Social Kick

Charlotte Brynn

Bitten by a shark and kept swimming? For 11 more hours, then found the tooth in your hip?! Swam the Ice Mile, voluntarily?! All these stories and more by legendary Kiwi Marathon Swimmer Charlotte Brynn.  She joins the show to talk about her experiences training and racing open water endurance events.  Listen for for some great knowledge drop son best practices for racing as well as the toughest stories we have heard on competing. Charlotte was nominated as World Female Open Water Swimmer of the Year in 2013 and named one of the World’s top 50 Aquatic Adventurists in 2014, 2015, 2017 & 2019 by the World Open Water Association.
In 2018 Charlotte was named one of the top women open water coaches and mentors in the world and was inducted into the Vermont Open Water Swimming Hall of Fame in 2016. Charlotte has also achieved international recognition by completing some of the world’s most challenging marathon swims including the 28-mile Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and the 20-mile Catalina Channel. Charlotte is a 2-time USMS Long Distance All American & New England Masters age group 1500 meters record holder. Charlotte is one of the few people in the world and the first New Zealander to swim an International Ice Swimming Association Ice Mile of 1 mile in water at or below 41F/5C.

Sonja Wieck

18 time Ironman and Participant in the 2020 Eco Challenge and World's Toughest Race Sonja Wieck joins the show. Sonja talks about preparing for the race with her Ironman background, learning to swim at age 27 and 7 years, almost becoming the Ironman World Champion at Kona. We dive into the physical and mental challenges of endurance and elite sport and offer guidance on overcoming both. Watch Sonja race on Amazon Prime's Worlds Toughest Race and follow her on www.gosonja.com.

Daniel Carr

In this episode, Cal backstroke stud Daniel Carr joins the show and we get into the mindset of the Cal men’s college team, some of the key workouts they do, and how Dave Durden structures season plans to peak at the right time. Daniel was a dual-sport athlete during high school and only went full time as a swimmer after his sophomore year, but he was still a highly touted recruit in the pool. Now a Pac-12 champion, NCAA finalist, and double Pan Ams gold medalist, his trajectory should have the backstroke establishment on notice. He says he’s “as fast as anyone in the world on top of the water” and is a clear threat for a backstroke spot on the US Olympic team next summer. We also have some fun chatting about ISL, the newly released rosters for the upcoming season, and get Daniel’s take on the league as a future potential ISL swimmer. Hope you enjoy!

Margaret Hoelzer

In this episode, we are joined by Margaret Hoelzer. Margaret is an Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. Hoelzer competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Olympic Games. Hoelzer grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and swam for the Auburn Tigers swimming and diving team while attending Auburn University. In 2007, Hoelzer moved to Charlotte, NC to train with Coach David Marsh. In 2008, Hoelzer relocated to Seattle, Washington and then to Fullerton, California with coach Sean Hutchison to train at Fullerton Aquatics. We chat with Margaret about her swimming career and life after swimming.

The Social Kick Podcast #055 - The Future of NCAA Swimming, Caeleb Dressel Analysis, and the History of Butterfly

More and more schools are cutting their swim programs, including the storied University of Iowa team, who were integral in developing Butterfly in the 1930s.

We discuss this story and the evolution of Butterfly, with the recent passing of the first Olympic Butterfly Champion from 1956.

Then we discuss Caeleb's self analysis of his 50 skins from ISL, going deep into the affects of oxygen depravation and lactate build up.

Finally we discuss Nathan Adrian's choice for a guest on our show, with discussion on the future of NCAA swimming rounding off the show.

Kathleen Baker

In this episode, we're joined by gold medalist Kathleen Baker. In this show, we are interrupted by doping control, as Katleen blocks off evenings on her where-about reports. While we delay her doping test, we get into her nutrition and how Celiac's disease alters her training and nutrition. After this, we discuss her favorite sets with coach David Marsh, as well as what she feels she does at an elite level for her backstroke. After this, we get into where she is hoping to improve and her current mindset heading into the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Join us for a laugh and learn some of the unique aspects of being an Olympic swimmer! handling an auto-immune disorder (Celiac's disease), nutrition, and much more.  

Karlyn Pipes

In this episode, we're joined by one of the greatest Masters swimmers of all-time, Karlyn Pipes. Karlyn discusses her journey in the sport of swimming, which included early success, being an Olympic hopeful, swimming at the University of Arkansas, then dropping out. She discusses her addiction to alcohol, which eventually led her to rehabilitation. After alcohol rehabilitation, she was offered a full athletic scholarship to attend California State University Bakersfield (CSUB), at the age of 35! This was her "Do-Over", as she wrote about in her book (available here). We also discuss current events, the current status of female coaches in college swimming, and open water training for pool swimmers. 

The Social Kick Podcast #052 - Round-Up

Dr. John, Bryan and Luke gather in person for the first time in months to discuss some recent news. Caeleb's Race Analysis, the value of Endless Pools, HR monitoring and other live tracking analysis are the topics discussed over a beer. Subscribe to the channel to get regular episodes, see the extracts from the shows and promos for new shows!

Craig Beardsley

In this episode, we're joined by an Olympic swimmer who never went to the Olympics, Craig Beardsley. We delve into Craig's last race, missing the 1984 Olympic team, his experience with the 1980 US Olympic boycott, and differences between his training and current training. Craig dives further back to discuss the legendary training group at the University of Florida in the late 1970s and training with Randy Reese and he shares a story of him training with many Russian Olympians leading up to the 1980s game. While discussing the Russian Olympians, Craig discusses his interactions with the late, great Russian coach Gennadi Touretski. We end the show discussing technology, doping, and advances in the sport of swimming. Another amazing conversation with a legend and don't forget to checkout Swim Across America!         

Mike Bottom

For our 50th episode, we’re joined by one of the best swim coaches of all time, Mike Bottom. This conversation explores Mike’s swimming career including his experience with the 1980 US Olympic boycott, his world-beating swimmer brother Joe Bottom, where he developed his skills in psychology and the art of coaching each individual person, not just the swimmer. Mike takes us through the epic arc of his coaching career from his influence on the start of a sprint dynasty at Auburn (which he confirms is the greatest in college swimming history), back to his alma mater USC and being part of a women’s national championship, then later to joining icon Nort Thornton at Cal, coaching Gary Hall Jr, Anthony, Duje, Cavic, and finally to his current seat leading the thriving Michigan program. This one hits it all, and we could have gone on for hours. Enjoy!