The Road to Nationals-Chloe Sutton
The Road to Nationals-Chloe Sutton
As most swimmers are well aware, it is difficult to train extensively for every stroke and distance you may swim at a given meet – from 100-yard breaststrokers who also swim the 400-yard individual medley, to distance swimmers who compete in the 200-yard freestyle and the 1650-yard freestyle. Now imagine trying to balance those races in addition to competing in 10k open water races. Not only is the speed and endurance required radically different, but the environment in open water is constantly changing. You have to be prepared to tackle waves, cold water and multiple swimmers on the same course all while remembering your race strategy. But distance swimmer and open water stand-out
Chloe Sutton of the Mission Viejo Nadadores not only juggles those challenges on a regular basis, she makes it look easy.
Sutton competed in the inaugural 10k at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and more recently, placed in the top eight in the 1500-meter freestyle at the
2009 FINA World Championships in Rome. At the end of 2009, Sutton declared her professional status to afford herself more training flexibility and competition opportunities.
While Sutton admits it takes focus and balance to compete in both pool and open water competitions, she is poised to have an outstanding summer. I caught up with Sutton just prior to her departure for the FINA 10k World Cup in Brazil.
While Sutton admits it takes focus and balance to compete in both pool and open water competitions, she is poised to have an outstanding summer. I caught up with Sutton just prior to her departure for the FINA 10k World Cup in Brazil.
National Teamer: Chloe Sutton
Distance from the 2010 ConocoPhillips National Championships: 18.5 miles
Distance from the 2010 ConocoPhillips National Championships: 18.5 miles
Having already traveled quite a bit for meets recently, do you have a favorite road trip memory?
Chloe: Traveling is always really fun. Being in airports with teammates is always a really good bonding experience. Seeing different cultures and the way people live in different areas is so interesting, and being with friends while doing that is really fun. I have so many great memories of open water trips and pool swimming and with my club team, there are too many to choose from.
Chloe: Traveling is always really fun. Being in airports with teammates is always a really good bonding experience. Seeing different cultures and the way people live in different areas is so interesting, and being with friends while doing that is really fun. I have so many great memories of open water trips and pool swimming and with my club team, there are too many to choose from.
But on the road, my family is military and we’ve done a couple of Virginia to California road trips. With my family, we moved so much and we usually have to drive to move our stuff, and along the way we stop in cities and find something cool to do. We’ll find the best soup someplace, or go shopping in Chicago where my mom grew up, or stopping at the Grand Canyon. Being able to experience the country with my family, those are some of the memories that are really fun.
How have you and Coach Rose balanced your training schedule with international travel?
Chloe: I try to keep my trips for World Cups and stuff like that as short as I can. You know, being able to have a couple of days to adjust and get use to my environment and then I try to leave pretty quickly afterwards. It’s hard to be in foreign country for too long and it’s hard to travel in general. I train while I’m there. As soon as a race is over, Coach Rose will ask “well, how did you do” and then after [I tell him, he says] “ok, now practice.” So, we really try to keep me going.
Chloe: I try to keep my trips for World Cups and stuff like that as short as I can. You know, being able to have a couple of days to adjust and get use to my environment and then I try to leave pretty quickly afterwards. It’s hard to be in foreign country for too long and it’s hard to travel in general. I train while I’m there. As soon as a race is over, Coach Rose will ask “well, how did you do” and then after [I tell him, he says] “ok, now practice.” So, we really try to keep me going.
What are you looking forward to most about being a professional swimmer?
Chloe: Basically, it just opened up a bunch of opportunities to be able to travel to different open water races and have a little more flexibility. That’s what I’m looking forward to.
Chloe: Basically, it just opened up a bunch of opportunities to be able to travel to different open water races and have a little more flexibility. That’s what I’m looking forward to.
Will being a professional now change how you approach Nationals this summer, as opposed to previous National meets?
Chloe: Not at all. Becoming a professional really didn’t change anything for me. I’m still doing school work all day and swimming practices as normal. I’m just really excited to be able to see what I can do now.
Chloe: Not at all. Becoming a professional really didn’t change anything for me. I’m still doing school work all day and swimming practices as normal. I’m just really excited to be able to see what I can do now.
