Swimming Blogs - Chris Brunson

Quick post this time. Good luck to all the Olympic Trials competitors out there. To those I know personally, all the best and I am thinking of you all. Remember all the hard work that went into qualifying and let the performances come out. Good Luck!!! B more »

Well, I had quite an adventure making it to Omaha.? I guess the lesson I learned is that no matter how much you prepare there is always the potential that life can prevent you from acheiving what you think you want. And, more importantly, there are more important things in life then swimming fast, like family, health, and being a good person. I won't trouble you all with all the details, but here is the quick summary.? I was supposed to fly out of O'Hare (in Chicago), but my flight was cancelled and all the other flights to Omaha were… more »

Hello all, Hope this works to post an entry (I like the new format of Floswimming, but I had a hard time finding a place to post this blog). As some of you may know, I am training for Olympic Trials in the 100 Breast. I still need my cut, so this weekend I am heading over to the Omaha Grand Prix. I am looking forward to the meet, it will be my first time in a pool that has been constructed in an arena and a first time wearing a body suit. Training has been going good and the… more »

Alright, it has been awhile since my last post. Thanks to Eric for reminding me this morning about my lack of a post. Truth be told, I have not posted recently because I did not feel I had much positive to add to the recent discussions of workouts and program cuts. I lived through a lot of negativity in college. My college program was always under threat of being cut, and while that was no fun, I cannot imagine losing your college team (I had friends who had to deal with cuts). But enough of that, I did find inspiration… more »

Those who have trained with me or been coached by me know I am a big fan of swimming toys. I probably spend way too much money on swimming stuff, but I dig it. After 20 years of competitive swimming, I need to do things to keep it interesting. When I get stuff, I will try to post a review of the product on here. I have a back log of stuff I can review, however, if there are things you want reviewed--let me know!

First up, my most recent acquisition, a swim MP3 player. I have… more »

I am going to go out on a limb and say everyone who visits this site either is a swimmer (of some sort) or used to be one. But do you consider yourself an athlete? While the tide is changing toward coaches emphasizing athleticism and athletes considering themselves athletes (note many of the videos on this website), I still think there is a strong perception amongst swimmers that they are not as much of an athlete as say a basketball or football player. Michael Phelps did a disservice to the sport when he explained away his broken wrist as a… more »

We all find ourselves in difficult situations that seemingly present us with few opportunities to get the result we want. In swimming, these situations might include lack of training resources, poor coaching, poor performances, or a short sighted governing body. Without a doubt these situations are trying for even the most patient persons. But I purpose that it is exactly these situations that present us with the most opportunities to be great. To find these opportunities for greatness takes creativity.

But how do we unlock this creativity? First, we can realize that creativity is simply a matter… more »

The other night at practice, I was talking with some high school swimmers and they asked me the following question. They asked “are the practices that (an unnamed American record holder) does really as ridiculously hard as they sound.” I tried to answer this question as best I could at the time. I told them that everyone trains hard and that it comes down to who wants to race come race day. In hindsight, I don’t feel this answer sufficiently conveyed what I wanted to tell them nor gave them an answer they could tangibly use to make themselves better. more »

No Country for Old Men is the title of this year's Oscar for Best Picture. But it could also be the story for those swimmers who want to continue a serious swimming career beyond college, collectively referred to as "post-grads."

I am truly amazed at how few training opportunities that exist for post-grads. So let us handle the training opportunities in order—(1) Club Teams, (2) College Teams, and (3) Masters Teams. Before starting let me just say I have been in great training situations in all three categories.

There are many fine club teams… more »

For those of you who are completely unaware of swimming, this last weekend was the Missouri Grand Prix. I, like over 600 other athletes, went to Columbia, Missouri to compete in the first long-course competition of the season. Fast swimming was all around. Meet records seemed to happen in every event (not sure if that is true, probably not). American records and World Records always seemed to be in trouble, and a couple of them were broken. It was a great weekend to be racing. I had the pleasure of swimming in the same preliminary heats of the 100 and… more »

I have long believed that swimming fast is like putting together a puzzle because there are so many variables that affect how fast any person swims in any given race. A short list of those variables might be mindset, warm-up, nutrition, starts, turns, etc. If you read any of my previous posts, you know that I feel strongly and think a lot about nutrition. In contrast, one area in which I feel I have always been lacking is in the area of warming up for races.

I have to be honest—I hate meet warm-ups. There is no… more »

I first heard this Latin phrase by a Fulbright Scholar who spoke at my high school graduation. This scholar also happened to be one of the best teachers I have ever had. Quo Vadis means, literally and metaphorically, “Where are you going?” While this phrase can be applied to any aspect of your life, I want to talk about its application to sports, specifically swimming, because … well this is a swimming website. Typically, people ask quo vadis before another embarks upon a journey. Because achieving athletic success is often analogized to a journey, I suggest you ask yourself quo… more »

If you watch the video interviews on this website of top swimmers, the answers to the question how does a dedicated swimmer make the jump to being a championship swimmer are strikingly similar. Each responds with some form of you have to believe you can do it. Now, I think most swimmers have heard this advice before. I am also willing to bet that every swimmer, even Olympians, experience self-doubt. Self-doubt is a form of negativity, which most often manifests itself during competition. We have all either experienced or seen athletes “crack” under the pressure of competition, even though they… more »

It always amazes me the lengths and lows people will go to when they perceive you are trying to better yourself. In my mind, there are only two types of distractions—positive and negative. Positive distractions make you a more well rounded person. For example, a friend calling up and asking you to catch a new movie. Seeing a movie is a healthy way to spend time with a friend and chances are it won’t negatively impact your training (as long as it is not too late or during a scheduled practice).

Negative distractions tear you down. For… more »

Coming out of retirement has taught me many things. It has taught me swimming is antiquated in the way it trains its athletes compared to other sports. It has also taught me that the last four years of my previous swimming career I suffered from over-training. While I don’t want to get into all the details of why I was over-trained and what led to that state, I do want to share a few of the tactics that I am currently using to prevent over-training.

Before getting to those tactics, I need to define two terms:… more »

Happy holidays to all, and be safe out there. Swimming and training has been going well. I am trying some new things on a consistent basis that I have not done in years. I feel these things are going to really help me not only increase my speed potential but also keep up that speed as well. I will be posting what I am doing on the Alpha Dog team page, so my teammates can know what I am up to. My recent meet results have also been solid. A couple races have been pool records, which are always fun.… more »

I guess this is going to be my online home. I had started another website, but I like the content of this website and it allows me to do most, if not all, of the things I had hoped to do on the other site. You can find out more about me below. I will be posting my progress towards my goals on this site, including videos and commentary. I also plan on this site being the home for Alpha Dog Athletics. In short, and for those of you care, Alpha Dog Athletics is a group of swimmers who take… more »