When Panic Attacks During A Swim Meet with Geffen Chang, EP 323

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All throughout college and my high school career, I could never finish a 400 IM race.
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I would always stop at the freestyle because I would feel like I'm choking on water.
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I would feel super anxious and I'll get panic attacks like crazy.
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And that actually happened a little a little bit today when I was in the two fly, when I was in the 4 a.m.
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But that's why I keep doing it because I know I'm not gonna die.
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Right.
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Right.
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And I have to just keep telling myself when I'm doing these races, I'm gonna be okay.
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So when you say you quit, do you mean like you literally didn't finish?
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Oh, I did finish.
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I would stop, I would hold on to the lane line, and all everyone would just be like, What is going on?
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This is like at a D1 college level.
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Hello, friends.
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Welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast, where we bring you interviews and topics to help you live well and swim well.
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Conversations especially meaningful for master swimmers and anyone striving to perform better in the water or in life.
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We're here to champion you.
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And now your host, Kelly Pallas.
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I'm here with Geffen Chang.
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We are at the uh Pegasus Masters Meet in Talos, Texas at SMU.
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And I just had to do an on-deck interview with Geffen because we were sitting next to each other and I overheard that this is your first master swim meet.
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Tell us about that.
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It's been pretty cool so far.
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I've made so many friends.
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I've made friends with a bunch of people on the Lone Star team.
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Yeah.
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Like Brad, and there's a guy named Bill.
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And I saw another dude from Tennessee, Shane.
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Yeah, he's pretty cool too.
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Tennessee, nice.
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Yep.
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So a lot of new friends made.
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And oh, and Kelly as well.
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So Mark.
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And Mark.
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Yeah, and I and I I do forgot to say I have I have my guest co-host and my swimming partner and my Mia Miller Mark, my husband, with me.
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And Mark is here too.
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So but Geffen, you flew here from Missoula, Montana.
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Yes.
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Is that right?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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What brought you to the meet?
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And how old are you?
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And what team do you swim for?
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Oh, uh I'm 25.
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I don't swim for any team right now.
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I used to swim for Oakland University out in Michigan.
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And then I went down to Whittier, that's a D3 school, down LA.
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So that was kind of like my swimming history in college.
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And now I coach swimming for middle schoolers in Missoula right now for two different teams, Missoula Aquatic Club and Missoula Y swim team.
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And it's just a lot of fun.
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They kinda were the ones who inspired me to go back into swimming at this master's meeting because I just saw them swim outdoors in a super, super fast like law enforcement meter pool.
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It's like, oh, I missed that.
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So now I'm here and it's been such a blast.
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So you took a three and a half hour plane ride from Montana to come to a meet in Dallas.
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It's your first master's meet.
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Do you see this being like a one-time thing or something that you're really enjoying and you're gonna keep doing?
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I definitely signed up thinking that it's gonna be a one-time thing.
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But um seeing the times and kind of getting back into it, I'm like, I'm getting rid of those jitters.
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I'm like kind of shackling off those chains.
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Like maybe I could come back and for me this time.
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Instead of doing it for a coach, doing it for a time, doing it for just other semantics, right?
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Like just being able to do it for me this time.
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I think that's that's the that's why I came back into it.
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And I'm excited.
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And what's nice too, you have now a benchmark for some some solid times, right?
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And long force meters racing as a 25-year-old man.
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So now you're 25 to 29 age group.
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You're at the bottom of your age group.
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But but so today, you know, you and I met and it was awesome.
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You know, you were doing some cool breaststroke stretches.
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We met behind the blocks, you were super nice, and you I was like, What's is that the good one for the breaststroke index?
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I hadn't seen that particular groin stretch.
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Where did you like learn that particular stretch?
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I thought it was cool.
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When I was swimming out of California for high school, I would get constant groin pain, and sometimes I would like even pull it, and it would be really, really bad.
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Wow.
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And I'd go to the doctors and they show me some stretches, and I would do that every single time before I go on the blocks, and that just made my breaststroke feel better faster.
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And I just didn't really help.
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Can you can you give it an audible for our listeners?
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What is it what what would you describe it as?
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I describe it as like doing like a big sumo squat, and then from there you kind of like stretch to one side, and then you get that real good stretch, and then boom, you go to the other side, and it just feels really good on the groin, so you're like finally letting it loose.
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Yeah, so feet as wide as you can get, and then deep knee bends.
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It's almost like that's almost like the what do they call that?
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The horse stance with where you twist it.
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Okay, so I happen to overhear that you I know you swim the 400 IM like I did, then the 200 fly.
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Yes, and and you have the 1500 coming up.
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And you did 100 breasts.
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Yeah.
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So how many events today?
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I've done four so far.
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I've done the 200 freestyles as well.
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Wow.
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And then now I'm going off to in about maybe 40, 45 minutes, yeah, 1500 meters.
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How you pace that thing?
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I just watch a lot of Bobby think.
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So, you know, I just save it for the last save for the last 50, honestly.
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There you go.
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That's a good plan.
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Where did you go to high school?
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What was the name of your high school?
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Uh I went to Leland High School.
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Leland's out in um by the Bay Area.
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What was your favorite stroke in college and high school?
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I was always a breaststroker.
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So my coaches, they looked at my other strokes and said, it's a waste of time.
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Wow.
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That's brutal.
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So you're talking 50, 100 and 200?
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Yeah.
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So I was always just doing 100 and 200 breaststrokes.
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Okay.
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And that's it, even in practice.
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Really?
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Even in practice.
