Want to learn the secrets of a successful win at one of the biggest ocean races in the world? Or how to harness a champion mindset to be successful in the pool? Well my chat with Ebony Ebenwaldner for this week's episode of Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast
might just have all the answers you are looking for.
Fresh from her age group victory at the famous Pier to Pub swim, 20 years to the day since she triumphed in the super-fish category at the same race, Ebony gives us a front-row seat to the evolution of her training, her strategies for leveraging race day conditions, and the incredible mindset that has fuelled her sustained success.
Transitioning from competitive swimming to the world of masters and beyond, Ebony's experience sheds light on the significance of embracing change and the joy of rediscovering one’s passion. Her battle with self-belief, injuries and illness, and the delightful pivot to rowing during the unexpected twists of life, like pool closures during COVID. Her narrative isn't just about personal growth; it's also about the fascinating interplay between the sports she loves and the wisdom gained from decades of athletic pursuit.
This episode is about more than just sports; it's about the life lessons they impart. Facing the challenge of degenerative disc disease head-on, Ebony discusses how she's adapted her training to ensure she remains at the peak of her physical abilities. But it's not all about the competition. She reveals how the sporting world, particularly swimming, has rekindled her dreams and aspirations, drawing inspiration from fellow masters swimmers.
Ebony’s journey resonates with anyone looking to find enduring joy and success in the pool, on the lake, or any other arena of life.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danielle Spurling (00:05):
Hello Swimmers and welcome to another
episode of torpedo swim talkpodcast.
I'm your host, danielleSpearling, and each week we chat
to a master swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
I've been wanting to gettoday's guest on the podcast for
quite some time.
Ebony Ebenwaldner is a supermaster swimmer both in the pool
(00:27):
and in the open water, regularlyhitting world aquatics top 10
lists and crushing it in theopen water swimming races.
What also makes my chat withEbony interesting is her
master's coaching background andalso the fact that she took up
rowing during COVID and nowranks on the world stage in
master's indoor and outdoorrowing.
We talk about how the rowingcomplements her swimming.
(00:50):
As you can see, we had a lot tochat about and I will certainly
be taking on her open watertips for future reference.
Let's hear from Ebony now.
Hi Ebony, welcome to thepodcast.
Hi, danielle, thanks for havingme.
Yeah, you're really welcome.
I wanted to start by sayingcongratulations on the age group
(01:12):
win you had at the Peter pub onthe weekend.
That's fantastic.
Thank you very much.
Yes, I was very excited, I bet.
So, 20 years to the day afteryou won the super fish category,
tell us what's the secret toyour success in winning so many
Peter pubs.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (01:28):
I guess consistency.
Like 20 years is a long timeand lots happens over that
period of time and it's justabout trying to maintain
consistency in your training.
Year after year after year.
It looks different each yearbut I think just over that
period of time I have managed tomaintain my time in the water
(01:50):
At my elite level probably 7-8times a week, down to now just a
couple of times a week.
But it's really just about nothaving any extended periods of
time out of the water and justtrying to keep in touch as often
as you can throughout each week, month after month, year after
year.
Danielle Spurling (02:08):
How did the race look for you on Saturday?
What were the conditions likeand what was your mindset going
into the race?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (02:15):
Funnily enough, I don't normally again.
Each year is very different.
Some years I'm particularlynervous.
I am not as focused as much onopen water swimming as I used to
be.
However, in the back of my mindfor the last couple of months I
have thought about the factthat it's been 20 years since I
(02:35):
first won the super fishcategory and not a lot of things
actually play in the back of mymind or I get sort of emotional
or philosophical about.
I just sort of had that thoughtit would be really nice to win
the age group.
It's not the super fishcategory, but just to be able to
say 20 years and I'vecommemorated this day by winning
(02:58):
the age group category.
So basically I was a little bitmore nervous than I have been
in the past, just knowing thatthat's what I wanted to do.
So I had a few things on myside.
This year I've been prettyinjury free and being able to
maintain a consistent trainingwent to Warrnable over Christmas
(03:18):
for three weeks, was able totrain many more times than I
normally would per week, both inthe pool and in the ocean.
So it had just been constantlyin the back of my mind,
particularly that month prior.
The conditions were perfect.
It was definitely more on myside than maybe a stronger
runner or a surf swimmer,because there wasn't an enormous
(03:39):
run up the beach and thereweren't enormous waves Like
there was rolling waves andthankfully I caught them, but in
general it was very much a swim.
I would call it the swimmer'sconditions.
It's always a swimmer's race,being a deep water start but
just lawn at the end you canhave if the tide's out.
It's an enormous run and it's asurf beach so you can have
(04:02):
really good waves which, to behonest, don't suit me.
So when I rocked up on the day,I sort of thought you know, if
it's going to happen today isprobably all in my favour.
I've got some extremely greatcompetitors in my event, so I
just didn't have anything tolose.
I just took it from the startand really just stayed positive.
(04:23):
I knew I was fit, I knew I'ddone the work and it just was
going to come down to whether ornot I caught a wave.
And thankfully I did and to behonest, I couldn't have been
happier.
I couldn't have asked for muchmore at the end of the day.
Danielle Spurling (04:36):
Absolutely, and were you ahead, straight
away from the gun, or did youstay with our friend Lissandra
for a little while?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (04:45):
Well, it was probably a little bit
controversial because they didsay a minute to go and I looked
at my watch and I knew exactlywhere I was sitting with one
minute to go.
So with five seconds to go, Idon't know how most people start
, but I always have my toes onthe rope that's across, and with
five seconds to go, I sort oftook my toes off, put my legs
(05:06):
behind me and got ready for whenthat gun went to start kicking,
which is exactly what I did.
So from that very start, I feltlike I was in front and I could
feel on my feet the entire way.
So, yeah, definitely, as far asI could see, was in front from
start to finish.
So, like I say, mindset'severything and that's how I plan
(05:29):
to do it.
I do remember, a few years ago,being out in front thinking, oh
my goodness, what's happening?
I've been in front and Iliterally slowed down because I
didn't know how to race it frombeing in front.
You know, sometimes,particularly in the years where
you swam with men, you were usedto swimming behind someone and
it was when they separated thegirls and the boys and you did.
You just sort of had a panicgoing.
(05:49):
I don't think I'm supposed to beway out here by myself, but you
know, years and experience allplay apart when you're swimming.
These big ocean, water swimsand yeah, so I was comfortable
being there, had a game plan andjust followed it, which is
basically swim from one boy tothe next.
Danielle Spurling (06:06):
I was going to ask you about that.
Whether you divided intosegments or you go fast at
starting, hold on.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (06:12):
I think that.
No, yeah, so for me I saw thatlarge boy right at the turning
boy.
So I think that's about 800meters mark and due to the
conditions being so flat, Icould say pretty much the whole
way.
So my intention was always justto swim as fast as straight as
I could from that first boy tothe turning boy and then, as
(06:36):
soon as I turned, just sprint.
So really I'm going hard thewhole way it sounds like it
Pretty much.
Look, you know it's a 13-14minute race and I've recently
started rowing and then nine,you know, between eight and nine
minutes.
So, unlike a swimming race,that's maybe two or three, in
(06:58):
particularly 200 backstroke,which is what I normally do,
even at 400am, which hurts likea lot, but still only about five
and a half minutes.
It wasn't as daunting as itcould be being between the
difference between nine and 13minutes from, you know, a rowing
2K to the ocean swim.
Danielle Spurling (07:17):
Yeah, I mean it's even more sort of amazing
that you were able to do thatbecause you for all of those
people listening, Ebony livesinland away, a long way away
from the coast and any openwater.
So obviously going down atChristmas and having a little
bit of time in the water reallyhelped with that prep for you,
but the rest of the time is inthe pool, obviously.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (07:39):
Yeah, and I don't get any other time.
You're exactly right.
During the year it's basicallyjust swimming at the Ballarat
Aquatic Centre in the 50-meterpool and nothing more than that.
And then the only other time Iget is the ocean swimming at
Christmas time in Waterville.
But I did do the 2.5K stateswim at Geelong in November, but
(08:02):
again, that was pretty flat.
That could have been a swimmingpool.
The only difference is you'relooking, obviously, where you're
going.
But I feel like you know withPeter Pub, you know what.
You've done it many times, youknow what to expect.
It doesn't change, so it's justabout making sure you've got
the training behind you and thenthe confidence comes.
(08:26):
But I always love the fact thatyou can go there and people
have not swum at all since theyear before and they're going.
I had to go there today.
Well, I haven't swum since lastyear, so you know I'm just here
for fun and that's what thePeter Pub's about and I love
that pub about it too.
Danielle Spurling (08:41):
Yeah, it's got such a lovely carnival feel,
hasn't it on the day it?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (08:44):
really does, and you know it's funny because
a lot of people it's not theirfavourite swim, but for me I
love that part of it.
I love the fact that it's crazybusy, so many people around,
all the fanfare, and you know somuch to see and do, because,
yeah, you do catch up with somany people that you do see once
a year and you know what's notto like about that.
Danielle Spurling (09:07):
So take us back to the very beginning of
your swimming.
How did you get involved?
And I know you swam as ateenager and early into your
twenties.
Tell us how far you went withthat.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (09:17):
So just started, you know, in Wadonga,
actually in Victoria, followedmy two sisters who were swimming
.
My mum does tell a story abouthow I just jumped in one day and
started swimming and I hadn'thad any swimming lessons and I
joined squad after that so Ididn't formally have, you know,
the learn to swim program, Ijust jumped in, kept going.
(09:41):
I just always loved swimmingand you know, for me I sort of
am a Pisces and I feel like itwas just in my blood.
