It takes a special type of person, to have the motivation and wherewithal to train predominantly by themselves and to be successful on top of that. My guest on Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast today fits that prototype. Fred Schuster hails from Missouri, swam at Indiana University swimming under Doc Counsilman and now lives and trains in a pool he built at his house in Arizona.
Fred chats to us about breaking his first USMS national record in the 400 freestyle at the World Masters Championships in Doha and winning 4 golds. His story is a testament to the power of self-discipline and his love for swimming. Fred enlightens us on his strategic insights into transitioning from short course yards to long course metres and his meticulous approach to training in various environments. He epitomises the importance of self-motivation and the intricate balance between training and tapering techniques.
Hear how a self-built 25-metre pool in Arizona and the legendary coaching of Doc Counsilman at Indiana University shape a regimen that defies the norms. Fred discusses his unique training methods, from the solitary laps in his desert oasis to the camaraderie of Sunday swims with a Masters Club. Get inspired by his tailored approach to improving swim times, employing clock management and self-written workouts, which echo Counsilman's influence and innovation.
Fred gives us a peek into his streamlined approach to competitions, revealing a preference for simplicity in training—eschewing drills for the raw essence of swimming itself. Whether you're a swimmer seeking that extra edge or a sports enthusiast drawn to tales of individual triumph, this episode with Fred Schuster offers motivation and insights into the disciplined heart of a masters swimmer.
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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, DanielleSpurling, and each week we chat
to a master swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
It takes a special type ofperson to have the motivation
and wherewithal to trainpredominantly by themselves and
(00:26):
to be successful.
On top of that, my guest todayfits that prototype.
Fred Schuster hails fromMissouri, swam at Indiana
University under Doc Councilmanand now lives and trains in a
pool he built at his house inArizona.
I give you this backgroundbecause I think it's pretty
special to have the commitmentto push yourself while training
(00:49):
alone.
His determination has certainlypaid off with four gold and a
silver at the recent WorldMasters Championships in Doha.
This is Fred's story.
Hi Fred, welcome to the podcast.
Fred Schuster (01:07):
Thank you so much .
I'm glad to be here, Danielle.
I appreciate the invite.
Danielle Spurling (01:11):
Yeah, I'm really, really pleased that
you're joining us today and I'mreally looking forward to
hearing all about your swimming.
Fred Schuster (01:16):
Looking forward to sharing it with you as well.
Danielle Spurling (01:19):
Well, first of all I wanted to start with
the Masters Worlds in Doha.
Congratulations on the fourgold and one silver that you got
oh, thank you yeah, I meanamazing swimming.
Can you tell us what eventsthey were in?
Fred Schuster (01:31):
so, uh, I swam 200, 400, 800 freestyle, uh and
100 and 200 butterfly um 200freestyle was the thing I got
the silver in, but but stillhappy with all my times.
You know, really enjoy swimminglong course meters as opposed
to short course yards here inthe state.
So it was a fun, fun meet forme and, uh, you know, it all
(01:54):
worked out really well yeah,definitely if you're.
Danielle Spurling (01:57):
If you're doing an 800 in um short course
yards, there's a lot of turnsthere, isn't there?
Fred Schuster (02:02):
oh yeah, well, I'm going down to texas next
week for and swimming 1650,which is 66 links, so lots and
lots of turns there, which isnot really my, my strong suit.
But uh, you know, want to, uh,want to see where I'm at.
And, um, you know, we have ourshort course nationals coming up
(02:23):
in June here in Indianapolis,so this would be a good kind of
litmus test on where I'm atshort course.
Danielle Spurling (02:31):
Yeah, are the US short course nationals
always in yards?
Fred Schuster (02:35):
Yes, almost all of our winter meets and spring
nationals are 25 yard pools,long course.
You know there's not a lot of50 meter pools here, and long
course nationals though, whichwill be end of August, are in a
(02:55):
50 meter pool, and every once ina while we'll get a short
course meters meet, but thoseare.
Those are pretty few and farbetween.
Danielle Spurling (03:04):
It's's so interesting, isn't it, that
you've, you've got that wholeyard system.
We don't even have, we don'teven have one of those pools
here in Australia yeah, I meanevery high school meet NCAAs for
college.
Fred Schuster (03:16):
Everything is short course yards.
So so like our rarity is toswim in a in a meters meet.
So you know it's probably.
You know 10 to 1, you knowyards meets to meters meets.
Danielle Spurling (03:29):
Yeah, so interesting.
Yeah, but back to Doha.
You had those great successes,and which of those races were
you the happiest with?
Fred Schuster (03:39):
Well, I mean the 400 and the 800, I was very
because those were kind of newevents for me, you know, usually
swimming kind of 50, 100, 200freestyle, 50, 100, 200
butterfly, and you know I justkind of was training enough that
people were like you got to trysome distance stuff, and so you
(04:01):
know, I kind of picked up onthat a little bit the last few
years and you know, but this islike it's the first time I've
ever swum 800 free in a meet andfirst time, you know, same
thing with the 400 meterfreestyle, since I was, you know
, a youngster and so, you know,very happy with the times I had
(04:24):
there and was actually able to.
I broke the US national recordin the 400 free, which is the
first time I've ever done, youknow, any national record.
And to do that on the firsttime I swam it, you know it was
pretty exciting.
Danielle Spurling (04:40):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Fred Schuster (04:42):
That's a big deal to get a a US national record
oh yeah, yeah, I mean ecstaticand you, you know, you look on
some of the names on there andit's like pretty exciting well,
what's your strategy withswimming at 800, like obviously
that's on the first day ofworlds?
Danielle Spurling (04:57):
do you sort of think about the rest of the
events that are coming up afterit, or you just go full?
Fred Schuster (05:03):
out.
No, I'm, I'm just, yeah, prettymuch focused.
I mean, the worlds arestretched out enough that, like
I don't, I didn't, I don't thinkI swam the next day, so I knew
I had a whole day off and Inever had two events in the same
day, and so you know it's, it'sa a pretty good, you know, time
(05:25):
.
You know, I think I have apretty quick recovery, you know,
one day to the next.
You know, obviously you have,you know, 15, 20 minutes.
You know that's a differentstory.
But, um, you know, to have thatfull day, I was, you know, just
just focused on that race andreally, you know, just wanted to
(05:46):
kind of swim pace.
Didn't, you know, have any sortof oh, I'm going to take out
the first 400 here.
It's just like get in and justtry to hold a pace and hold that
for as long as I could.
And if I look at my splits, Iwas, you know, pretty even all
the way through.
Danielle Spurling (06:04):
And if I look at my splits.
I was, you know, pretty evenall the way through, so more of
a sort of like building on eachhundred as you went, rather than
a sort of a negative split typesituation.
Fred Schuster (06:11):
Yeah, I mean, I think it was pretty evenly split
.
You know, I think it was 448,450.
Danielle Spurling (06:21):
Yes, oh, quite close.
Fred Schuster (06:22):
For the two 400s, yeah, 50, yes, oh, quite close.
For the two 400s, yeah, so Imean, with the start, you know,
it's pretty much even, evensplit, and all the way through,
except for that first hundred,the first hundred and the last
hundred were, you know, a littlebit faster, but all the way
through it was, uh, very steadyeddie what do you think about
when you walk out from themastering room and you're
standing behind the blocks readyto race at the worlds?
Danielle Spurling (06:44):
what's sort of running through your mind?
Fred Schuster (06:46):
oh, just anxious to get in and get, get going.
You know it's, it's kind oflike, okay, I've done all this,
you know, just looking forwardto hitting the water.
And you know, you know, we allkind of talked about every other
guys were like on the bus,people like you still get
nervous.
You know, I mean, we're 60years old and like, yeah, I get
nervous, I get really nervous,and they're like, okay, good, me
(07:07):
too, you know.
So it's, uh, it's, it's, it'sgood to kind of.
You know, we had these halfhour bus rides from the hotels
and, um, you know everybody'stalking about their races and
you know kind of what they feellike they're going through, and
so it's it's nice to hear whatother people are going through.
But yeah, you know, certainlynervous.
(07:28):
But once you hit the water, youknow it all kind of dissipates
and instinct kind of just takesover and it's like, okay, I'm
not going to deviate, just goingto keep it steady and swim my
race here.
Danielle Spurling (07:43):
Yeah, I think a lot of the anxiety and the
nervousness you have before therace is the anticipation of how
much you're going to have tohurt to to do it exactly.
Fred Schuster (07:51):
Yeah, how bad is this going to hurt me?
That's why I was, like I knewfor this first race I didn't
want to die and so I was like,okay, if I just keep it steady,
you know, don't try to take itout.
Super, I, I swam the Nationalsthis past spring in California
and I took out, I swam the 1650and took that out First thousand
(08:11):
.
You know, felt great, took itout really, you know, pretty
hard, and then I mean just diedlike a pig and so did not want
to go through that again.
Danielle Spurling (08:20):
Yeah, understandable, yeah.
Fred Schuster (08:23):
So that was definitely a a focus of of where
will, where will I be by at theend of this race yeah, for sure
.
Danielle Spurling (08:31):
And what was the the atmosphere like at in
doha?
Was it different to the otherworlds that you've been to?
Fred Schuster (08:38):
I mean, the only other one I'd been to was in
gwangju, down in in 2019 inkorea, and I'd say it was, it
was pretty similar.
You know, there was, you know,a little bit of nuances, but the
, you know, the pools were supernice and we were always able.
I saw the guys who went tojapan, you know they one, one
(08:59):
day they'd get us from the nicepool and the next day they
weren't swimming in the nicepool.
We, thankfully, were able toswim in the nice pool, um, the
entire time.
Um, so it was, it was, it wasgreat because, I mean, it was
the.
