incredible journey of triple crown open water marathon swimmer and Queen of Rottnest, Barbara Pellick. Listen as she bravely recounts her recent Derwent swim in Tasmania with her team of four, where they faced cold water, dark nights, and challenging conditions. Barbara shares her invaluable tips for managing cold water swims and reveals how she ate and drank during the event.

We also share our personal experiences with long-distance swimming, from my unforgettable swim around the island of Manhattan to my 1995 English Channel swim. Learn about Barbara's impressive 30 solo crossings of Rottnest, her passion for coaching, and how she loves helping others achieve their swimming goals.

In this inspiring conversation, we explore the world of open water swimming training and tips with Barbara, discussing her childhood experiences all the way to her journey to becoming a triple crown open water marathon swimmer. We emphasize the importance of having a support crew, mastering nutrition and intervals for long-distance swims, and getting comfortable with the varying conditions the open water can bring. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to gain insights from the Queen of Rottnest herself, Barbara Pellick!

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Transcript

Danielle Spurling: 0:06

Hello Swimmers and welcome to another episode of torpedo swim top podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Spurling, and each week we chat to a master swimmer from around the world about their swimming journey. Our guest on the podcast this week is a triple crown open water marathon swimmer and she's known as Queen of Rottnest, with over 30 crossings The inspirational Barbara Pellick. Let's hear from Barbara now. Hi Barbara, welcome to the podcast.

Barbara Pellick: 0:45

Hello Danielle, how are you?

Danielle Spurling: 0:47

Yeah, good thanks. What's the weather like in Western Australia today?

Barbara Pellick: 0:52

It's absolutely beautiful. It's about 24, 25 degrees, beautiful sunshine, nice cool breeze. It's a perfect autumn day.

Danielle Spurling: 1:02

Oh beautiful. We're suffering in Melbourne today. It's raining, cold. It feels like winter's come already.

Barbara Pellick: 1:09

Yeah, well, we've got a bit of rain forecast for tomorrow, so maybe autumn finishes today.

Danielle Spurling: 1:15

Yes, yes, and have you managed to get a swim in yourself this week?

Barbara Pellick: 1:20

Yeah, i haven't, because I've just come back from Tasmania for I did a Derwent team in the Derwent and I just haven't really got back into it. I'm just taking it easy. Nothing really to train for now. so just yeah, a bit of downtime, just have a bit of play here and there.

Danielle Spurling: 1:40

Yeah, that's fair enough. Did you swim the Derwent? I thought you were in the boat crew.

Barbara Pellick: 1:45

I did a team. as a team of four, i did a team. Yeah yeah, and it just turned out it was the first team of four that's ever done it. So here we, all you know, getting on in our years, all with our orthopedic surgeries, and we're still managing to do first. So, yeah, that's pretty exciting.

Danielle Spurling: 2:10

So how far is the Derwent swim? Is it 32 or 34?

Barbara Pellick: 2:14

34k, yeah, from New Norfolk to Tasman Bridge in Hobart. Yeah, it's an interesting swim. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We had the worst conditions, the coldest water all season, wind, rain, swimming at night. I think we started at two o'clock in the morning so I pitched black to start with and you know worse conditions, but I loved it Just up my alley.

Danielle Spurling: 2:40

How do you deal with those dark nights? starts dark water.

Barbara Pellick: 2:46

Yeah, look, i've done some before. The Catalina Channel starts at midnight, so I've done some before. But that was different, because there was a moon Derwent, there was no moon and it was dark. Because, you know, you're in a river, there's no street lights, there was no moon, it was black, black, black. The only light you really could see was from the boat. Yeah, look, you had to put your mind out of where you were and out of the stress and just deal with what you're doing, because you're there, because you love it, you're there because you want to do it, so you just have to I don't know deal with that and accept it, and there's nothing that's going to bite you in the river. It's just, you know, it's just it's out of your comfort zone, but that's why we do these things.

Danielle Spurling: 3:34

That's right. That's right. And how often did you rotate with the swimmers?

Barbara Pellick: 3:40

The rules for the Swimmers. The Swimmers English Channel swim. So it's, there was four of us. We had to swim for an hour and we had to maintain our spot. So yeah, swimmers, english Channel rules. And yeah, so you know you're in there for an hour. It's only an hour. You know we can manage that 16 degree water. Yeah, it was good fun.

Danielle Spurling: 4:07

Good fun. And then back on the boat and when you're waiting for your next swim, are you. What are you eating and drinking and how are you keeping warm in between your relay parts?