I'm just a fish Not very goodat anything else, like I can
honestly say.
For me there wasn't any othersports.
I tried dancing but you know Ihad to choose between the two
because they clashed so it wasalways swimming.
(10:03):
But I didn't do anything else inmy teenage years and so my life
was swimming.
And you know we're talkingmorning and night, we're talking
nine, eight, nine times a week.
We're talking life.
It was my life and I loved itand there's no regrets
whatsoever.
So I swam mainly at well,melbourne Vic Centre as a young
(10:23):
ancestor and then also went toPadstow which turned into the
SLC Aqueduct in Sydney, swam itas an age group nationals
swimmer and then moved into opennationals, always the
bridesmaid, you know, always atone level behind, of course, at
nationals or b-finals, at opennationals type thing, nothing
(10:45):
really exciting or to shout fromthe rooftops.
But you know, I probably lackeda little bit of confidence.
I think I was just one of thoseathletes that never thought
they were good enough or, youknow, had athletes ahead of them
that were faster and just neverhad that self-belief that I
could do it.
I have since learned a lotabout mindfulness and I've read
(11:10):
a really good book aboutchampion mindset recently and I
sort of really wished I had thatbook around when I was
youngster because, yeah, I donow know that.
You know you can put all theeffort in training but it does
come down to your mindset on theday and how much belief you
actually have in yourself, whichI just didn't have at that age,
(11:31):
ended with chronic fatiguesyndrome in probably two, say
1996, I think.
Olympic trials 1996 had a restand then was introduced to
master swimming at 24 by Leighand Greg Chaplin from Casey
Seals.
Yep, I was coaching theirdaughter and they said you
(11:51):
should really come and do masterswimming.
So that's where the masterswimming journey started and the
rest, as they say, is history,because everything that I
couldn't take into my age groupswimming I could bring into
master swimming because itreally didn't matter.
It was all about fun, fitnessand friendship.
(12:12):
Sorry, let's do that one againBring into master swimming,
because it was all about fun,fitness and friendship, which
was really the three things thatI love most about swimming.
Danielle Spurling (12:24):
I mean it's amazing that you had that career
and then you went straight intomasters.
A lot of master swimmers have ahuge gap out of the water and
that is probably one of thereasons why you've kept your
time so close to what they wereback then, because how far is
your 200 back stroke time nowoutside of what you did back in
the day, like nowadays it'sprobably maybe about I would be
(12:47):
within 10 seconds, maybe eight,10 seconds.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (12:50):
200 breaststroke, amazingly enough,
is even closer.
Wow, even more recently it wentout a bit more, but then once I
started rowing being a legsport, the breaststroke times
dropped quite dramatically,amazingly enough.
So, yeah, not too much.
Well, when you consider we'retalking what you know 20, 30,
(13:12):
nearly 25, 30 years it's not ahuge amount of time.
You know, I always do.
When I was coaching masters, Iused to always say to my masters
athletes make sure you startyour times again at the first of
every new age group, becauseotherwise you get to the point
where you're 60 and you're going.
You know, I'm not as fast as Iused to be.
I don't know, was that 30?
(13:33):
Well, there might be a reasonfor that.
I still tend to do that, butyou're right, there hasn't been
a post baby.
Pre baby there's a little bitof a gut, but post baby there
hasn't been a huge change in mytimes, which is, you know, 15
years, nearly.
So not too bad.
(13:53):
Again, like I said, it comesdown to consistency.
Danielle Spurling (13:57):
You obviously have coached a lot of masters,
so are you still, are youcoaching presently the moment?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (14:02):
Not swimming obviously had years of doing the
swimming and I would do theswimming at the drop of a hat
and I always say when I retire,I'll probably go back to
coaching swimming because Iabsolutely love it, particularly
masters coaching.
I have a you know great lovefor masters coaching and
definitely something I'll goback to when I have more time.
Danielle Spurling (14:22):
Yeah, and I know you started rowing during
COVID.
Give us a bit of a backgroundto how that all came about and
what you've been doing with therowing now.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (14:31):
So, basically , when COVID started, the pools
closed and it was as simple asthat and, living in Ballarat, if
anyone knows Ballarat, we havethe 1956 Olympic rowing course.
It's called Lake Wendery andit's just across the road from
my house actually.
So when the pools closed, Iactually grabbed some wetsuits
and started swimming in LakeWendery and that went quite well
(14:55):
throughout the lockdowns untilthe lockdowns lifted and the
rowers got back on the courseand one day I actually nearly
got knocked out and someoneyelled at me you need to be
swimming in lane three and Isaid well, what does that mean?
There is eight lanes.
But I had no idea what it meant.
So I looked up what the rulesof the Lake Wendery rowing
course were and, lo and behold,the rowers aren't allowed to row
(15:17):
down lane three, so it would bequite safe.
Anyway, whilst looking all ofthat, I saw that there was a
learn to row course available atthe Ballarat City Rowing Club
and I thought you know what?
I might just give this a go.
I did do a talentidentification training camp
(15:37):
back at the New South WalesInstitute of Sport when I was
about 15 or 16 actually cameback that I would be a good
rower, so I thought, oh, maybe Icould give this a go.
So anyway, I ended up doing thelearn to row course and Meg,
the lovely lady that taught me,actually just instilled this
love of this new sport.
(15:59):
It was very similar to swimmingin terms of it was about feel
for the water.
It was about kind of aestheticfeel.
It was about understandingwhere your body was in the boat
as opposed to in the water, andthere was so much synergy
between the two I just couldn'thelp but quickly fall in love
with it.
And the nice thing about itDenial was that you don't get
(16:21):
bit unless you fall in from theboat.
I also had an issue with becauseI wasn't scared to fall in.
When everyone else has thishuge fear of falling in the
water, here you've got me thatgo.
Uh oh, I'm falling in, nevermind.
So they actually called meaerial because they were like
(16:44):
you're like a mermaid, you don'tcare whether you're in the
water or in the land.
So after a while I did stopfalling in.
And the thing about rowing isthat it's so nice just to be out
on that lake, clear mind, very,very similar to swimming.
So you know, it's all abouttechnique, it's all about
(17:05):
endurance, it's all aboutprograms like I create crazy
programs because my rowingprograms are very similar to
swimming programs, which forrowers, you know, can be a bit
odd because they generally dolike a steady state which is
like a 12 k of one speed orthey'll do six, five hundreds or
something, whereas, you know, Ilike to throw in all sorts of
different strange things.
(17:25):
Um, but the brilliant thingabout it is, you know, like
swimming, you can justconcentrate on what you're doing
and forget about what's goingon in the world, you know, which
is always lovely, and the factthat I live in Ballarat and the
fact that the weather here canbe a little bit up and down,
works beautifully with swimmingbecause, um, a rowing is a leg
(17:48):
sport and swimming,predominantly for me, is an arms
upper body sport and when it'stoo cold and too wet or too
windy in Ballarat, which isquite often, I can go swimming.
Danielle Spurling (18:03):
So they really do complement and work
well together, because I can dothem both and neither competes
with the other yeah, so are youstill competing in your rowing
as well, because I know you wentto the world indoor rowing
championships so, um, I do both.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (18:20):
The only negative, to be honest, is that
the seasons almost runconcurrently, so the rowing
seasons pretty much fromDecember, january probably.
They do have what they callhead races, which run over
winter, which are a bit longdistance races, which again
suits me beautifully, um, but ifyou could say from January to
(18:41):
May is the rowing season, whichyou know basically is also the
open water swimming season herein Victoria, and then we run
into states, so, um, andnationals, so national rowing is
in May, which is, you know,inevitably often when our
nationals is, whether it's April, may, um, and so there's a
(19:02):
little bit of a clash there andat the moment, I've been
choosing rowing only because Ido love the rowing at the moment
and I am rowing a bit more thanI'm swimming.
However, but they don't clash.
Um, you know, I'll always swimas well.
I tend to prioritize certainthings, and the things that I
prioritize in swimming is, um,the state championships, both on
(19:26):
course and short course, andthat's, you know, got a lot to
do with gaining times for worldrankings and things like that.
Um, and you know, if they clashwith a minor rowing regatta or
something, obviously I'll takethe swimming over rowing.
But yeah, I do row at bothstate and national level now in
the Masters rowing it's not.
(19:49):
It doesn't have the depth ofswimming, so it's not as
competitive.
I guess you could say in termsof you know what I've come from
in swimming.
It's a shame actually, becauseit's such a great sport.
I think I feel like many morepeople should try and give it a
go and they'd love it.
But it's not the easiest sport.
(20:09):
It's not as many opportunitiesthere's.
You know you've got toobviously have a place you can
row and a rowing shed andequipment that you can use, and
that's not all readily available, unlike swimming, which is, you
know, basically catgobbles,vaiders and a body of water.
But they are very complimentaryand you know, at the end of the
(20:32):
day, if someone doesn't havethe opportunity to roll on the
water, then you're right.
Indoor rowing or rowing on anerg is just as good, to be
honest, if not better, becauseit's hard work.
Danielle Spurling (20:43):
Yes, yeah, it is hard work.
I was doing a little bit duringCOVID and had a little.
We had a little Zoom group thatwe would meet and do some
rowing, and boy it was tough.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (20:53):
Fantastic?
No, it is.
It's just like I've got one.
And first word my mother-in-lawused when she saw it at home
was that looks like a torturemachine.
I went you know what?
That's actually a really goodway of summing it up it can be
very torturous.
Danielle Spurling (21:07):
Absolutely Well, with what you're doing at
the moment, give us a bit of asneak peek into a typical
training week for you now.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (21:15):
So my training weeks are often varied
and this is because it's alldependent on the weather.
