The world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, but swimmers like National Age Group record-holder Claire Curzan are finding ways to continue to train despite being barred from their usual pools.
Curzan, one of the top butterfliers in the country, has been focused on running, dryland training, and a bit of butterfly in her backyard pool. Under normal circumstances, she’d be training with her club team, the TAC Titans. She’s had to get creative, though, in the meantime.
Check out a clip of her doing fly with bungee cords in her backyard pool, wetsuit and all, below:
“We’re trying something new today,” Mark Curzan, Claire’s father, told SwimSwam. While it might be in the 80s this week in Raleigh, North Carolina, the pool is still frigid, hovering in the high 50s.
“She can’t feel her face. But she says she’s more of a water mammal than a land mammal.”
Claire told SwimSwam today that she plans on getting some open water swimming done in the ocean as spring continues to warm up.
Curzan is not the only swimmer to start working with resistance or bungee cords in private pools; Olympic champion Chad le Clos is doing the same thing in South Africa.
Champion’s mindset, enough said. Go Claire!
Swimmers are making it happen all over; here’s one of our Truckee swimmers with a garage pool setup! https://www.facebook.com/truckeeswim/videos/644746172739544/
Unlike a lot of locations, the TAC pool was open much later into the virus spread. Benefits of having your own pool. I do love the comment from Lily King on Cody Miller’s podcast. We have a do-over. We have a year to do the things we wished we would have done differently.
Gotta love Claire’s comment about being more water mammal than land mammal. I can relate! For those of us past our 50s it’s a case of out of the mouths of babes as the saying goes. She is so right on about it.
Coach, you know what’s up (is there webbing between your fingers and toes yet? ;D)
When I see this I feel so lucky I know someone with a 25 yard pool
I’m doing this, bought a pool and a wetsuit. It’s only in the 50s in NE right now, but I’m gonna try
Small pool – but so much better than nothing! When this is all done, there’s going to be a fascinating story to write about all the swimmers who found creative ways to stay fit — and to stay wet.
Think about the 2021 Olympic Trials/Games backstories. One after another of these “How did _(swimmer X)_ handle the delay, and what did they do when the pools were closed?” Epic TV. Getting the popcorn ready.
The next Erika Brown with those underwaters!