90-Year-Old Tech Whiz Who Tracks His Swims With Smart Goggles, EP 274

Cal Beattie defies expectations at every turn. At 90 years old, he's not just surviving—he's thriving as a competitive Masters swimmer who only started racing four years ago and trains alone in a small town in Virginia. He swims unattached with no team members and is amazingly disciplined. His journey from recreational swimmer to competitive athlete began after his wife passed away, when swimming became his solace and strength.

What makes Cal's story remarkable isn't just his age, but his approach to training and technology. Despite being born before World War II, Cal uses Form smart goggles to track his performance data with precision that would impress swimmers half his age. His methodical training regimen consists of swimming every other day, always timing his 400-yard freestyle and analyzing the results afterward on his smartphone. "I'm a one-act pony," he admits with characteristic humility, but this singular focus has yielded extraordinary results.

Cal Beattie shares his incredible journey as a 90-year-old Masters swimmer who only started competing four years ago after discovering he ranked fourth nationally in his age group while swimming recreationally after his wife's passing.

• High school swim team co-captain in 1953, swimming 19.2 seconds for 20 yards freestyle
• Swims every other day, focusing on a timed 400-yard freestyle using Form smart goggles that track his performance data
• Eliminated his atrial fibrillation through swimming after doctors wouldn't give clear guidance about exercise
• Maintains a heart rate of 134-150 during swimming and a resting heart rate of 58
• Credits exercise, diet, and 8 hours of sleep as his secrets to longevity
• Follows a disciplined nutrition regimen including a breakfast of grapes, flaxseed, lemon juice, olive oil, and baby spinach

Perhaps most inspiring is Cal's health transformation through swimming. Twenty years ago, he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and put on blood thinners. When doctors wouldn't give him clear guidance about exercising, Cal made his own decision to start swimming regularly. The result? "After a year and a half, I went to the doctor. He said you no longer have AFib." Two decades later, his resting heart rate is an impressive 58 beats per minute—a testament to swimming's cardiovascular benefits at any age.

Cal's disciplined approach extends beyond the pool. His meticulously consistent diet includes a daily breakfast of grapes, flaxseed, lemon juice, olive oil, and baby spinach. He prioritizes eight hours of sleep, recognizing its direct impact on his swimming performance. "When I get a good sleep, then I go to the pool and I usually get a much better outcome," he explains. These habits form the foundation of his longevity strategy, which he succinctly summarizes as "exercise, diet, and lots of sleep."

Ready to be inspired by Cal's remarkable journey? Listen now and discover what's possible when you commit to showing up, regardless of your age. Whether you're a Masters swimmer yourself or simply curious about extending your prime years, Cal's story will change how you think about aging and athletic performance.

Email us at [e-mail]. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Champions Mojo.
Join us for conversations thatinspire and empower you as an
adult athlete, fitnessenthusiast or master swimmer.
Our goal is to make eachepisode insightful and
inspirational and to discoverwhat it takes to build or keep a
life of personal excellence.

(00:22):
I'm your host, kelly Pallas,and we're here to champion you.
I'm doing an on-deck interviewwith Cal Beattie.
He's 90 years old and we arejust having a snack in the
hospitality during the VirginiaShort Course State Championships
for Masters and, I course,state championships for masters

(00:42):
and I love your shirt that saysshow up age up, swim masters.
Cal, you did this meet lastyear and this year you're
swimming three events and tellus what you're feeling now that
you're 90.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I feel wonderful.
I mean I keep on swimming.
I started actually swimmingevery other day after my lady
passed away.
My wife and I was swimming thenevery other day and then about
four years ago somebody at theYMC asked me if I knew anything

(01:17):
about master swimming.
I said no, but I've been timingmyself from the 500 while I was
working out so I knew what mytime was for 500.
So I went to the internet and Isaid let me see the top 10
swimmers in my age group andwhat their time is.

(01:39):
I said lo and behold, I wascoming in fourth.
I said lo and behold, I wascoming in fourth and I thought
the word master meant that itwas a pretty fast group, you
know.
And it turned out that I wentto several of these meets over

(01:59):
the last four years and in myage group I usually come in
first because nobody else shows.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I usually come in first because nobody else shows
Well.
So prior to four years ago,when you started into your
master's career, were youswimming?
Were you an athlete?
Did you swim in high school?
Did?

Speaker 2 (02:17):
you have any background?
Yeah, I was a co-captain on myhigh school team in Pontiac
Michigan.
I was the best freestyler there, but that was many, many years
ago.
I didn't improve.

(02:38):
With the muscle strength thatyou lose over time, Then you
lose the good times.
It was interesting.
Our pool was a kind of unusualpool.
It was a 20-yard pool and in 40, we had a 40 instead of a 50.
And in the 40, I was swimming19.2 seconds.