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Yeah, well, because like they're like, what's the point of practicing everything else if you're not good at it?
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What was your favorite set?
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Favorite set?
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Probably in college, it was this is an infamous set.
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My best friend and I talk about it all the time.
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It's 3100s on the 110s.
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3100s on the 110.
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Yep, and that that's freestyle.
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That's freestyle, of course.
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Um yeah, I was gonna say, I think yeah.
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What were you coming on?
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Like 57, 58?
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Yeah, no, some of these guys were just ridiculous.
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Wow.
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Yeah, 1500 meter swimmers.
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And they're coming at like 53s.
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Yeah, I think we he wanted us uh Coach Pete Hovlin, right?
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Absolute legend.
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He wanted us to hold 105s.
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Wow.
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But obviously I was not holding anywhere near 105s.
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So he was like 110 for uh the second group.
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And I I didn't I barely made one tens.
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I was making like the first seven, right?
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First six.
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And then after that, I dropped off.
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I went to like 115, 120, but that was the hardest set.
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So what about your like your best and and or favorite event or events?
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I love the two breast because um I don't feel rushed in the two breast.
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It feels more flowy, and the two breast, it just feels so much better.
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It does.
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Yeah.
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100 feels a little faster.
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Yeah, exactly.
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What about like your biggest comeback?
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So, what are some of your biggest things you've had to overcome in some of your like your biggest comeback?
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All throughout college and my high school career, I could never finish a 400 IM race.
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I would always stop at the freestyle because I would feel like I'm choking on water.
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I would feel super anxious and I'll get panic attacks like crazy.
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And that actually happened a little a little bit today when I was doing the two fly, when I was in the 4 a.m.
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But that's why I keep doing it because I know I'm not gonna die.
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Right.
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Right.
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And I have to just keep telling myself when I'm doing these races, I'm gonna be okay.
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Yeah.
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So this 1500 meter is gonna be more of a test of will rather than going to best time.
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That's so cool.
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So when you say you quit, do you mean like you literally didn't finish?
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Oh, I did finish.
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I would stop, I would hold on to the lane line, and I'll everyone would just be like, what is going on?
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This is like at a D1 college level or a D3 college level.
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Then I'll be like, What the what is this?
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And we've never seen this before, right?
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Before you swim your 100 free.
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So you would finish your hunter breasts and then stop at the wall.
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No, I would be like midway through my 100 free, like I have a 75 left, and then I'd just stop because I'd be like, I can't breathe.
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I can't breathe properly.
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So I've had panic attacks like that in a meet, and they're no fun.
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So do you have panic attacks or anxiety at other times in your life?
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Not really, unless it's happened before, then I then it kind of gets to my head.
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But that's the whole thing, right?
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Is it just it just gets to my head and I just gotta let myself know.
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And that's where the practice comes in, right?
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That's if I haven't practiced it before and I know I haven't done it before, I'm going to quit.
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That's sure without a doubt.
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And if I don't, you got lucky, right?
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But if I'm going into a race and I practice it a hundred times, two hundred times, three hundred times, right?
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Then I know I could do it.
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So I'm gonna get scared, I'm gonna have a panic attack, then I say, I'm all right, I've done it a million times, right?
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So Yeah.
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I absolutely love that.
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And thank you for being vulnerable on that because that's really I think many more people have that than are willing to talk about it, where people might say, Oh, I couldn't get air, or you know, you see people that stop and get out sometimes in masters or even in in CAA meads.
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So yeah, I think it's it's a real thing, and certainly one does overcome it when they practice it.
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So that's the beauty of practice.
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All right.
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What is a little known fact about you or a fun fact that maybe not everybody knows about you?
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Really?
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Oh man.
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It's no secret to me and to everyone who knows me.
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I'm a natural breaststroker.
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So the first 150, I cruise it.
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I cruise it like I'm doing a 400 breaststroke.
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And the last 50, I just turn the jets on.
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That's the best feeling in the world.
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Because whether I catch someone or not, like I feel fast, I feel just like I'm flying.
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And especially when I'm at the end of a race and I'm hurting, it's the most like euphoric feeling in the world.
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That's awesome.
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And what about that last turn?
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Are you oxygen depleted on that third wall on like a 200 long horse meters breaststroke where you have to suck it up and just like you're seeing stars?
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Or do you have enough oxygen?
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Or how do you do that last turn?
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Uh it depends on how the race is going.
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But if I'm pretty exhausted, I'm still gonna turn on the engines, and if I die, I die.
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But do you have a full pullout?
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Um, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
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Sometimes I just do a full pull out, but sometimes it's just really, really quick.
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Or sometimes I just push off, do one dolph kick, pop up and go straight into it.
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Because I know the second I'm like out under out from under the water and I'm just doing my stroke, I'm so much faster.
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Yeah, that's incredible.
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All right, well, thanks.
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You've got to get ready for your 1500s.
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But is there anything that we haven't asked you that you just want to share with fellow master swimming listeners?
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I'm honored to be on a podcast, uh, and I'm so thankful and grateful that I met you guys today at this meet.
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And I want to shout out Missoula, Montana for uh the kids that I coach at Miss, the Missoula Y Team, and also Mac, which is Missoula Plot Club.
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So awesome.
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All right.
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Well, thanks for being on the show.
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Yes, of course.
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Thank you for having me.
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Appreciate it.
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Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast.
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Would you consider leaving us a five star review on Apple?
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That's like getting a best time for us.
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Kelly and our team would be so grateful.
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See you next week for another boost of mojo.