Barbara Pellick: 4:19

It was quite cool because the air temperature was something like, you know, eight or nine degrees, so it was quite cool. Once we got out, i just runged up everything that I had. I put on you know three beanies, and just runged up because the wind, we couldn't get out of the wind, so that just made it a little bit harder to warm up, but I was fine, you know, by the time it's time to swim again. Yeah, i was warmed up and ready to go. So the others found it hard because two of the swimmers were from North Queensland and the third swimmer was from Hawaii, so they found it particularly hard. As you can imagine, i'm lucky because I swim, you know the Southern WA, so we do get those temperatures regularly. Yeah, they, they found it a little bit harder, but they, you know, they sold it on, they did their thing, that's good, that's good, so you can get a drink in that time in between your relay legs. I, i really didn't eat much at all. I had a couple of music bars, had a sports drink, but I didn't. I didn't really feel the need that I had to eat or drink. The others had warm drinks like hot chocolate and things like that just to warm themselves up. But yeah, i didn't really feel that I needed to eat or drink too much. So I just I just ate as I felt like. So I just sort of figured you don't normally eat and drink at night So I wasn't doing a lot of work. I mean, it was only an hour, so you know I wasn't doing a lot of work, so I didn't need to be, you know, cramming food down my face. So I just, you know, had a music bar, a sports drink, for the whole took us seven hours, 46 minutes or something, and that's pretty much all I had the whole time. It was good.

Danielle Spurling: 6:04

That's, that sounds good. I'm glad that you you finished in the daylight at least, as the sun was rising.

Barbara Pellick: 6:11

Yeah, yeah, well, we, yeah, we finished sort of mid mid morning, so the finish was great. By then the sun was up, the wind had died down, the rain had stopped, so we could enjoy that finish Beautiful.

Danielle Spurling: 6:25

That sounds really good And I know just before you mentioned Catalina and I want to talk about that. Obviously you're a triple crown owner and also you've done rot nests many, many, many times. Is it 30 plus times that you've done rot nests. They call you queen of rot nests, i believe.

Barbara Pellick: 6:43

I've done 30 solos, 30 solos. Yeah, I've done 30 solos 30 solos, two teams, two duos. So yeah, that's amazing, yeah. So yeah, yeah, i was first started in. I did my very first swim in 1992 and that was as a team. That was the year after it started. I didn't hear about it the year before, until after it had been run, and I just decided that it sounded like a wonderful thing to do. So I got a team together and the first one I did in a team and that was just so much fun I had to go back the next year and I did it in the solo and that was my first one 1993, 1994, because I got out of the solo in 1993 and said I reckon I could do a double. So 1994, i did a double crossing. Of course everyone didn't believe what I was saying, but I went out and did it And, yeah, i swam. I managed to swim for 20 consecutive years and then I started having injuries. So it got. The history got a little bit off and on after that But I got my 20 years of consistent swims in, which was pretty impressive.

Danielle Spurling: 7:52

I thought Yeah, that's an amazing achievement, yeah, yeah.

Barbara Pellick: 7:58

I've had to have a few. I've had a few injuries long way since then. After the 20s, i wanted to keep going, but I, you know I've got too many injuries and so 30 is it and I'm happy with 30. I'm over the moon with 30. So yeah, i've put that to bed.

Danielle Spurling: 8:15

Well, now that you've mentioned the injury, let's have a bit of a chat about it. What did you do to your shoulder and what kind of surgery did you end up having?

Barbara Pellick: 8:23

Okay. So I've had a couple of surgeries. One which stopped me after my 20th, i had a ruptured biceps tendon and I had to have that repaired. I was out of the water not completely out of the water, but I was out of proper training for about 12 months and it took me probably 18 months to get back. So I missed a rottenest, but that's yeah, that's healed completely. And then, not long after that, my other shoulder is having all sorts of problems and you know my 30th crossing. I pretty much limped through. I needed a shoulder, total shoulder replacement. So I had that done, actually three years ago, last week. So total shoulder replacement, yeah, it was pretty daunting. My surgeon wouldn't say whether I would ever be able to swim again, as they don't, they're not going to give you something that is not going to happen. But I'm swimming really well obviously not as well as I was beforehand, but I'm swimming really well and I don't get the pain that I was getting. It's been a really, really successful operation for me. I did a lot of rehab, I did everything that I was told to do. I was very good, i was very diligent, i behaved myself. It's just quite unusual And, yeah, i've had a good outcome. I can still swim, i can enjoy it, i can do these crazy things like do it, and I'm over the moon with my outcome. I'm better than I expected to be. So, yeah, i'm wrapped. I used to say that I trained to swim. Now I do these things because I swim. So my mindset has changed. Because I swim, because I love swimming, because I love training, i love pushing myself, i love all of that, and because I do that, i can do these swims. So my mindset has just changed a little bit. Instead of just being focused on the next event, I'm just focused on enjoying swimming and loving what I do. And I'm still doing pretty amazing things like the dirwent. So it hasn't stopped me.

Danielle Spurling: 10:51

Absolutely. Do you have a bit of a ceiling on the amount of caves you can train a week before your shoulder tips over?