So on Sunday I'll sit down andhave a look at what the
weather's doing for the week and, you know, if the winds pretty
low most of the week, then I'll,you know, probably row five or
six times a week and then I'llbreak it up with a couple of
swims.
However, if it's the other wayand it's quite windy or it's
(21:38):
quite wet, then I'll probablyswim three or four times a week
and I'll row an erg when I'verequired to.
So, on an average week at thispoint in time, I'm probably
rowing Monday, tuesday swimmingWednesday, rowing Thursday,
swimming Friday, and then doingsome long rows on Saturday and
(21:59):
Sunday.
You know, it's a funny thing,I've swum a really long time
probably what nearly 40 years, Iguess and I do find just twice
a week in the water is enough,but obviously can do a little
bit more if the weather allowsit.
And, however, because I'm stilla new rower and I'm still
learning and I'm still doing alot of development in the leg
(22:20):
power, then I do, yeah, like torow when I can and I find that
still required to continue toimprove my rowing.
You know I've been rowing threeyears.
It's not a long time to havebeen rowing yet, and I'm still
on that progression.
Danielle Spurling (22:35):
How about strength and conditioning
outside of rowing and swimming?
Do you manage to fit that inwith that busy timetable?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (22:41):
I do actually because about six months ago at
the National RowingChampionships, a gentleman Tim
came up to me and said you know,even though you do it, I follow
you as a driver and you do alot of cardio but I really think
you could benefit from doingstrength training and obviously
at the age of mid-40s I sort ofhad that in the back of my mind
that I should probably be doinga lot more strength training
(23:02):
than I do, but I hadn't reallyincluded it.
I wasn't a gym person.
I didn't see myself as somebodythat enjoyed the gym.
However, with rowing being aleg sport and also considering
my age, I did think that doing abit of weight training wouldn't
hurt.
So I have, since June, startedgoing to the gym until three
(23:24):
times a week actually and,funnily enough, enjoying it a
lot more than I thought I would.
Different muscles and feelingthe muscles that you sort of
haven't felt for a while, andsomebody that does like to have
a bit of pain that's actuallyquite enjoyable.
I'm like I can really feel thatI've worked those legs or used
(23:48):
those shoulders at the gymyesterday or the other.
Oh gee, my abs hurt and it'ssomething I guess, coming from a
swimming background, justtraining every day, you don't
really feel those sore musclesafter a while.
So heading back into the gymand constantly feeling them the
next day, I don't know, it'ssort of a good feeling, I think.
(24:12):
So six months now we'll see howwe go, keep going, build up
some muscle, not too muchconscious of it being, you know,
not wanting to be too heavy inboth the water or the boat, but
definitely feeling the benefit.
So far.
Danielle Spurling (24:24):
What exercises in the gym with your
strength work do you think arecomplementing both the swimming
and the rowing?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (24:30):
Yeah.
So I like to do lots of legpress and single leg squats and
leg curl.
That's an actually calfextension as well there for my
legs there's a lot of.
If you consider rowing, it'svery much a leg extension type
of sport and then I complementthat with tricep extension and
(24:53):
dips and chin ups and lap pulldown for the swimming.
So I'm very much balancing itout, I guess you could say, and
obviously doing the ab work aswell.
So looking after the upper bodyfor the swimming and the lower
body for the rowing probablylook a little bit odd in a boat
(25:14):
because I've probably got thewider shoulders on the water,
but that's okay.
Danielle Spurling (25:19):
I think it sounds like it's working really
well.
Have you got yourself astrength and conditioning coach
or are you just writing up yourown programs?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (25:26):
Yeah, no, I've just read a lot about
what's required for the sort ofrowing exercises and I do have a
little bit of degenerativediscs in my back, so things like
heavy squats or dead lifts,which are very much designed for
rowers, I can't really do withmy back.
(25:46):
So I do have to do thosesupported exercises like leg
extension and leg press, whereyou're sort of not having to
lift those really heavy weightsbut compress it, press them out.
So, yeah, absolutely stilllooking at the exercises
required, but I haven't got astrength and conditioning coach
as such because I guess, yeah,done a lot of weight training
(26:09):
when I was younger and sort ofhave read about what rowing is
required and just put the twotogether.
Danielle Spurling (26:15):
And aside from that problem with you, is
it your upper back or lower?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (26:19):
back.
No, it's actually I've gotthree.
So I've got Shearman's disease,which is basically curvature of
the spine at the top,bondiliosis in the middle, which
is like a degenerative discdisease.
So I've got osteophytes whichbasically have grown on the side
of vertebrates where theyfracture if I sort of run which
is why I don't do anythingweight-bearing and then a bit of
(26:40):
scoliosis in my lumbar.
So it's basically designed forheavy lifting.
So basically they've said to me, if you don't do any heavy
lifting, and I also findanything hard, hard impact, like
running for example, they'renot ideal and and not
recommended.
(27:00):
But swimming and rowing both,you know, non-weight bearing and
the weight training, like Isaid, I've adapted that to
ensure that it's sort ofsupporting the back and not
hurting the back.
They allow me to continue andkeep going.
Danielle Spurling (27:15):
Yeah, well, I like the fact, too, that you
are doing backstroke as well asfreestyle, because I feel like
that balances out that sort ofyou know, when we're doing
freestyle and we're sitting,we're in this day and age, we're
sitting forward on ourcomputers and it pulls it all
forward, whereas I thinkbackstroke really helps with
stretching out the back partacross the chest and it makes it
(27:37):
a little bit easier on the back.
Do you find that?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (27:40):
Yeah, absolutely, it's probably one of
those things, Danielle.
One of the reasons why Iprobably have been so consistent
over so many years is because Ican't not swim, and exactly
that, like using backstroke it'salso really I find I use my
core a lot more.
You know you tend to do dolphinkick on your back.
(28:00):
You tend to do backstroke kickyou tend to do, you know, like
periscope drill, Like there's alot of drills with backstroke
that also help use your core andlike to say, open up your
shoulders.
And because I am a backstroker,I do spend a lot of time in
that position and definitelyhelps.
But I have had periods of timenot a long time, to be honest,
(28:20):
because I couldn't, but where Ihadn't done a lot of swimming
and my back basically told methat I wasn't acceptable and I
had to get back in.
So but yeah, definitely being abackstroker helps with that
body position and you'reabsolutely right, Like I do have
a sedentary job on my marketingand at a computer all day and
(28:42):
so easy to just get that curvedshoulders, Very conscious of the
fact that you know, over timeI'll probably end up in like a
curved spine anyway.
So the longer I can stay up,nice and straight the better.
Danielle Spurling (28:56):
Yes, exactly.
Are you the type of swimmerthat does activation before you
hop in the water, or are youjust going cold?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (29:04):
No, okay, I'm the type of person that turns
up to the pool with my jacket onunzipped bathers underneath cap
on goggles on you know go.
That's my warmup.
Danielle Spurling (29:19):
That's funny.
Don't tell the swimmers thatyou coach that that's what you
do.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (29:23):
Look, I think it's a new thing.
You know, like, again, I sortof haven't been in the
environment with all these newideas.
You know, like I really wishthat I was around when we did
things like yoga and Pilates.
I did stretch cords when I wasyounger a lot and I got them out
during COVID, which wasinteresting.
They were still okay, but wedidn't do a lot of.
(29:45):
You know, those things thatthey do now that are so good.
It was a, you know, stretchingDefinitely after training,
weight training definitely.
But you know, now they do a lotmore stuff and I see some of
the amazing things people likeKate Campbell and Ariane do on,
you know, instagram and that andI think, wow, you know you can
(30:06):
see how they are so good and howthey are so fast and how that
strength and extra work thatthey do out of the water is, you
know, improving their in-waterand how come they're so fast and
so much faster than we were.
Danielle Spurling (30:19):
I guess, yes, and they're doing it at a very
young age as well.
Yeah, it's great following allthose swimmers on Instagram
because it really gives you aglimpse into you know it's a
small part of what they're doing, but they're so strong in the
GMI find.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (30:33):
They are so much stronger, like I look at
what they do and you know I waswatching the video I don't know
if you've seen, you know, kateCampbell's recent videos but she
, you know she was rolling outfull extension on in a core
position and you know, doingchin-ups with all these heavy
weights and I just think, oh mygosh, I can't do one.
You know tall girls they're notlike tiny things, so just
(31:01):
exceptional.
And it just goes to show, youknow, what the body can do and
how powerful it is.
Danielle Spurling (31:06):
You know yes.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (31:08):
Being able to transfer that strength into the
water and watch how fast theygo.
It's just amazing.
Danielle Spurling (31:13):
So yeah, I got you a lot.
I know it's going to be anexciting Olympics this year.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (31:18):
It really is.
It's going to be a great.
I know I can't wait either.
Danielle Spurling (31:23):
I love what I love watching.
I mean the rivalry, I think,between Australia and the US,
obviously after last year'sWorld Champs, where we had the
most gold medals, but the US hadthe most medals and both were
claiming to be the premierswimming country.
I think it'll be great to seewhat it all comes down to in
Paris.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (31:41):
So exciting.
Yeah, I, like you, know all thesports, but especially the
swimming.
You know, because a lot of them, you know it's the old swimmers
, it's the new swimmers, it'sthe ones that come out of the
woodwork, and I think it's justone of those sports where it is
about you know who is the beston the day and you know it's
(32:03):
anything can happen, and itusually does.
Yes, absolutely.
Danielle Spurling (32:07):
And what goals have you got for yourself
this year in 2024?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (32:11):
Well, ones achieved, which was to win yeah,
the Peer to Pub.
For my age group I've also gota few.
Obviously I'd like I didn'thave a great year in the pool
last year because I actuallyhurt my neck I got a slip disc
in my neck so the times I didlast year were as good as the
(32:32):
year before.
