How They Train: Catherine Fox

For the first half of the season, Stanford coach, Richard Quick, trains Catherine Fox primarily as a middle-distance swimmer with a focus on IM training. Sprinting and speed development come later as training becomes more and more individualized.

"Catherine is very versatile," says Quick. "She doesn't work exclusively in any specific group or with any particular individual." In the second half of the year, she rotates among the long sprinters, backstrokers and flyers.

Underwater training is a key part of the Stanford program, particularly for those swimmers, like Fox, who use underwater technique as a major weapon at NCAAs. Says Quick: "Catherine is very good under water. That's due primarily to her core body strength, which she developed with her club coach, Pete Malone, by doing gymnastics. She's a very strong, very coordinated athletic woman: she can do a large number of pull-ups, walk on her hands, and she jumps really well."

Quick and assistant coach, Ross Gerry, describe Catherine as one of the hardest workers on the team. "She's spectacular in her dryland training," says Quick, "and in the pool, you can see her getting better as the season progresses. Then, of course, she is an extraordinary big meet swimmer."

Catherine achieved her greatest success this year when she broke the American record in the 100 yard backstroke. "The main difference between this year and last," observes Quick, "is that now she is breaking out of the underwater phase with momentum and building her speed into the walls." Catherine has a great kinesthetic ability: "She saw where she needed to improve by watching videos of her races, and then she went out and made the adjustments she needed to make," says Quick. He predicts that these changes will carry over to her long course swimming.

Following are two typical Catherine Fox workouts—an early season and a late season session. —P.W.

Early Season Workout—Long Course
Objective: speed development and aerobic capacity

Late Season Workout—Short Course(In-the-water circuit)
Objective: speed development and speed endurance