How They Train: Inside the Work of Princeton Multi-Event Star Raunak Khosla
How They Train: Inside the Work of Princeton Multi-Event Star Raunak Khosla
After a fast long course summer in 2017, Raunak Khosla attracted considerable interest among college coaches, finally settling on Princeton University, where he is presently a three-time team captain and studying economics.
Initially ranked outside the top-100 in high school, Khosla, who swam all four strokes well, began a steep improvement curve through his junior and senior years, ultimately being ranked No. 1 in Georgia and 57th nationally.
“Raunak might love the sport more than I do,” says his college coach, Matt Crispino. “I haven’t met too many swimmers like him. He is constantly thinking about swimming, and he loves to talk shop. He has the mind of a coach, so in many ways, coaching him has become a partnership—his input into our training is invaluable. After every workout, he finds me on deck to debrief and solicit feedback.
“This year, he’s added a third weight room session and extra dryland to his regimen. We’ve made changes to his underwater habits, and he is committing to these changes on every wall. We’ve also tinkered with his backstroke and his fly this fall, and his long axis turns are coming along.
“Raunak is as intrinsically motivated a person as I’ve ever met. He has goals he has not yet achieved in this sport. Since he may be nearing the end of his career, he is pursuing them with urgency.”
Khosla spent his high school years swimming for Dynamo in Atlanta, where Rich Murphy, Brian Wrighton and Ian Murray did a phenomenal job with him. “They laid the foundation for Raunak to become an elite college swimmer,” says Crispino.
Well into his senior year, Khosla is already an eight-time Ivy champion with multiple conference titles in the 200 butterfly, 200 individual medley and 400 IM. At last year’s NCAAs, he scored in three events, finishing 12th in the 200 yard IM (1:41.24), 15th in the 400 IM (3:40.04) and 11th in the 200 fly (1:41.07). He was one of very few swimmers nationally to swim lifetime bests in all three individual events at both his conference meet and at NCAAs. At the 2022 Phillips 66 National Championships, he swam a 2:00.34 in the 200-meter IM for seventh and a 2:11.91 in the 200 breaststroke for ninth.
Crispino is quick to credit Khosla’s breaststroke leap from average to elite to a COVID-induced gap year training with Dave Krotiak and Bob Groseth.
KHOSLA TRAINING
“There are four main components to Raunak’s training,” says Crispino.
“First is aerobic freestyle, which is present throughout the year. He trains in our higher-volume group at least twice a week and rests with that group as well. It’s not uncommon for him to mix it up with our top distance swimmers on long free and threshold free sets.
“Second is IM: We vary the approach from longer 400 IM-oriented training to very anaerobic 200 IM work throughout the course of a week.
“Third is speed and power: We have a custom-made bucket arrangement at Princeton, and Raunak relishes any kind of speed work, particularly against heavy resistance. These are typically shorter practices following or preceding a lift.
“The fourth and last one is race-specific preparation. This is fine-tuning, including race-speed work that we do in the months leading up to major competition. By then, Raunak will have dialed in kick counts, stroke counts, tempos and goal paces. He is almost always right on target here—even on the days when he doesn’t feel well.”
The following practice (swum between between Ivies and NCAAs) is an example of the fourth kind of training:
Monday p.m., Oct. 25, 2021 (LC)
Coach Crispino: “Monday in the fall is typically an aerobic threshold free relay. Raunak and most of our swimmers who race 200+ are in this ‘upper’ group. Though he does not swim freestyle individual events at championship meets, Raunak has been on all of Princeton’s freestyle relays at various points in his career. In 2022, he split 1:32.67 on our 800 free relay and 42.51 on our 400 free relay. The a.m. workout on this day was one-hour lift, one-hour swim.”
• 400 swim and regroup
• 8 x 50 @ 1:05 – BK – 2x (kick, drill, kick, 15 spin/35 smooth)
:30
• 300 pull at 4:45 – breathe 3/5/7 x 50
• 6 x 50 @ 1:05 – BR – 2x (kick, 2k-1p, swim)
:30 fins on
• 200 fins @ 3:00 – 50 swim with 20 strokes or less, 50 UWDK with 3 breaths max
• 4 x 50 fins @ 1:05 – FL – 1/3 smooth FL, 1/3 lines build flutterfly, 1/3 fast no breath FL great finish
• 12 x 50 FR – 4 with rev paddles, 4 with reg paddles, 4 without paddles
1-4 @ 1:00 – small/big, R/L, 6-2R, 6-2L (freestyle drills)
5-8 @ :55 – golf descend score (stroke count + time = score)
9-12 @ :50 – :35 gallop fast, :15 body driven all-out, no breath!
• 4 x 50 @ 1:00 – drill, drill/moderate, moderate/build, fast/easy
• 8 efforts @ 2:30 – 2x (1 x 200 FR hot pink + 3 x 150 kick GO!)
* Hot pink is a “strong” effort (HR 150)
• 4 x 50 @ 1:00 – drill, drill/moderate, moderate/build, fast/easy
• 8 efforts @ 1:50 – 2x (2 x 150 FR red, 2 x 100 kick GO!)
* Raunak 1:35s on “red” 150s; red is a “hard” effort (HR 160-170)
• 4 x 50 @ 1:00 – same
• 8 efforts @ 1:10 – 2x (3 x 100 FR orange, 1 x 50 kick GO!)
