June 20, 2024 • 39 mins
Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast welcomes Jeanette Brits on today's episode, who shares her journey to smashing two masters world records at the recent Australian Masters Nationals. Her story is filled with dedication, unique training routines, and a love for the sport that will leave you motivated. From her beginnings in South Africa to her present home in Sydney, we chat about ocean swims with the Bold and Beautiful group at Manly Beach to structured pool workouts at the Andrew Boy Charlton pool. Jeanette's approach combines camaraderie and discipline for extraordinary results.
With a love for distance swimming and freestyle, Jeanette explains her unique training schedule which has lead to success in her securing world records in the 200m and 800m. She dives into the mental and physical strategies that propelled her to that success, emphasising the importance of perseverance and the adaptability required to thrive in varying training conditions. Her insights are a goldmine for anyone looking to up their swimming game, regardless of age or experience.
Jeanette also shares her personal inspirations and favourite training drills that keep her motivated. Get ready for an episode that offers not just practical swimming tips, but also life lessons on maintaining a healthy work-life balance and cherishing the simple joys of a fulfilling hobby.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danielle Spurling (00:09):
Hello swimmers and welcome to another
episode of Torpedo Swim Talkpodcast.
I'm your host, DanielleSpurling, and each week we chat
to a master swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
My guest today is JeanetteBrits, from South Africa, via
Sydney, A australia.
She's only been competing inMasters for a few years, but at
(00:32):
her first Australian MastersNationals last month in Darwin,
she broke two world records inthe 2 and 800 freestyle and
narrowly missed the 400.
When you hear some of thetraining sets she does, you
won't be surprised as to why shebroke these records so early on
in her career.
Let's hear from Jeanette now.
(00:52):
Hi, J jeanette, welcome to thepodcast.
Jeanette Brits (01:01):
Thanks, Danielle .
Thanks so much for chattingwith me today.
Danielle Spurling (01:04):
Oh, it's such a pleasure to have you here.
Where are you coming to us fromtoday?
From?
Jeanette Brits (01:09):
Balgola Heights in Sydney, actually just near
Manly, up the hill from Manly.
So in Sydney, yes, Lovely.
Danielle Spurling (01:17):
And when did you get your last swim in?
Jeanette Brits (01:20):
I was swimming down at the beach this morning.
Actually it was a beautifulclear morning and the water was
as flat as a pool and we had agorgeous clear swim.
It was lovely.
Danielle Spurling (01:32):
Oh lovely Is that with the bold and beautiful
swimmers.
Jeanette Brits (01:36):
Yeah, there's a fabulous group that goes in half
an hour earlier called theDrinks Express and they swim at
6.30 every single day of theyear and they swim across to
shelly beach and then race backand pretty much the only thing
that holds the swim at all are afew jellyfish or jimbals or if
they see something astonishing,but otherwise, yeah, it's full
(01:58):
steam ahead.
So great, great fun and andkeeps you honest definitely
keeps you honest on the way backyes, yes, I bet.
Danielle Spurling (02:06):
Is that um?
Do you swim with wetsuits atthis time of the year, or is it
just babies?
Jeanette Brits (02:10):
it's quite a mix .
I'm a bit of a baby, so as soonas it gets um sort of 18
degrees or less, I'll pull onthe wetsuit.
I love the wetsuit, and thereare a lot of brave souls who go
right through the year um justin bathers, but um, I actually
love a wetsuit swim.
I really feel comfortable inthat.
(02:31):
So, yep, the wetsuits on by thestage.
Danielle Spurling (02:34):
Yes yeah, it's lovely.
Yeah, I've never got to swimwith the group at manly, but I I
believe that it you have quitea lot of swimmers there all year
round yeah, there's a.
Jeanette Brits (02:43):
There's a decent sized group, and they're
different groups, as I say that,going at different times, but
you must definitely let us knowwhen you're up this way, because
we'll definitely take you for aglorious swim.
Danielle Spurling (02:54):
Yeah yes, do you see many?
Uh, have you come across anysharks or anything like that in
those swims?
Jeanette Brits (03:01):
um twins.
There are a lot of sort oflittle baby whaler sharks and
also sort of duskies, and thenthe grey nurse shark is one of
the bigger ones thatoccasionally uses cabbage tree
bay as her nursery, so they'redefinitely a couple around a lot
of wabigongs andjs, um so portjackson shark.
Danielle Spurling (03:24):
So just an absolute treat on our doorstep
do you do all your training inthe ocean or do you do a lot in
the pool as well?
Jeanette Brits (03:33):
yeah, good question.
Actually about four years ago,when I was just sort of getting
back into my swimming, I wasdoing all my swimming in the
ocean, um, and then I had a of ain-service or sort of a bit of
a you know lesson with a coupleof the really good youngsters
and I posed the question to themwhere they did all their
(03:54):
training and they've just goneno, you've got to get that
fitness in the pool.
So that sort of got me thinkingand now probably do about a
40-30 split.
So four days in the pool nowand about three in the ocean,
and my ocean swims are probablymore for pleasure, although it's
(04:16):
still a good solid race backfrom Shelley.
But yeah, the hard work nowgets done in the pool.
Danielle, and that was a real.
I was always a pool swimmer asa youngster, but that really got
sort of gave me that realitycheck with the clock not
stopping, you know, and you'vegot to be accountable and honest
(04:36):
to yourself with what you'redoing.
So that was, yeah, it'sprobably been a three, four year
slow build up and slowimprovement and just having to
be constant and maintain thatsort of continual effort.
I guess yes yes what, what?
Danielle Spurling (04:55):
pool.
Do you swim out of?
Jeanette Brits (04:57):
so I'm out of Manly, the Andrew Boy Charlton
pool at Manly, and I do a squadonce a week in the small
25-metre pool and then there's afabulous group of chaps who
swim a lot of the channel swims,catalina, rottnest Island and a
whole sort of mixed group andmixed experience and ages and we
(05:21):
swim informally a couple oftimes a week and we get some
really hard sets done togetherand they've been just such a
fantastic group to swim with, aswell as the ocean group, so I'm
very lucky to have that mix.
Danielle Spurling (05:37):
Yes, so you just write your own programs as
an informal group we do on theinformal days.
Jeanette Brits (05:44):
And then I love my squat in the 25 meter pool,
but the the 50 meter is probablymy preference in the pools.
Just in terms of that it's abit harder and and the sets are
quite a bit different.
Danielle Spurling (05:58):
Yes, so what's a typical set that you
would do with the group atAndrew Boyd, charlton Hall?
Jeanette Brits (06:07):
Generally about 500 warm up and then we might do
five ones on 130, launch intopossibly a few 300s on sort of
around 415, four minutes, andthen probably have a main set
after that with um twos and onesand then finish up with a bit
(06:28):
of hypoxic and 50s and a fewsprints and and maybe some kick
on the end if we've got anythingleft in the tank sounds like a
hard workout yeah, probablyabout um ranging between four
and a half to five and a half Kson those mornings, yeah, and
then a couple of sets on aSaturday.
(06:49):
When Rottnest sort of gets alittle bit closer December and
January they would try and get acouple of eight or 10, 10 K
sets in.
I'll start definitely flaggingafter five Ks might pull the
fins out to join them for a fewmore.
But yeah, so I probably don'toften go over five, five and a
(07:13):
half Ks ever.
Yes.
Danielle Spurling (07:16):
Yeah, that's, and your shoulders are all okay
with that.
You don't have any shoulderproblems.
Jeanette Brits (07:21):
No, I actually used to do a lot of gymnastics
as a young girl and I thinkthat's kept me fairly strong.
Danielle, I used to do a lot of, and I've got older brothers
and a sister, but I was 10 yearsafter them so I used to
entertain myself swimming on theyou know, swinging on the
clothesline, probablystrengthening up the shoulders a
(07:43):
lot line, probablystrengthening up the shoulders a
lot, just to entertain myselfout, you know, up in our
backyard in the afternoon.
So, um, touch wood, haven't hadany shoulder sort of problems
to date.
But I do have to be a littlebit careful because I can feel
when I do those um, yeah,especially long sets, I can feel
a little bit crunchy and a bitgristly in there now.
Danielle Spurling (08:03):
So I will have to keep an eye on that and
those sets that you do outdoorsin the 50.
How is that different from thetraining you do in the 25 meter
pool once a week?
Jeanette Brits (08:15):
Yeah, the 25 meter pool is run by Narelle
Simpson and she's had heaps ofexperience and and brought many,
many swimmers through and stillhas a lot of swimmers on their
go and um, they far moreprobably I'd call them intense
and also really good crosstraining.