Barbara Pellick: 10:58

Yeah, No, I've definitely got a ceiling. I haven't got an actual kilometre-age that I can do. But I have to be really careful about backing up day after day after day. I can swim hard one day and have a day off or go to the gym or not swim, And then I can swim the next day. But I can't do back-to-back hard sessions And I need to have time off. So I generally swim. I only swim four days a week now And I do gym work in between. So yeah, and I keep myself busy. I'm doing enough. I do up to about 5K sessions in those training sessions. I get up to about 5K, but I don't and I can't do them as hard as I used to. So that's all. I'm still keeping myself ticking. I'm still able to do all these things. I'm a little joy to rot-nest. I can still do these things. I just have to be a little bit more mindful, a little bit more aware of all my body's telling me.

Danielle Spurling: 12:11

You mentioned the rehab that you did. Do you still now use those kind of exercises as like a pre-hab before you swim?

Barbara Pellick: 12:21

Yeah, That's one thing I've definitely noticed. I can't just jump in and swim now. I have to, like when I'm coaching on pool deck and I'm going to swim after my squad, while I'm coaching I'm moving my shoulder, I'm doing some band work, I use the time to just get it moving And then, once my squad's finished, I can jump in and I'm pretty much ready to go. I always do a fairly long warm-up. Now I always put my fins on. I always do at least I don't know at least 500-800 metres now as a warm-up with fins, just so that it's moving and it's free and it's ready to go once I've got the warm-up done. But yeah, I spend all that time pool deck moving it so that I'm ready to go when I jump in.

Danielle Spurling: 13:08

And do most of your training sessions revolve around freestyle, or do you do other strokes to give your shoulder a rest?

Barbara Pellick: 13:16

Because of my shoulder I can't do backstroke. I can do backstroke one arm. I've not even tried butterfly. I think that's just. you know, i think that's just a bridge too far now. But when I was young, when I was growing up, i was a breast-stroker. So I do breast-strokers part of my swimming now, which I never used to do, but, yeah, it's just giving me a bit of a ride in. You know, i can work hard. When I actually came back from my shoulder initially I couldn't do freestyle because I couldn't get the movement. So I started my coming back into the pool at effort doing breaststroke. So I used breaststroke as a way to sort of get fit, because I could put the effort in, because it hasn't got the overhead recovery. So it was looking after my shoulder and it was helping me get fit And breaststroke is really good for developing the feel for the water. So, yeah, i went back to my preteen years as a breast-stroker.

Danielle Spurling: 14:19

Let's have a talk about some of the solar swims that you've done And obviously in the Triple Crown you've done Manhattan and Catalina and the English Channel. I was interested to know which one of those you found your favourite, So which one worked the best for you and why.

Barbara Pellick: 14:37

I have a clear favourite, and that was Manhattan. Everything worked On the day. I was fit, i was strong, the support crew that I had were amazing. Everything just came together. I actually believe it's the only swim I've ever done. Everything came together on the day. I've probably done over 50 marathons And to me that's the only one that's come together on the day. I was second female, fourth overall. I had an amazing swim. I loved swimming around the island of Manhattan This is pre-9-11 too, by the way. 9-11 hadn't happened, so you can see those twin towers for a lot of the swim And it was just I just loved it. I just loved the fact that you had something to look at the whole way, whereas Chetil Crossings you got nothing. You got a boat and water and there's pretty much nothing to look at. But Manhattan, there's something to look at the whole way. You knew where you were. There's 19 bridges that you have to swim under. You could count them off. Yeah, manhattan by far for me is my favourite. But because it was so good and because everything just came together on the day, i decided after I finished I would never do it again Because I could never get it that good again. So, yeah, that's probably. You know not how you meant to think of things. You meant to sort of when you do your favourite, you should keep doing it. But I just decided that I could never get those conditions again. I could never get a swim, that swim where everything came together, so I just left it, i was happy.

Danielle Spurling: 16:12

Yeah, that's really nice With the support crew that you had. were they people that you found over here in America, or did you take people over with you? How did that work?

Barbara Pellick: 16:24

No, at that time this is 2000,. So 23 years ago they provided support crew because it was almost an invitational swim back then And they provided the support crew. So I hadn't even met them beforehand. I didn't even the skipper of the boat, because you had to have a boat as well as a paddler skipper. I never met My family that came with me. They got on the boat you know wherever it was. They got on the boat. They spent the swim on the boat. George was his name, george Chofos, i think his name was, and I never actually met him. So they dropped my family off after I'd finished and then he went off and, i don't know, went home or whatever it was. I never actually met him. I mean, i sent him a letter and thanked him and sent him a letter that showed you how long ago it was. But yeah, my paddlers were just amazing. They were so committed that they went around the week before on the same tide to find the best way around the island. So they were that committed to me and my swim. You know people they didn't know, i didn't know them, they didn't know me, and yet they were that committed that they tried to do the best job they could do and did the homework so I could have the best swim I had. And you know, it's just amazing that people do that for people they've never even met. Swimming community is just amazing The support that you can get from just left of center, from people from places that you know in the real world you just don't get that sort of help. So you know, it's just fantastic the people that have helped me.