The pool was perfect and, youknow, meat was real, you know,
(09:19):
really well run and everythingjust kind of went off without a
hitch and so, but I would say itwas very similar easy to get to
, easy to get back, lots ofbuses, you know, you didn't have
to stress out about oh, am Igonna be late?
Or anything along those linesand plenty of warm-up pools and
(09:40):
areas to to.
You know, they had an outdoor50 meter pool which was really
nice.
If you wanted to go use it wasa little bit further to walk.
They had an indoor 50 meterpool diving well, so lots of
options to uh go and swim in asuper crowded pool to warm up,
if you know what I mean yeah,that's really good to hear
(10:01):
because you know I've only beento one Worlds myself, but the
warm-up pool was a nightmare.
Oh yeah, the guys and I washearing stories from the people
who went to Japan and they werelike you know, the warm-up was
just a non-existent.
I mean, you were just socrammed in with so many people
and you know this was reallynice.
Danielle Spurling (10:22):
That's good to hear and I think that that's
what they probably need to lookat.
Moving forward with Worlds,with the amount of people that
go these days to have that kindof facility, they should be
awarding it to cities that canoffer that.
Fred Schuster (10:35):
Or cut back on the move the entry times a
little bit faster, because Ithink, from talking to people,
the Doha meet was quite a bitfewer people than in Japan.
Danielle Spurling (10:49):
I think that they'd be wanting to sort of
make back some money for theoutlay, though, so they probably
do want more competitors.
Fred Schuster (10:55):
Yeah, they could be.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Danielle Spurling (10:58):
Yeah, because I feel like the masters on the
back end of the elite sort ofprops up a little bit of the
money that they probably spend.
Fred Schuster (11:09):
Yeah, you could tell they spend a lot of money.
I mean the amount of these,just the buses.
I mean we had a bus at ourhotel all the time and you could
always get to the pool.
Danielle Spurling (11:15):
You know, every half hour on the half hour
it was, it was, it was greattell us how you swim your
butterfly races, because that'sa little bit different to a
freestyle long distance.
What's sort of your mindsetthere?
Fred Schuster (11:32):
Well, again, well , 200 butterfly.
I was like, okay, I do not wantto die.
I haven't swum 200-meterbutterfly since 2019.
Even in a.
You know, when I got to Doha Idid a few warm-up 200-meter
butterflies.
Just I wanted to make sure Icould make them.
And uh, I was like I'm gonna gothe first three laps as smooth
(11:52):
and easy as I possibly possiblycan, breathing every stroke, not
taking a breath right out ofthe turns, doing all the things
you shouldn't do.
And uh, then you know, whateverI've got, you know, for the
last 50, I'll come home withthat.
That was the strategy for the200.
The 100, I thought, well, I'lltake it out hard but smooth, and
(12:16):
then do the turn.
You know, just try to come homeas hard as I could.
Probably, in hindsight wouldwait a little bit, you know,
maybe 15, 20 meters and and thenkick it into high gear because
I I definitely kind of died inthe hundred at the very you know
(12:36):
I caught.
I, I was behind at the at the 50passed everybody, you know, by
the 75, 80.
But then as we're finishingthey're all like catching back
up to me again.
I was like, okay, this is good,gotta keep something in the
tank to finish.
Danielle Spurling (12:53):
And then you know, for the 50, just as hard
as you can go, you know,standard 50 stuff when you have
that sort of, you come off theturn in the in 100 and you know
that you want to put the sort ofput the pedal down.
Do you change your, increaseyour strike stroke rate?
Do you increase your kicking?
How do you sort of increase thepedal down?
Do you change your, increaseyour strike stroke rate?
Do you increase your kicking?
How do you sort?
Fred Schuster (13:11):
of increase the stroke rate.
Yeah that that that, whereas I'mreally trying to be long and
smooth for that first 50.
Um, you know, I'll just try to.
I I find that if I, if I divein and try to increase the
stroke rate too much, I justbecome inefficient.
I get more tired and don't goany faster, and so I really just
(13:33):
try to think about keeping itlong and smooth and making that
turn.
By then I'm tired enough that Ireally don't.
I think if I increase my strokerate I'm not going to.
I'll be in a more efficientincreased stroke rate mode if
that makes sense, and so that'skind of the way I look at it.
Danielle Spurling (13:57):
Yeah, I think that's really sensible.
That's a good way ofapproaching it.
Fred Schuster (14:01):
Yeah, well, I mean lessons learned over time.
Danielle Spurling (14:06):
Yeah, and it worked.
Obviously did.
Fred Schuster (14:08):
You did so well in Doha yeah, yeah, no, it was,
it was, it was uh, all good youknow for this meet certainly
what?
Danielle Spurling (14:15):
what, if anything, did you come away with
thinking that you need tofine-tune it for next time?
Was there any lessons that youlearned?
Fred Schuster (14:23):
we have our long course nationals end of August
in in mission viejo, california,uh, this year.
And so you know, place wise andeverything I was.
I was, you know, very happywith everything in doha but I
kind of was a little bit unhappywith some my butterfly times.
I I thought I could have gone,I should have gone faster.
(14:46):
So you know, the freestyletimes were better than much
better than I anticipated, butthe butterfly times I was a
little bit disappointed on whereI, you know my times were, I
think, and I think I can improveon those.
And so you know I've beenpicking up, you know, more
(15:07):
training in butterfly.
You know, again I'm swimming ina yards pool.
So trying to swim 250 yards,four 250s fly, instead of doing
200 yard fly, okay, just tryingto get my body used to swimming
that extra 10% that the metershas and mentally just getting
(15:31):
okay, you can do this.
You know it hurts, but you knowyou're making these.
You can make the 200 fly and befine.
Danielle Spurling (15:45):
Yeah Well, that's a really valuable lesson
and you know you absolutely canmake that change, as you say,
heading into your long coursenationals yeah, and and.
Fred Schuster (15:57):
Again, I was kind of a little bit more
apprehensive about some of thedistance events because just
because I've never done themthere, I'm not going to be as
worried about those events,because frankly, I don't know if
I can really improve too muchon those times, you know.
But I really think I canimprove on that, on the fly
times.
Danielle Spurling (16:16):
You just mentioned, obviously, that you
were doing more freestyle inyour training and you need to do
more butterfly.
Where do you train and who doyou train with?
Fred Schuster (16:27):
I swim by myself all the time.
I'm in a little town inWickenburg, Arizona.
It's about 10,000 people here.
When I moved here, there was nopool.
We built a lap pool at ourhouse, a 25-meter lap pool.
So, I did go meters.
Then there was a golf club thatopened with a 25-yard pool over
(16:50):
there, and so for the most partI go swim there through the
winter.
Just, you know it's superexpensive to heat the pool here,
and so if I've got that otherpool I will go swim there.
And you know now it's startingto warm up enough here that I'll
(17:11):
start swimming in this pool aswell.
But then in about a month or soI go to Santa Fe, so we split
our time.
Santa Fe, new Mexico, again,swim by myself there in a golf
club community sort of thingthat has an indoor four lane 25
yard pool, and so.
(17:31):
So that's where I swim.
So I say I see these beautifulpools that people get to swim in
and I'm very jealous.
I swim for a team calledPhoenix Swim Club, and Phoenix
is about an hour and 20 minutesaway from where we're at here,
and so on Sundaysays during theyear, 50 meter pool by 25 yards
(17:53):
wide, and so for the most partit's always set up for 25 yards,
but on sundays they flip thepool over and put it in 50 meter
mode.
So I try to get down there, youknow, on sundays, if I can.
You know that's helpful to getdown there, you know, on Sundays
, if I can.
You know that's helpful to getsome kind of 50-meter touches in
before you know, like Doha andthese other meets.
Danielle Spurling (18:17):
So you do most of your training, or pretty
much look 90%, 95% of yourtraining by yourself.
How do you motivate yourself todo that?
That's amazing.
Fred Schuster (18:27):
I mean I've kind of been doing that.
You know, I was in a small townin missouri growing up.
There was a swim team when wefirst started, but then it kind
of disbanded, so then I was justgoing to the y by myself.
You know, high school,obviously.
You know we had a team um forthat, so it was fun to swim with
the team.
College, uh, I went to indianauniversity so it was, like, you
(18:51):
know, really awesome to be ableto swim, you know, under doc
councilman and, uh, you know, soI mean that was a big reason
why I went to school there andto be able to swim for him.
And you know he certainly knowsall there is to know about
swimming and, and was you knowall there is to know about
swimming?
And was you know, big, a bigboost for me to, you know, in
(19:17):
terms of improvement and kind ofsetting the mindset that you
know I mimic a lot of theworkouts that we would do back
then and you know that sort ofthing.
And you know that's beensomething I've just stuck with.
And you know I've got a clockand that's the clock is kind of
what motivates me and so I'mjust kind of used to it by now.
But it certainly is nice onthose Sundays when I go down and
(19:38):
swim with the team.
Danielle Spurling (19:39):
Yeah, so the type of training you're doing
obviously is based on DocCouncilman's work and I know I
have his swimming Bible, the.
Science of Swimming, yeah yeah,exactly when I have his swimming
bible, that the science ofswimming yeah, yeah, exactly
when I moved to the country whenI was an age grouper for a
little while, my dad coached meand he got that book and we
followed that and I know thisthe slog that was associated
with his workouts, based onMark's bits.
(20:00):
So is that the kind of kind ofstuff you still do now?
Fred Schuster (20:04):
I mean some of the stuff, I mean the things
that I remember.
You know we would do somethingcalled a goal set.
You know maybe not every weekbut pretty pretty close to every
week, or maybe every 10 days,something like that, and you
know it's a thousand.
You know high rest.
You know 2050s, 10, 100s, five,200s, something like that, and
(20:25):
you know lots of rest.