So I'd like to actually getback to the year before times,
just improve those rankings alittle bit, particularly in the
backstroke and the breaststroke,and then in the rowing I have
some times.
So it's a funny sport rowing,because you shouldn't have times
, because every day is differentand, unlike the pool, where
(32:54):
everything is controlled, itcouldn't be any further from
that.
So we'll see how we go withthat.
But when I first started rowingI set some times 500, 1,000 and
2,000 metre times which Iachieved all of them last year.
So now I've just set some newertimes that are a little bit
quicker.
I've had a lot of improvementin my stroke.
(33:16):
I guess you could say I sort oflearnt to row like a swimmer
and now I'm slowly learning howto row like a rower, and so I'm
hoping the last eight months oftechnique improvement will help
me achieve those.
So basically it's a bittime-based, not really
outcome-based in terms of medalsor anything like that, except
(33:37):
for lawn, but the rest are aboutpersonal goals and very much
about improving myself or atleast trying to maintain where I
was A time where we can beinjury-free.
I think it's a good time to beable to achieve those things.
Obviously, sometimes we go inlife, especially as we get older
, we have things that happenthat don't allow us to maybe be
(34:01):
in that mindset where we cancompete against our own personal
best times, and it's just aboutbeing there and that's enough.
But this year, because I havehad a good 12 months of
injury-free, I'd like to thinkthat I can get back to some of
those good times.
Danielle Spurling (34:13):
Yeah, well, I think you're certainly on the
right footpath, I should say, toget there, because you're doing
everything right.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (34:20):
Yeah, and I think just even adding the gym
it feels like that's animprovement and the mindset
improvement as well.
So if anyone's interested, it'sthe books called Champion
Mindset by Alastair McCall Ibelieve it is, and it's very
much focused about champions domore, and I think we don't have
(34:44):
to be an elite athlete but wecan think about how we approach
our training and it is very muchabout gaining what we get put
into it.
So I think I've probably livedin a little bit in that world
that enough is enough.
You know, if I turned up, thatwas enough and when I got what I
(35:06):
, you know, achieved at the endof it I sort of thought, oh well
, that's good enough.
But after reading this book itsort of just changed my mindset
about you know, if you do alittle bit more, you'll get a
little bit more out of it andit's then not just enough.
But you know, enough and a bitmore.
Yes, I don't know.
(35:28):
You get to an age where I neverthought I would have that
mindset again.
You know, I thought that waspast.
You get a bit selfish as you.
You know kids grow up and youstart to become not just you
know, isabella's mum anymore,I'm back to being Ebony
Ebenwaldner and it's like oh,what can Ebony Ebenwaldner
achieve that Isabella's mumcould?
Danielle Spurling (35:48):
I love that yeah.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (35:50):
So you know what I mean you sort of not the
priority.
And then all of a sudden theystart to grow up and they have
their own priorities and goalsand you think, well, maybe I can
start to think about that again.
You know, and swimming isreally a sport from cradle to
grave and you know, at 44,nearly 45, I look at someone
like you know, dorothy Dickey,and I think I still got 50 years
(36:10):
.
Danielle Spurling (36:11):
Yeah, exactly , she's still smashing it out of
the beard pub?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (36:15):
Absolutely, and what can we achieve in 50
years?
Danielle Spurling (36:18):
Yeah, who knows, have a go.
I know, yeah, that's right, Ilove it and that's I mean,
that's a great thing aboutmaster swimming you can.
We've got a lot of people,particularly in Victoria, who
are swimming well into their 90sand late 80s and still just
amazing coming to training allthe time and putting in the time
and effort.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (36:38):
Yeah, so motivated, so motivated.
But they get there and theybring something to the session.
So they bring inspiration andmotivation and, just you know,
the fact that they get out ofbed and turn up to training is
inspiration in itself, andthat's a lot of the time all it
takes.
And once we get there, we're,you know, motivated and we do
(37:00):
what's required.
But being a non weight bearingsport, you know, if you can stay
injury free, it is justsomething that we can do forever
.
Forever, that's right, which youknow, however, ever that long
maybe.
But um, yeah, no, lots, lots toafford it, and then you can
(37:21):
obviously extend it into otherthings, like I watched your
podcast with Gillian and I keptseeing all these Finn swimming
come up.
Danielle Spurling (37:30):
Yes, very interesting.
Yeah Well, she's very, verykeen to get people involved in
that.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (37:38):
So much fun.
Yeah, new sport relatively newsport can start at any age and
you know, just have a go.
And yeah, like I say, I've got,hopefully 50 years to go.
My tick one of the boxes, notone of those years.
Danielle Spurling (37:52):
Finn swimming , tick yeah Next.
So everyone that comes on thepodcast, I love to ask them the
deep dive five, which is a bitof a snapshot of your swimming.
So just give me the firstanswer that pops into your mind
the favorite pool that you'veever swum in?
Um Bondi, yep, that's a verypopular answer and also my
(38:14):
favorite as well, it's beautiful, isn't it Amazing?
How about your favorite openwater swimming destination?
It's not really random, butPort Ferry, here's a curly one
for you.
Put your coach's hat onFavorite backstroke training
drill.
To correct overreaching.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (38:30):
Periscope into six well, 12 kicks.
Six on one leg, one stroke.
So starting off with pausing inthat vertical position, thumb,
thumb, first turning it aroundto your little finger and then
rotating the shoulder to ensurethat we are entering outside.
Well, 11 and one, so 11 on theright hand side, and then
(38:53):
pausing there for 12 strokesbefore we pull through.
So very much about breakingthat stroke down into
considering, before we enter,where our hand is going and then
, once we've entered where ourhand is, yeah, I like that I
like that a lot.
Danielle Spurling (39:09):
Now put your swimmer's hat on and give me
your favorite training set thatyou like to do.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (39:13):
Well, you've joined me with this one and it's
still the same one.
I'm not very exciting, but Ilike five 100s.
The first one is 25 fast, 75easy.
The second one is 50 fast, 50easy.
The third one is 75 fast, 25easy and the last one is well.
The fourth one is 100 fast,followed by 100 easy being the
(39:36):
fifth one.
And the reason I love it isbecause it's so versatile.
Like you can do it all formstroke you can do.
Like you could do 2100s, forexample, one set free, one set
form.
You could do 2100s form.
You can do 2100s and have oneset of each stroke.
You could do one set kick, oneset pull.
You know you could do it allfreestyle, like I.
(39:57):
Just like the versatility of it.
You don't have to do it fourtimes.
You could do it three times.
You do it six times, you can doit on all different times as
well.
So you could do it all on twominutes, or you could start at
140 and go to 145, 150, 155, twominutes for the easy.
So it's the same set, but itoffers so much variety and I'll
(40:18):
always revert back to it if I'mtraining for anything, in
particular week 200 backstrokeor, you know, 400 am 800 am Yuck
, it's just that set that youknow.
you don't have to think, you canjust do it and do what's
required in the set withouthaving to overthink anything
(40:39):
else.
Really, yeah.
Danielle Spurling (40:40):
I like it?
And how about the swimmer youmost admire?
And why?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (40:46):
good question .
You know who I really admire atthe moment.
It's probably Emma McKay-Lan.
I love her poise, I love hergrace.
I can see that she's actuallyreally competitive on the inside
, very quiet and under, you know, shy, almost shy, but non
aggressive on the outside.
(41:07):
But I watch what she achievesand I think there's somebody
that trains hard, there'ssomebody that would be easy to
train and I think she'd bejoyful to train with, just
because she'd be someone thatyou could look up to in training
and learn a lot from her.
I obviously love a lot of theswimmer's past and present, but
(41:29):
when I look at Emma aboveeverybody, I see somebody that's
, you know, really maintainedher self, be it from beginner to
end.
She's never really changed inpersonality.
The last world championship shedidn't do great but she didn't
make a big fuss.
You know she was still Her samepoise person, yeah.
(41:51):
So I really think that I admireher the most and a little, you
know, like her a lot and I lookforward to seeing how she goes
in Paris, should she get therebecause of course, you've got to
get there.
Danielle Spurling (42:03):
Let's hope so .
I'm sure she will, but yes,let's hope so.
I mean, it's very tough beingan Australian female freestyle
sprinter.
It's just stacked.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (42:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, she does also the flyas well and she's so beautiful,
so flat.
I love how flat is With her fly.
You know, it's quite amazing towatch really.
Danielle Spurling (42:25):
Yeah, she's, she's beautiful technique.
I went and watched the thetrials for the world
championships which we in, andsecond just watched her warm up
and go about you know,everything, just as you said,
very understated.
Just other people were quite apresence in the pool, but she
was just in there doing what sheneeded to do.
Beautiful technique.
(42:46):
Just enjoyed watching her.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (42:49):
Mmm, and she would be so much.
But you would never know it,and I think you could walk past
her in the street and if youdidn't know who she was, you
wouldn't know it.
You know what I mean?
I think there's, you know, just, it's a lovely humble, that's
probably the word is way to be,and I'm sure she'll achieve a
lot post swimming as wellbecause of that.
Got Cody.
Danielle Spurling (43:10):
Yeah, I hope that that's that.
Have that stays together.
That would be nice.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (43:15):
Yeah, why actually they say no article the
other day where he said thatshe's really shown in.
You know a lot about, you knowhe could have gone off the rails
, obviously as a Internationalsinging star, but as an athlete,
you know you've got to behealthy and Focused and focused
on the good stuff and I thoughtyou know that.
I think they make me come.
Danielle Spurling (43:38):
Listen to us.
Well, Ebony, thank you so muchfor joining us on the podcast
today.