Danielle Spurling: 18:07

Yeah, that's amazing. Oh, that's really sounds like a great swim in Manhattan swim.

Barbara Pellick: 18:13

It is, it is, it's. There's something to look at the whole way around, like you've got, you know, the three rivers because you go down the East River, then into the Harlem, you got your shanty towns and things like that down the Harlem and then down into the Hudson where it's just great big open river. I mean, it's a huge river. You know swimming there. They were actually filming some you know adventure film I don't even know what it was, it was a James Bond or something And you had helicopters flying under the bridges and you had all these fast boats going up and down the river And you know it's just there's just so much going on. It was just yeah, it was alive. You know it was really good. The water condition, you know the back then. I'm talking 23 years ago. I think it's probably improved, but you know the water wasn't great quality. You know there's a lot of stories about what's in the waters around Manhattan And I got to admit to swimming into a few plastic bags and things which you know made me jump every time I hit one. But yeah, all those things aside, it was a great, well run event and a great outcome for me, loved it.

Danielle Spurling: 19:29

So, that being your favourite, which of the triple crown ones didn't you enjoy as much The English Channel was.

Barbara Pellick: 19:38

I did that in 1995. So bear in mind, there's this naive, no idea person This was. I'd done one solo to Rodnest, decided I liked it, did a double crossing to Rodnest and then decided that I could do the English Channel on the back of that. I was so naive, i didn't know anything about proper training, i knew nothing about proper nutrition, i knew nothing about anything. Basically I was. I can't believe, looking back, how naive I was and everybody else was. Back then I decided that I needed to find out a little bit more about it. So back in those days I don't know if you remember Des Renford he was swimming the English Channel. So I phoned him up Somebody like me gets in touch with somebody like that and he put me in. He told me what to expect and he basically said to me it's just a swim, don't think of it as anything else, it's just a swim. Yeah, it's a bit harder, it's a bit longer, it's a bit colder, but just go in there, it's a swim and that's all it is. So he helped me get a handle on what I was doing. There is no way I knew what I was in for. The water was cold, it was rough. I didn't even understand the nuances. The skipper told me to go because you have to park off, the boat stays offshore and you have to jump in the water, swim to shore, put your hands up, and he tells you to go. Well, i'm on the boat messing around with my goggles and my cap and he's saying go, you got to go, you got to go. And I sort of eventually jumped in and swam to shore and did everything that I was told to do, but I'd missed, i'd probably wasted about 20 minutes because I didn't realise how important it was And that meant that when I swam across I missed the Cape Grenet by 400 metres because I spent all that time messing around at the start. So I just I missed 400, i was going to touch the Cape in about nine hours, ended up taking me 12 and a half. So it took me that long. By the time the current changed and took me up the channel. It took me that much longer to get in just because I was messing around And I just didn't understand, i didn't know how important it was to go when the skipper said to go. I just didn't understand it. I was naive, you know, and you got to remember, back then the skipper was just doing it through his knowledge. We didn't have internet or we didn't have tide charts. You know, on the internet Everything was just his knowledge and his knowledge of when tide's changed and what time to start. You know, you had to guess your swimming speed and his knowledge would have been spot on if I'd done the right thing.

Danielle Spurling: 22:48

You live and learn. Yeah well, it's a big three hour difference. That's a lot, isn't it?

Barbara Pellick: 22:54

Yeah, yeah it is, but I just didn't understand. But you know, i got it done. I can't say I was in any great shape to do it. I was not. I could have, yeah, i should have, you know, trained a lot more. I should have done a lot more. You know there's so many things I should have done that would have made the crossing easier. I found it hard. I mean, i was the first swimmer of the season. I got the cold water. But that's just typical of me. I always try and go for something extreme, but yeah, it was all. I mean, i was naive And I've learned an awful lot since then, in the you know 30 odd years that I've been doing it. I probably, if I knew what now, what I knew, no, if I knew them, what I know now, i wouldn't have even been going to try.

Danielle Spurling: 23:50

So what say? what three or four things did you learn from that swim that you were able to take forward into the rest of your marathon swims? Nutrition, That you did better Nutrition. So what, what did you learn from that first one that you do differently now?