You know pretty much warm up, alittle warm-up set and you do
that and that's kind of thewhole workout.
And you know I'll I'll do thosepretty much same same sort of
thing every every week to 10days.
I'll do a goal set and I try torotate them.
I do the 50s one time, then thehundreds and then the 200s, and
(20:49):
always do them fly.
That's something that I reallytake in A lot of descending
stuff nine 200s descend one tothree on a little bit higher
rest.
You know slow, medium, hard.
(21:10):
Those type of things werereally a lot of the, a lot of
the type of things that we woulddo back in Indiana.
Danielle Spurling (21:19):
And obviously you had a head as your coach
when you're at college.
Now that you're a masterswimmer, do you have a coach
that oversees your program oryou just write that yourself and
follow it?
Fred Schuster (21:27):
I just write them up myself.
I see other people's workoutsand sometimes I'll pick and
choose some sets and you knowpeople on on you know social
media or something, they'll say,oh I did that, that's a pretty
good set.
You know, try to work that kindof stuff in.
But I mean, for the most partI'm on kind of a weekly cycle
(21:48):
and it's kind of the same stuffevery week, depending on.
You know how close I am to ameet and you know.
So I have like certain sets thatall a lot of people would get
like really bored of doing.
You know, if I was their coachthey'd be like, oh, we just did
that, you know.
But I just kind of like knowwhat I need to do and those sets
(22:11):
seem to fit my, what I'm tryingto accomplish and uh, so I, I
mean it's it's kind of one ofthe advantages of swimming by
yourself.
You know you're not, you know,bounded by what the rest of the,
the team, is doing and you can,you know, really kind of cater
something to exactly what youwant.
I mean it's there's pluses andminuses for both.
Danielle Spurling (22:30):
I mean I'd miss the social side.
I suppose just having a bit ofa chat between you know
intervals, I find it very hardto motivate myself to go.
I can go to the pool by myself,but I just don't push myself as
hard.
So I really admire you beingable to do that all the time.
That's amazing.
Fred Schuster (22:50):
Yeah, and again, I've just kind of gotten used to
it.
So it's you know, it justbecomes second nature and it's
you know, I don't really eventhink about it.
Danielle Spurling (22:58):
Yeah, yeah, well, it's probably good.
Fred Schuster (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Danielle Spurling (23:02):
So, aside from the Sunday when you go down
to swim at the Masters Club,how many other workouts do you
get in a week in the pool?
Fred Schuster (23:10):
I'm pretty much seven workouts away.
I'm every day.
Yeah, I mean a lot of timesI'll take, you know, like I say
I go down on sunday, so saturdaymornings I'll do, you know,
like a 1500 wake up swim andthat's it.
But just just because I want togo, because down there you know
(23:30):
we're doing long course, it'slike you know like 6 000 meters,
you know.
So it's a, it's a long, properworkout and you know, for the
most part, up here on my weeklyI'm kind of doing um 40, 4,500
to 5,300, somewhere in that sortof range.
Danielle Spurling (23:57):
Yeah, that's still a lot of Ks that you're
putting in a lot.
Fred Schuster (24:01):
Yeah, usually kind of around the 110,000 to
120,000 a month sort of thing.
Danielle Spurling (24:07):
Yeah, that's quite a lot.
Fred Schuster (24:09):
And then I mean I'll miss workouts because of
you know whatever, and but butyou know the focus I don't have
like, oh, I take monday,wednesday and saturdays off or
anything like that.
Danielle Spurling (24:20):
It's like so do you include dry land like
strength training um in yourprogram?
Fred Schuster (24:27):
I, I started doing a little bit of that this
year, a little more stretching.
I mean, one bad thing I've had,you know, a lot of calf issues
and you know just like off theblocks and you know hard
push-offs and you know calvesjust locking up, and so I've
tried to include a little morestretching and, you know, do
(24:49):
some setups and somecalisthenics.
I don't really I don't do anyweights, um, but you know I'll
do some.
I have some stretch bands andI'll do, you know, kind of
pulling back on stretch bandsand you know the the big rope.
I kind of do that um, but butnot not weights per se so
(25:10):
interesting?
Danielle Spurling (25:11):
because because I talk to a lot of
people and they all have verydifferent sort of approaches and
one or two you know, like you,I think Laura Val is another one
American swimmer.
Laura Val, she doesn't do anyweights, she just swims, like
you do, seven, eight sessions aweek, and then other people do a
lot less in the water.
Fred Schuster (25:33):
I mean that's the one thing, like like you talk
about getting bored and you know, for me, going into a weight
room I'm just like in a.
You know, I'm sure it'd be agood thing to probably do do
some of this stuff, but uh, youknow, I mean it's, it's just,
you know, I mean I mighteventually, I might try it, but
it's not not on the uh, not onthe docket right now yeah, I
(25:55):
also find that hard.
Danielle Spurling (25:55):
I think, when you come from the background of
doing a lot of that cardio sortof slog, when you go into the
gym you don't feel like you'regetting a workout in.
That's that's how I feel, andthen I think, well, is it worth
it?
Fred Schuster (26:08):
well, and like I say that the dry land I do, I
you know, I do it for like 15,15 minutes, 15, 20 minutes,
right before I get in and swim,because it just, you know, fits,
it's, there's a gym, the gym'sright next to the pool, over it,
you know.
So it's not definitely not likea separate to to do it that way
(26:28):
and you know, and that and thegym, probably the gym and the
pool are about 15 minutes fromour house here in Arizona.
Danielle Spurling (26:38):
Well, it's all very convenient, so that's
good.
Fred Schuster (26:40):
Yeah, exactly, and the nice thing is I get to
swim outside all winter, butsadly I swim inside all summer.
Danielle Spurling (26:48):
Oh, yes, yeah , okay, that's hard.
Fred Schuster (26:51):
Yeah, and it's like it's kind of the pool in
New Mexico is kind ofdungeon-ish and so it's
definitely more depressing thanswimming here.
Danielle Spurling (27:03):
I swim outdoors all year.
We have hit pools.
Fred Schuster (27:07):
Yeah, that would be.
I'm pushing these guys to tryto get they have an outside like
oval pool, you know, like acountry club type pool, but not
with steps at the end, and sothey're talking about doing
renovations and I'm hopingthey'll make it a rectangle and
make it some set distance andhopefully, hopefully, 25 yards
(27:31):
or 25 meters and in coachingyourself.
Danielle Spurling (27:34):
Obviously, you have to prepare and taper
for a race, or races like theworlds, what?
What's your approach to thetaper that you do?
Fred Schuster (27:42):
I'm kind of a two-week taper guy because I
sometimes I was swimming hard,kind of right up to so say I was
was swimming 5,000 two weeks inone day.
You know, maybe the next dayI'll go 4,500 and then 4,200 and
then 3,800.
And then I kind of get down toa base of about 2,500 to 2,800,
(28:06):
just kind of hold that, drop, Idrop all the dry land, hold that
dry, I drop all the dry land.
Just just do a little bit ofstretching um beforehand but
really just try not to, you know, be in recovery mode and swim a
few hard things.
You know, like today I did, youknow, long easy warm up and then
(28:26):
kind of two hard 500s, and sothat was, you know, basically
1000 yards of something hard,and then that was it.
And you know, warm down, youknow all for the rest of the
week.
I mean I'll be bringing thatdown.
I'll probably be doing like onehard 500 or something.
You know, something like that.
(28:46):
You know really kind of giveyour body a chance to rest, but
not like totally, you know, notjump in and swim a thousand and
just get wet, but kind of have alittle bit of maintenance that
you're still giving yourself alittle bit of a push.
Danielle Spurling (29:08):
Yeah, you don't want to detrain yourself.
Fred Schuster (29:10):
Yeah, you don't want to detrain yourself,
Exactly exactly, Because I willsay which is what we would do at
Indiana in college.
You would really bring it waydown to where you're jumping in,
but you had a lot more base.
You were swimming doubles andswimming tons and tons of yards,
(29:32):
so you know to have a lot moreto taper from.
Danielle Spurling (29:36):
I miss those days where you were doing
doubles and you did so much workand when you actually did your
taper, you felt magnificent ohyeah, you just felt like your
arms didn't weigh anything and,oh yeah, that was the best I
can't say I I can't say I doenough work at the moment to
actually do a proper taper well,and that's yeah again.
Fred Schuster (29:57):
That's where I kind of feel like, you know, the
two weeks seems to be kind of asweet spot for me.
That and you and I'm not kindof falling off a cliff, you know
, it's more of a gradual downand then flatten out around that
of a gradual down and thenflatten out around that 2500 to
(30:17):
2800 for, you know, the lastweek or so.
Danielle Spurling (30:19):
Yeah, and I was just going to ask you a
question about indiana I, when Iwas doing my research, I
noticed that you said you were awalk-on at indiana.
What is?
What does that mean?
Fred Schuster (30:26):
so I didn't.
You know, I wasn't ascholarship swimmer.
So there's they get X amount ofscholarships to hand out to the
from the people who were comingin high school.
You know, those people,whatever paid for by the school.
I was not one of those people.
I was somebody who came triedout for the team and then, you
(30:47):
know, made the team, but not notsomebody who was, you know, on
scholarship, right out of theblock.
I got a scholarship after mysophomore year for the last two
years, so you can kind of earnone, but I didn't have one
coming out of high school.
Danielle Spurling (31:05):
So you, did you purposely choose to go there
, knowing that Doc Councilmanwas there, or was it because you
got in there academically, oruh, I mean both, I, I was.
Fred Schuster (31:14):
I was actually kind of I was going to go to
university in north carolina, uh, chapel hill, and um, I, I did
go out for a recruiting trip toindiana and I kind of thought
you know I was like a okay goodswimmer in in high school, but
not like somebody that I wouldthink somebody like doc
(31:35):
councilman is going to be like,oh you know, and but he was just
such a nice guy.