She's got a lot of surflifesavers who swim with her and
(08:36):
um just complete sort of umvariation in terms of drills and
dolphin dives and far moreintense in terms of a lot of 50s
on 40 seconds and, uh yeah,short, sharp, intense sets and
some of them not so short either.
So, um, yeah, a lot of fun, butbut um, just a different
(08:59):
intensity and a different sortof um cross training almost
activity to the to the longerpool.
Danielle Spurling (09:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's that sounds really
interesting.
Do you do you do most of yourtraining freestyle or do you
have another?
Do you have a form stroke thatyou use?
Jeanette Brits (09:16):
um, no, I mainly stick with freestyle.
I used to be a butterflyswimmer when I was young
freestyle in butterfly, but Iactually, to be honest, when I
first came back and got myselftraining again about four years
ago, I could almost hardly liftmy arms out the water for
butterfly.
So that's been a bit of a workin progress.
(09:38):
I can do fly again now, noproblem.
But because we swim with with alot of the ocean swimmers and
the surf club swimmers and so on, it's mainly freestyle.
Danielle Spurling (09:47):
I would say 90 of our workouts freestyle,
yeah well, talking about yourfreestyle, you've had some
really recent um fantasticresults, with two world records
at the oz masters nationals indarwin, which was last month, in
the two and the 800 freestyle.
Can you talk us through how youraced those races and did they
(10:08):
go to the plan that you'd setyourself beforehand?
Jeanette Brits (10:11):
I'm going to be brutally honest, danielle, it
was a little bit of um potluck.
I honestly hadn't swum my 800in probably 45 years okay, um,
even close to 50 years.
Uh, what the reason for that?
When I was growing up as a poolswimmer, I grew up in a small,
fabulous town called east london.
(10:33):
It was right between durban andcape town but we didn't have
winter facilities.
So our season was short and wetrained initially in an outdoor
ocean pool.
So we literally had six monthsto get fit for nationals and go
and compete against the rest ofSouth Africa.
(10:54):
There simply wasn't time,although it was the age of doing
a lot of distance and in ourChristmas holidays while we were
, you know, at school, havingChristmas holidays, high
altitude.
So to do those sort of four andeight hundreds were really
(11:22):
difficult.
If you didn't live up then youweren't acclimatized to that
sort of racing.
So I probably should have beena four and eight hundred swimmer
.
I simply don't have the, theheight really to be a decent 50
and 100 meter swimmer.
But um, we used to probablyfocus around the 200 more just
(11:43):
because we didn't have thatall-year training and the
altitude and so on.
So the the odds were sort ofstacked against us really from
doing really long distanceevents, but probably four and
eight would have, should have,should have been my mark, um.
So for this 800 I'd been umswimming quite hard and um
(12:08):
putting in the base work, but Iactually hadn't really given
myself a little taper before oractually had the chance to have
some practice doing some 800.
So I'd done a time trial backin November and I did a fairly
decent time was about 10 and ahalf minutes.
So I thought if I could getclose to that I'd be really,
(12:30):
really happy.
And the 800 was on the firstday, so I was probably really
fresh and I took off andprobably definitely went out a
bit fast.
And then I could see the folkin my heat and I thought, oh my
gosh, I can't start fading nowhalfway.
So I was trying to employ allsorts of strategies, just
(12:52):
holding the stroke, imagining Iwas dragging off the guys I
normally train with all sorts ofthings.
I was dragging off the guys Inormally train with all sorts of
things because, um, yeah, to behonest, the second half of the
race, especially every inch ofit, was a bit of a punish it it
was.
Yeah, I had to.
I had to try all the tricks inthe book I could headwise to get
(13:12):
myself mentally just to keeppushing along.
Um, and I was quite surprisedwith the time I was.
I was really happy and, to behonest, it was unexpected.
I had not had any benchmark ofthat type of a swim in a long,
long while.
So that that was.
That was really exciting andand really pleasing.
(13:35):
And, um, look, I don't seemyself as especially talented
and I know I've got to work hard.
When I was growing up, mycompetitors were all much taller
and much stronger than than Iwas and my only, my only little
trick in the book that I hadover them was I just had to work
(13:56):
harder than them.
So that's, that's kind of mystrategy and I just stick to it
and I know I have to work hardto to get good results.
And I've put in hard work forquite a while now and gave
myself a little rest and I wasvery lucky that things aligned
on the day and I was well and Icould swim well.
(14:17):
So very grateful for that,because things don't always
align either you know, theydon't always line up so, yeah,
very grateful to be able to haveput in a in a decent
performance yes, yes, yes.
Danielle Spurling (14:30):
And how about the 200 free?
Jeanette Brits (14:32):
because you also broke that world record yeah,
it was quite a challenge up inDarwin because the weather was
extremely hot.
I had a sarong, which was mybest tool.
Honestly, I had it wet thewhole day over my shoulders and
I was literally pouring icedwater over my neck, because you
actually start to feel a littlebit ill from the heat, um, and I
(15:01):
just um, yeah, the strategy wasthere was a little bit of
pressure that I put on myselfjust because I'd been about
within a second or two of of thetime, but I'm not one to chase
times.
I try and push it out of mybecause it sits on your shoulder
.
You never quite get there ifyou, if you're just too dogmatic
on trying to get a particulartime.
So just trying to focus ongetting a good start again and
(15:24):
then holding back a little bitso I could push the second 100 a
bit more, and also just try andsmooth up my turns a little bit
, because in your 60s, anythinggets shabby quite easily.
60s, anything gets shabby quiteeasily.
(15:45):
So, yeah, just trying to staytechnically sound and keeping a
little bit back.
Yeah for that second hundred,but again, yeah, every inch of
it was tough and yeah, justsqueaked in by the real skin on
my teeth.
Danielle Spurling (15:58):
Do you find it hard to hold back in that
first hundred?
Jeanette Brits (16:00):
I know when I'm doing 200s I find it very hard
to hold back yeah, I do and then, there's quite a bit of regret,
sort of cursing yourself, butum, yeah, I tend to zoom out and
I always have, and probably tomy sort of it's it's not the
best race plan, and I've coachedthrough the years as well and
I've, um, tried to sort of it'sit's not the best race plan and
and I've coached through theyears as well and I've tried to
(16:22):
sort of get my swimmers to holdback and and have that measure
of the petrol in the tank.
But yeah, to be honest, I do.
I bounce out like a bit of abunny and then I pay the price
definitely are you?
Danielle Spurling (16:39):
are you a good turner?
Jeanette Brits (16:41):
I'd say I'm average my turns.
Um, that's one of my littlegoals to get better.
Um, so I'm probably right inthe middle.
I'm not a brilliant turner, butit's not a real, real weak
point either.
But I find the longer distanceI tend to stay quite near the
top and pop out a bit tooquickly.
But that's definitely a goal.
(17:01):
I want to get better on theturns, I want to get my legs a
bit fitter and, yeah, all of theabove.
So always lots of things towork on too.
Danielle Spurling (17:11):
Yes, do you change your your kick rate
between the two and the 800, ordo you just hold the same one?
Jeanette Brits (17:17):
yeah, I actually did, danielle.
I bounce out quite fast with abit of kick and then I tend to
almost go to a two or three sortof beat kick, especially in the
middle of the eight.
I know I did, I definitely wentto a two and then I do a bit of
a three, four and then, as I'mgetting back to the end, I try
and put in, put in the legs tosave me a bit, and I could feel,
(17:40):
in fact the 400 was in betweenthe two and the eight and I
really I got into the third lapof the 400 and I thought, oh,
I'm in a bit of trouble here, Ican.
My legs felt like lead.
I'd probably used them in theeight more than I thought I had
actually.
Danielle Spurling (17:54):
How about your breathing pattern?
What?
What do you hold in the 200?
Jeanette Brits (17:58):
Probably every four, but as I'm tiring, I
definitely go to every two.
I'm a left hand breather.
I can do bilateral, but I'm notefficient on it.
Yes, be honest, I'm a.
I'm a straight left handbreather.
I used to.
When I was little, I used tobreathe right and then I
actually hurt my neck for alittle bit and stayed breathing,
and it was probably just backin the day.
(18:19):
You didn't go and get thingssorted as readily as you do
these days and obviously it camegood and I hadn't done anything
.
But by then I was breathingmore comfortably to my left side
and I've stayed that side here.
Danielle Spurling (18:33):
Yes well, the great Ariane Titmuss only
breathes to.
She does breathe to two sides,but mainly on one side, and she,
she does the four-two breathing.