* Raunak 59s on “orange” 100s; orange is a “best average” effort on low rest
• 10 x 50 @ :50 with fins
1 fast FL, 3 easy
1 fast FL, 2 easy
1 fast FL, 1 easy
1 fast FL
• 6 x 50 easy @ 1:00 – odds: kick/swim backstroke – evens: easy free
Total: 6,800 yards
* * *
Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022 (Abby Brethauer practice)
Coach Crispino: “Brethauer coaches Raunak at least twice a week. The following workout was a specific 200 IM practice during our winter training block. Typically, there isn’t any class in the month of January at Princeton. This was swum on a Tuesday afternoon following a morning off and a Monday double. We had a group of about 8-10 200 IMers doing this practice together.”
• 12-minute swim – 150 free/100 kick/50 non-free from a dive
• 8 x 75 – pull – odds: breathing 3/2/1 @ 1:05
• 8 x 50 – 2 each stroke – odds: kick/swim – evens: dr/s @ :55
• 8 x 25 – variable – dive fast ones @ :35
• 8 x 125 – double 4th best stroke (backstroke for Raunak)
2 pink @ 1:50
2 hot pink @ 1:45
2 red @ 1:40
2 blue @ 2:00
• 3 x 75 descend (p, r, race) 25 fly/50 back @ 1:10
• 1 x 125 IM (HR 29+) (double 4th best) @ 2:00
• 1 x 50 easy @ regroup
• 3 x 75 descend (p, r, race) 25 fly/50 back @ 1:10
• 1 x 150 IM (HR 29+) (double 3rd & 4th best) @ 2:00
• 1 x 75 easy @ regroup
• 3 x 75 descend (p, r, race) 25 breast/50 free @ 1:10
• 1 x 175 IM (HR 29+) (double 2nd, 3rd & 4th best) @ 2:00
• 1 x 50 easy @ regroup
• 3 x 75 descend (p, r, race) 25/50 of 4th best @ 1:10
• 1 x 200 IM (HR 29+) @ 2:00
• 1 x 75 easy @ regroup
6 rounds:
• 1 x 50 – IM switch – work fast turns @ :50 – 2x (FL/BK, BK/BR, BR/FR)
• 2 x 25 – red FR with 1 breath max @ :25
• 1 x X race*
• 1 x 50 easy @ regroup
* X =
Round 1 – 50 (your choice IM switch) (Raunak: FL/BK)
Round 2 – 100 (your choice IM switch) (Raunak: 50 FL/50 BK)
Round 3 – 100 IM (Raunak: :54)
Round 4 – 50 (your choice IM switch) (Raunak: 25 FL/25 BK)
Round 5 – 100 (your choice IM switch) (Raunak: 50 FL/50 BK)
Round 6 – 200 IM (Raunak: 1:49-dive)
• 200 cool-down
Total: 6,500 yards
* * *
Friday a.m., March 11, 2022
Coach Crispino: “The following practice took place between the Ivy League Championships and NCAAs. At this point, we were 13 days out from NCAAs. Raunak’s second taper tends to be a few days shorter than his initial taper for Ivies. This was a Friday morning. On Friday afternoon, he came in for a short 90-minute workout that was mostly power and speed work. This practice was specifically geared toward his 200 fly preparation. Princeton was on spring break, so we were able to start practice at 9 a.m.”
• 1 x 400 loosen
• 4 x 50 @ :55 – kick choice
• 4 x 75 @ 1:15 – snorkel – odds: 50 small/big, 25 swim – evens: 25 choice drill, 50 swim
• 4 x 25 @ :25 – no breath descend, get HR up
• 3 x 100 @ 1:15 – FR pull descend to red
• 4 x 25 @ :30 – FR swim – odds: strong – evens: 3-cycle blast
• 3 x 100 @ 1:25 – pull 25 FR, 25 BR descend to red
• 4 x 50 @ :50 – BR/FR swim – odds: strong – evens: 3-cycle blast both walls
• 3 x 100 @ 1:20 – BK pull descend to red
• 4 x 75 @ 1:10 – BK/BR/FR swim – odds: strong – evens: 3-cycle blast all walls
• 12 x 25 @ :30 – 4x (FL kick, FL drill, FL swim)
• 6 x 50 FL @ 200 pace – 1:00-:55-:50-:45-:40-:35 (Raunak held 25-mid all the way)
• 150 easy swim and regroup
• 6x (25 UWDK @ :30 + 50 FL @ 200 pace at same intervals as above) (Raunak held 25s again, very similar to first set)
• 150 easy swim and regroup
• 6 x 50 FL @ 1:30 – best average! (Fastest 24.0, slowest 24.6)
• 150 easy swim
• 6 x 150 choice equipment – smooth, middle 50 HP, 1st/3rd 50 HP, smooth, middle 50 R, 1st/3rd 50 R
• 10 x 25 back-to-breast turns mid-pool
6x:
• 1 x 25 cruise @ :25
• 1 x 50 make-it FR @ :30
• 1 x 25 all-out FL @ :35
• 200 easy
Total: 6,150 yards
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” is in its second printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and distributors worldwide.
Amazing to see Raunak’s achievements at such a young age, all the hard work that he puts in and the motivation he has! Wishing him success all along!