(03:02):
I was swimming 19.2 seconds.
So how that equates?
Possibly, if I was swimming a50, then that might equate to
about a 23, something alongthose lines.
And that was back in 1953.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Very nice.
So did you stay in shape?
You look pretty lean and prettyfit now at 90.
During the time that youweren't a swimmer, did you stay
in shape and do any other sports?
Or did you have a career or afamily, or what did you spend
six decades doing before youcame to master swimming?

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, I came out of high school and went to a
college in Michigan calledOlivet College.
They had no pool.
So the cross-country coachtalked to me and said why don't
you go ahead and try thiscross-country?
And he said well, follow thisgentleman here who's got a

(04:03):
scholarship to Olivet for crosscountry and just follow him
around the five mile course.
And I remember I had theseshoes.
I didn't have any track shoes,but I had some big old fat kids
they called them with some thicksoles, and so I followed him

(04:23):
along and I got to four milesand then he sprinted the last
mile.
I went the whole five mileswithout ever having to run at
all in high school or anything.
So then once I got in shape,then I did pass him.

(04:44):
It was quite interesting.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Oh, that's great, and it looks like you're registered
for an unattached team.
Do you still swim alone, or doyou have teammates, or what is
your training like?

Speaker 2 (04:57):
any scheduling.
So that fits me very, very wellUsually go to the pool, maybe
around 10 in the morning, swimwarm up and then I time myself

(05:22):
on a 400 every time I go to thepool, and that's every other day
.
So I try to get a better timeeach time that I go to the pool,
but it doesn't work that way,you know.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
So you're swimming every other day, and about how
much yardage are you doing?

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Not much.
I warm up and then I do 16lengths, which is 400 yards, and
I have these goggles that havea computer in them.
They're called form goggles andI wear them every time and they
sync all of my data to my cellphone.

(06:05):
So when I come out I cancompare that I've had these
goggles for five years.
I've got a dramatic amount ofdata and it projects to my right
lens when I swim one length andit tells me right now what it
was and all kinds of interestingdata that the swim gives the

(06:31):
computer.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, I love form goggles.
I own a pair of form goggles.
They do give you incredibledata.
I am blown away that a90-year-old, technologically, is
using form goggles, which a lotof people just find even too
difficult.
So you actually take yourgoggles, connect them to your
Bluetooth, upload the data.

(06:52):
How do you look at the data?

Speaker 2 (06:55):
I'll tell you, it's quite interesting my last swim,
my 400 swim, I'd been doing the12 minutes and then I was doing
11, kind of constant, about a 12minute and 25 seconds.
I'm sorry, 11 minutes and 25seconds.

(07:17):
Then the last one I did, I did11.07, which was my was my best
time.
Prior to that it was 1105.

(07:37):
And I was really thrilled withthe last time at 1107.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Do you ever research how to get faster or what other
sets you might do, or are youjust really sold on this
approach to year 400?

Speaker 2 (07:55):
I'd say I'm a one-act pony, I guess, because I just
do the same thing every time andhope that I get a better time,
you know.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Okay, we got to talk after this because I think I can
give you a set.
That might be good.
That'll speed you up.
What I would recommend is doing550s at a faster pace than
you're holding.
So if you're, do you know whatyour 50s are?
For your 11 minute 400?
.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
No, I can't remember what that is.
I think I do about 41 secondsfor a 25.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, yeah, okay.
So that's what I was going tosay.
So if you're doing a minute,20-ish, 50s per, so, that's 240
per 100.
And then if you multiply that,so what would make you faster,
and also make you have enduranceas well, is to do 550s with two
minutes rest and hold wayfaster than 120s for that 50.

(08:55):
So if you did 550s with twominutes rest in between each one
and you held 110s instead of120s, your body would adapt to
that pace over time and youwould break 11 minutes for your
400 free.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
All right, I could give that a shot.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
I think that that might be something you want to
add, maybe once a week.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Okay, I will give that a shot, but I forgot to
tell you about 20 years ago Ihad AFib.
I went to the doctor and hesays you have a poor heart rate.
So they put me on Warfam, ablood thinner, and I was on that
blood thinner.
But when I went to the doctor Iasked him can I exercise?

(09:43):
I went to my heart doctor and Iwent to my regular doctor and
they would not give me astraight answer.
So I said, well, I'm going tojust start swimming.
So 20 years ago and after ayear and a half I went to the
doctor.
He said you no longer have AFib.

(10:05):
So that meant that I swammyself out of AFib and I haven't
had.
And I have my check, you know,once a year, sometimes twice a
year, and I still do not haveAFib.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Exercise is such a great tonic for so many things
that we humans get so your heartrate.
Then, when you're swimming,like you've got two more races,
so we probably should let youget going here.
But when you're swimming, evenin practice or in a meet, how
much are you pushing yourself?