So you're following in greatfootsteps.
Jeanette Brits (18:45):
Yeah, I was watching that swim last night
and stroke perfection honestly.
Danielle Spurling (18:52):
Yeah, she has a beautiful technique, doesn't
she?
She catches the water so evenlyon both sides.
And just, I was really noticingthe difference between her and
lani palester, who obviously isa little bit more 800, 1500, and
the difference in their strokeand their kick rate.
It's just it's very interestingto watch.
Yeah, we're in such a treatthis week, having the um, the
(19:14):
olympic trials, on absolutely,absolutely, yes, glued to our
televisions, I think definitelyyeah, and do you um put any
strength work, dry land strengthwork into your schedule, or is
it all just swimming?
Jeanette Brits (19:29):
mostly just swimming, danielle, but I do
find, um, I don't do looseweights I'm not accomplished
enough and I know what I'm doingenough to do that but I I do do
a few pulleys, which helped me,I think, just maintain a bit of
strength.
So I do rely on those and I tryand do them sort of regularly
(19:50):
and just consistency hasdefinitely been my benchmark,
just because I've got into ahabit of things and I feel a bit
guilty and I just start the dayoff.
Um, the day just goes better ifyou, if you start off on the
right foot, doing a bit ofexercise and and sticking to
your schedule.
(20:10):
So I'm a bit of a stickler forfor a schedule and for having a
pattern in things yes, so inyour, in your schedule, you're
swimming every day, basicallythe ocean and in the pool
basically swimming every day.
yes, I, yes, I do have easy dayswhere I just have an enjoyment
swim, and Sunday I always have asleep in and then just go and
(20:33):
catch a wave or have a very,very easy swim.
But the other days I prefer toget up and have a bit of a
session.
Danielle Spurling (20:41):
Yes, yes, oh, it's a great.
It is a great start to the dayand it sets you up.
If you're used to that andyou're a morning exerciser, it
does really get your day going.
Jeanette Brits (20:51):
It certainly does.
It's a good mental health sortof boost.
It's a good social boost.
It's not that you know you'retoo chatty in the water, but
afterwards it's great to catchup with people and honestly you
feel so blessed mixing with suchpositive people and different
backgrounds and interesting youknow professions and so on.
Danielle Spurling (21:14):
it's you learn something every day as
well yes, yes, absolutely, andyou broke those two world
records.
But I know, when we weretalking prior to coming on air,
you were you said that youhaven't been to a Masters World
Championships yet.
What's the reason behind that,and are you planning on going
maybe next year to singapore?
Jeanette Brits (21:32):
yeah, I'm definitely thinking of singapore
and, um, it would definitelygive me that sort of spurt of
motivation.
There's no particular reason,um, that I haven't been to one
in particular.
I just felt like I was stillgetting myself back into shape
and back into only started poolracing again last year again,
(21:53):
and I found it really exhaustingand I actually found that I
didn't feel I was accomplishedenough just in terms of dives
and turns and knowing what I wasdoing in a race, to actually
put myself really on that realstage just yet.
So I'm getting there, um, withwork to do, but, yeah, that was
(22:15):
probably more the reason.
I just felt like I needed to bemore polished because the last
sort of the years before thenwere just sort of all work and
seeing to family and things likethat.
So I've only really been back inthe pool for the last couple of
years, and five years ago myhusband became ill and we went
(22:36):
through a whole sort of littlejourney with that and he's fine,
thank goodness and yeah, butthat sort of made you reassess
everything and really a positiveoutcome from that, because I
feel like I must grasp every daya little bit more now as well,
and you feel just sort of, youknow, starting off the day
(22:57):
swimming, you feel more aliveand you feel more vital and you
just feel that I suppose justmore grateful.
I suppose just more grateful,whereas before I think I was
just rushing through life andgetting through the working day
and that sort of thing.
So I think you sort of tossthese things sometimes to
(23:18):
re-evaluate what you're doingand what you're up to.
Danielle Spurling (23:21):
Yes, and are you still working full-time or
part-time or at all?
Jeanette Brits (23:26):
No, I haven't worked the last couple of years
now, danielle, so that's alsoallowed me to stick to the
schedule.
Before then it was verydifficult because it was sort of
a little bit of a dive intoeverything wholeheartedly.
So it was work, work, work frommorning till night, and so I
have found the shift.
(23:48):
And when I first stoppedworking you lose a lot of
confidence actually, because alot of times your job defines
you.
And then that's probably why Ihad sort of jumped back into the
pool and thought what did Iused to love doing and what am I
okay at?
And you sort of go back to thosethings and I think it's
important for someone to havethat, and I really admire the
(24:11):
folk who get a good work-lifebalance, because it's really
important and I'd encourageeveryone to hold on to that.
Danielle Spurling (24:18):
Yes yes, it's .
It is hard to do, andparticularly when you've got
kids and you're bringing them upand you're working as well and
and they're playing their sportand you're always sort of the
bottom of the list of you knowthings to do, aren't you?
Jeanette Brits (24:32):
Tick everyone else.
Yes, the day's gone.
Yeah, that's right, that'sright.
Danielle Spurling (24:37):
What did you do in your professional life?
Jeanette Brits (24:39):
I was a teacher and I ended up being a learning
support coordinator.
So still a lot of teaching inthe classroom but also assessing
and programming for a whole lotof different learning
disabilities within a very largeboys high school.
So, okay, that kept one verybusy and incredibly interesting
(25:01):
and incredibly tough, butrewarding as well.
So it was a full-on job andexceptionally busy school days
at this point in time.
Danielle Spurling (25:13):
Yes, yes.
Likewise I'm also a teacher andjust retired in the last year
or two, but also I was a PE orsport teacher, so spent lots of
my days very early in themorning being there for the
swimming squad and thenobviously working teaching
classes and after school sportand all those kind of things,
(25:35):
and then coming home and havingyour own family.
It doesn't leave a lot of timefor your own exercise.
So it's been lovely for me tooto have this time to really get
back into my swimming too.
Jeanette Brits (25:46):
Yeah, fantastic, yeah, absolutely fantastic.
Me too to have this time toreally get back into my swimming
too.
Danielle Spurling (25:48):
Yeah, fantastic, yeah, absolutely
fantastic.
I hear what you're saying and Ithink it's yeah, it's great
that you're doing that have yougot um anything that you're
particularly focused on,danielle?
Well, I'd like to go toSingapore next year.
Um, I've had a bit of a bad runwith injuries over the last
year or two, but hopefully touchwood, yeah, it'll give me a bit
(26:09):
of time to get fit again andyeah, I'd love to go there next
year.
So fingers crossed.
Jeanette Brits (26:16):
Yes, it sounds exciting.
A couple of the chaps atBunmington, swinworth have been
over to a lot of them and then alot of the Manly masters who
were up in darwin have been tomany world champs and, um, yeah,
I'm just in awe of the olderfolk who swim and head off on
all these trips and, yeah, justunbelievable yes, now let's have
(26:40):
a little bit of a chat aboutyour open water swimming,
because you also race in theopen water like the cold classic
and things like that.
Danielle Spurling (26:47):
Is that mainly just over summer and
you're doing those sort ofshorter 1k to 1.2 kilometer
races, or are you sort ofexpanding out to rottenness
distances?
Jeanette Brits (26:58):
um, I think.
Um, yeah, it's definitely amore a summer thing.
Rottenest, I think isdefinitely too long for me,
daniel, I don't think I wouldcope or last the distance.
The longest ocean race I'vedone is 5Ks and I did one.
I have done a 10K but as a duobefore and I love the ocean I'm
(27:19):
probably better in the ocean.
I found the pool incrediblytough.
I found the ocean.
There's time to settle, time toget your stroke really long and
strong and then deal with it.
And I grew up at quite a.
It was a beautiful beach but ithad a lot of surf.
It was Nahoon Beach in theEastern Cape.
(27:44):
So I'm quite greatest respectfor the ocean and the waves, but
I'm quite comfortable if thewave, if the surf, is quite big.
So I love the ocean swimming umand um.
I started off just doing oceanraces without having any sort of
idea of getting back to thepool whatsoever.
(28:05):
I found the mix quite exciting.
Now I think once you do poolfor a while and then you get
back in the ocean, you reallyenjoy that and vice versa.
But I'm probably better in theocean.
5k is definitely my upper limit, though I prefer probably 2k
roundabout there, 2 to threemaybe, or even one and a half,
(28:27):
is good.
And then I've done the surflifesaving again this year for
the first time in a long timeand and the race around the cans
.