You know we sat and had lunchand you know I mean he was
asking all about me and kind oftelling you know what's, what's
good about Indiana and this,that and the other thing.
And I had a good businessschool, which is what I majored
in, so and I also played waterpolo, and so you know, those
(32:00):
things swayed me to switch fromNorth Carolina and go to Indiana
.
So it was, and it was a greatdecision.
You know I really enjoyed,enjoyed, swam all four years
there, played water polo allfour years, good, good business
school education, and so it alljust worked out fantastic for me
looking back now, it must bewonderful to have worked under
(32:23):
such a sort of a legend ofswimming with doc councilman.
Danielle Spurling (32:28):
What, what's the most valuable thing you
learned from him, do you think?
Fred Schuster (32:31):
Well, I mean, I will say yeah, and just the
mindset of like sometimes you'rethinking, oh, I know better
than my coach and you know, Idon't know if I should be doing
this.
Is this the right thing?
I mean, is this the right taper, is this the right?
Well, you know, with him youjust like, okay, turn my brain
(32:54):
off whatever he says.
You know you're on autopilot toto do what he, he does and and
and I, you know, and again, he,he made it, he made swimming
funny, it wasn't.
He was a really always tellingjokes in practice and you know
he would hand out jelly beans.
You know somebody did a, youknow a really fast race or
something you know he'd run.
He'd walk into the office andget a bag of jelly beans and
(33:15):
gives, give, give you a jellybean if you, you know, had a
good set or something and peoplewould, you know, go through a
brick wall to try to get one ofthose jelly beans and, uh, you
know, I mean it, it.
He just gave you a goodfoundation and kind of what to
believe in in terms of you know,especially, like you know,
(33:36):
tapering and and that sort ofthing.
I'd never really had a, a goodtaper before, because I'd always
be in this mindset that, oh mygosh, I'm gonna get out of shape
.
You know, if I, if I don't swimhard and swim, you know it's
just kind of that and then youknow that that would be the
thing.
You know the concept of thetaper and the concept of rest
(34:00):
and the concept of wow.
Danielle Spurling (34:02):
You can have dramatic drops in your times if,
if, if you give your body achance to rest and you know, I
would say that was the bestthing and were there any sort of
like valuable life lessons thatyou learned, like in terms of
um outside of the pool that youyou sort of got from his
leadership or coaching?
Fred Schuster (34:23):
oh, I mean they would have like sunday dinners.
Everybody go to his house andyou know he he, you know, was
very focused on you know,everybody doing well
academically.
If you had a test, you know youcan miss workouts.
So the way it worked there, youhad to make X amount of
workouts per week and there weretwo morning workouts and two
(34:44):
afternoon workouts and so youknow you might have to make 10
workouts a week so you could godoubles on Monday, Wednesday,
friday and Saturday and Sunday.
You know you might have to make10, 10 workouts a week so you
could go doubles on Monday,wednesday, friday and Saturday
and Sunday.
You know you could go.
I played water polo so I wasalways gone on the weekend so I
had to go basically doublesevery day of the week and then
(35:04):
and then we have water polopractice at night.
So I was in the pool like a lotof days three times a week and
I was in and through through thefall, you know, through kind of
beginning of December.
But yeah, I mean he was, he wasvery focused on people doing,
you know, you know keeping theirgrades up and you know you're
not going to back.
Then there was no, you're notgoing to go pro in swimming and
(35:26):
say you know, you know you needto set yourself up for life and
you know, just kind of a goodsit down talks and having that
whole family atmosphere with heand Marge over at his house was
terrific.
Danielle Spurling (35:42):
What about when you left college?
Did you continue swimming ordid you have some time off when
you were getting your careersort of up and running?
Fred Schuster (35:48):
I played water polo for eight years after I
graduated um.
So you know we practiced prettymuch every day and you know I
would swim on again, off again,not really doing meets per se.
But you know, certainly withthe water polo I, I think when I
(36:09):
first kind of got back into it,they decided to do a team doc.
So they got all the, they hadsomebody compile at a
compilation of all the Indianagraduate emails and they sent
out an email to everybody andsaid hey, we're going to
(36:29):
nationals are in Indianianapolis, we're gonna get a team
together and we're calling itteam doc.
And it's anybody who swam fordoc, you know, be it in the
1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, whatever,or indiana swimmer can, can be
on the, on the team.
So that motivated a lot ofpeople to kind of get back into
(36:51):
it and I think you know I was, Iwas in my mid-30s then and then
and then I pretty much stuckwith it from from then on.
You know, with some years offand a lot of you know a lot of
times I'll swim when I'm like 35or 40 or 45 or right now I'm 60
and so you know, kind offocusing on and you know, next
(37:15):
year I'll probably swim in a fewmeets, but not as seriously,
and then probably then kind ofgo cold turkey until I turn 65
and then, you know, try to hitit hard again.
So, but I mean still swimming,but you know not, not to the
same extent that I'm doing rightnow.
Danielle Spurling (37:33):
Yeah, do you think that that ebb and flow is
one of the reasons why you'vegot such longevity in your
swimming?
Fred Schuster (37:40):
I think so, because I'm not trying to.
It's kind of like this year iskind of a grind and but I'm kind
of mentally prepared.
Okay, when I turn 60, it'sgoing to be a grind and that's
what I'm going to do, you know,and I, you know I'm prepared for
that.
But you know to try to do itall the time and I'd be like
(38:04):
yeah, like I think my wife likewhen I go to these meets, I go
by myself, I don't, you know,don't want anybody with me.
I go to these meets, I go bymyself, I don't want anybody
with me.
And so next year my wife and Iwe might do the Singapore Worlds
(38:25):
and go do it, but go out todinner, and this time I was like
eat in the hotel, eat reallyboring food.
Everything was focused on theswimming, not really
participating in the, in the,anything culturally going on or
any of the sites or anythingalong those lines.
Just okay, swim, come back tothe hotel.
Swim, come back to the hotel.
(38:45):
That was.
That was pretty much it yeah,that's, that's.
Danielle Spurling (38:49):
Uh, I can get definitely get into that
mindset myself.
I understand what you mean yeah, yeah everyone that comes on
the podcast.
I love to ask them the deepdive five, which is sort of a
bit of a snapshot of yourfavorite parts of swimming.
So just tell me the first thingthat pops into your mind what's
the favorite pool that you'veever raced in?
Fred Schuster (39:09):
well, indianapolis always is my, my
favorite pool.
Um, I mean, I just it's.
It's such a great setup.
Um, you know, they had a 50meter pool going this way and
then another 50 meter pool,warm-up pool, you know, kind of
just just right down the hall,huge diving.
(39:30):
Well, you know, plenty of space, great whiting, terrific for
spectators, lots of places tosit, and that was our home pool
for meets in college.
So it's always, always myfavorite place to go.
I will say the Doha pool was,you know, fantastic as well.
(39:53):
Uh, I, I and it was a pop-uppool.
It was one of those Mirthapop-up pools, which kind of that
was the first time I'd been inone of those, and you know I'd
heard, oh, these things aregreat, and I was like we'll see,
but it was terrific, it was, itwas really nice how about your
favorite butterfly drill?
(40:14):
um.
I mean, it's the goal I, it'sthe goal sets.
I do that.
I was telling you about thosekind of 2050s, the 10 100s um,
or the 5 200s, and, in terms ofa drill, I I don't even I don't
do any drills, I don't do anydrills you don't do drills.
I don't have a pull buoy, Idon't have a kickboard.
(40:35):
I'll kick a little bit withfins, but I don't do a one-arm,
this, something or other, and Ijust swim.
Danielle Spurling (40:47):
Well, give us your favourite goal set out of
all the ones you do.
What's your fave?
Fred Schuster (40:52):
I mean the five 200s are always the you know
it's, it's, it's like it's thebest of times, it's the worst of
times.
You know it's, it's, it's likeyou're dreading it going in and
but then like when you finish,you know, so I'll do like five
200s on seven minutes, so lotsof rest, but uh, like I say kind
of hard, hard effort and youknow I'm thinking about it the
(41:16):
night before and you know thenyou know doing it and it's like
I I keep a log of of all myworkouts and what I do in the
workout and you know it's alwaysfun to kind of look back over
the years and see you know whereyou're at and you know things
along those lines, and so youknow it's always fun to kind of
look back over the years and seeyou know where you're at and
you know things along thoselines and so you know kind of
(41:36):
keeping that statistic, thatthat's a thing that you know
I've done over the years.
So it's it's interesting tokind of look through and see
where I've been on those and andand how do they compare?
Danielle Spurling (41:51):
how about your favorite pre-pre-race snack
or meal?
Fred Schuster (41:56):
I'm I'm super finicky on the eating side and I
gotta eat like like for thismeet in texas.
You know I'll I'll be gettingup in the middle of the night
and I'll eat like these.
They're called perfect bars andthey're like kind of bars but
they're.
You refrigerate them and it'sall like every.
(42:17):
Every ingredient is somethingyou've heard of.
There are no you know kind ofartificial ingredients in them
and they're you know, very highcalorie.
They're like 350 calories.
And so you know, because I needlike four hours before I, at
least before I even warm up, oryou know it's just same thing.
(42:39):
In college I always had to.
I'd have to eat lunch at youknow 1030 in the morning to be
ready for a three o'clockworkout.
So I don't tend to eat anythingwhen I'm at the meet, um, or
right before.
I kind of get my calories inand then just kind of go the
(43:00):
rest of the meeting, but thenand then I'll eat one of those
when I'm finished with my, withmy race, or maybe even two of
them just plummeting from the,from the race and for just from
not eating anything all day.
But those are my favourite.
It's called Perfect Bars.
