How They Train: Ryan Baker and Laine Reed – Sponsored by Tritonwear

How They Train: Ryan Baker and Laine Reed

RYAN BAKER
Ryan Baker is a strapping 6-6 junior two-time NCAA All-American sprint freestyler for the University of Virginia. For all his physical gifts, Baker is still a work in progress. “Ryan has a jovial personality, is very rarely serious, but is hard on himself when he doesn’t meet expectations,” notes Coach Todd DeSorbo.

“From a psychological standpoint, he still has a lot of maturing to do. He has had a hard time grasping the concept of training with reckless abandon. For us, that means being able to push off the wall on every effort and go full tilt, set after set, practice after practice, day after day. It’s fun, but challenging. He began to really get the concept about halfway through this past summer,” says DeSorbo.

“The difficulty has been in understanding the difference between perceived and actual effort. Once Ryan realized he could give more, he began to train daily and race at a higher level. Pushing 50s, Ryan progressed from September 2017 going 22.0 to 21.3 in January 2018. In the second year, he was going 21.5s in September 2018. In early November 2018, he was pushing multiple 20.8s.

LAINE REED
An Olympic Trials qualifier and stout sprint and middle distance freestyler by way of Longhorn Aquatics and Austin High School inTexas, Laine Reed contributed nicely to the UVA women’s team as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

However, it was with the arrival of DeSorbo that her college career really took off. By the end of her 2018 senior season, she had become a CSCAA Scholar All-American and four-time NCAA All-American. She had also swum the school’s all-time third and fourth best times in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles (22.06, 48.07). In addition, she posted 200/500 free times of 1:45.12/4:51.49 and 54.02 in the 100 back.

“She embraced my program, culture and mottos from Day 1. Laine adopted the reckless abandon mentality immediately, and once acclimated, she gained speed and saw drastic improvements in a very short period of time. One reason was her willingness to go all-in on our strength program. She is a prime example of how an athlete can improve once they buy in to strength training. In peak season, she would consistently push 50s free, going between 23.2-23.5. By February/March, she was going 23.1s.
“Laine went from never having made NCAAs in her first three years to finaling in both the 50 and 100 and helping set ACC records in both the 200 and 400 free relays.”

progression of times for ryan baker and laine reed How They Train January 2019

Coach Todd DeSorbo

Coach Todd DeSorbo
[PHOTO BY UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA]

“I tend to use fast 50s primarily as an indicator of how swimmers are developing power and speed as well as to monitor their fatigue,” says Todd DeSorbo, head coach of the University of Virginia men’s and women’s swimming teams.

“I don’t necessarily base this on one day as much as I do week-to-week or month-to-month and year-to-year. Day-to-day there are a lot of different things that can go into mental and physical fatigue. So, if athletes are “off” one day, I don’t worry too much about it, as they’ll usually bounce back pretty quickly. If not, then we need to assess making a change or recovering,” he says.

TWO TYPICAL DESORBO SETS
#1
• 8 x 25 max effort kick w/sox @ 1:00
• 5 x 50 max effort kick @ 1:30 (no sox)
• 1 x 50 push race swim

• 6 x 25 max effort kick w/sox @ 1:00
• 4 x 50 max effort kick @ 1:30 (no sox)
• 1 x 50 push race swim

• 4 x 25 max effort kick w/sox @ 1:00
• 3 x 50 max effort kick @ 1:30 (no sox)
• 1 x 50 push race swim

• 2 x 25 max effort kick w/sox @ 1:00
• 2 x 50 max effort kick @ 1:30 (no sox)
• 1 x 50 push race swim

• 1 x 50 max effort kick
• 1 x 50 push race swim

#2
LONG CORDZ Tug-o-war
3 rounds:
• 12/8/4 (by round) x 15 on :10 off BLAST KICK +2/4/6 alternate kick 25s on cordz dragging partner behind on :40
• 1:30 rest into:
• 1 x 100 MAX EFFORT kick w/board no resistance, extra minute rest into:
• 1 x 50 swim (descend by round):
Men’s goal: :23/ :22/ :21
Women’s goal: :25/ :24/ :23
• 5 x 50 @ :45 recovery
swim
• 1 x 50 RACE! SWIM

To learn more about how Baker and Reed trained with DeSorbo, check out the January 2019 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!

Swimming World subscribers can download this issue in the Swimming World Vault!

SW January 2019 Cover

[PHOTO BY DAN D’ADDONA]

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FEATURES

016 THE TOP 5 STORIES OF 2018
by David Rieder

020 2018 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
by Taylor Brien, Erin Keaveny and Michael Randazzo
Diving: Ren Qian & Yang Jian
Synchro: Svetlana Kolesnichenko
Water Polo: Sabrina van der Sloot & Aleksandar Ivovic
Disabled: Carlotta Gilli & Ihar Boki

022 READY TO MAKE THEIR MOVE
by David Rieder
With the start of a new year, several rising stars are poised to take their talents to the next level, and could very well make their mark at this summer’s World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

026 LEAVING HER LEGACY
by Dan D’Addona
Siobhan Haughey’s teammates see the University of Michigan senior as a fierce competitor, an incredible leader who leads by example as well as someone who is kind and compassionate. She’s an inspiration not only to her Wolverine teammates, but also to her people back home in Hong Kong.

028 2018 WORLD & AMERICAN RECORD PROGRESSION
by Taylor Brien

030 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND THE SCIENCE OF SWIMMING
by Bruce Wigo
Just over 50 years ago, Benjamin Franklin was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame for his “contributions” to the sport. But this article is not about what Franklin did for swimming—it is about what swimming did for Franklin.

COACHING

010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: HOBIE BILLINGSLEY
by Michael J. Stott

014 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTIMAL MODEL FOR TECHNIQUE: PART 5—BODY BASE OF SUPPORT FOR BUTTERFLY
by Rod Havriluk
During a typical butterfly stroke, the continuously changing angle of the torso seriously compromises the stability of the shoulder (the body base of support). An optimal technique model maintains a level torso with minimal vertical motion of the shoulder, so a swimmer can benefit from more propulsion, easier control of arm movements and faster swimming velocity.

025 SPECIAL SETS: TRAINING FOR A NEW YEAR
by Michael J. Stott
While the new year promises new beginnings for swimmers, it also means continued training toward season-ending championships. This month, Swimming World takes a look at how Racer X Aquatics (Cheswick, Pa.) approaches its January training.

036 INSPIRING SWIMMERS…AND TESTING LIMITS (Part 1)
by Michael J. Stott
Inspiration and motivation to complete a task in swimming, indeed life, can come from many different sources. It can come from within, a family member, coach, teammates or some other external source.

043 Q&A WITH COACH TODD DESORBO
by Michael J. Stott

044 HOW THEY TRAIN: RYAN BAKER AND LAINE REED
by Michael J. Stott

042 DRYSIDE TRAINING: HAPPY NEW “YOU”!
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

034 GOLDMINDS: POSITIVE PARENT POINTERS (Part 1)
by Wayne Goldsmith

046 UP & COMERS: ELLA ZIEGERT
by Taylor Brien

COLUMNS

008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
013 BEYOND THE YARDS
019 OFFICIAL WORD
033 DID YOU KNOW?
047 GUTTER TALK
048 PARTING SHOT

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