It's almost fractionally tooshort for me, but I love that as
well, so that's been a nicedifference as well.
Just to embrace somethingtotally different again.
(28:49):
My brother, my eldest brother,competed for South Africa
against Australia a few times inthe surf life saving and I took
this year to to take oneverything and see which one I
love the most and focus on that.
And, to be honest, I haven'tdecided and can't decide.
And maybe I'll just keep the mix, because I do like all of it
(29:11):
and I like training with theocean swimmers and I like
training with the group whotrain for Rottnest.
So possibly as a duo orpossibly in a team, but
definitely too far as a solo forme.
Danielle Spurling (29:27):
Yes, 20K is a long way, isn't it?
Jeanette Brits (29:30):
It's a long, long way.
I went over a couple of yearsago and we did that relay from
Lanai to Maui and also theWaikiki rough water and that was
beautiful as well.
That was great, but that was asort of a 4k swim and that was,
yeah, a long swim with the ripsand tides and so on.
Danielle Spurling (29:49):
so, um, I do like them, um and the, but then
the pool something completelydifferent yeah, well, it's nice
to have that mix, as you say,and we're very lucky in
australia that we have got thoseocean races in summer and then
we can go back into the pool um,you know, as as summer sort of
ends and have all that swimmingso that's really where we're
(30:11):
very, very lucky we areextremely lucky they've got a
really comprehensive program forthose who just want to do ocean
swims and it's.
They're all really well run and,honestly they do a grand job,
so it's fantastic yes they dohave an open water swim at the
world masters as well yes, so 3kso yeah yeah, um, I'd
(30:36):
definitely be keen to take.
Give that a try yeah,absolutely yes, and luckily the
waters around singapore arepretty nice, so that'd probably
be quite a nice place to swim.
Jeanette Brits (30:48):
I'd definitely be getting some advice from the
chaps who've been over a fewtimes before.
Danielle Spurling (30:53):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And what do you most enjoyabout master swimming?
Jeanette Brits (30:59):
To be honest, I think it was for me almost the
reconnection with everyonearound the pool.
I met so many fabulous people.
At the end of the day, it'sjust you racing against yourself
as well.
You've got other folk who couldbe any age in your heat, all
with different goals and sort ofdifferent little aspirations
(31:22):
they're trying to sort ofachieve and tick off the
lighthearted banter around thepool and the friendship.
I think that's such a pleasureand I met some fabulous girls
who'd been to Aussie SurfLifesaving, who then turned up
at the pool and it was justwonderful to make new
(31:42):
connections and you sort of getinto your 60s and you think
almost through your working life, forgotten about all these
extra connections that aresitting out there, and that was
just wonderful and listening toeveryone chatting and just
enjoying themselves justincorporated it as part of their
(32:04):
lifestyle.
So really, really good and andhonestly, the, the pressure is
just the pressure you put onyourself and what you want to
achieve and no one's really uhwell, I didn't think that it was
just great because I didn'tthink anyone else was too fussed
about what anyone was doing andyou just got in there and did
(32:24):
what you could and then that wasthat, you know.
Danielle Spurling (32:26):
So, yeah, marvelous yes, and was that the
first nationals, nationals thatyou'd been to?
Yes yes, okay, yes, well, youdid well at your first nationals
two world records yes, and nextyear.
Actually they're in melbourne.
Jeanette Brits (32:44):
I've got a little hiccup coming up with
Melbourne because my son'sprobably getting married round
about that date.
Oh, okay, I don't know if I'mgoing to be able to juggle that
one.
So we'll have to see if I canfit in a day or two or not.
But yeah, I think I'lldefinitely be sold on the idea,
(33:06):
Even if I have a bit of a hiccup.
Then I look forward tonationals further ahead in time.
Yes, yes.
Danielle Spurling (33:14):
Now everyone that comes on the podcast.
I like to ask them five deepquestions about this for me.
So the first thing that popsinto your head what is your
favourite pool that you've everswum in?
Jeanette Brits (33:26):
Definitely the manly boy.
Charlton pool, I love it.
Yes, is it salt water?
No, fresh water fresh waterjust got a beautiful feel that
outdoor pool.
Danielle Spurling (33:37):
Yes, it looks beautiful.
I've never swum there, but it'sdefinitely on my list.
What's your favorite pre-racemeal?
Jeanette Brits (33:45):
ah, I don't like to swim with too much in the
tub, so probably sounds a bitodd, but I probably, if I've got
quite a few hours that I haveto wait, I'd probably have an
egg of some description and thenjust make sure I'm well
hydrated and I don't ever goanywhere without having a cup of
(34:06):
tea in the morning.
Danielle Spurling (34:08):
Very nice.
Jeanette Brits (34:10):
Yeah, and also big believer in hydration.
So that was one of the thingsthat I noticed A lot of folk
weren't drinking before theyswam.
So that was sort of, if I canpass on any advice, when you
wake up in the morning, have atleast two mugs of water, which I
do Then I have my tea and thenI think about going off to swim.
(34:31):
So definitely my tea,definitely my water, and if I've
got some time that I have towait, I'd have an egg of some
description for sure.
Danielle Spurling (34:41):
How about your favorite training drill?
Oh?
Jeanette Brits (34:45):
If it's a drill, it's probably just a finger.
Drag up past the ribs andthrough, and often there's that
hold there as well, just for asecond or two to get that
stretch happening.
Danielle Spurling (35:01):
How about your favorite training set?
Jeanette Brits (35:04):
That's a tricky one because I think, think
favorites too much of anenjoyable word.
I'm gonna just, I'm gonna justgo with satisfying okay, and
I'll never forget it because,yeah, the, the chaps, uh, on a
saturday morning will often do10 400s and I was absolutely
(35:25):
petrified.
They do it on a descendingscale.
Yes, and I was absolutelypetrified to attempt it and I've
done lots of them now, but I'llsay it's not my favorite, but
it's the most satisfying onceyou've done it.
Danielle Spurling (35:41):
Wow, what time cycle is that on?
Jeanette Brits (35:53):
We'd start on six and then end up 5, 5, 30 or
5, 15?
Danielle Spurling (35:56):
if we can, so bringing the 10 down to that,
descending as we go very nice.
Jeanette Brits (35:58):
So, yeah, definitely a satisfying set.
Satisfying, yeah, that's atough one, not favorite,
understood.
Danielle Spurling (36:05):
And how about the swimmer you most admire?
Jeanette Brits (36:10):
currently in the water.
Definitely, arianne, I wouldsay.
Um, look, michael phelps wasphenomenal.
And then um.
Growing up, my absolutechildhood idol was my coach's
son, johnty skinner, who was oneof the first men to go under 50
seconds.
So we were, even though we grewup in an extremely small town
(36:32):
in South Africa.
His dad used to coach us and heused to work all day and come
and coach us at five in theevening and at five in the
morning and he was sotechnically brilliant I used to
swim terribly, terribly.
I was the worst looking swimmeryou ever saw and he just kept
at it till I was so sick of himbellowing on the side of the
(36:57):
pool that we, we kind of fixedeverything.
But um, definitely his name wasDoug Skinner and um, he set me
up for life and his son, john TSkinner, was the technical
director in the states for manyyears of the Olympic team and so
on, and he was definitely myidol growing up.
Danielle Spurling (37:16):
Yeah, that's a sad story for him, isn't it?
Because he was one of thefastest 100 meter freestylers in
the world and obviously becauseof apartheid, south Africa
didn't compete for such a longtime apartheid, south africa
didn't compete for such a longtime.
Jeanette Brits (37:32):
Yes, oh, incredibly heartbreaking, daniel
, and and I think the worldmissed out, not only in swimming
, but in in cricket and manyother sports, because, yeah,
there was that restraint and andand it took away a lot of
motivation.
To be honest, yes, yes it wouldhave.
Danielle Spurling (37:48):
But on a positive note, now South Africa
are fully involved in theOlympics and hopefully have a
great Olympics coming up inParis.
Jeanette Brits (37:58):
Yeah, absolutely .
And you know, I think everyathlete, no matter what country
you're from, have your ups anddowns and has your story.
So you've got to just sort ofembrace what life dishes out and
and make make your pathway aspositive as possible, I guess.
Danielle Spurling (38:16):
Yes, absolutely well, jeanette.
Thank you so much for joiningus on the podcast today.
It's been a delight speakingwith you and hearing all about
your swimming journey, and I'msure everyone's going to be
really interested and enthralledto hear about it as well.
Jeanette Brits (38:31):
Thanks so much for having a chat, danielle, and
good luck with your swimmingand hopefully we we catch up in
person.