Danielle Spurling (43:17):
Well, Fred, it's been a pleasure speaking to
you today and hearing all aboutyour swimming journey and
wishing you great success in thetwo US national meets coming up
.
Fred Schuster (43:27):
Okay, well, daniel, thanks so much for
having me, and it's been apleasure talking to you as well.
Danielle Spurling (43:35):
Thanks again.
Fred Schuster (43:36):
Okay, take care.
Hopefully we'll meet on pooldeck in singapore.
Danielle Spurling (43:37):
Absolutely, absolutely okay okay, take, take
care, bye now.
Bye.
I hope fred's story hasinspired you to find your own
pathway through swimming.
Your own training conditionsmay not be perfect none of ours
are but there's always a way toimprove.
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.
It takes a special type ofperson to have the motivation
and wherewithal to trainpredominantly by themselves and
(00:26):
to be successful.
On top of that, my guest todayfits that prototype.
Fred Schuster hails fromMissouri, swam at Indiana
University under Doc Councilmanand now lives and trains in a
pool he built at his house inArizona.
I give you this backgroundbecause I think it's pretty
special to have the commitmentto push yourself while training
(00:49):
alone.
His determination has certainlypaid off with four gold and a
silver at the recent WorldMasters Championships in Doha.
This is Fred's story.
Hi Fred, welcome to the podcast.
Fred Schuster (01:07):
Thank you so much .
I'm glad to be here, Danielle.
I appreciate the invite.
Danielle Spurling (01:11):
Yeah, I'm really, really pleased that
you're joining us today and I'mreally looking forward to
hearing all about your swimming.
Fred Schuster (01:16):
Looking forward to sharing it with you as well.
Danielle Spurling (01:19):
Well, first of all I wanted to start with
the Masters Worlds in Doha.
Congratulations on the fourgold and one silver that you got
oh, thank you yeah, I meanamazing swimming.
Can you tell us what eventsthey were in?
Fred Schuster (01:31):
so, uh, I swam 200, 400, 800 freestyle, uh and
100 and 200 butterfly um 200freestyle was the thing I got
the silver in, but but stillhappy with all my times.
You know, really enjoy swimminglong course meters as opposed
to short course yards here inthe state.
So it was a fun, fun meet forme and, uh, you know, it all
(01:54):
worked out really well yeah,definitely if you're.
Danielle Spurling (01:57):
If you're doing an 800 in um short course
yards, there's a lot of turnsthere, isn't there?
Fred Schuster (02:02):
oh yeah, well, I'm going down to texas next
week for and swimming 1650,which is 66 links, so lots and
lots of turns there, which isnot really my, my strong suit.
But uh, you know, want to, uh,want to see where I'm at.
And, um, you know, we have ourshort course nationals coming up
(02:23):
in June here in Indianapolis,so this would be a good kind of
litmus test on where I'm atshort course.
Danielle Spurling (02:31):
Yeah, are the US short course nationals
always in yards?
Fred Schuster (02:35):
Yes, almost all of our winter meets and spring
nationals are 25 yard pools,long course.
You know there's not a lot of50 meter pools here, and long
course nationals though, whichwill be end of August, are in a
(02:55):
50 meter pool, and every once ina while we'll get a short
course meters meet, but thoseare.
Those are pretty few and farbetween.
Danielle Spurling (03:04):
It's's so interesting, isn't it, that
you've, you've got that wholeyard system.
We don't even have, we don'teven have one of those pools
here in Australia yeah, I meanevery high school meet NCAAs for
college.
Fred Schuster (03:16):
Everything is short course yards.
So so like our rarity is toswim in a in a meters meet.
So you know it's probably.
You know 10 to 1, you knowyards meets to meters meets.
Danielle Spurling (03:29):
Yeah, so interesting.
Yeah, but back to Doha.
You had those great successes,and which of those races were
you the happiest with?
Fred Schuster (03:39):
Well, I mean the 400 and the 800, I was very
because those were kind of newevents for me, you know, usually
swimming kind of 50, 100, 200freestyle, 50, 100, 200
butterfly, and you know I justkind of was training enough that
people were like you got to trysome distance stuff, and so you
(04:01):
know, I kind of picked up onthat a little bit the last few
years and you know, but this islike it's the first time I've
ever swum 800 free in a meet andfirst time, you know, same
thing with the 400 meterfreestyle, since I was, you know
, a youngster and so, you know,very happy with the times I had
(04:24):
there and was actually able to.
I broke the US national recordin the 400 free, which is the
first time I've ever done, youknow, any national record.
And to do that on the firsttime I swam it, you know it was
pretty exciting.
Danielle Spurling (04:40):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Fred Schuster (04:42):
That's a big deal to get a a US national record
oh yeah, yeah, I mean ecstaticand you, you know, you look on
some of the names on there andit's like pretty exciting well,
what's your strategy withswimming at 800, like obviously
that's on the first day ofworlds?
Danielle Spurling (04:57):
do you sort of think about the rest of the
events that are coming up afterit, or you just go full?
Fred Schuster (05:03):
out.
No, I'm, I'm just, yeah, prettymuch focused.
I mean, the worlds arestretched out enough that, like
I don't, I didn't, I don't thinkI swam the next day, so I knew
I had a whole day off and Inever had two events in the same
day, and so you know it's, it'sa a pretty good, you know, time
(05:25):
.
You know, I think I have apretty quick recovery, you know,
one day to the next.
You know, obviously you have,you know, 15, 20 minutes.
You know that's a differentstory.
But, um, you know, to have thatfull day, I was, you know, just
just focused on that race andreally, you know, just wanted to
(05:46):
kind of swim pace.
Didn't, you know, have any sortof oh, I'm going to take out
the first 400 here.
It's just like get in and justtry to hold a pace and hold that
for as long as I could.
And if I look at my splits, Iwas, you know, pretty even all
the way through.
Danielle Spurling (06:04):
And if I look at my splits.
I was, you know, pretty evenall the way through, so more of
a sort of like building on eachhundred as you went, rather than
a sort of a negative split typesituation.
Fred Schuster (06:11):
Yeah, I mean, I think it was pretty evenly split
.
You know, I think it was 448,450.
Danielle Spurling (06:21):
Yes, oh, quite close.
Fred Schuster (06:22):
For the two 400s, yeah, 50, yes, oh, quite close.
For the two 400s, yeah, so Imean, with the start, you know,
it's pretty much even, evensplit, and all the way through,
except for that first hundred,the first hundred and the last
hundred were, you know, a littlebit faster, but all the way
through it was, uh, very steadyeddie what do you think about
when you walk out from themastering room and you're
standing behind the blocks readyto race at the worlds?
Danielle Spurling (06:44):
what's sort of running through your mind?
Fred Schuster (06:46):
oh, just anxious to get in and get, get going.
You know it's, it's kind oflike, okay, I've done all this,
you know, just looking forwardto hitting the water.
And you know, you know, we allkind of talked about every other
guys were like on the bus,people like you still get
nervous.
You know, I mean, we're 60years old and like, yeah, I get
nervous, I get really nervous,and they're like, okay, good, me
(07:07):
too, you know.
So it's, uh, it's, it's, it'sgood to kind of.
You know, we had these halfhour bus rides from the hotels
and, um, you know everybody'stalking about their races and
you know kind of what they feellike they're going through, and
so it's it's nice to hear whatother people are going through.
But yeah, you know, certainlynervous.
(07:28):
But once you hit the water, youknow it all kind of dissipates
and instinct kind of just takesover and it's like, okay, I'm
not going to deviate, just goingto keep it steady and swim my
race here.
Danielle Spurling (07:43):
Yeah, I think a lot of the anxiety and the
nervousness you have before therace is the anticipation of how
much you're going to have tohurt to to do it exactly.
Fred Schuster (07:51):
Yeah, how bad is this going to hurt me?
That's why I was, like I knewfor this first race I didn't
want to die and so I was like,okay, if I just keep it steady,
you know, don't try to take itout.
Super, I, I swam the Nationalsthis past spring in California
and I took out, I swam the 1650and took that out First thousand
(08:11):
.
You know, felt great, took itout really, you know, pretty
hard, and then I mean just diedlike a pig and so did not want
to go through that again.
Danielle Spurling (08:20):
Yeah, understandable, yeah.
Fred Schuster (08:23):
So that was definitely a a focus of of where
will, where will I be by at theend of this race yeah, for sure
.
Danielle Spurling (08:31):
And what was the the atmosphere like at in
doha?
Was it different to the otherworlds that you've been to?
Fred Schuster (08:38):
I mean, the only other one I'd been to was in
gwangju, down in in 2019 inkorea, and I'd say it was, it
was pretty similar.
You know, there was, you know,a little bit of nuances, but the
, you know, the pools were supernice and we were always able.
I saw the guys who went tojapan, you know they one, one
(08:59):
day they'd get us from the nicepool and the next day they
weren't swimming in the nicepool.
We, thankfully, were able toswim in the nice pool, um, the
entire time.
Um, so it was, it was, it wasgreat because, I mean, it was
the.
The pool was perfect and, youknow, meat was real, you know,
(09:19):
really well run and everythingjust kind of went off without a
hitch and so, but I would say itwas very similar easy to get to
, easy to get back, lots ofbuses, you know, you didn't have
to stress out about oh, am Igonna be late?
Or anything along those linesand plenty of warm-up pools and
(09:40):
areas to to.
You know, they had an outdoor50 meter pool which was really
nice.
If you wanted to go use it wasa little bit further to walk.
They had an indoor 50 meterpool diving well, so lots of
options to uh go and swim in asuper crowded pool to warm up,
if you know what I mean yeah,that's really good to hear
(10:01):
because you know I've only beento one Worlds myself, but the
warm-up pool was a nightmare.