As it is still winter, what types of training are you focusing on right now?
Chloe: At the moment, we are doing a lot of high yardage, but a lot of speed work as well. We have to try and balance pool swimming with open water. I have to be able to have my speed and my endurance, which is really a tough combination when you think about it. [Our training focus] varies on what meet is next. We focus on whatever is coming up, like the World Cup in Brazil.
Chloe: At the moment, we are doing a lot of high yardage, but a lot of speed work as well. We have to try and balance pool swimming with open water. I have to be able to have my speed and my endurance, which is really a tough combination when you think about it. [Our training focus] varies on what meet is next. We focus on whatever is coming up, like the World Cup in Brazil.
How are you staying mentally focused for both your upcoming open water competitions, like the FINA 10K World Cup in Brazil, and pool competitions ahead, like Grand Prix meets?
Chloe: Right now we are focusing on the goals I have set up and making sure that I am focused on the next thing and taking it one meet at a time.
Chloe: Right now we are focusing on the goals I have set up and making sure that I am focused on the next thing and taking it one meet at a time.
When you are trying to balance pool swimming with open water, do you stick to a specific schedule of training in the pool, and then an open water practice? Or, does it really vary based on what meet is coming up next?
Chloe: We don’t do a lot of open water practice. During the summer we may get a couple of them in. It is hard to organize with my group to go and do an open water practice. My training is really designed to benefit both open water and pool. Coach [Bill] Rose really believes that if you swim a lot, and if you swim it right, then you can do it all. We do sometimes a little bit of a longer work out, with less fast stuff, more aerobic, then sometimes we do more of an anaerobic practice with less yardage. His program is designed incredibly that I can try and balance it both, but I think we do a good job of it.
Chloe: We don’t do a lot of open water practice. During the summer we may get a couple of them in. It is hard to organize with my group to go and do an open water practice. My training is really designed to benefit both open water and pool. Coach [Bill] Rose really believes that if you swim a lot, and if you swim it right, then you can do it all. We do sometimes a little bit of a longer work out, with less fast stuff, more aerobic, then sometimes we do more of an anaerobic practice with less yardage. His program is designed incredibly that I can try and balance it both, but I think we do a good job of it.
Will your training change at all for the summer, or does it stay pretty constant due to your open water focus?
Chloe: I am really excited to swim long course again. Short course is just really challenging for me. We are going to start switching the pool here probably soon, probably after JOs is over, and we’ll be full force long course. I can’t wait to start that. Our training will be a little bit different from what we are doing in short course, but it will still be the same kind of idea in terms of distance swimming.
Chloe: I am really excited to swim long course again. Short course is just really challenging for me. We are going to start switching the pool here probably soon, probably after JOs is over, and we’ll be full force long course. I can’t wait to start that. Our training will be a little bit different from what we are doing in short course, but it will still be the same kind of idea in terms of distance swimming.
Do you have a favorite distance set? Or, is there one particularly hard set that you remember?
Chloe: We’ve been having a couple of pretty hard weeks here and as far as my pool swimming goes, we just did a set of a broken 1500 where you do a 400, 1x50, 300, 2x50, 200, 3x50, 100, 4x50 and we’ll do it all pretty much at best-pace-possible. We did 3 rounds of that. Me and the group of guys I train with were all competing the whole time, so that was a really challenging set. But it favored me because, the guys on the first one will go super fast, and as we go, I start catching some of them. I am able to use my open water skills in there. When I first looked at the set I thought I was just going to be miserable. But it ended up being a really, really good set because you have the 50s in there and the distance and it really balances out and goes by quickly even though you are working really hard.
Chloe: We’ve been having a couple of pretty hard weeks here and as far as my pool swimming goes, we just did a set of a broken 1500 where you do a 400, 1x50, 300, 2x50, 200, 3x50, 100, 4x50 and we’ll do it all pretty much at best-pace-possible. We did 3 rounds of that. Me and the group of guys I train with were all competing the whole time, so that was a really challenging set. But it favored me because, the guys on the first one will go super fast, and as we go, I start catching some of them. I am able to use my open water skills in there. When I first looked at the set I thought I was just going to be miserable. But it ended up being a really, really good set because you have the 50s in there and the distance and it really balances out and goes by quickly even though you are working really hard.