Yes, and you're on the side ofthe swimming pool too.
Yes, exactly, fantastic.
Okay take care.
Danielle Spurling (38:47):
Thanks so much, okay, bye thanks for
listening into the podcast today.
I hope you enjoyed learningfrom jeanette and take away some
lessons from today's episodethat you can use in your own
swimming.
Don't forget to follow us oninstagram and facebook under
torpedo swim talk podcast.
(39:07):
We often post training setsthere and if you want to keep up
to date with those, that's thebest place to see them.
Till next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
Hello swimmers and welcome to another
episode of Torpedo Swim Talkpodcast.
I'm your host, DanielleSpurling, and each week we chat
to a master swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
My guest today is JeanetteBrits, from South Africa, via
Sydney, A australia.
She's only been competing inMasters for a few years, but at
(00:32):
her first Australian MastersNationals last month in Darwin,
she broke two world records inthe 2 and 800 freestyle and
narrowly missed the 400.
When you hear some of thetraining sets she does, you
won't be surprised as to why shebroke these records so early on
in her career.
Let's hear from Jeanette now.
(00:52):
Hi, J jeanette, welcome to thepodcast.
Jeanette Brits (01:01):
Thanks, Danielle .
Thanks so much for chattingwith me today.
Danielle Spurling (01:04):
Oh, it's such a pleasure to have you here.
Where are you coming to us fromtoday?
From?
Jeanette Brits (01:09):
Balgola Heights in Sydney, actually just near
Manly, up the hill from Manly.
So in Sydney, yes, Lovely.
Danielle Spurling (01:17):
And when did you get your last swim in?
Jeanette Brits (01:20):
I was swimming down at the beach this morning.
Actually it was a beautifulclear morning and the water was
as flat as a pool and we had agorgeous clear swim.
It was lovely.
Danielle Spurling (01:32):
Oh lovely Is that with the bold and beautiful
swimmers.
Jeanette Brits (01:36):
Yeah, there's a fabulous group that goes in half
an hour earlier called theDrinks Express and they swim at
6.30 every single day of theyear and they swim across to
shelly beach and then race backand pretty much the only thing
that holds the swim at all are afew jellyfish or jimbals or if
they see something astonishing,but otherwise, yeah, it's full
(01:58):
steam ahead.
So great, great fun and andkeeps you honest definitely
keeps you honest on the way backyes, yes, I bet.
Danielle Spurling (02:06):
Is that um?
Do you swim with wetsuits atthis time of the year, or is it
just babies?
Jeanette Brits (02:10):
it's quite a mix .
I'm a bit of a baby, so as soonas it gets um sort of 18
degrees or less, I'll pull onthe wetsuit.
I love the wetsuit, and thereare a lot of brave souls who go
right through the year um justin bathers, but um, I actually
love a wetsuit swim.
I really feel comfortable inthat.
(02:31):
So, yep, the wetsuits on by thestage.
Danielle Spurling (02:34):
Yes yeah, it's lovely.
Yeah, I've never got to swimwith the group at manly, but I I
believe that it you have quitea lot of swimmers there all year
round yeah, there's a.
Jeanette Brits (02:43):
There's a decent sized group, and they're
different groups, as I say that,going at different times, but
you must definitely let us knowwhen you're up this way, because
we'll definitely take you for aglorious swim.
Danielle Spurling (02:54):
Yeah yes, do you see many?
Uh, have you come across anysharks or anything like that in
those swims?
Jeanette Brits (03:01):
um twins.
There are a lot of sort oflittle baby whaler sharks and
also sort of duskies, and thenthe grey nurse shark is one of
the bigger ones thatoccasionally uses cabbage tree
bay as her nursery, so they'redefinitely a couple around a lot
of wabigongs andjs, um so portjackson shark.
Danielle Spurling (03:24):
So just an absolute treat on our doorstep
do you do all your training inthe ocean or do you do a lot in
the pool as well?
Jeanette Brits (03:33):
yeah, good question.
Actually about four years ago,when I was just sort of getting
back into my swimming, I wasdoing all my swimming in the
ocean, um, and then I had a of ain-service or sort of a bit of
a you know lesson with a coupleof the really good youngsters
and I posed the question to themwhere they did all their
(03:54):
training and they've just goneno, you've got to get that
fitness in the pool.
So that sort of got me thinkingand now probably do about a
40-30 split.
So four days in the pool nowand about three in the ocean,
and my ocean swims are probablymore for pleasure, although it's
(04:16):
still a good solid race backfrom Shelley.
But yeah, the hard work nowgets done in the pool.
Danielle, and that was a real.
I was always a pool swimmer asa youngster, but that really got
sort of gave me that realitycheck with the clock not
stopping, you know, and you'vegot to be accountable and honest
(04:36):
to yourself with what you'redoing.
So that was, yeah, it'sprobably been a three, four year
slow build up and slowimprovement and just having to
be constant and maintain thatsort of continual effort.
I guess yes yes what, what?
Danielle Spurling (04:55):
pool.
Do you swim out of?
Jeanette Brits (04:57):
so I'm out of Manly, the Andrew Boy Charlton
pool at Manly, and I do a squadonce a week in the small
25-metre pool and then there's afabulous group of chaps who
swim a lot of the channel swims,catalina, rottnest Island and a
whole sort of mixed group andmixed experience and ages and we
(05:21):
swim informally a couple oftimes a week and we get some
really hard sets done togetherand they've been just such a
fantastic group to swim with, aswell as the ocean group, so I'm
very lucky to have that mix.
Danielle Spurling (05:37):
Yes, so you just write your own programs as
an informal group we do on theinformal days.
Jeanette Brits (05:44):
And then I love my squat in the 25 meter pool,
but the the 50 meter is probablymy preference in the pools.
Just in terms of that it's abit harder and and the sets are
quite a bit different.
Danielle Spurling (05:58):
Yes, so what's a typical set that you
would do with the group atAndrew Boyd, charlton Hall?
Jeanette Brits (06:07):
Generally about 500 warm up and then we might do
five ones on 130, launch intopossibly a few 300s on sort of
around 415, four minutes, andthen probably have a main set
after that with um twos and onesand then finish up with a bit
(06:28):
of hypoxic and 50s and a fewsprints and and maybe some kick
on the end if we've got anythingleft in the tank sounds like a
hard workout yeah, probablyabout um ranging between four
and a half to five and a half Kson those mornings, yeah, and
then a couple of sets on aSaturday.
(06:49):
When Rottnest sort of gets alittle bit closer December and
January they would try and get acouple of eight or 10, 10 K
sets in.
I'll start definitely flaggingafter five Ks might pull the
fins out to join them for a fewmore.
But yeah, so I probably don'toften go over five, five and a
(07:13):
half Ks ever.
Yes.
Danielle Spurling (07:16):
Yeah, that's, and your shoulders are all okay
with that.
You don't have any shoulderproblems.
Jeanette Brits (07:21):
No, I actually used to do a lot of gymnastics
as a young girl and I thinkthat's kept me fairly strong.
Danielle, I used to do a lot of, and I've got older brothers
and a sister, but I was 10 yearsafter them so I used to
entertain myself swimming on theyou know, swinging on the
clothesline, probablystrengthening up the shoulders a
(07:43):
lot line, probablystrengthening up the shoulders a
lot, just to entertain myselfout, you know, up in our
backyard in the afternoon.
So, um, touch wood, haven't hadany shoulder sort of problems
to date.
But I do have to be a littlebit careful because I can feel
when I do those um, yeah,especially long sets, I can feel
a little bit crunchy and a bitgristly in there now.
Danielle Spurling (08:03):
So I will have to keep an eye on that and
those sets that you do outdoorsin the 50.
How is that different from thetraining you do in the 25 meter
pool once a week?
Jeanette Brits (08:15):
Yeah, the 25 meter pool is run by Narelle
Simpson and she's had heaps ofexperience and and brought many,
many swimmers through and stillhas a lot of swimmers on their
go and um, they far moreprobably I'd call them intense
and also really good crosstraining.
She's got a lot of surflifesavers who swim with her and
(08:36):
um just complete sort of umvariation in terms of drills and
dolphin dives and far moreintense in terms of a lot of 50s
on 40 seconds and, uh yeah,short, sharp, intense sets and
some of them not so short either.
So, um, yeah, a lot of fun, butbut um, just a different
(08:59):
intensity and a different sortof um cross training almost
activity to the to the longerpool.
Danielle Spurling (09:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's that sounds really
interesting.
Do you do you do most of yourtraining freestyle or do you
have another?