It's been lovely getting a bitof a glimpse behind Everything
that you do to be such a successin the pool.
So good luck with all yourgoals this year and we'll catch
up at the next meet.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (43:59):
Lovely Thanks , danielle.
Thanks for having me.
Danielle Spurling (44:01):
You're welcome, okay, bye.
Bye, I hope you enjoyed my chatwith Ebony and that she has
inspired you in your ownswimming journey.
Look out for a competition thatwe have coming in the next few
weeks, which I'll be putting upon our socials, so make sure
that you enter for a reallygreat prize that I've been
(44:23):
gifted, and I think that youwill enjoy using it along the
way.
Till next time.
Happy swimming and bye.
For now, you.
Hello Swimmers and welcome to another
episode of torpedo swim talkpodcast.
I'm your host, danielleSpearling, and each week we chat
to a master swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
I've been wanting to gettoday's guest on the podcast for
quite some time.
Ebony Ebenwaldner is a supermaster swimmer both in the pool
(00:27):
and in the open water, regularlyhitting world aquatics top 10
lists and crushing it in theopen water swimming races.
What also makes my chat withEbony interesting is her
master's coaching background andalso the fact that she took up
rowing during COVID and nowranks on the world stage in
master's indoor and outdoorrowing.
We talk about how the rowingcomplements her swimming.
(00:50):
As you can see, we had a lot tochat about and I will certainly
be taking on her open watertips for future reference.
Let's hear from Ebony now.
Hi Ebony, welcome to thepodcast.
Hi, danielle, thanks for havingme.
Yeah, you're really welcome.
I wanted to start by sayingcongratulations on the age group
(01:12):
win you had at the Peter pub onthe weekend.
That's fantastic.
Thank you very much.
Yes, I was very excited, I bet.
So, 20 years to the day afteryou won the super fish category,
tell us what's the secret toyour success in winning so many
Peter pubs.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (01:28):
I guess consistency.
Like 20 years is a long timeand lots happens over that
period of time and it's justabout trying to maintain
consistency in your training.
Year after year after year.
It looks different each yearbut I think just over that
period of time I have managed tomaintain my time in the water
(01:50):
At my elite level probably 7-8times a week, down to now just a
couple of times a week.
But it's really just about nothaving any extended periods of
time out of the water and justtrying to keep in touch as often
as you can throughout each week, month after month, year after
year.
Danielle Spurling (02:08):
How did the race look for you on Saturday?
What were the conditions likeand what was your mindset going
into the race?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (02:15):
Funnily enough, I don't normally again.
Each year is very different.
Some years I'm particularlynervous.
I am not as focused as much onopen water swimming as I used to
be.
However, in the back of my mindfor the last couple of months I
have thought about the factthat it's been 20 years since I
(02:35):
first won the super fishcategory and not a lot of things
actually play in the back of mymind or I get sort of emotional
or philosophical about.
I just sort of had that thoughtit would be really nice to win
the age group.
It's not the super fishcategory, but just to be able to
say 20 years and I'vecommemorated this day by winning
(02:58):
the age group category.
So basically I was a little bitmore nervous than I have been
in the past, just knowing thatthat's what I wanted to do.
So I had a few things on myside.
This year I've been prettyinjury free and being able to
maintain a consistent trainingwent to Warrnable over Christmas
(03:18):
for three weeks, was able totrain many more times than I
normally would per week, both inthe pool and in the ocean.
So it had just been constantlyin the back of my mind,
particularly that month prior.
The conditions were perfect.
It was definitely more on myside than maybe a stronger
runner or a surf swimmer,because there wasn't an enormous
(03:39):
run up the beach and thereweren't enormous waves Like
there was rolling waves andthankfully I caught them, but in
general it was very much a swim.
I would call it the swimmer'sconditions.
It's always a swimmer's race,being a deep water start but
just lawn at the end you canhave if the tide's out.
It's an enormous run and it's asurf beach so you can have
(04:02):
really good waves which, to behonest, don't suit me.
So when I rocked up on the day,I sort of thought you know, if
it's going to happen today isprobably all in my favour.
I've got some extremely greatcompetitors in my event, so I
just didn't have anything tolose.
I just took it from the startand really just stayed positive.
(04:23):
I knew I was fit, I knew I'ddone the work and it just was
going to come down to whether ornot I caught a wave.
And thankfully I did and to behonest, I couldn't have been
happier.
I couldn't have asked for muchmore at the end of the day.
Danielle Spurling (04:36):
Absolutely, and were you ahead, straight
away from the gun, or did youstay with our friend Lissandra
for a little while?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (04:45):
Well, it was probably a little bit
controversial because they didsay a minute to go and I looked
at my watch and I knew exactlywhere I was sitting with one
minute to go.
So with five seconds to go, Idon't know how most people start
, but I always have my toes onthe rope that's across, and with
five seconds to go, I sort oftook my toes off, put my legs
(05:06):
behind me and got ready for whenthat gun went to start kicking,
which is exactly what I did.
So from that very start, I feltlike I was in front and I could
feel on my feet the entire way.
So, yeah, definitely, as far asI could see, was in front from
start to finish.
So, like I say, mindset'severything and that's how I plan
(05:29):
to do it.
I do remember, a few years ago,being out in front thinking, oh
my goodness, what's happening?
I've been in front and Iliterally slowed down because I
didn't know how to race it frombeing in front.
You know, sometimes,particularly in the years where
you swam with men, you were usedto swimming behind someone and
it was when they separated thegirls and the boys and you did.
You just sort of had a panicgoing.
(05:49):
I don't think I'm supposed to beway out here by myself, but you
know, years and experience allplay apart when you're swimming.
These big ocean, water swimsand yeah, so I was comfortable
being there, had a game plan andjust followed it, which is
basically swim from one boy tothe next.
Danielle Spurling (06:06):
I was going to ask you about that.
Whether you divided intosegments or you go fast at
starting, hold on.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (06:12):
I think that.
No, yeah, so for me I saw thatlarge boy right at the turning
boy.
So I think that's about 800meters mark and due to the
conditions being so flat, Icould say pretty much the whole
way.
So my intention was always justto swim as fast as straight as
I could from that first boy tothe turning boy and then, as
(06:36):
soon as I turned, just sprint.
So really I'm going hard thewhole way it sounds like it
Pretty much.
Look, you know it's a 13-14minute race and I've recently
started rowing and then nine,you know, between eight and nine
minutes.
So, unlike a swimming race,that's maybe two or three, in
(06:58):
particularly 200 backstroke,which is what I normally do,
even at 400am, which hurts likea lot, but still only about five
and a half minutes.
It wasn't as daunting as itcould be being between the
difference between nine and 13minutes from, you know, a rowing
2K to the ocean swim.
Danielle Spurling (07:17):
Yeah, I mean it's even more sort of amazing
that you were able to do thatbecause you for all of those
people listening, Ebony livesinland away, a long way away
from the coast and any openwater.
So obviously going down atChristmas and having a little
bit of time in the water reallyhelped with that prep for you,
but the rest of the time is inthe pool, obviously.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (07:39):
Yeah, and I don't get any other time.
You're exactly right.
During the year it's basicallyjust swimming at the Ballarat
Aquatic Centre in the 50-meterpool and nothing more than that.
And then the only other time Iget is the ocean swimming at
Christmas time in Waterville.
But I did do the 2.5K stateswim at Geelong in November, but
(08:02):
again, that was pretty flat.
That could have been a swimmingpool.
The only difference is you'relooking, obviously, where you're
going.
But I feel like you know withPeter Pub, you know what.
You've done it many times, youknow what to expect.
It doesn't change, so it's justabout making sure you've got
the training behind you and thenthe confidence comes.
(08:26):
But I always love the fact thatyou can go there and people
have not swum at all since theyear before and they're going.
I had to go there today.
Well, I haven't swum since lastyear, so you know I'm just here
for fun and that's what thePeter Pub's about and I love
that pub about it too.
Danielle Spurling (08:41):
Yeah, it's got such a lovely carnival feel,
hasn't it on the day it?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (08:44):
really does, and you know it's funny because
a lot of people it's not theirfavourite swim, but for me I
love that part of it.
I love the fact that it's crazybusy, so many people around,
all the fanfare, and you know somuch to see and do, because,
yeah, you do catch up with somany people that you do see once
a year and you know what's notto like about that.
Danielle Spurling (09:07):
So take us back to the very beginning of
your swimming.
How did you get involved?
And I know you swam as ateenager and early into your
twenties.
Tell us how far you went withthat.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (09:17):
So just started, you know, in Wadonga,
actually in Victoria, followedmy two sisters who were swimming
.
My mum does tell a story abouthow I just jumped in one day and
started swimming and I hadn'thad any swimming lessons and I
joined squad after that so Ididn't formally have, you know,
the learn to swim program, Ijust jumped in, kept going.
(09:41):
I just always loved swimmingand you know, for me I sort of
am a Pisces and I feel like itwas just in my blood.
I'm just a fish Not very goodat anything else, like I can
honestly say.
For me there wasn't any othersports.
I tried dancing but you know Ihad to choose between the two
because they clashed so it wasalways swimming.
(10:03):
But I didn't do anything else inmy teenage years and so my life
was swimming.
And you know we're talkingmorning and night, we're talking
nine, eight, nine times a week.
We're talking life.
It was my life and I loved itand there's no regrets
whatsoever.
So I swam mainly at well,melbourne Vic Centre as a young
(10:23):
ancestor and then also went toPadstow which turned into the
SLC Aqueduct in Sydney, swam itas an age group nationals
swimmer and then moved into opennationals, always the
bridesmaid, you know, always atone level behind, of course, at
nationals or b-finals, at opennationals type thing, nothing
(10:45):
really exciting or to shout fromthe rooftops.