If you could take a road trip with someone famous, living or deceased, who would it be and where would you go?
Chloe: I don’t think I’d take a road trip, but I would really love to go on a swim trip or a long swim with Lynne Cox. She wrote Swimming to Antarctica, and I think being able to go on a swim with her for a couple hours, maybe along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, would be really cool. I would even love to talk to her about some of her experience she’s had since we share a love of open water. I would love to do that.
Chloe: I don’t think I’d take a road trip, but I would really love to go on a swim trip or a long swim with Lynne Cox. She wrote Swimming to Antarctica, and I think being able to go on a swim with her for a couple hours, maybe along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, would be really cool. I would even love to talk to her about some of her experience she’s had since we share a love of open water. I would love to do that.
Will Nationals be one of the meets you focus on this summer? How will that relate to the Open Water World Championships just a few weeks before?
Chloe: We’re taking it one meet at a time. As soon as Open Water Nationals comes up, I’ll do my best there. They have Open Water World Championships, then pool Nationals, then pool Pan Pacs and then open water Pan Pacs at the same time. We’ll make our decision on whether we go to world championships or pan pacs, or both, once that decision comes up. The goal is to have the opportunity to make a decision like that. It would be really hard and difficult to go to open water nationals, world champs, pool nationals – it’s a lot of swim meets in a row to try and taper, and then go back up in yardage and back down. That’s what kind of happened to me last summer – it was just so many meets at one time. We’ll try to balance that better this year than we did last year and hopefully I’ll be able to have a bunch of great races over the summer.
Chloe: We’re taking it one meet at a time. As soon as Open Water Nationals comes up, I’ll do my best there. They have Open Water World Championships, then pool Nationals, then pool Pan Pacs and then open water Pan Pacs at the same time. We’ll make our decision on whether we go to world championships or pan pacs, or both, once that decision comes up. The goal is to have the opportunity to make a decision like that. It would be really hard and difficult to go to open water nationals, world champs, pool nationals – it’s a lot of swim meets in a row to try and taper, and then go back up in yardage and back down. That’s what kind of happened to me last summer – it was just so many meets at one time. We’ll try to balance that better this year than we did last year and hopefully I’ll be able to have a bunch of great races over the summer.
Any particular goals for the meet in Irvine?
Chloe: I really just want to make the Pan Pac team and be able to go there and put out really amazing times. I know I am capable of some good swims, so I am going to do my best at open water and in the pool, and see where it leads me.
Chloe: I really just want to make the Pan Pac team and be able to go there and put out really amazing times. I know I am capable of some good swims, so I am going to do my best at open water and in the pool, and see where it leads me.
How do you stay energized to compete each season, especially with so many meets, and so many high yardage meets?
Chloe: A lot of my friends make fun of me because I really do love swimming. I look forward to it every day. I get really excited for meets. I am just always really excited to swim and to be able to work harder and get faster. The energy just kind of comes with how much fun it is for me. Getting to see my teammates everyday is really the highlight of my day.
Chloe: A lot of my friends make fun of me because I really do love swimming. I look forward to it every day. I get really excited for meets. I am just always really excited to swim and to be able to work harder and get faster. The energy just kind of comes with how much fun it is for me. Getting to see my teammates everyday is really the highlight of my day.
Even though you are just down the road from the 2010 ConocoPhillips National Championships, do you have any favorite road trip games or music?
Chloe: With National Team we played a lot of Apples to Apples. I really love that game. In Rome, Elizabeth Beisel, Kasey Carlson, Dagny Knutson and Hayley McGregory all played. Hayley can make anything hilarious, and it is always fun to play that game with people you hang out with.
Chloe: With National Team we played a lot of Apples to Apples. I really love that game. In Rome, Elizabeth Beisel, Kasey Carlson, Dagny Knutson and Hayley McGregory all played. Hayley can make anything hilarious, and it is always fun to play that game with people you hang out with.