Do you have a form stroke thatyou use?
Jeanette Brits (09:16):
um, no, I mainly stick with freestyle.
I used to be a butterflyswimmer when I was young
freestyle in butterfly, but Iactually, to be honest, when I
first came back and got myselftraining again about four years
ago, I could almost hardly liftmy arms out the water for
butterfly.
So that's been a bit of a workin progress.
(09:38):
I can do fly again now, noproblem.
But because we swim with with alot of the ocean swimmers and
the surf club swimmers and so on, it's mainly freestyle.
Danielle Spurling (09:47):
I would say 90 of our workouts freestyle,
yeah well, talking about yourfreestyle, you've had some
really recent um fantasticresults, with two world records
at the oz masters nationals indarwin, which was last month, in
the two and the 800 freestyle.
Can you talk us through how youraced those races and did they
(10:08):
go to the plan that you'd setyourself beforehand?
Jeanette Brits (10:11):
I'm going to be brutally honest, danielle, it
was a little bit of um potluck.
I honestly hadn't swum my 800in probably 45 years okay, um,
even close to 50 years.
Uh, what the reason for that?
When I was growing up as a poolswimmer, I grew up in a small,
fabulous town called east london.
(10:33):
It was right between durban andcape town but we didn't have
winter facilities.
So our season was short and wetrained initially in an outdoor
ocean pool.
So we literally had six monthsto get fit for nationals and go
and compete against the rest ofSouth Africa.
(10:54):
There simply wasn't time,although it was the age of doing
a lot of distance and in ourChristmas holidays while we were
, you know, at school, havingChristmas holidays, high
altitude.
So to do those sort of four andeight hundreds were really
(11:22):
difficult.
If you didn't live up then youweren't acclimatized to that
sort of racing.
So I probably should have beena four and eight hundred swimmer
.
I simply don't have the, theheight really to be a decent 50
and 100 meter swimmer.
But um, we used to probablyfocus around the 200 more just
(11:43):
because we didn't have thatall-year training and the
altitude and so on.
So the the odds were sort ofstacked against us really from
doing really long distanceevents, but probably four and
eight would have, should have,should have been my mark, um.
So for this 800 I'd been umswimming quite hard and um
(12:08):
putting in the base work, but Iactually hadn't really given
myself a little taper before oractually had the chance to have
some practice doing some 800.
So I'd done a time trial backin November and I did a fairly
decent time was about 10 and ahalf minutes.
So I thought if I could getclose to that I'd be really,
(12:30):
really happy.
And the 800 was on the firstday, so I was probably really
fresh and I took off andprobably definitely went out a
bit fast.
And then I could see the folkin my heat and I thought, oh my
gosh, I can't start fading nowhalfway.
So I was trying to employ allsorts of strategies, just
(12:52):
holding the stroke, imagining Iwas dragging off the guys I
normally train with all sorts ofthings.
I was dragging off the guys Inormally train with all sorts of
things because, um, yeah, to behonest, the second half of the
race, especially every inch ofit, was a bit of a punish it it
was.
Yeah, I had to.
I had to try all the tricks inthe book I could headwise to get
(13:12):
myself mentally just to keeppushing along.
Um, and I was quite surprisedwith the time I was.
I was really happy and, to behonest, it was unexpected.
I had not had any benchmark ofthat type of a swim in a long,
long while.
So that that was.
That was really exciting andand really pleasing.
(13:35):
And, um, look, I don't seemyself as especially talented
and I know I've got to work hard.
When I was growing up, mycompetitors were all much taller
and much stronger than than Iwas and my only, my only little
trick in the book that I hadover them was I just had to work
(13:56):
harder than them.
So that's, that's kind of mystrategy and I just stick to it
and I know I have to work hardto to get good results.
And I've put in hard work forquite a while now and gave
myself a little rest and I wasvery lucky that things aligned
on the day and I was well and Icould swim well.
(14:17):
So very grateful for that,because things don't always
align either you know, theydon't always line up so, yeah,
very grateful to be able to haveput in a in a decent
performance yes, yes, yes.
Danielle Spurling (14:30):
And how about the 200 free?
Jeanette Brits (14:32):
because you also broke that world record yeah,
it was quite a challenge up inDarwin because the weather was
extremely hot.
I had a sarong, which was mybest tool.
Honestly, I had it wet thewhole day over my shoulders and
I was literally pouring icedwater over my neck, because you
actually start to feel a littlebit ill from the heat, um, and I
(15:01):
just um, yeah, the strategy wasthere was a little bit of
pressure that I put on myselfjust because I'd been about
within a second or two of of thetime, but I'm not one to chase
times.
I try and push it out of mybecause it sits on your shoulder
.
You never quite get there ifyou, if you're just too dogmatic
on trying to get a particulartime.
So just trying to focus ongetting a good start again and
(15:24):
then holding back a little bitso I could push the second 100 a
bit more, and also just try andsmooth up my turns a little bit
, because in your 60s, anythinggets shabby quite easily.
60s, anything gets shabby quiteeasily.
(15:45):
So, yeah, just trying to staytechnically sound and keeping a
little bit back.
Yeah for that second hundred,but again, yeah, every inch of
it was tough and yeah, justsqueaked in by the real skin on
my teeth.
Danielle Spurling (15:58):
Do you find it hard to hold back in that
first hundred?
Jeanette Brits (16:00):
I know when I'm doing 200s I find it very hard
to hold back yeah, I do and then, there's quite a bit of regret,
sort of cursing yourself, butum, yeah, I tend to zoom out and
I always have, and probably tomy sort of it's it's not the
best race plan, and I've coachedthrough the years as well and
I've, um, tried to sort of it'sit's not the best race plan and
and I've coached through theyears as well and I've tried to
(16:22):
sort of get my swimmers to holdback and and have that measure
of the petrol in the tank.
But yeah, to be honest, I do.
I bounce out like a bit of abunny and then I pay the price
definitely are you?
Danielle Spurling (16:39):
are you a good turner?
Jeanette Brits (16:41):
I'd say I'm average my turns.
Um, that's one of my littlegoals to get better.
Um, so I'm probably right inthe middle.
I'm not a brilliant turner, butit's not a real, real weak
point either.
But I find the longer distanceI tend to stay quite near the
top and pop out a bit tooquickly.
But that's definitely a goal.
(17:01):
I want to get better on theturns, I want to get my legs a
bit fitter and, yeah, all of theabove.
So always lots of things towork on too.
Danielle Spurling (17:11):
Yes, do you change your your kick rate
between the two and the 800, ordo you just hold the same one?
Jeanette Brits (17:17):
yeah, I actually did, danielle.
I bounce out quite fast with abit of kick and then I tend to
almost go to a two or three sortof beat kick, especially in the
middle of the eight.
I know I did, I definitely wentto a two and then I do a bit of
a three, four and then, as I'mgetting back to the end, I try
and put in, put in the legs tosave me a bit, and I could feel,
(17:40):
in fact the 400 was in betweenthe two and the eight and I
really I got into the third lapof the 400 and I thought, oh,
I'm in a bit of trouble here, Ican.
My legs felt like lead.
I'd probably used them in theeight more than I thought I had
actually.
Danielle Spurling (17:54):
How about your breathing pattern?
What?
What do you hold in the 200?
Jeanette Brits (17:58):
Probably every four, but as I'm tiring, I
definitely go to every two.
I'm a left hand breather.
I can do bilateral, but I'm notefficient on it.
Yes, be honest, I'm a.
I'm a straight left handbreather.
I used to.
When I was little, I used tobreathe right and then I
actually hurt my neck for alittle bit and stayed breathing,
and it was probably just backin the day.
(18:19):
You didn't go and get thingssorted as readily as you do
these days and obviously it camegood and I hadn't done anything
.
But by then I was breathingmore comfortably to my left side
and I've stayed that side here.
Danielle Spurling (18:33):
Yes well, the great Ariane Titmuss only
breathes to.
She does breathe to two sides,but mainly on one side, and she,
she does the four-two breathing.
So you're following in greatfootsteps.
Jeanette Brits (18:45):
Yeah, I was watching that swim last night
and stroke perfection honestly.
Danielle Spurling (18:52):
Yeah, she has a beautiful technique, doesn't
she?
She catches the water so evenlyon both sides.
And just, I was really noticingthe difference between her and
lani palester, who obviously isa little bit more 800, 1500, and
the difference in their strokeand their kick rate.
It's just it's very interestingto watch.