But you know, I probably lackeda little bit of confidence.
I think I was just one of thoseathletes that never thought
they were good enough or, youknow, had athletes ahead of them
that were faster and just neverhad that self-belief that I
could do it.
I have since learned a lotabout mindfulness and I've read
(11:10):
a really good book aboutchampion mindset recently and I
sort of really wished I had thatbook around when I was
youngster because, yeah, I donow know that.
You know you can put all theeffort in training but it does
come down to your mindset on theday and how much belief you
actually have in yourself, whichI just didn't have at that age,
(11:31):
ended with chronic fatiguesyndrome in probably two, say
1996, I think.
Olympic trials 1996 had a restand then was introduced to
master swimming at 24 by Leighand Greg Chaplin from Casey
Seals.
Yep, I was coaching theirdaughter and they said you
(11:51):
should really come and do masterswimming.
So that's where the masterswimming journey started and the
rest, as they say, is history,because everything that I
couldn't take into my age groupswimming I could bring into
master swimming because itreally didn't matter.
It was all about fun, fitnessand friendship.
(12:12):
Sorry, let's do that one againBring into master swimming,
because it was all about fun,fitness and friendship, which
was really the three things thatI love most about swimming.
Danielle Spurling (12:24):
I mean it's amazing that you had that career
and then you went straight intomasters.
A lot of master swimmers have ahuge gap out of the water and
that is probably one of thereasons why you've kept your
time so close to what they wereback then, because how far is
your 200 back stroke time nowoutside of what you did back in
the day, like nowadays it'sprobably maybe about I would be
(12:47):
within 10 seconds, maybe eight,10 seconds.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (12:50):
200 breaststroke, amazingly enough,
is even closer.
Wow, even more recently it wentout a bit more, but then once I
started rowing being a legsport, the breaststroke times
dropped quite dramatically,amazingly enough.
So, yeah, not too much.
Well, when you consider we'retalking what you know 20, 30,
(13:12):
nearly 25, 30 years it's not ahuge amount of time.
You know, I always do.
When I was coaching masters, Iused to always say to my masters
athletes make sure you startyour times again at the first of
every new age group, becauseotherwise you get to the point
where you're 60 and you're going.
You know, I'm not as fast as Iused to be.
I don't know, was that 30?
(13:33):
Well, there might be a reasonfor that.
I still tend to do that, butyou're right, there hasn't been
a post baby.
Pre baby there's a little bitof a gut, but post baby there
hasn't been a huge change in mytimes, which is, you know, 15
years, nearly.
So not too bad.
(13:53):
Again, like I said, it comesdown to consistency.
Danielle Spurling (13:57):
You obviously have coached a lot of masters,
so are you still, are youcoaching presently the moment?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (14:02):
Not swimming obviously had years of doing the
swimming and I would do theswimming at the drop of a hat
and I always say when I retire,I'll probably go back to
coaching swimming because Iabsolutely love it, particularly
masters coaching.
I have a you know great lovefor masters coaching and
definitely something I'll goback to when I have more time.
Danielle Spurling (14:22):
Yeah, and I know you started rowing during
COVID.
Give us a bit of a backgroundto how that all came about and
what you've been doing with therowing now.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (14:31):
So, basically , when COVID started, the pools
closed and it was as simple asthat and, living in Ballarat, if
anyone knows Ballarat, we havethe 1956 Olympic rowing course.
It's called Lake Wendery andit's just across the road from
my house actually.
So when the pools closed, Iactually grabbed some wetsuits
and started swimming in LakeWendery and that went quite well
(14:55):
throughout the lockdowns untilthe lockdowns lifted and the
rowers got back on the courseand one day I actually nearly
got knocked out and someoneyelled at me you need to be
swimming in lane three and Isaid well, what does that mean?
There is eight lanes.
But I had no idea what it meant.
So I looked up what the rulesof the Lake Wendery rowing
course were and, lo and behold,the rowers aren't allowed to row
(15:17):
down lane three, so it would bequite safe.
Anyway, whilst looking all ofthat, I saw that there was a
learn to row course available atthe Ballarat City Rowing Club
and I thought you know what?
I might just give this a go.
I did do a talentidentification training camp
(15:37):
back at the New South WalesInstitute of Sport when I was
about 15 or 16 actually cameback that I would be a good
rower, so I thought, oh, maybe Icould give this a go.
So anyway, I ended up doing thelearn to row course and Meg,
the lovely lady that taught me,actually just instilled this
love of this new sport.
(15:59):
It was very similar to swimmingin terms of it was about feel
for the water.
It was about kind of aestheticfeel.
It was about understandingwhere your body was in the boat
as opposed to in the water, andthere was so much synergy
between the two I just couldn'thelp but quickly fall in love
with it.
And the nice thing about itDenial was that you don't get
(16:21):
bit unless you fall in from theboat.
I also had an issue with becauseI wasn't scared to fall in.
When everyone else has thishuge fear of falling in the
water, here you've got me thatgo.
Uh oh, I'm falling in, nevermind.
So they actually called meaerial because they were like
(16:44):
you're like a mermaid, you don'tcare whether you're in the
water or in the land.
So after a while I did stopfalling in.
And the thing about rowing isthat it's so nice just to be out
on that lake, clear mind, very,very similar to swimming.
So you know, it's all abouttechnique, it's all about
(17:05):
endurance, it's all aboutprograms like I create crazy
programs because my rowingprograms are very similar to
swimming programs, which forrowers, you know, can be a bit
odd because they generally dolike a steady state which is
like a 12 k of one speed orthey'll do six, five hundreds or
something, whereas, you know, Ilike to throw in all sorts of
different strange things.
(17:25):
Um, but the brilliant thingabout it is, you know, like
swimming, you can justconcentrate on what you're doing
and forget about what's goingon in the world, you know, which
is always lovely, and the factthat I live in Ballarat and the
fact that the weather here canbe a little bit up and down,
works beautifully with swimmingbecause, um, a rowing is a leg
(17:48):
sport and swimming,predominantly for me, is an arms
upper body sport and when it'stoo cold and too wet or too
windy in Ballarat, which isquite often, I can go swimming.
Danielle Spurling (18:03):
So they really do complement and work
well together, because I can dothem both and neither competes
with the other yeah, so are youstill competing in your rowing
as well, because I know you wentto the world indoor rowing
championships so, um, I do both.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (18:20):
The only negative, to be honest, is that
the seasons almost runconcurrently, so the rowing
seasons pretty much fromDecember, january probably.
They do have what they callhead races, which run over
winter, which are a bit longdistance races, which again
suits me beautifully, um, but ifyou could say from January to
(18:41):
May is the rowing season, whichyou know basically is also the
open water swimming season herein Victoria, and then we run
into states, so, um, andnationals, so national rowing is
in May, which is, you know,inevitably often when our
nationals is, whether it's April, may, um, and so there's a
(19:02):
little bit of a clash there andat the moment, I've been
choosing rowing only because Ido love the rowing at the moment
and I am rowing a bit more thanI'm swimming.
However, but they don't clash.
Um, you know, I'll always swimas well.
I tend to prioritize certainthings, and the things that I
prioritize in swimming is, um,the state championships, both on
(19:26):
course and short course, andthat's, you know, got a lot to
do with gaining times for worldrankings and things like that.
Um, and you know, if they clashwith a minor rowing regatta or
something, obviously I'll takethe swimming over rowing.
But yeah, I do row at bothstate and national level now in
the Masters rowing it's not.
(19:49):
It doesn't have the depth ofswimming, so it's not as
competitive.
I guess you could say in termsof you know what I've come from
in swimming.
It's a shame actually, becauseit's such a great sport.
I think I feel like many morepeople should try and give it a
go and they'd love it.
But it's not the easiest sport.
(20:09):
It's not as many opportunitiesthere's.
You know you've got toobviously have a place you can
row and a rowing shed andequipment that you can use, and
that's not all readily available, unlike swimming, which is, you
know, basically catgobbles,vaiders and a body of water.
But they are very complimentaryand you know, at the end of the
(20:32):
day, if someone doesn't havethe opportunity to roll on the
water, then you're right.
Indoor rowing or rowing on anerg is just as good, to be
honest, if not better, becauseit's hard work.
Danielle Spurling (20:43):
Yes, yeah, it is hard work.
I was doing a little bit duringCOVID and had a little.
We had a little Zoom group thatwe would meet and do some
rowing, and boy it was tough.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (20:53):
Fantastic?
No, it is.
It's just like I've got one.
And first word my mother-in-lawused when she saw it at home
was that looks like a torturemachine.
I went you know what?
That's actually a really goodway of summing it up it can be
very torturous.
Danielle Spurling (21:07):
Absolutely Well, with what you're doing at
the moment, give us a bit of asneak peek into a typical
training week for you now.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (21:15):
So my training weeks are often varied
and this is because it's alldependent on the weather.
So on Sunday I'll sit down andhave a look at what the
weather's doing for the week and, you know, if the winds pretty
low most of the week, then I'll,you know, probably row five or
six times a week and then I'llbreak it up with a couple of
swims.
However, if it's the other wayand it's quite windy or it's
(21:38):
quite wet, then I'll probablyswim three or four times a week
and I'll row an erg when I'verequired to.
So, on an average week at thispoint in time, I'm probably
rowing Monday, tuesday swimmingWednesday, rowing Thursday,
swimming Friday, and then doingsome long rows on Saturday and
(21:59):
Sunday.
You know, it's a funny thing,I've swum a really long time
probably what nearly 40 years, Iguess and I do find just twice
a week in the water is enough,but obviously can do a little
bit more if the weather allowsit.
