Swimming World Presents – How They Train: Olympic Open Water Swimmer Haley Anderson – Sponsored By StrechCordz

Swimming World June 2021 - How They Train - Haley Anderson - By Michael J. Stott

Haley Anderson [PHOTO BY MIKE LEWIS, USA SWIMMING]

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How They Train: Olympic Open Water Swimmer Haley Anderson

By Michael J. Stott

Open water competition is a take-no-prisoners endeavor. Meteorological conditions (wind, weather, etc.) and elements such as waves and water temperature present physical and mental pressures unlike those found in shorter aquatic contests. Then there are seasoned opponents—e.g., the average age of female 10K competitors at the 2016 Olympics was 25.03; for men, 25.64.

Among those in Rio was 24-year-old Haley Anderson. Her credentials include being an 11-time NCAA All-American (USC), three-time NCAA champion, 2012 Olympic silver medalist (10K) and five-time open water World Championship medalist (two gold, 2013 and 2015 5K; two silver, 2017 team event, 2019 10K; one bronze, 2019 team event).

The Granite Bay, Calif. native also has four U.S. open water championships, two Pan Pac gold and two World University Games gold medals. A USA Swimming national team member since 2009, last season she wore the colors of the International Swimming League’s Cali Condors.

In short, Anderson is decorated and determined. And at age 29, on her third U.S. Olympic team, she is headed for the Aug. 4 10K starting line at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo after an extended stay in Mission Viejo, working with Mark Schubert. Through it all, her main open water coach and training director has been Catherine Kase.

“Haley is competitive, loyal, coachable, independent, adaptable, a DIY project lover and a great traveling partner,” says Kase. “She is extremely aware and observant of all things. Every day she brings her best to the pool, trains hard, smiles and leaves it there. Haley makes those around her better in training and pursues excellence in everything she does. She loves her snorkel, can train every stroke in workout, mixes it up and is great at changing gears.

“Dave Salo and I recruited her to USC at the end of 2008, and she subsequently qualified for World Champs in the 800 the summer of 2009,” says Kase. “I got her to do an open water select camp in 2010, and she soon qualified for her first open water World Championships in the 25K.

“She continued to compete in both open water and pool throughout college. During that time, she was not only a leader on the team, but an NCAA champion, Olympic silver medalist, Pac-12 champion and Olympic Trials finalist.

“Over the past 10 years, she has developed a passion for the sport and has consistently gotten stronger and faster, enjoying sustained success at the highest levels. Haley has competed in different bodies of water all over the world (rivers, oceans, lakes, varied courses) and has won races in water hot and cold. She is flexible, adaptable and responds to ever-changing circumstances in a race.

“Haley is tough and can handle just about anything in workout. She thrives in competition, can handle short-rest sets, loves racing-quality sets and has an ability to descend any distance. My job has been to stay attuned to her needs,” says Kase.

“Dave Salo and I liked to vary practices, keep things interesting and challenge swimmers with different distances. We rarely repeated sets. However, at training camps or a few days before a competition, I often had Haley repeat a set of 3x (8 x 50). The results would give me a good read on how fast she was swimming. I could then tailor training to what I thought would build her confidence leading into the race.

“Sometimes I would change intervals—i.e., 1 round on :40, 1 round on :45, 1 round on :50. Other times I would look for descending 1-4, holding each round faster, or 1 easy/1 fast and really get her going with a good kick. At a venue, I wanted to see her on the course, adapting to the environment—landmarks, buoys—just taking it all in. We would also practice turns and finishes.

“In 2016, she had speed, endurance and was training better than ever. She used her fifth place in Rio (1:57:20.2, just 28.8 seconds out of third) to motivate herself and to continue to pursue her goals,” says Kase. “To her credit, she used that experience to grow and to ultimately produce two of her best career years in the pool (she posted her fastest times in 2018) and winning international open water races.”

Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach whose Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) teams won nine state high school championships. A member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a recipient of NISCA’s Outstanding Service Award.

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[PHOTO CREDIT: TAYLOR BRIEN]

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Swimming World June 2021 Issue

FEATURES

12 | U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS PREVIEW
by David Rieder
The fastest swimmers in the United States will be putting their hopes and dreams on the line at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Swimming, June 13-20, in Omaha, Neb. If realized, they’ll have the opportunity to perform next month on the world’s grandest stage: the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

22 | A NATURAL LEADER
by John Lohn
Still producing elite-level performances, Nathan Adrian, now 32 and pursuing his fourth Olympic Games, has the opportunity to further his already lofty reputation. And whenever his days in the sport come to an end, Adrian will be viewed for his excellence in the sport as an athlete, teammate and ambassador.

25 | NJCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: QUALITY & QUANTITY
by Andy Ross
That’s the same winning formula that Indian River’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have been using for nearly a half-century at the NJCAA Championships. The Pioneer men now have won 47 straight team titles; the women, 39—and 43 of the past 47.

26 | TAKEOFF TO TOKYO: A FORGOTTEN STAR
by John Lohn
By all measures, Don Schollander is a legend in the sport, a Hall of Fame talent who was unrivaled in his heyday. Yet, his impact has been lost to a combination of unfortunate timing and modern-day fascination.

29 | DOMINANCE AND PARITY ON DISPLAY IN TOKYO
by Dan D’Addona
While the U.S. women have dominated international water polo since 2015—winning their second straight Olympics in 2016 plus three World Championships in 2015-17-19—a different men’s champion has emerged at each of the last three major international competitions—Serbia (2016 Olympics), Croatia (2017 Worlds) and Italy (2019 Worlds).

30 | ISHOF: REMEMBERING THE KALILI BROTHERS—90 YEARS AGO
by Bruce Wigo
As kids who preferred to dive for coins rather than race in a swimming pool, brothers Maiola and Manuella Kalili from Hawaii would eventually become national champions and Olympic silver medalists in 1932.

33 | NUTRITION: HOW MANY CALORIES SHOULD I EAT?
by Dawn Weatherwax
As long course, Olympics and endurance events get underway, a common question is: “How much do I need to eat?” This is a loaded question—one in which the author will try to simplify.

35 | MENTAL PREP: BEFORE THE BEEP WITH AMY BILQUIST
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COACHING

38 | SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: MAXIMIZING SWIMMING VELOCITY (Part 2)—STROKE CYCLE PHASES
by Rod Havriluk
Swimmers typically decrease non-propulsive time to decrease stroke time, increase stroke rate and swim faster. Research shows that a further decrease in the non-propulsive time is possible and should produce further performance improvement.

40 | A COACHES’ GUIDE TO ENERGY SYSTEMS
by Michael J. Stott
In the first of two parts, Swimming World explores the concept of energy systems and how coaches can use them to maximize athlete development and performance.

42 | SPECIAL SETS: KATIE LEDECKY—RUN-UP TO RIO 2016
by Michael J. Stott
With this month’s Olympic Swimming Trials now upon us, Swimming World takes a back-to-the-future approach to revisit some training done by superstar Katie Ledecky prior to the 2016 U.S. team qualifying meet.

44 | Q&A WITH COACH CATHERINE KASE
by Michael J. Stott

45 | HOW THEY TRAIN HALEY ANDERSON
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

037 | DRYSIDE TRAINING: TRAINING AMY BILQUIST
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

47 | UP & COMERS: KEELAN COTTER
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS

08 | A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

11 | DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT BUSTER CRABBE?

48 | GUTTERTALK

49 | PARTING SHOT

Swimming World is now partnered with the International Swimming Hall of Fame. To find out more, visit us at ishof.org

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