Barbara Pellick: 24:05

I feed more often. We fed, well fed. I had a drink every hour. But I mean, back then we had coffee tea sustenance. You know it wasn't carbohydrate based. I knew nothing about loading carbohydrate loading. They didn't have sports drinks back then like they do now. So I would have had to. I don't even know what was available back then, but there would have been something I could probably have used which would have been better. So definitely nutrition. Nutrition is a big part of it. My stroke at that stage wasn't. I didn't have a coach. I didn't. I really I basically I didn't have a coach, so I just trained myself. I didn't have somebody to analyze my stroke. I didn't have. You know, he either understood or could map out a training program for me. I just did what I, what I actually did. Steve Montagetti had a book out and it was called something like how to train for a marathon, running, marathon, and I used his programs in that book and I divided everything by a quarter And that was what I used to map out my training. I mean, it was just so. There was no information, there was no knowledge, and I had, i didn't have a coach. So my stroke wasn't the best. I wasn't strong. I certainly I didn't even used to bilateral breathe back then. So it was yeah. Yeah, there's that naivety again. And probably the third thing was just well, i guess I covered it before with stroke correction and specific training. I didn't have a coach. I'd every every now and then I'd jump in with the local kids and just do their, you know, smash up and down as much as you can, and then hope that that related to swimming for 12 hours. So, and it didn't. I can tell you now it didn't. It didn't matter how quick I swam 50 meters, it wasn't going to make any difference over 12 hours. So they're the things. So it was the nutrition having a good stroke, having somebody look at my stroke, having a, having a good technique and proper training, good, knowledgeable base for training for a 12 hour swim. So they're the three things.

Danielle Spurling: 26:35

So I'm interested in finding out more about the proper training. How did you you go about finding a coach or a squad that you could train with, where you could get that kind of exposure to that specific type of training?

Barbara Pellick: 26:48

I literally never did. I started after the English Channel because, i mean, i still love the experience, don't get me wrong. I loved what I did and I loved the challenge. The challenge aspect, i think, is really something that that just really sat with me. So I loved the challenge. I loved the idea that I went somewhere and did something that I didn't really even believe I could do. I just went there to see if I could. You know, with no intention of getting out, don't get me wrong, i wasn't going to not make it but I loved that side of things and I wanted to do more. I've done right next to I've done, you know what was it? Three crossings of right next by then And I just wanted to keep going. I wanted to do more, wanted to see what I could do, wanted to see what I could achieve, because I didn't know. I joined the local swimming squad, which was just the kids And I mean they had national swimmers and they had good level swimmers, but it still wasn't specific to what I wanted. So I used to do the squad training with the kids. I mean, i'm 30, you know, by then I'm 30 and the kids were, you know, 15 and a half my age back then. So I used to do the squad training with the kids and then I'd do extra training on top of it. So say they were doing 20 Ks a week, i'd go out and do an extra 10 at the beach up the river. You know, whatever, wherever I could go by myself, i was pretty much nearly always by myself. And you know I literally I never did get a coach. I never had a coach that knew, you know, the open water, the marathon, swimming aspect. I mean they were very supportive and everything, but they didn't know. So that's why I started looking into it myself, because there was no way I could say. I mean at this stage I was living in Bumry, so that's a couple hundred Ks out of Perth. There was one pool. You know there wasn't a lot of opportunity to go somewhere else, to learn from somewhere else. So that's why I started networking. You know, listening talking to other people, see what other people did, how other people trained, trying to get a few ideas, what I could do, what could work for me. It was all. Everything I was doing was based on my you know how I could improve, how I could get better. And then, you know, along the journey. People came along with me So I started getting more people that wanted to do Brot Nest. So they'd come along with me and they joined my journey. So I, you know, i've that's sort of how I developed. I guess I learned because I wanted it for me, i wanted to understand how to do it myself. But people joined my journey and they still do. You know that that's I've trained. I don't even know, i've not done figures, but I've trained probably a hundred Brot Nest swimmers. I've trained English Channel swimmers. Now I've trained English Channel team. I've trained, yeah, you know, untold people now. But I just see that they're joining my journey Even though I've got the knowledge and I'm coaching them. We're part of each other's journey because I love what they do and I want to get them to do things because I can't do these things anymore. So I want them to do things that I can't do. So I've got somebody doing doing solo next year and I've got somebody doing the 25k put pub and yeah, these things I can't do, they're doing them for me now. So they've joined my journey and they've gone beyond what I can now do, which I think is great. I want them to do things that I can't do. I want them to enjoy and love being out there and I think that's what I give. I give them that enjoyment and that love of wanting to do things and wanting to be different and wanting to excel within themselves.

Danielle Spurling: 31:10

I think that's great that you're sharing all that knowledge that you've learnt through sort of doing the hard yards before the internet and before we had GPS trackers, so that you know. So many people that I know go into the English Channel and you can track their little dots the whole way through. But, as you say, back when you did it that wasn't available. So to have all that knowledge that you're imparting to these swimmers is amazing, and open water swimming has exploded, particularly in Australia since COVID, when we couldn't get into pools. So what are the numbers in your open water squad Like? how many do you have?