Yeah, we're in such a treatthis week, having the um, the
(19:14):
olympic trials, on absolutely,absolutely, yes, glued to our
televisions, I think definitelyyeah, and do you um put any
strength work, dry land strengthwork into your schedule, or is
it all just swimming?
Jeanette Brits (19:29):
mostly just swimming, danielle, but I do
find, um, I don't do looseweights I'm not accomplished
enough and I know what I'm doingenough to do that but I I do do
a few pulleys, which helped me,I think, just maintain a bit of
strength.
So I do rely on those and I tryand do them sort of regularly
(19:50):
and just consistency hasdefinitely been my benchmark,
just because I've got into ahabit of things and I feel a bit
guilty and I just start the dayoff.
Um, the day just goes better ifyou, if you start off on the
right foot, doing a bit ofexercise and and sticking to
your schedule.
(20:10):
So I'm a bit of a stickler forfor a schedule and for having a
pattern in things yes, so inyour, in your schedule, you're
swimming every day, basicallythe ocean and in the pool
basically swimming every day.
yes, I, yes, I do have easy dayswhere I just have an enjoyment
swim, and Sunday I always have asleep in and then just go and
(20:33):
catch a wave or have a very,very easy swim.
But the other days I prefer toget up and have a bit of a
session.
Danielle Spurling (20:41):
Yes, yes, oh, it's a great.
It is a great start to the dayand it sets you up.
If you're used to that andyou're a morning exerciser, it
does really get your day going.
Jeanette Brits (20:51):
It certainly does.
It's a good mental health sortof boost.
It's a good social boost.
It's not that you know you'retoo chatty in the water, but
afterwards it's great to catchup with people and honestly you
feel so blessed mixing with suchpositive people and different
backgrounds and interesting youknow professions and so on.
Danielle Spurling (21:14):
it's you learn something every day as
well yes, yes, absolutely, andyou broke those two world
records.
But I know, when we weretalking prior to coming on air,
you were you said that youhaven't been to a Masters World
Championships yet.
What's the reason behind that,and are you planning on going
maybe next year to singapore?
Jeanette Brits (21:32):
yeah, I'm definitely thinking of singapore
and, um, it would definitelygive me that sort of spurt of
motivation.
There's no particular reason,um, that I haven't been to one
in particular.
I just felt like I was stillgetting myself back into shape
and back into only started poolracing again last year again,
(21:53):
and I found it really exhaustingand I actually found that I
didn't feel I was accomplishedenough just in terms of dives
and turns and knowing what I wasdoing in a race, to actually
put myself really on that realstage just yet.
So I'm getting there, um, withwork to do, but, yeah, that was
(22:15):
probably more the reason.
I just felt like I needed to bemore polished because the last
sort of the years before thenwere just sort of all work and
seeing to family and things likethat.
So I've only really been back inthe pool for the last couple of
years, and five years ago myhusband became ill and we went
(22:36):
through a whole sort of littlejourney with that and he's fine,
thank goodness and yeah, butthat sort of made you reassess
everything and really a positiveoutcome from that, because I
feel like I must grasp every daya little bit more now as well,
and you feel just sort of, youknow, starting off the day
(22:57):
swimming, you feel more aliveand you feel more vital and you
just feel that I suppose justmore grateful.
I suppose just more grateful,whereas before I think I was
just rushing through life andgetting through the working day
and that sort of thing.
So I think you sort of tossthese things sometimes to
(23:18):
re-evaluate what you're doingand what you're up to.
Danielle Spurling (23:21):
Yes, and are you still working full-time or
part-time or at all?
Jeanette Brits (23:26):
No, I haven't worked the last couple of years
now, danielle, so that's alsoallowed me to stick to the
schedule.
Before then it was verydifficult because it was sort of
a little bit of a dive intoeverything wholeheartedly.
So it was work, work, work frommorning till night, and so I
have found the shift.
(23:48):
And when I first stoppedworking you lose a lot of
confidence actually, because alot of times your job defines
you.
And then that's probably why Ihad sort of jumped back into the
pool and thought what did Iused to love doing and what am I
okay at?
And you sort of go back to thosethings and I think it's
important for someone to havethat, and I really admire the
(24:11):
folk who get a good work-lifebalance, because it's really
important and I'd encourageeveryone to hold on to that.
Danielle Spurling (24:18):
Yes yes, it's .
It is hard to do, andparticularly when you've got
kids and you're bringing them upand you're working as well and
and they're playing their sportand you're always sort of the
bottom of the list of you knowthings to do, aren't you?
Jeanette Brits (24:32):
Tick everyone else.
Yes, the day's gone.
Yeah, that's right, that'sright.
Danielle Spurling (24:37):
What did you do in your professional life?
Jeanette Brits (24:39):
I was a teacher and I ended up being a learning
support coordinator.
So still a lot of teaching inthe classroom but also assessing
and programming for a whole lotof different learning
disabilities within a very largeboys high school.
So, okay, that kept one verybusy and incredibly interesting
(25:01):
and incredibly tough, butrewarding as well.
So it was a full-on job andexceptionally busy school days
at this point in time.
Danielle Spurling (25:13):
Yes, yes.
Likewise I'm also a teacher andjust retired in the last year
or two, but also I was a PE orsport teacher, so spent lots of
my days very early in themorning being there for the
swimming squad and thenobviously working teaching
classes and after school sportand all those kind of things,
(25:35):
and then coming home and havingyour own family.
It doesn't leave a lot of timefor your own exercise.
So it's been lovely for me tooto have this time to really get
back into my swimming too.
Jeanette Brits (25:46):
Yeah, fantastic, yeah, absolutely fantastic.
Me too to have this time toreally get back into my swimming
too.
Danielle Spurling (25:48):
Yeah, fantastic, yeah, absolutely
fantastic.
I hear what you're saying and Ithink it's yeah, it's great
that you're doing that have yougot um anything that you're
particularly focused on,danielle?
Well, I'd like to go toSingapore next year.
Um, I've had a bit of a bad runwith injuries over the last
year or two, but hopefully touchwood, yeah, it'll give me a bit
(26:09):
of time to get fit again andyeah, I'd love to go there next
year.
So fingers crossed.
Jeanette Brits (26:16):
Yes, it sounds exciting.
A couple of the chaps atBunmington, swinworth have been
over to a lot of them and then alot of the Manly masters who
were up in darwin have been tomany world champs and, um, yeah,
I'm just in awe of the olderfolk who swim and head off on
all these trips and, yeah, justunbelievable yes, now let's have
(26:40):
a little bit of a chat aboutyour open water swimming,
because you also race in theopen water like the cold classic
and things like that.
Danielle Spurling (26:47):
Is that mainly just over summer and
you're doing those sort ofshorter 1k to 1.2 kilometer
races, or are you sort ofexpanding out to rottenness
distances?
Jeanette Brits (26:58):
um, I think.
Um, yeah, it's definitely amore a summer thing.
Rottenest, I think isdefinitely too long for me,
daniel, I don't think I wouldcope or last the distance.
The longest ocean race I'vedone is 5Ks and I did one.
I have done a 10K but as a duobefore and I love the ocean I'm
(27:19):
probably better in the ocean.
I found the pool incrediblytough.
I found the ocean.
There's time to settle, time toget your stroke really long and
strong and then deal with it.
And I grew up at quite a.
It was a beautiful beach but ithad a lot of surf.
It was Nahoon Beach in theEastern Cape.
(27:44):
So I'm quite greatest respectfor the ocean and the waves, but
I'm quite comfortable if thewave, if the surf, is quite big.
So I love the ocean swimming umand um.
I started off just doing oceanraces without having any sort of
idea of getting back to thepool whatsoever.
(28:05):
I found the mix quite exciting.
Now I think once you do poolfor a while and then you get
back in the ocean, you reallyenjoy that and vice versa.
But I'm probably better in theocean.
5k is definitely my upper limit, though I prefer probably 2k
roundabout there, 2 to threemaybe, or even one and a half,
(28:27):
is good.
And then I've done the surflifesaving again this year for
the first time in a long timeand and the race around the cans
.
It's almost fractionally tooshort for me, but I love that as
well, so that's been a nicedifference as well.
Just to embrace somethingtotally different again.
(28:49):
My brother, my eldest brother,competed for South Africa
against Australia a few times inthe surf life saving and I took
this year to to take oneverything and see which one I
love the most and focus on that.
And, to be honest, I haven'tdecided and can't decide.
And maybe I'll just keep the mix, because I do like all of it
(29:11):
and I like training with theocean swimmers and I like
training with the group whotrain for Rottnest.
So possibly as a duo orpossibly in a team, but
definitely too far as a solo forme.