Oh yeah, the guys and I washearing stories from the people
who went to Japan and they werelike you know, the warm-up was
just a non-existent.
I mean, you were just socrammed in with so many people
and you know this was reallynice.
Danielle Spurling (10:22):
That's good to hear and I think that that's
what they probably need to lookat.
Moving forward with Worlds,with the amount of people that
go these days to have that kindof facility, they should be
awarding it to cities that canoffer that.
Fred Schuster (10:35):
Or cut back on the move the entry times a
little bit faster, because Ithink, from talking to people,
the Doha meet was quite a bitfewer people than in Japan.
Danielle Spurling (10:49):
I think that they'd be wanting to sort of
make back some money for theoutlay, though, so they probably
do want more competitors.
Fred Schuster (10:55):
Yeah, they could be.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Danielle Spurling (10:58):
Yeah, because I feel like the masters on the
back end of the elite sort ofprops up a little bit of the
money that they probably spend.
Fred Schuster (11:09):
Yeah, you could tell they spend a lot of money.
I mean the amount of these,just the buses.
I mean we had a bus at ourhotel all the time and you could
always get to the pool.
Danielle Spurling (11:15):
You know, every half hour on the half hour
it was, it was, it was greattell us how you swim your
butterfly races, because that'sa little bit different to a
freestyle long distance.
What's sort of your mindsetthere?
Fred Schuster (11:32):
Well, again, well , 200 butterfly.
I was like, okay, I do not wantto die.
I haven't swum 200-meterbutterfly since 2019.
Even in a.
You know, when I got to Doha Idid a few warm-up 200-meter
butterflies.
Just I wanted to make sure Icould make them.
And uh, I was like I'm gonna gothe first three laps as smooth
(11:52):
and easy as I possibly possiblycan, breathing every stroke, not
taking a breath right out ofthe turns, doing all the things
you shouldn't do.
And uh, then you know, whateverI've got, you know, for the
last 50, I'll come home withthat.
That was the strategy for the200.
The 100, I thought, well, I'lltake it out hard but smooth, and
(12:16):
then do the turn.
You know, just try to come homeas hard as I could.
Probably, in hindsight wouldwait a little bit, you know,
maybe 15, 20 meters and and thenkick it into high gear because
I I definitely kind of died inthe hundred at the very you know
(12:36):
I caught.
I, I was behind at the at the 50passed everybody, you know, by
the 75, 80.
But then as we're finishingthey're all like catching back
up to me again.
I was like, okay, this is good,gotta keep something in the
tank to finish.
Danielle Spurling (12:53):
And then you know, for the 50, just as hard
as you can go, you know,standard 50 stuff when you have
that sort of, you come off theturn in the in 100 and you know
that you want to put the sort ofput the pedal down.
Do you change your, increaseyour strike stroke rate?
Do you increase your kicking?
How do you sort of increase thepedal down?
Do you change your, increaseyour strike stroke rate?
Do you increase your kicking?
How do you sort?
Fred Schuster (13:11):
of increase the stroke rate.
Yeah that that that, whereas I'mreally trying to be long and
smooth for that first 50.
Um, you know, I'll just try to.
I I find that if I, if I divein and try to increase the
stroke rate too much, I justbecome inefficient.
I get more tired and don't goany faster, and so I really just
(13:33):
try to think about keeping itlong and smooth and making that
turn.
By then I'm tired enough that Ireally don't.
I think if I increase my strokerate I'm not going to.
I'll be in a more efficientincreased stroke rate mode if
that makes sense, and so that'skind of the way I look at it.
Danielle Spurling (13:57):
Yeah, I think that's really sensible.
That's a good way ofapproaching it.
Fred Schuster (14:01):
Yeah, well, I mean lessons learned over time.
Danielle Spurling (14:06):
Yeah, and it worked.
Obviously did.
Fred Schuster (14:08):
You did so well in Doha yeah, yeah, no, it was,
it was, it was uh, all good youknow for this meet certainly
what?
Danielle Spurling (14:15):
what, if anything, did you come away with
thinking that you need tofine-tune it for next time?
Was there any lessons that youlearned?
Fred Schuster (14:23):
we have our long course nationals end of August
in in mission viejo, california,uh, this year.
And so you know, place wise andeverything I was.
I was, you know, very happywith everything in doha but I
kind of was a little bit unhappywith some my butterfly times.
I I thought I could have gone,I should have gone faster.
(14:46):
So you know, the freestyletimes were better than much
better than I anticipated, butthe butterfly times I was a
little bit disappointed on whereI, you know my times were, I
think, and I think I can improveon those.
And so you know I've beenpicking up, you know, more
(15:07):
training in butterfly.
You know, again I'm swimming ina yards pool.
So trying to swim 250 yards,four 250s fly, instead of doing
200 yard fly, okay, just tryingto get my body used to swimming
that extra 10% that the metershas and mentally just getting
(15:31):
okay, you can do this.
You know it hurts, but you knowyou're making these.
You can make the 200 fly and befine.
Danielle Spurling (15:45):
Yeah Well, that's a really valuable lesson
and you know you absolutely canmake that change, as you say,
heading into your long coursenationals yeah, and and.
Fred Schuster (15:57):
Again, I was kind of a little bit more
apprehensive about some of thedistance events because just
because I've never done themthere, I'm not going to be as
worried about those events,because frankly, I don't know if
I can really improve too muchon those times, you know.
But I really think I canimprove on that, on the fly
times.
Danielle Spurling (16:16):
You just mentioned, obviously, that you
were doing more freestyle inyour training and you need to do
more butterfly.
Where do you train and who doyou train with?
Fred Schuster (16:27):
I swim by myself all the time.
I'm in a little town inWickenburg, Arizona.
It's about 10,000 people here.
When I moved here, there was nopool.
We built a lap pool at ourhouse, a 25-meter lap pool.
So, I did go meters.
Then there was a golf club thatopened with a 25-yard pool over
(16:50):
there, and so for the most partI go swim there through the
winter.
Just, you know it's superexpensive to heat the pool here,
and so if I've got that otherpool I will go swim there.
And you know now it's startingto warm up enough here that I'll
(17:11):
start swimming in this pool aswell.
But then in about a month or soI go to Santa Fe, so we split
our time.
Santa Fe, new Mexico, again,swim by myself there in a golf
club community sort of thingthat has an indoor four lane 25
yard pool, and so.
(17:31):
So that's where I swim.
So I say I see these beautifulpools that people get to swim in
and I'm very jealous.
I swim for a team calledPhoenix Swim Club, and Phoenix
is about an hour and 20 minutesaway from where we're at here,
and so on Sundaysays during theyear, 50 meter pool by 25 yards
(17:53):
wide, and so for the most partit's always set up for 25 yards,
but on sundays they flip thepool over and put it in 50 meter
mode.
So I try to get down there, youknow, on sundays, if I can.
You know that's helpful to getdown there, you know, on Sundays
, if I can.
You know that's helpful to getsome kind of 50-meter touches in
before you know, like Doha andthese other meets.
Danielle Spurling (18:17):
So you do most of your training, or pretty
much look 90%, 95% of yourtraining by yourself.
How do you motivate yourself todo that?
That's amazing.
Fred Schuster (18:27):
I mean I've kind of been doing that.
You know, I was in a small townin missouri growing up.
There was a swim team when wefirst started, but then it kind
of disbanded, so then I was justgoing to the y by myself.
You know, high school,obviously.
You know we had a team um forthat, so it was fun to swim with
the team.
College, uh, I went to indianauniversity so it was, like, you
(18:51):
know, really awesome to be ableto swim, you know, under doc
councilman and, uh, you know, soI mean that was a big reason
why I went to school there andto be able to swim for him.
And you know he certainly knowsall there is to know about
swimming and, and was you knowall there is to know about
swimming?
And was you know, big, a bigboost for me to, you know, in
(19:17):
terms of improvement and kind ofsetting the mindset that you
know I mimic a lot of theworkouts that we would do back
then and you know that sort ofthing.
And you know that's beensomething I've just stuck with.
And you know I've got a clockand that's the clock is kind of
what motivates me and so I'mjust kind of used to it by now.
But it certainly is nice onthose Sundays when I go down and
(19:38):
swim with the team.
Danielle Spurling (19:39):
Yeah, so the type of training you're doing
obviously is based on DocCouncilman's work and I know I
have his swimming Bible, the.
Science of Swimming, yeah yeah,exactly when I have his swimming
bible, that the science ofswimming yeah, yeah, exactly
when I moved to the country whenI was an age grouper for a
little while, my dad coached meand he got that book and we
followed that and I know thisthe slog that was associated
with his workouts, based onMark's bits.
(20:00):
So is that the kind of kind ofstuff you still do now?
Fred Schuster (20:04):
I mean some of the stuff, I mean the things
that I remember.
You know we would do somethingcalled a goal set.
You know maybe not every weekbut pretty pretty close to every
week, or maybe every 10 days,something like that, and you
know it's a thousand.
You know high rest.
You know 2050s, 10, 100s, five,200s, something like that, and
(20:25):
you know lots of rest.
You know pretty much warm up, alittle warm-up set and you do
that and that's kind of thewhole workout.
And you know I'll I'll do thosepretty much same same sort of
thing every every week to 10days.
I'll do a goal set and I try torotate them.
I do the 50s one time, then thehundreds and then the 200s, and
(20:49):
always do them fly.
That's something that I reallytake in A lot of descending
stuff nine 200s descend one tothree on a little bit higher
rest.
You know slow, medium, hard.
(21:10):
Those type of things werereally a lot of the, a lot of
the type of things that we woulddo back in Indiana.
Danielle Spurling (21:19):
And obviously you had a head as your coach
when you're at college.
Now that you're a masterswimmer, do you have a coach
that oversees your program oryou just write that yourself and
follow it?