And, however, because I'm stilla new rower and I'm still
learning and I'm still doing alot of development in the leg
(22:20):
power, then I do, yeah, like torow when I can and I find that
still required to continue toimprove my rowing.
You know I've been rowing threeyears.
It's not a long time to havebeen rowing yet, and I'm still
on that progression.
Danielle Spurling (22:35):
How about strength and conditioning
outside of rowing and swimming?
Do you manage to fit that inwith that busy timetable?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (22:41):
I do actually because about six months ago at
the National RowingChampionships, a gentleman Tim
came up to me and said you know,even though you do it, I follow
you as a driver and you do alot of cardio but I really think
you could benefit from doingstrength training and obviously
at the age of mid-40s I sort ofhad that in the back of my mind
that I should probably be doinga lot more strength training
(23:02):
than I do, but I hadn't reallyincluded it.
I wasn't a gym person.
I didn't see myself as somebodythat enjoyed the gym.
However, with rowing being aleg sport and also considering
my age, I did think that doing abit of weight training wouldn't
hurt.
So I have, since June, startedgoing to the gym until three
(23:24):
times a week actually and,funnily enough, enjoying it a
lot more than I thought I would.
Different muscles and feelingthe muscles that you sort of
haven't felt for a while, andsomebody that does like to have
a bit of pain that's actuallyquite enjoyable.
I'm like I can really feel thatI've worked those legs or used
(23:48):
those shoulders at the gymyesterday or the other.
Oh gee, my abs hurt and it'ssomething I guess, coming from a
swimming background, justtraining every day, you don't
really feel those sore musclesafter a while.
So heading back into the gymand constantly feeling them the
next day, I don't know, it'ssort of a good feeling, I think.
(24:12):
So six months now we'll see howwe go, keep going, build up
some muscle, not too muchconscious of it being, you know,
not wanting to be too heavy inboth the water or the boat, but
definitely feeling the benefit.
So far.
Danielle Spurling (24:24):
What exercises in the gym with your
strength work do you think arecomplementing both the swimming
and the rowing?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (24:30):
Yeah.
So I like to do lots of legpress and single leg squats and
leg curl.
That's an actually calfextension as well there for my
legs there's a lot of.
If you consider rowing, it'svery much a leg extension type
of sport and then I complementthat with tricep extension and
(24:53):
dips and chin ups and lap pulldown for the swimming.
So I'm very much balancing itout, I guess you could say, and
obviously doing the ab work aswell.
So looking after the upper bodyfor the swimming and the lower
body for the rowing probablylook a little bit odd in a boat
(25:14):
because I've probably got thewider shoulders on the water,
but that's okay.
Danielle Spurling (25:19):
I think it sounds like it's working really
well.
Have you got yourself astrength and conditioning coach
or are you just writing up yourown programs?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (25:26):
Yeah, no, I've just read a lot about
what's required for the sort ofrowing exercises and I do have a
little bit of degenerativediscs in my back, so things like
heavy squats or dead lifts,which are very much designed for
rowers, I can't really do withmy back.
(25:46):
So I do have to do thosesupported exercises like leg
extension and leg press, whereyou're sort of not having to
lift those really heavy weightsbut compress it, press them out.
So, yeah, absolutely stilllooking at the exercises
required, but I haven't got astrength and conditioning coach
as such because I guess, yeah,done a lot of weight training
(26:09):
when I was younger and sort ofhave read about what rowing is
required and just put the twotogether.
Danielle Spurling (26:15):
And aside from that problem with you, is
it your upper back or lower?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (26:19):
back.
No, it's actually I've gotthree.
So I've got Shearman's disease,which is basically curvature of
the spine at the top,bondiliosis in the middle, which
is like a degenerative discdisease.
So I've got osteophytes whichbasically have grown on the side
of vertebrates where theyfracture if I sort of run which
is why I don't do anythingweight-bearing and then a bit of
(26:40):
scoliosis in my lumbar.
So it's basically designed forheavy lifting.
So basically they've said to me, if you don't do any heavy
lifting, and I also findanything hard, hard impact, like
running for example, they'renot ideal and and not
recommended.
(27:00):
But swimming and rowing both,you know, non-weight bearing and
the weight training, like Isaid, I've adapted that to
ensure that it's sort ofsupporting the back and not
hurting the back.
They allow me to continue andkeep going.
Danielle Spurling (27:15):
Yeah, well, I like the fact, too, that you
are doing backstroke as well asfreestyle, because I feel like
that balances out that sort ofyou know, when we're doing
freestyle and we're sitting,we're in this day and age, we're
sitting forward on ourcomputers and it pulls it all
forward, whereas I thinkbackstroke really helps with
stretching out the back partacross the chest and it makes it
(27:37):
a little bit easier on the back.
Do you find that?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (27:40):
Yeah, absolutely, it's probably one of
those things, Danielle.
One of the reasons why Iprobably have been so consistent
over so many years is because Ican't not swim, and exactly
that, like using backstroke it'salso really I find I use my
core a lot more.
You know you tend to do dolphinkick on your back.
(28:00):
You tend to do backstroke kickyou tend to do, you know, like
periscope drill, Like there's alot of drills with backstroke
that also help use your core andlike to say, open up your
shoulders.
And because I am a backstroker,I do spend a lot of time in
that position and definitelyhelps.
But I have had periods of timenot a long time, to be honest,
(28:20):
because I couldn't, but where Ihadn't done a lot of swimming
and my back basically told methat I wasn't acceptable and I
had to get back in.
So but yeah, definitely being abackstroker helps with that
body position and you'reabsolutely right, Like I do have
a sedentary job on my marketingand at a computer all day and
(28:42):
so easy to just get that curvedshoulders, Very conscious of the
fact that you know, over timeI'll probably end up in like a
curved spine anyway.
So the longer I can stay up,nice and straight the better.
Danielle Spurling (28:56):
Yes, exactly.
Are you the type of swimmerthat does activation before you
hop in the water, or are youjust going cold?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (29:04):
No, okay, I'm the type of person that turns
up to the pool with my jacket onunzipped bathers underneath cap
on goggles on you know go.
That's my warmup.
Danielle Spurling (29:19):
That's funny.
Don't tell the swimmers thatyou coach that that's what you
do.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (29:23):
Look, I think it's a new thing.
You know, like, again, I sortof haven't been in the
environment with all these newideas.
You know, like I really wishthat I was around when we did
things like yoga and Pilates.
I did stretch cords when I wasyounger a lot and I got them out
during COVID, which wasinteresting.
They were still okay, but wedidn't do a lot of.
(29:45):
You know, those things thatthey do now that are so good.
It was a, you know, stretchingDefinitely after training,
weight training definitely.
But you know, now they do a lotmore stuff and I see some of
the amazing things people likeKate Campbell and Ariane do on,
you know, instagram and that andI think, wow, you know you can
(30:06):
see how they are so good and howthey are so fast and how that
strength and extra work thatthey do out of the water is, you
know, improving their in-waterand how come they're so fast and
so much faster than we were.
Danielle Spurling (30:19):
I guess, yes, and they're doing it at a very
young age as well.
Yeah, it's great following allthose swimmers on Instagram
because it really gives you aglimpse into you know it's a
small part of what they're doing, but they're so strong in the
GMI find.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (30:33):
They are so much stronger, like I look at
what they do and you know I waswatching the video I don't know
if you've seen, you know, kateCampbell's recent videos but she
, you know she was rolling outfull extension on in a core
position and you know, doingchin-ups with all these heavy
weights and I just think, oh mygosh, I can't do one.
You know tall girls they're notlike tiny things, so just
(31:01):
exceptional.
And it just goes to show, youknow, what the body can do and
how powerful it is.
Danielle Spurling (31:06):
You know yes.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (31:08):
Being able to transfer that strength into the
water and watch how fast theygo.
It's just amazing.
Danielle Spurling (31:13):
So yeah, I got you a lot.
I know it's going to be anexciting Olympics this year.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (31:18):
It really is.
It's going to be a great.
I know I can't wait either.
Danielle Spurling (31:23):
I love what I love watching.
I mean the rivalry, I think,between Australia and the US,
obviously after last year'sWorld Champs, where we had the
most gold medals, but the US hadthe most medals and both were
claiming to be the premierswimming country.
I think it'll be great to seewhat it all comes down to in
Paris.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (31:41):
So exciting.
Yeah, I, like you, know all thesports, but especially the
swimming.
You know, because a lot of them, you know it's the old swimmers
, it's the new swimmers, it'sthe ones that come out of the
woodwork, and I think it's justone of those sports where it is
about you know who is the beston the day and you know it's
(32:03):
anything can happen, and itusually does.
Yes, absolutely.
Danielle Spurling (32:07):
And what goals have you got for yourself
this year in 2024?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (32:11):
Well, ones achieved, which was to win yeah,
the Peer to Pub.
For my age group I've also gota few.
Obviously I'd like I didn'thave a great year in the pool
last year because I actuallyhurt my neck I got a slip disc
in my neck so the times I didlast year were as good as the
(32:32):
year before.
So I'd like to actually getback to the year before times,
just improve those rankings alittle bit, particularly in the
backstroke and the breaststroke,and then in the rowing I have
some times.
So it's a funny sport rowing,because you shouldn't have times
, because every day is differentand, unlike the pool, where
(32:54):
everything is controlled, itcouldn't be any further from
that.
So we'll see how we go withthat.
But when I first started rowingI set some times 500, 1,000 and
2,000 metre times which Iachieved all of them last year.
So now I've just set some newertimes that are a little bit
quicker.
I've had a lot of improvementin my stroke.