Danielle Spurling (29:27):
Yes, 20K is a long way, isn't it?
Jeanette Brits (29:30):
It's a long, long way.
I went over a couple of yearsago and we did that relay from
Lanai to Maui and also theWaikiki rough water and that was
beautiful as well.
That was great, but that was asort of a 4k swim and that was,
yeah, a long swim with the ripsand tides and so on.
Danielle Spurling (29:49):
so, um, I do like them, um and the, but then
the pool something completelydifferent yeah, well, it's nice
to have that mix, as you say,and we're very lucky in
australia that we have got thoseocean races in summer and then
we can go back into the pool um,you know, as as summer sort of
ends and have all that swimmingso that's really where we're
(30:11):
very, very lucky we areextremely lucky they've got a
really comprehensive program forthose who just want to do ocean
swims and it's.
They're all really well run and,honestly they do a grand job,
so it's fantastic yes they dohave an open water swim at the
world masters as well yes, so 3kso yeah yeah, um, I'd
(30:36):
definitely be keen to take.
Give that a try yeah,absolutely yes, and luckily the
waters around singapore arepretty nice, so that'd probably
be quite a nice place to swim.
Jeanette Brits (30:48):
I'd definitely be getting some advice from the
chaps who've been over a fewtimes before.
Danielle Spurling (30:53):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And what do you most enjoyabout master swimming?
Jeanette Brits (30:59):
To be honest, I think it was for me almost the
reconnection with everyonearound the pool.
I met so many fabulous people.
At the end of the day, it'sjust you racing against yourself
as well.
You've got other folk who couldbe any age in your heat, all
with different goals and sort ofdifferent little aspirations
(31:22):
they're trying to sort ofachieve and tick off the
lighthearted banter around thepool and the friendship.
I think that's such a pleasureand I met some fabulous girls
who'd been to Aussie SurfLifesaving, who then turned up
at the pool and it was justwonderful to make new
(31:42):
connections and you sort of getinto your 60s and you think
almost through your working life, forgotten about all these
extra connections that aresitting out there, and that was
just wonderful and listening toeveryone chatting and just
enjoying themselves justincorporated it as part of their
(32:04):
lifestyle.
So really, really good and andhonestly, the, the pressure is
just the pressure you put onyourself and what you want to
achieve and no one's really uhwell, I didn't think that it was
just great because I didn'tthink anyone else was too fussed
about what anyone was doing andyou just got in there and did
(32:24):
what you could and then that wasthat, you know.
Danielle Spurling (32:26):
So, yeah, marvelous yes, and was that the
first nationals, nationals thatyou'd been to?
Yes yes, okay, yes, well, youdid well at your first nationals
two world records yes, and nextyear.
Actually they're in melbourne.
Jeanette Brits (32:44):
I've got a little hiccup coming up with
Melbourne because my son'sprobably getting married round
about that date.
Oh, okay, I don't know if I'mgoing to be able to juggle that
one.
So we'll have to see if I canfit in a day or two or not.
But yeah, I think I'lldefinitely be sold on the idea,
(33:06):
Even if I have a bit of a hiccup.
Then I look forward tonationals further ahead in time.
Yes, yes.
Danielle Spurling (33:14):
Now everyone that comes on the podcast.
I like to ask them five deepquestions about this for me.
So the first thing that popsinto your head what is your
favourite pool that you've everswum in?
Jeanette Brits (33:26):
Definitely the manly boy.
Charlton pool, I love it.
Yes, is it salt water?
No, fresh water fresh waterjust got a beautiful feel that
outdoor pool.
Danielle Spurling (33:37):
Yes, it looks beautiful.
I've never swum there, but it'sdefinitely on my list.
What's your favorite pre-racemeal?
Jeanette Brits (33:45):
ah, I don't like to swim with too much in the
tub, so probably sounds a bitodd, but I probably, if I've got
quite a few hours that I haveto wait, I'd probably have an
egg of some description and thenjust make sure I'm well
hydrated and I don't ever goanywhere without having a cup of
(34:06):
tea in the morning.
Danielle Spurling (34:08):
Very nice.
Jeanette Brits (34:10):
Yeah, and also big believer in hydration.
So that was one of the thingsthat I noticed A lot of folk
weren't drinking before theyswam.
So that was sort of, if I canpass on any advice, when you
wake up in the morning, have atleast two mugs of water, which I
do Then I have my tea and thenI think about going off to swim.
(34:31):
So definitely my tea,definitely my water, and if I've
got some time that I have towait, I'd have an egg of some
description for sure.
Danielle Spurling (34:41):
How about your favorite training drill?
Oh?
Jeanette Brits (34:45):
If it's a drill, it's probably just a finger.
Drag up past the ribs andthrough, and often there's that
hold there as well, just for asecond or two to get that
stretch happening.
Danielle Spurling (35:01):
How about your favorite training set?
Jeanette Brits (35:04):
That's a tricky one because I think, think
favorites too much of anenjoyable word.
I'm gonna just, I'm gonna justgo with satisfying okay, and
I'll never forget it because,yeah, the, the chaps, uh, on a
saturday morning will often do10 400s and I was absolutely
(35:25):
petrified.
They do it on a descendingscale.
Yes, and I was absolutelypetrified to attempt it and I've
done lots of them now, but I'llsay it's not my favorite, but
it's the most satisfying onceyou've done it.
Danielle Spurling (35:41):
Wow, what time cycle is that on?
Jeanette Brits (35:53):
We'd start on six and then end up 5, 5, 30 or
5, 15?
Danielle Spurling (35:56):
if we can, so bringing the 10 down to that,
descending as we go very nice.
Jeanette Brits (35:58):
So, yeah, definitely a satisfying set.
Satisfying, yeah, that's atough one, not favorite,
understood.
Danielle Spurling (36:05):
And how about the swimmer you most admire?
Jeanette Brits (36:10):
currently in the water.
Definitely, arianne, I wouldsay.
Um, look, michael phelps wasphenomenal.
And then um.
Growing up, my absolutechildhood idol was my coach's
son, johnty skinner, who was oneof the first men to go under 50
seconds.
So we were, even though we grewup in an extremely small town
(36:32):
in South Africa.
His dad used to coach us and heused to work all day and come
and coach us at five in theevening and at five in the
morning and he was sotechnically brilliant I used to
swim terribly, terribly.
I was the worst looking swimmeryou ever saw and he just kept
at it till I was so sick of himbellowing on the side of the
(36:57):
pool that we, we kind of fixedeverything.
But um, definitely his name wasDoug Skinner and um, he set me
up for life and his son, john TSkinner, was the technical
director in the states for manyyears of the Olympic team and so
on, and he was definitely myidol growing up.
Danielle Spurling (37:16):
Yeah, that's a sad story for him, isn't it?
Because he was one of thefastest 100 meter freestylers in
the world and obviously becauseof apartheid, south Africa
didn't compete for such a longtime apartheid, south africa
didn't compete for such a longtime.
Jeanette Brits (37:32):
Yes, oh, incredibly heartbreaking, daniel
, and and I think the worldmissed out, not only in swimming
, but in in cricket and manyother sports, because, yeah,
there was that restraint and andand it took away a lot of
motivation.
To be honest, yes, yes it wouldhave.
Danielle Spurling (37:48):
But on a positive note, now South Africa
are fully involved in theOlympics and hopefully have a
great Olympics coming up inParis.
Jeanette Brits (37:58):
Yeah, absolutely .
And you know, I think everyathlete, no matter what country
you're from, have your ups anddowns and has your story.
So you've got to just sort ofembrace what life dishes out and
and make make your pathway aspositive as possible, I guess.
Danielle Spurling (38:16):
Yes, absolutely well, jeanette.
Thank you so much for joiningus on the podcast today.
It's been a delight speakingwith you and hearing all about
your swimming journey, and I'msure everyone's going to be
really interested and enthralledto hear about it as well.
Jeanette Brits (38:31):
Thanks so much for having a chat, danielle, and
good luck with your swimmingand hopefully we we catch up in
person.
Yes, and you're on the side ofthe swimming pool too.
Yes, exactly, fantastic.
Okay take care.
Danielle Spurling (38:47):
Thanks so much, okay, bye thanks for
listening into the podcast today.
I hope you enjoyed learningfrom jeanette and take away some
lessons from today's episodethat you can use in your own
swimming.
Don't forget to follow us oninstagram and facebook under
torpedo swim talk podcast.
(39:07):
We often post training setsthere and if you want to keep up
to date with those, that's thebest place to see them.
Till next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
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