Fred Schuster (21:27):
I just write them up myself.
I see other people's workoutsand sometimes I'll pick and
choose some sets and you knowpeople on on you know social
media or something, they'll say,oh I did that, that's a pretty
good set.
You know, try to work that kindof stuff in.
But I mean, for the most partI'm on kind of a weekly cycle
(21:48):
and it's kind of the same stuffevery week, depending on.
You know how close I am to ameet and you know.
So I have like certain sets thatall a lot of people would get
like really bored of doing.
You know, if I was their coachthey'd be like, oh, we just did
that, you know.
But I just kind of like knowwhat I need to do and those sets
(22:11):
seem to fit my, what I'm tryingto accomplish and uh, so I, I
mean it's it's kind of one ofthe advantages of swimming by
yourself.
You know you're not, you know,bounded by what the rest of the,
the team, is doing and you can,you know, really kind of cater
something to exactly what youwant.
I mean it's there's pluses andminuses for both.
Danielle Spurling (22:30):
I mean I'd miss the social side.
I suppose just having a bit ofa chat between you know
intervals, I find it very hardto motivate myself to go.
I can go to the pool by myself,but I just don't push myself as
hard.
So I really admire you beingable to do that all the time.
That's amazing.
Fred Schuster (22:50):
Yeah, and again, I've just kind of gotten used to
it.
So it's you know, it justbecomes second nature and it's
you know, I don't really eventhink about it.
Danielle Spurling (22:58):
Yeah, yeah, well, it's probably good.
Fred Schuster (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Danielle Spurling (23:02):
So, aside from the Sunday when you go down
to swim at the Masters Club,how many other workouts do you
get in a week in the pool?
Fred Schuster (23:10):
I'm pretty much seven workouts away.
I'm every day.
Yeah, I mean a lot of timesI'll take, you know, like I say
I go down on sunday, so saturdaymornings I'll do, you know,
like a 1500 wake up swim andthat's it.
But just just because I want togo, because down there you know
(23:30):
we're doing long course, it'slike you know like 6 000 meters,
you know.
So it's a, it's a long, properworkout and you know, for the
most part, up here on my weeklyI'm kind of doing um 40, 4,500
to 5,300, somewhere in that sortof range.
Danielle Spurling (23:57):
Yeah, that's still a lot of Ks that you're
putting in a lot.
Fred Schuster (24:01):
Yeah, usually kind of around the 110,000 to
120,000 a month sort of thing.
Danielle Spurling (24:07):
Yeah, that's quite a lot.
Fred Schuster (24:09):
And then I mean I'll miss workouts because of
you know whatever, and but butyou know the focus I don't have
like, oh, I take monday,wednesday and saturdays off or
anything like that.
Danielle Spurling (24:20):
It's like so do you include dry land like
strength training um in yourprogram?
Fred Schuster (24:27):
I, I started doing a little bit of that this
year, a little more stretching.
I mean, one bad thing I've had,you know, a lot of calf issues
and you know just like off theblocks and you know hard
push-offs and you know calvesjust locking up, and so I've
tried to include a little morestretching and, you know, do
(24:49):
some setups and somecalisthenics.
I don't really I don't do anyweights, um, but you know I'll
do some.
I have some stretch bands andI'll do, you know, kind of
pulling back on stretch bandsand you know the the big rope.
I kind of do that um, but butnot not weights per se so
(25:10):
interesting?
Danielle Spurling (25:11):
because because I talk to a lot of
people and they all have verydifferent sort of approaches and
one or two you know, like you,I think Laura Val is another one
American swimmer.
Laura Val, she doesn't do anyweights, she just swims, like
you do, seven, eight sessions aweek, and then other people do a
lot less in the water.
Fred Schuster (25:33):
I mean that's the one thing, like like you talk
about getting bored and you know, for me, going into a weight
room I'm just like in a.
You know, I'm sure it'd be agood thing to probably do do
some of this stuff, but uh, youknow, I mean it's, it's just,
you know, I mean I mighteventually, I might try it, but
it's not not on the uh, not onthe docket right now yeah, I
(25:55):
also find that hard.
Danielle Spurling (25:55):
I think, when you come from the background of
doing a lot of that cardio sortof slog, when you go into the
gym you don't feel like you'regetting a workout in.
That's that's how I feel, andthen I think, well, is it worth
it?
Fred Schuster (26:08):
well, and like I say that the dry land I do, I
you know, I do it for like 15,15 minutes, 15, 20 minutes,
right before I get in and swim,because it just, you know, fits,
it's, there's a gym, the gym'sright next to the pool, over it,
you know.
So it's not definitely not likea separate to to do it that way
(26:28):
and you know, and that and thegym, probably the gym and the
pool are about 15 minutes fromour house here in Arizona.
Danielle Spurling (26:38):
Well, it's all very convenient, so that's
good.
Fred Schuster (26:40):
Yeah, exactly, and the nice thing is I get to
swim outside all winter, butsadly I swim inside all summer.
Danielle Spurling (26:48):
Oh, yes, yeah , okay, that's hard.
Fred Schuster (26:51):
Yeah, and it's like it's kind of the pool in
New Mexico is kind ofdungeon-ish and so it's
definitely more depressing thanswimming here.
Danielle Spurling (27:03):
I swim outdoors all year.
We have hit pools.
Fred Schuster (27:07):
Yeah, that would be.
I'm pushing these guys to tryto get they have an outside like
oval pool, you know, like acountry club type pool, but not
with steps at the end, and sothey're talking about doing
renovations and I'm hopingthey'll make it a rectangle and
make it some set distance andhopefully, hopefully, 25 yards
(27:31):
or 25 meters and in coachingyourself.
Danielle Spurling (27:34):
Obviously, you have to prepare and taper
for a race, or races like theworlds, what?
What's your approach to thetaper that you do?
Fred Schuster (27:42):
I'm kind of a two-week taper guy because I
sometimes I was swimming hard,kind of right up to so say I was
was swimming 5,000 two weeks inone day.
You know, maybe the next dayI'll go 4,500 and then 4,200 and
then 3,800.
And then I kind of get down toa base of about 2,500 to 2,800,
(28:06):
just kind of hold that, drop, Idrop all the dry land, hold that
dry, I drop all the dry land.
Just just do a little bit ofstretching um beforehand but
really just try not to, you know, be in recovery mode and swim a
few hard things.
You know, like today I did, youknow, long easy warm up and then
(28:26):
kind of two hard 500s, and sothat was, you know, basically
1000 yards of something hard,and then that was it.
And you know, warm down, youknow all for the rest of the
week.
I mean I'll be bringing thatdown.
I'll probably be doing like onehard 500 or something.
You know, something like that.
(28:46):
You know really kind of giveyour body a chance to rest, but
not like totally, you know, notjump in and swim a thousand and
just get wet, but kind of have alittle bit of maintenance that
you're still giving yourself alittle bit of a push.
Danielle Spurling (29:08):
Yeah, you don't want to detrain yourself.
Fred Schuster (29:10):
Yeah, you don't want to detrain yourself,
Exactly exactly, Because I willsay which is what we would do at
Indiana in college.
You would really bring it waydown to where you're jumping in,
but you had a lot more base.
You were swimming doubles andswimming tons and tons of yards,
(29:32):
so you know to have a lot moreto taper from.
Danielle Spurling (29:36):
I miss those days where you were doing
doubles and you did so much workand when you actually did your
taper, you felt magnificent ohyeah, you just felt like your
arms didn't weigh anything and,oh yeah, that was the best I
can't say I I can't say I doenough work at the moment to
actually do a proper taper well,and that's yeah again.
Fred Schuster (29:57):
That's where I kind of feel like, you know, the
two weeks seems to be kind of asweet spot for me.
That and you and I'm not kindof falling off a cliff, you know
, it's more of a gradual downand then flatten out around that
of a gradual down and thenflatten out around that 2500 to
(30:17):
2800 for, you know, the lastweek or so.
Danielle Spurling (30:19):
Yeah, and I was just going to ask you a
question about indiana I, when Iwas doing my research, I
noticed that you said you were awalk-on at indiana.
What is?
What does that mean?
Fred Schuster (30:26):
so I didn't.
You know, I wasn't ascholarship swimmer.
So there's they get X amount ofscholarships to hand out to the
from the people who were comingin high school.
You know, those people,whatever paid for by the school.
I was not one of those people.
I was somebody who came triedout for the team and then, you
(30:47):
know, made the team, but not notsomebody who was, you know, on
scholarship, right out of theblock.
I got a scholarship after mysophomore year for the last two
years, so you can kind of earnone, but I didn't have one
coming out of high school.
Danielle Spurling (31:05):
So you, did you purposely choose to go there
, knowing that Doc Councilmanwas there, or was it because you
got in there academically, oruh, I mean both, I, I was.
Fred Schuster (31:14):
I was actually kind of I was going to go to
university in north carolina, uh, chapel hill, and um, I, I did
go out for a recruiting trip toindiana and I kind of thought
you know I was like a okay goodswimmer in in high school, but
not like somebody that I wouldthink somebody like doc
(31:35):
councilman is going to be like,oh you know, and but he was just
such a nice guy.
You know we sat and had lunchand you know I mean he was
asking all about me and kind oftelling you know what's, what's
good about Indiana and this,that and the other thing.
And I had a good businessschool, which is what I majored
in, so and I also played waterpolo, and so you know, those
(32:00):
things swayed me to switch fromNorth Carolina and go to Indiana
.
So it was, and it was a greatdecision.
You know I really enjoyed,enjoyed, swam all four years
there, played water polo allfour years, good, good business
school education, and so it alljust worked out fantastic for me
looking back now, it must bewonderful to have worked under
(32:23):
such a sort of a legend ofswimming with doc councilman.