Barbara Pellick: 31:46

It's still not huge. I mean I now train at Mandra. We're an hour south of Perth. We've still only got one pool in the region, so I'm still restricted by the population size that I'm a part of. But I probably have 30, 40, 50 people in my books. They don't all come to every session because I run a number of different sessions during the week and I mean I even do what I call back to basics. So people who used to swim, who maybe want to learn to swim properly, they don't have confidence, whatever. You know, i've got sessions for people like that as well, because I just want them to love swimming like I do. I want everyone to love swimming like I do and if I can help somebody to go from not confident to doing something like the bustle and jetty swim because that's a big highlight over here for WA And you know I've had people that literally can't swim to finishing a bustle and jetty swim You know it's a 3.6 kilometre swim straight out and straight back, so you're a long way offshore and I've had people that had no confidence in the open water and they're finishing something like that And I think that that is just amazing that people can put their trust in me to come on this journey, and it doesn't matter where they start from. It's great that they can come on this journey. I just get excited by what other people are doing. You know I still do these things, but I get excited about other people coming on this journey and from nothing Sometimes they're coming from. Okay, they, you know, learn how to not drown, to swimming around the bustle and jetty. Or going a team to Rotnest. You know they probably could never do it themselves, but they're joining a team, just went to Rotnest, you know, across the channel, you know, because apparently we've got sharks out there and rough water, and you know they're excited for their journey, which, you know, that is the most exciting thing I can give people. I like, i say the population that I can draw from here isn't huge, so I'm always going to be restricted by the size, but I, you know, yeah, i just try and take anyone on and and give them my, my, my love of swimming, my love of the water and yeah, yeah, they. I think they get motivated.

Danielle Spurling: 34:23

I'm sure they do. I can just tell by talking to you how much passion you've got for open water swimming. That bustle and jetty swim I haven't done that but I'd like to have a go. Is that a 2k pier jetty that goes out? Yeah, 1.8. You just swim around, out, around and back Yeah, 1.8 kilometers out, round 1.8 kilometers back.

Barbara Pellick: 34:50

It's the only swim that I know of, that I've ever done that. I even know of that. You swim straight out for nearly 2k's. You're nearly 2k's offshore. It's amazing. It's pretty amazing.

Danielle Spurling: 35:08

And then you turn around and come back. Yeah, that's, that's a good one. I've actually I've done the Bondi to Bronte one and that felt like a long way out, because you've got to swim right out past Bondi, past those rocks, and then right sort of further out and then back into Bronte and that felt like I think that was about 2.2 or something, but that felt like a long way out to sea.

Barbara Pellick: 35:32

Yeah, and you're pretty aware of being out that far.

Danielle Spurling: 35:35

You are, aren't you?

Barbara Pellick: 35:36

You are pretty aware of it. But the bustle and jetty swim is one that we target as a squad. I try and get everybody because they have different things. They have one where you can walk out of the jetty and just swim back. So they've got that. They've got the swim around the jetty, which is the main swim, and you can also do it in a team. So there are introductions to doing it. So I try, as a squad, i target that one because it is just so satisfying. You stand on the shore and you can see this jetty and it's almost 2 kilometers out and it's just blows people's minds that they can do it. And you know, i get them to look at it when they're finished and I get them to go back and have a look at it and go look what you did, look how far you went, and it just blows their mind. It's great to see people who, some of them, are older I have some swimmers that they don't start swimming till their 50s and you know, then they go and do something like that in their late 60s or something And it's pretty exciting that they're doing things that they never ever dreamed they would be able to do And I think that's amazing. The courage that they have is amazing.

Danielle Spurling: 36:57

And being in Western Australia, which is very well known for sharks in the water, have you ever come across one in any of your swims?

Barbara Pellick: 37:04

Yeah, in the early days when I did Rotnest, i used to be up the pointy end and there was a shark every year at AK and we used to call in George And all the pointy end swimmers saw George. I don't know what happened to him, i don't know where he went, but for about probably the first I don't know five or six years, george was at about the AK mark and he'd come and introduce himself to all the pointy end swimmers. So there was that.

Danielle Spurling: 37:43

How close was that introduction?

Barbara Pellick: 37:46

Well, one time I felt like I could put a hand out and touch him. Oh my gosh, he came up from underneath, from behind, swim underneath me, like right there. I could see his mouth, i could see everything. Oh, how terrifying. He swung with me for quite a few strokes and then he just drifted off and I didn't see him again. But you know, look, it's a little disconcerting A little. Oh my gosh. The funny thing is I used to have my mum come on my boat. She was always part of my support crew because mum loved to be involved in these things And I always said to her it's really good having you on there because your shark watch her job was shark watch because I always said you've got a vested interest. She was on the boat, she was shark watch And after that experience I sort of told them that you know, there was a shark right there. Mum's going, she's sort of looking out to see going where, and I'm like underneath me, mum you failed.

Danielle Spurling: 38:52

She was looking for the fin above the water.

Barbara Pellick: 38:55

Not underneath me.

Danielle Spurling: 38:57

You failed Mum Oh dear, we don't want to put all those people off for the listening. There's not. there's not too many shark, oh look.