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Well, I try to push myself, but my foam goggles give
me a reading reading, and mostof the time.
An average reading of heartrate is 134, and a high heart
rate is 145 to 150, and that'spretty constant.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
That is a very high heart rate for 90 years old.
So 220 minus your age issupposed to be your max heart
rate.
Did you know that?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, it's supposed to be high, maybe around 130.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, so that's beautiful.
Do you know what your restingheart rate is?

Speaker 2 (11:21):
I take my blood pressure every morning and this
morning my average for the 30days my heart rate is 58.
58.
Wow, that's so nice and low.

(11:45):
Now, besides swimming, do youdo any weightlifting or sit-ups
or stretching or yoga?
And then I do stretching andplanks and push-offs off the
wall.
Yeah, and some several otherthings you know.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Are you doing a full plank?

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I'm not sure I understand what a plank is.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Okay, like a plank, you're saying, you're saying
Push-off holding, yeah, yeah,where you hold yourself up.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Okay well, no, I don't do that, I just do the
push-off at the wall.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Oh, gotcha Okay.
So what about your supportsystem?
You swim alone, but do you havefamily or friends around?

Speaker 2 (12:28):
No, my daughter is in Texas and then my sister is in
Michigan, so I haven't seen them.
I did go to a meet.
It was a national meet up inOhio when my sister I saw her
after 18 years and I went fromOhio to.

(12:53):
She lives up in Michigan so Itraveled up there and we had a
nice little get together.
It was during AFib, though youknow we were far apart most of
the time.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Right, right, you mean during COVID?

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yes.
So if you're 90 now, what kindof goals do you have for your
swimming for the future?

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Looks like a century to me.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
That's great, and other than breaking 11 minutes
in your 400 free during practice, that would be sweet.
How about your 500 free todayin the meet?
What's your goal for that?

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Well, it won't be a 500.
It'll be a 200.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Oh, I'm sorry You're doing the 200.
That's right.
What's your goal for your 200free?

Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, I'll tell you the very truth.
Whatever it is it is, I try togo as fast as I can, pull as
hard as I can and see what theoutcome is.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Now, I haven't had the good fortune of seeing you
swim yet.
I will watch you today.
Do you do flip turns?

Speaker 2 (13:52):
No, I don't do flip turns.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Do you know or have you heard of the swimmer
Charlotte Sandahl?
She's 100 and she did the 500free at senior games a couple of
years ago and she did all flipturns and her 500 free at the
age of 100.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
That is wonderful, that is amazing.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, any desire to learn to do flip turns?

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Well, I've tried, I don't know on a couple of
occasions, but I can't seem toget my position right.
You know, and with a grab turnyou absolutely can put your feet
on the wall, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, and you get some good air as well, which is
always nice.
What do you think your secretto longevity and health are?

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Exercise, diet and lots of sleep.
Now I'm really counting on mysleep lately.
I want to get definitely aneight-hour sleep and that I can
tell.
When I get a good sleep, then Igo to the pool and I usually
get a much better outcome.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, and I heard you say you love frozen blueberries
and what other healthy eatingdo you do?

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, I eat breakfast .
I eat 15 grapes breakfast.
I eat 15 grapes flax seed, acup of water, two tablespoons of
lemon juice and olive oil, onetablespoon of that and then I

(15:32):
heat that up and I put the babyspinach on top of that and that
is my breakfast every morning.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
And then I try to stay away from those foods that
are packaged in.
Can you eat all of thattogether, the 15 grapes and the
lemon juice and the olive oiland the baby spinach and
flaxseed, every morning?

Speaker 2 (15:56):
No, I don't heat it all together, I heat it in parts
, and I do put a package ofready-made grits.
I put that in as a kind of abody.
I heat that up, then I put thegrapes in and the baby spinach,
and I've been doing that for, Iguess, about four or five years.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Wow.
So that is very healthy andoverall, do you feel like you're
always that disciplined Becausethat's so disciplined to eat
like that, Like what in yourlife gave you such discipline?

Speaker 2 (16:34):
I'll tell you that, since I live alone and I can
choose my time and then my diet,and I get used to the habits
and the simplicity of the foodthat I eat because I don't spend
a lot of time cooking Since mywife passed away, I've never

(16:56):
opened the oven, but me and mymicrowave are really good
friends.
Do you eat meat?
I do eat chicken.
Yes, Now what I've been doingis I'll cook chickens from
Walmart and I pull the meat offfrom there and I get two or

(17:17):
three of those for the next day.
That'll be my lunch or mydinner.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Very good.
Well, I really appreciate youspending this time with us, and
is there anything I haven'tasked you that you want to share
with our listeners?

Speaker 2 (17:33):
No, I don't think I have anything at this moment.
I think you've covered itpretty nicely.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Well, thank you so much, Cal, and good luck in the
rest of your meet today.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Thank you much.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo
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