(33:16):
I guess you could say I sort oflearnt to row like a swimmer
and now I'm slowly learning howto row like a rower, and so I'm
hoping the last eight months oftechnique improvement will help
me achieve those.
So basically it's a bittime-based, not really
outcome-based in terms of medalsor anything like that, except
(33:37):
for lawn, but the rest are aboutpersonal goals and very much
about improving myself or atleast trying to maintain where I
was A time where we can beinjury-free.
I think it's a good time to beable to achieve those things.
Obviously, sometimes we go inlife, especially as we get older
, we have things that happenthat don't allow us to maybe be
(34:01):
in that mindset where we cancompete against our own personal
best times, and it's just aboutbeing there and that's enough.
But this year, because I havehad a good 12 months of
injury-free, I'd like to thinkthat I can get back to some of
those good times.
Danielle Spurling (34:13):
Yeah, well, I think you're certainly on the
right footpath, I should say, toget there, because you're doing
everything right.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (34:20):
Yeah, and I think just even adding the gym
it feels like that's animprovement and the mindset
improvement as well.
So if anyone's interested, it'sthe books called Champion
Mindset by Alastair McCall Ibelieve it is, and it's very
much focused about champions domore, and I think we don't have
(34:44):
to be an elite athlete but wecan think about how we approach
our training and it is very muchabout gaining what we get put
into it.
So I think I've probably livedin a little bit in that world
that enough is enough.
You know, if I turned up, thatwas enough and when I got what I
(35:06):
, you know, achieved at the endof it I sort of thought, oh well
, that's good enough.
But after reading this book itsort of just changed my mindset
about you know, if you do alittle bit more, you'll get a
little bit more out of it andit's then not just enough.
But you know, enough and a bitmore.
Yes, I don't know.
(35:28):
You get to an age where I neverthought I would have that
mindset again.
You know, I thought that waspast.
You get a bit selfish as you.
You know kids grow up and youstart to become not just you
know, isabella's mum anymore,I'm back to being Ebony
Ebenwaldner and it's like oh,what can Ebony Ebenwaldner
achieve that Isabella's mumcould?
Danielle Spurling (35:48):
I love that yeah.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (35:50):
So you know what I mean you sort of not the
priority.
And then all of a sudden theystart to grow up and they have
their own priorities and goalsand you think, well, maybe I can
start to think about that again.
You know, and swimming isreally a sport from cradle to
grave and you know, at 44,nearly 45, I look at someone
like you know, dorothy Dickey,and I think I still got 50 years
(36:10):
.
Danielle Spurling (36:11):
Yeah, exactly , she's still smashing it out of
the beard pub?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (36:15):
Absolutely, and what can we achieve in 50
years?
Danielle Spurling (36:18):
Yeah, who knows, have a go.
I know, yeah, that's right, Ilove it and that's I mean,
that's a great thing aboutmaster swimming you can.
We've got a lot of people,particularly in Victoria, who
are swimming well into their 90sand late 80s and still just
amazing coming to training allthe time and putting in the time
and effort.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (36:38):
Yeah, so motivated, so motivated.
But they get there and theybring something to the session.
So they bring inspiration andmotivation and, just you know,
the fact that they get out ofbed and turn up to training is
inspiration in itself, andthat's a lot of the time all it
takes.
And once we get there, we're,you know, motivated and we do
(37:00):
what's required.
But being a non weight bearingsport, you know, if you can stay
injury free, it is justsomething that we can do forever
.
Forever, that's right, which youknow, however, ever that long
maybe.
But um, yeah, no, lots, lots toafford it, and then you can
(37:21):
obviously extend it into otherthings, like I watched your
podcast with Gillian and I keptseeing all these Finn swimming
come up.
Danielle Spurling (37:30):
Yes, very interesting.
Yeah Well, she's very, verykeen to get people involved in
that.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (37:38):
So much fun.
Yeah, new sport relatively newsport can start at any age and
you know, just have a go.
And yeah, like I say, I've got,hopefully 50 years to go.
My tick one of the boxes, notone of those years.
Danielle Spurling (37:52):
Finn swimming , tick yeah Next.
So everyone that comes on thepodcast, I love to ask them the
deep dive five, which is a bitof a snapshot of your swimming.
So just give me the firstanswer that pops into your mind
the favorite pool that you'veever swum in?
Um Bondi, yep, that's a verypopular answer and also my
(38:14):
favorite as well, it's beautiful, isn't it Amazing?
How about your favorite openwater swimming destination?
It's not really random, butPort Ferry, here's a curly one
for you.
Put your coach's hat onFavorite backstroke training
drill.
To correct overreaching.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (38:30):
Periscope into six well, 12 kicks.
Six on one leg, one stroke.
So starting off with pausing inthat vertical position, thumb,
thumb, first turning it aroundto your little finger and then
rotating the shoulder to ensurethat we are entering outside.
Well, 11 and one, so 11 on theright hand side, and then
(38:53):
pausing there for 12 strokesbefore we pull through.
So very much about breakingthat stroke down into
considering, before we enter,where our hand is going and then
, once we've entered where ourhand is, yeah, I like that I
like that a lot.
Danielle Spurling (39:09):
Now put your swimmer's hat on and give me
your favorite training set thatyou like to do.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (39:13):
Well, you've joined me with this one and it's
still the same one.
I'm not very exciting, but Ilike five 100s.
The first one is 25 fast, 75easy.
The second one is 50 fast, 50easy.
The third one is 75 fast, 25easy and the last one is well.
The fourth one is 100 fast,followed by 100 easy being the
(39:36):
fifth one.
And the reason I love it isbecause it's so versatile.
Like you can do it all formstroke you can do.
Like you could do 2100s, forexample, one set free, one set
form.
You could do 2100s form.
You can do 2100s and have oneset of each stroke.
You could do one set kick, oneset pull.
You know you could do it allfreestyle, like I.
(39:57):
Just like the versatility of it.
You don't have to do it fourtimes.
You could do it three times.
You do it six times, you can doit on all different times as
well.
So you could do it all on twominutes, or you could start at
140 and go to 145, 150, 155, twominutes for the easy.
So it's the same set, but itoffers so much variety and I'll
(40:18):
always revert back to it if I'mtraining for anything, in
particular week 200 backstrokeor, you know, 400 am 800 am Yuck
, it's just that set that youknow.
you don't have to think, you canjust do it and do what's
required in the set withouthaving to overthink anything
(40:39):
else.
Really, yeah.
Danielle Spurling (40:40):
I like it?
And how about the swimmer youmost admire?
And why?
Ebony Ebenwaldner (40:46):
good question .
You know who I really admire atthe moment.
It's probably Emma McKay-Lan.
I love her poise, I love hergrace.
I can see that she's actuallyreally competitive on the inside
, very quiet and under, you know, shy, almost shy, but non
aggressive on the outside.
(41:07):
But I watch what she achievesand I think there's somebody
that trains hard, there'ssomebody that would be easy to
train and I think she'd bejoyful to train with, just
because she'd be someone thatyou could look up to in training
and learn a lot from her.
I obviously love a lot of theswimmer's past and present, but
(41:29):
when I look at Emma aboveeverybody, I see somebody that's
, you know, really maintainedher self, be it from beginner to
end.
She's never really changed inpersonality.
The last world championship shedidn't do great but she didn't
make a big fuss.
You know she was still Her samepoise person, yeah.
(41:51):
So I really think that I admireher the most and a little, you
know, like her a lot and I lookforward to seeing how she goes
in Paris, should she get therebecause of course, you've got to
get there.
Danielle Spurling (42:03):
Let's hope so .
I'm sure she will, but yes,let's hope so.
I mean, it's very tough beingan Australian female freestyle
sprinter.
It's just stacked.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (42:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, she does also the flyas well and she's so beautiful,
so flat.
I love how flat is With her fly.
You know, it's quite amazing towatch really.
Danielle Spurling (42:25):
Yeah, she's, she's beautiful technique.
I went and watched the thetrials for the world
championships which we in, andsecond just watched her warm up
and go about you know,everything, just as you said,
very understated.
Just other people were quite apresence in the pool, but she
was just in there doing what sheneeded to do.
Beautiful technique.
(42:46):
Just enjoyed watching her.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (42:49):
Mmm, and she would be so much.
But you would never know it,and I think you could walk past
her in the street and if youdidn't know who she was, you
wouldn't know it.
You know what I mean?
I think there's, you know, just, it's a lovely humble, that's
probably the word is way to be,and I'm sure she'll achieve a
lot post swimming as wellbecause of that.
Got Cody.
Danielle Spurling (43:10):
Yeah, I hope that that's that.
Have that stays together.
That would be nice.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (43:15):
Yeah, why actually they say no article the
other day where he said thatshe's really shown in.
You know a lot about, you knowhe could have gone off the rails
, obviously as a Internationalsinging star, but as an athlete,
you know you've got to behealthy and Focused and focused
on the good stuff and I thoughtyou know that.
I think they make me come.
Danielle Spurling (43:38):
Listen to us.
Well, Ebony, thank you so muchfor joining us on the podcast
today.
It's been lovely getting a bitof a glimpse behind Everything
that you do to be such a successin the pool.
So good luck with all yourgoals this year and we'll catch
up at the next meet.
Ebony Ebenwaldner (43:59):
Lovely Thanks , danielle.
Thanks for having me.
Danielle Spurling (44:01):
You're welcome, okay, bye.
Bye, I hope you enjoyed my chatwith Ebony and that she has
inspired you in your ownswimming journey.
Look out for a competition thatwe have coming in the next few
weeks, which I'll be putting upon our socials, so make sure
that you enter for a reallygreat prize that I've been
(44:23):
gifted, and I think that youwill enjoy using it along the
way.
Till next time.
Happy swimming and bye.
For now, you.
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