Barbara Pellick: 39:07

George hasn't been around for for quite a, probably the last 25 years. So I don't know what happened to George. I don't know if he outgrew where he was living or I mean I don't even know what sort of shark he was. I don't know my sharks that well, i don't really want to study them. So, yeah, he hasn't been there for a long, long time So, and we don't see them much anymore. They have helicopters and shark trackers and all sorts of things these days which they never used to have. I mean, we didn't used to have helicopters, we didn't even I mean even the experience with when he came and saw me as that close, i still didn't think to tell anyone From my boat. I didn't think to tell anyone, and that's how it was back then. You just, you just didn't have. Because of the social networking, people are more inclined to tell people of pretty much anything that happens, whereas back then it was like, oh, there's a shark, oh, yeah, okay, you know, it's just a different way of doing things Sure.

Danielle Spurling: 40:18

You mentioned that one of your swimmers was going to do a solo derwent river swim. What kind of training? is it a him or a her?

Barbara Pellick: 40:25

Look, i had somebody. The reason I was in Tassie just gone was because I had a swimmer that was going to do the derwent, but unfortunately two days out he got COVID, so he couldn't do it. So, yeah, he wasn't well enough to do it, but yeah, just lots and lots of pull work, okay. So come along to the squad, get your speed up because you want to go fast, you want to do the distance as fast as you can. So you need to do work with effort, because I work in bands in your effort levels. So if you want to be as fast as you can be, you need to be able to train at your 80% max And you need to do a lot of training in that zone. But if you want to do something like dirwent, you also need to go out and do long swims at 60%, because that's probably what you're going to be swimming at. So I want Steve that was just wasn't able to do it He got 15k swims at 60% effort, easy, and that's what we want to be. That's how we want to be. We want to be able to get what nutrition is right for you at the intervals. That's right for you, because he was a 20-minute interval And not everybody's going to be 20 minutes. Some can be half an hour. I don't like more than that. But get the intervals that's right for you, get the nutrition that's right for you And go and test it, then go and test it again. Then you know, see, just get comfortable doing a 15k swim And try your nutrition. Make sure it's right, get out there in the open water, get out there in the salt, make sure everything because everything tastes different Salt, fresh water. You know foods and what you eat and what you, your nutrition is different Depending on the conditions you're swimming in. If it's cold you need different food, if it's hot, you need different. You know liquids, fluids, and what I just get them to do is do that training, a lot of training at 80% max in the pool. Then on weekends, when you've got the time, go out and do 15k swims And then go and back it up the next day with a 10k swim. You know 60%. If you're working at 60% of your max, you should be able to do it again the next day. Once you've got to, you know a certain fitness level, certain strength level. You should be able to go out and do that again the next day without too much aches, pains, you know, and that's the sort of thing that I try and do.

Danielle Spurling: 43:17

Yeah, and what kind of sets would he be doing in the pool?

Barbara Pellick: 43:22

It's the same as because luckily I mean this time of year I've got people that are swimming in rock nests and things as well. So you know, we have people that we can swim with And I try and do, because we've only got 25m pool too, so there's another. I don't like doing more than 400m in a 25m pool because you just you go around the bend, there's too many turns. So I do a lot of ascending sets, so starting, say 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, something like that. Maybe do that twice. I like ascending because I like it to get harder the further you go. Descending sets, where you get shorter, i find easier. So we'll do some of them sometimes, but I like to make it hard. So even if we did something like 15, 200s, So we do the first five or something that would equate to 20 seconds rest. Then we do the next five It's something that would equate to 15 seconds rest. We do the last five, whatever is 10 seconds rest, like, say, a 320 or 330, whatever. So you're about 10 seconds rest for that last one. So the further we go, the harder you have to work. So that's the sort of stuff I like to do. I do a lot of technique work as well. On top of that, because technique is so important. Good technique when you're a distance swimmer is imperative. It's so important. So you don't end up like me. I use me as an example. Don't be like me. Protect those shoulders, protect those shoulders. Yeah, and I like people to do a lot of well, not a lot, but two sessions in the gym just to get the activations right, get the strength right. So I don't run the gym sessions, but one of my squad members is a PT, so she runs a couple of gym sessions for everyone as well. So, yeah, i mean over some of that. It's quite a bit of training for everyone. But you know we have results. People love it, people want more. I'm always getting a bit of pressure. Can we do another session? Can we do this? Can we do that? I'm like you know we're all adults. We've all got pressures outside of swimming. We're not kids whose mum takes us to swimming, who, when we get home, dinner's on the table. You know we've all got pressures. We have to work, we have families, we have kids. Some have got, you know, little kids And you have to have swimming as part of that. It can't be all of that If it becomes all of that, it's too much. So I try and use it as a part of everyone's life And if it starts getting too much, i would tell people to pull back, because they still gotta be a wife, a husband, a son, a daughter, a friend, a mom, a dad. They still gotta be all of those things, as well as be a swimmer, even if they wanna do open water swimming, even if they wanna do dirwins marathons. They still have to be all of those things And they all have to find a place.