Danielle Spurling (32:28):
What, what's the most valuable thing you
learned from him, do you think?
Fred Schuster (32:31):
Well, I mean, I will say yeah, and just the
mindset of like sometimes you'rethinking, oh, I know better
than my coach and you know, Idon't know if I should be doing
this.
Is this the right thing?
I mean, is this the right taper, is this the right?
Well, you know, with him youjust like, okay, turn my brain
(32:54):
off whatever he says.
You know you're on autopilot toto do what he, he does and and
and I, you know, and again, he,he made it, he made swimming
funny, it wasn't.
He was a really always tellingjokes in practice and you know
he would hand out jelly beans.
You know somebody did a, youknow a really fast race or
something you know he'd run.
He'd walk into the office andget a bag of jelly beans and
(33:15):
gives, give, give you a jellybean if you, you know, had a
good set or something and peoplewould, you know, go through a
brick wall to try to get one ofthose jelly beans and, uh, you
know, I mean it, it.
He just gave you a goodfoundation and kind of what to
believe in in terms of you know,especially, like you know,
(33:36):
tapering and and that sort ofthing.
I'd never really had a, a goodtaper before, because I'd always
be in this mindset that, oh mygosh, I'm gonna get out of shape
.
You know, if I, if I don't swimhard and swim, you know it's
just kind of that and then youknow that that would be the
thing.
You know the concept of thetaper and the concept of rest
(34:00):
and the concept of wow.
Danielle Spurling (34:02):
You can have dramatic drops in your times if,
if, if you give your body achance to rest and you know, I
would say that was the bestthing and were there any sort of
like valuable life lessons thatyou learned, like in terms of
um outside of the pool that youyou sort of got from his
leadership or coaching?
Fred Schuster (34:23):
oh, I mean they would have like sunday dinners.
Everybody go to his house andyou know he he, you know, was
very focused on you know,everybody doing well
academically.
If you had a test, you know youcan miss workouts.
So the way it worked there, youhad to make X amount of
workouts per week and there weretwo morning workouts and two
(34:44):
afternoon workouts and so youknow you might have to make 10
workouts a week so you could godoubles on Monday, Wednesday,
friday and Saturday and Sunday.
You know you might have to make10, 10 workouts a week so you
could go doubles on Monday,wednesday, friday and Saturday
and Sunday.
You know you could go.
I played water polo so I wasalways gone on the weekend so I
had to go basically doublesevery day of the week and then
(35:04):
and then we have water polopractice at night.
So I was in the pool like a lotof days three times a week and
I was in and through through thefall, you know, through kind of
beginning of December.
But yeah, I mean he was, he wasvery focused on people doing,
you know, you know keeping theirgrades up and you know you're
not going to back.
Then there was no, you're notgoing to go pro in swimming and
(35:26):
say you know, you know you needto set yourself up for life and
you know, just kind of a goodsit down talks and having that
whole family atmosphere with heand Marge over at his house was
terrific.
Danielle Spurling (35:42):
What about when you left college?
Did you continue swimming ordid you have some time off when
you were getting your careersort of up and running?
Fred Schuster (35:48):
I played water polo for eight years after I
graduated um.
So you know we practiced prettymuch every day and you know I
would swim on again, off again,not really doing meets per se.
But you know, certainly withthe water polo I, I think when I
(36:09):
first kind of got back into it,they decided to do a team doc.
So they got all the, they hadsomebody compile at a
compilation of all the Indianagraduate emails and they sent
out an email to everybody andsaid hey, we're going to
(36:29):
nationals are in Indianianapolis, we're gonna get a team
together and we're calling itteam doc.
And it's anybody who swam fordoc, you know, be it in the
1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, whatever,or indiana swimmer can, can be
on the, on the team.
So that motivated a lot ofpeople to kind of get back into
(36:51):
it and I think you know I was, Iwas in my mid-30s then and then
and then I pretty much stuckwith it from from then on.
You know, with some years offand a lot of you know a lot of
times I'll swim when I'm like 35or 40 or 45 or right now I'm 60
and so you know, kind offocusing on and you know, next
(37:15):
year I'll probably swim in a fewmeets, but not as seriously,
and then probably then kind ofgo cold turkey until I turn 65
and then, you know, try to hitit hard again.
So, but I mean still swimming,but you know not, not to the
same extent that I'm doing rightnow.
Danielle Spurling (37:33):
Yeah, do you think that that ebb and flow is
one of the reasons why you'vegot such longevity in your
swimming?
Fred Schuster (37:40):
I think so, because I'm not trying to.
It's kind of like this year iskind of a grind and but I'm kind
of mentally prepared.
Okay, when I turn 60, it'sgoing to be a grind and that's
what I'm going to do, you know,and I, you know I'm prepared for
that.
But you know to try to do itall the time and I'd be like
(38:04):
yeah, like I think my wife likewhen I go to these meets, I go
by myself, I don't, you know,don't want anybody with me.
I go to these meets, I go bymyself, I don't want anybody
with me.
And so next year my wife and Iwe might do the Singapore Worlds
(38:25):
and go do it, but go out todinner, and this time I was like
eat in the hotel, eat reallyboring food.
Everything was focused on theswimming, not really
participating in the, in the,anything culturally going on or
any of the sites or anythingalong those lines.
Just okay, swim, come back tothe hotel.
Swim, come back to the hotel.
(38:45):
That was.
That was pretty much it yeah,that's, that's.
Danielle Spurling (38:49):
Uh, I can get definitely get into that
mindset myself.
I understand what you mean yeah, yeah everyone that comes on
the podcast.
I love to ask them the deepdive five, which is sort of a
bit of a snapshot of yourfavorite parts of swimming.
So just tell me the first thingthat pops into your mind what's
the favorite pool that you'veever raced in?
Fred Schuster (39:09):
well, indianapolis always is my, my
favorite pool.
Um, I mean, I just it's.
It's such a great setup.
Um, you know, they had a 50meter pool going this way and
then another 50 meter pool,warm-up pool, you know, kind of
just just right down the hall,huge diving.
(39:30):
Well, you know, plenty of space, great whiting, terrific for
spectators, lots of places tosit, and that was our home pool
for meets in college.
So it's always, always myfavorite place to go.
I will say the Doha pool was,you know, fantastic as well.
(39:53):
Uh, I, I and it was a pop-uppool.
It was one of those Mirthapop-up pools, which kind of that
was the first time I'd been inone of those, and you know I'd
heard, oh, these things aregreat, and I was like we'll see,
but it was terrific, it was, itwas really nice how about your
favorite butterfly drill?
(40:14):
um.
I mean, it's the goal I, it'sthe goal sets.
I do that.
I was telling you about thosekind of 2050s, the 10 100s um,
or the 5 200s, and, in terms ofa drill, I I don't even I don't
do any drills, I don't do anydrills you don't do drills.
I don't have a pull buoy, Idon't have a kickboard.
(40:35):
I'll kick a little bit withfins, but I don't do a one-arm,
this, something or other, and Ijust swim.
Danielle Spurling (40:47):
Well, give us your favourite goal set out of
all the ones you do.
What's your fave?
Fred Schuster (40:52):
I mean the five 200s are always the you know
it's, it's, it's like it's thebest of times, it's the worst of
times.
You know it's, it's, it's likeyou're dreading it going in and
but then like when you finish,you know, so I'll do like five
200s on seven minutes, so lotsof rest, but uh, like I say kind
of hard, hard effort and youknow I'm thinking about it the
(41:16):
night before and you know thenyou know doing it and it's like
I I keep a log of of all myworkouts and what I do in the
workout and you know it's alwaysfun to kind of look back over
the years and see you know whereyou're at and you know things
along those lines, and so youknow it's always fun to kind of
look back over the years and seeyou know where you're at and
you know things along thoselines and so you know kind of
(41:36):
keeping that statistic, thatthat's a thing that you know
I've done over the years.
So it's it's interesting tokind of look through and see
where I've been on those and andand how do they compare?
Danielle Spurling (41:51):
how about your favorite pre-pre-race snack
or meal?
Fred Schuster (41:56):
I'm I'm super finicky on the eating side and I
gotta eat like like for thismeet in texas.
You know I'll I'll be gettingup in the middle of the night
and I'll eat like these.
They're called perfect bars andthey're like kind of bars but
they're.
You refrigerate them and it'sall like every.
(42:17):
Every ingredient is somethingyou've heard of.
There are no you know kind ofartificial ingredients in them
and they're you know, very highcalorie.
They're like 350 calories.
And so you know, because I needlike four hours before I, at
least before I even warm up, oryou know it's just same thing.
(42:39):
In college I always had to.
I'd have to eat lunch at youknow 1030 in the morning to be
ready for a three o'clockworkout.
So I don't tend to eat anythingwhen I'm at the meet, um, or
right before.
I kind of get my calories inand then just kind of go the
(43:00):
rest of the meeting, but thenand then I'll eat one of those
when I'm finished with my, withmy race, or maybe even two of
them just plummeting from the,from the race and for just from
not eating anything all day.
But those are my favourite.
It's called Perfect Bars.
Danielle Spurling (43:17):
Well, Fred, it's been a pleasure speaking to
you today and hearing all aboutyour swimming journey and
wishing you great success in thetwo US national meets coming up
.
Fred Schuster (43:27):
Okay, well, daniel, thanks so much for
having me, and it's been apleasure talking to you as well.
Danielle Spurling (43:35):
Thanks again.
Fred Schuster (43:36):
Okay, take care.
Hopefully we'll meet on pooldeck in singapore.
Danielle Spurling (43:37):
Absolutely, absolutely okay okay, take, take
care, bye now.
Bye.
I hope fred's story hasinspired you to find your own
pathway through swimming.
Your own training conditionsmay not be perfect none of ours
are but there's always a way toimprove.
Till next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
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