Danielle Spurling: 46:47

Yeah, good advice. I like that. Everyone that comes on the podcast. I always ask them a few of their little favorite things about swimming, so I'm gonna ask you some about open water. What is your favorite beach?

Barbara Pellick: 47:00

to swim at. I swim every Saturday, summer and winter in Mandra at a place called Horsehead Beach or locally known as Doddies. I won't say it's my favorite beach, but I started the squad down there maybe 20 years ago, i can't even remember And the reason I started there was because they had a coffee shop Very important. That was the whole reason I started there. I like that a lot.

Danielle Spurling: 47:38

What's your favorite food to eat during one of your marathon swims?

Barbara Pellick: 47:43

10 peaches.

Danielle Spurling: 47:44

Oh, I haven't had that one before, okay.

Barbara Pellick: 47:47

Absolutely love 10 peaches, especially in salt water. It's just, you take a mouthful, you put the peaches in each side of your cheeks like a squirrel, you swim off and you squeeze the peaches into your mouth And the mouth feel is just amazing. It gets rid of all that salt and it's just the most amazing feel. It's something to really experience. If you've never done it, go and do it.

Danielle Spurling: 48:18

And what's your best advice to stop chafing in open water swimming?

Barbara Pellick: 48:24

Technique. I think the better your technique, the less you're gonna chaf. I use body glide When I was swimming, when I was doing my main swimming before I got injured. I'd never chafed, i didn't have to use anything. but just as precaution I use body glide. Body glide is a silicon-based. it's not petroleum-based, so it doesn't wreck your bathers And it stays on. I find it stays on longer than Vaseline And it also comes in a little tube. So if you're in the middle of a channel and you need to reapply, it's just like a deodorant stick. You can screw it out, apply it, put it back, So it's not like Vaseline. If you use your hands, you get it all over your hands. then it sort of you know magically appears on your goggles. It's body glide. It ticks all the boxes?

Danielle Spurling: 49:17

Yeah, good one. What's your favorite freestyle?

Barbara Pellick: 49:20

drill, unco drill. I assume you all know Unco drill.

Danielle Spurling: 49:25

Maybe explain it for those people who don't.

Barbara Pellick: 49:27

Okay, you've got one arm by your side and you stroke with one arm, you breathe away from that stroking arm. And how I explain it? as on your recovery, you enter at your shoulder or just outside your shoulder, you extend forward and you rotate your hips. When you're on your side, you take your breath And as you rotate back you use the power of your hips in conjunction with the power of your catch. So, hip and hand together to rotate back the other side. And you can do. You know one side, one, you know going up one side, coming back the other, or another variation is three one side, three the other. And I like the three and three because you can find, because we've all got a dominant side And we all rotate really well to a good to one side and not so well on the other. So if we do a three to three, three variation, we can do three strokes with our dominant side. That feels good and we can rotate well and we get the hip and hand coordination and we can feel what that's like And then we can go straight into our less dominant side and try and mirror that. So that's by far my favorite stroke, my favorite drill. Love it, that's a good one.

Danielle Spurling: 50:40

Yeah, i always struggle on my left hand side, always Yeah.

Barbara Pellick: 50:45

Yeah, i do too. Right hand's, brilliant left hand. even that's my replaced shoulder, but even before that it wasn't my good side. Yeah.

Danielle Spurling: 50:57

And how about your favorite freestyle training set?

Barbara Pellick: 51:02

Like I said before, one, two, three, four, five. Back down one, two, three, four, five And variations of that. So I like descending sets. I love descending or ascending sets, sorry. And when I do it myself I try and do it on a time, so each one I only get 10 seconds rest, so it gets harder. So I do a say oh, i'm showing you how slow I am now, so I'll do a hundred on, say, say, 145. So I get 10 seconds rest And so like I'll do a 200. I try and do it on the same swim time, but only 10 seconds rest. So it just as you go along, you're working hard because you're working for longer, but you're still only getting the short rest. And yeah, i just, i like that one, it's my favorite.

Danielle Spurling: 51:53

Very nice. Okay well, Barbara, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. It's been lovely connecting with you and hearing all about your marathon swimming, And best of luck for all your swimmers coming up with their solo swims.

Barbara Pellick: 52:05

Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Danielle, it's been fun talking to you. It's my favorite subject, me too.

Danielle Spurling: 52:12

I could talk swimming all day. Yeah, me too. Okay, well, take care You too. Thank you, thanks, bye, bye. Thank you, barbara. I hope you enjoyed my chat with Barbara today and that it's inspired you to explore some more swims in the Great Houtdoors. Until next time, happy swimming and bye. For now,