Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast with dual World Masters Champion and Instagram influencer Ildi Szekely

What drives an athlete to switch from the rigorous discipline of Hungarian swimming to the diverse challenges of American competitions? Boston-based swimmer Ildi Szekely shares her captivating journey marked by resilience and adaptability with us on Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast From her early days in Budapest to becoming a dual Masters World Champion in Doha, Ildi reveals the intense pressures, pivotal transitions, and fortunate events that defined her path. Listen as she unveils the motivation behind her inspiring Swimplify Instagram page, aimed at encouraging fellow swimmers with her remarkable story and insights.

This episode dives deep into her training regimen for the World Masters Championships, contrasting it with her earlier experiences in Hungary. Now in her mid-40s, Ildi balances a full-time job with a smarter, more balanced training routine that includes pool sessions and alternative workouts like barre. Her story is a testament to the resilience and adaptability required to pursue athletic goals across different stages of life.

We discuss World Championships in Doha, with Ildi sharing her insights into event selection, recovery routines, and valuable swimming tips.  This episode is packed with inspiration, practical advice, and a celebration of the swimming community. Don't miss out on Ildi's "deep dive five' swim favourites, including butterfly drills, pre-race snack preferences, and the importance of focusing on positive feedback amidst the noise of social media.

Transcript

Danielle Spurling: 0:06

Hello swimmers and welcome to another episode of Torpedo Swim Talk podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Spurling, and each week we chat to a master swimmer from around the world about their swimming journey. Boston-based Ildi Szekely joins us on the podcast today to chat about her swimming journey from Hungary to the USA, as well as her recent success in becoming a dual Masters World Champion in Doha and why she started her Swimplify Instagram page and how she hopes to inspire other swimmers with her content. Let's hear from Ildi now. Hi, ildi, welcome to the podcast.

Ildi Szekely: 0:55

Hi, nice to meet you.

Danielle Spurling: 0:56

Yeah, really nice to meet you too. Now, where are you based in America?

Ildi Szekely: 1:01

I am in Boston. Well, I say Boston, but I live like an hour north of Boston. And where do you do all your swimming? In Boston, or well, I say Boston, but I live like an hour north of Boston.

Danielle Spurling: 1:06

And where do you do all your swimming? In Boston.

Ildi Szekely: 1:10

Okay, well, that's, that's a long answer. I used to be doing the BU Masters, boston University Masters, for a while when I was working at Boston College. I commuted into that and then, after I left my job, post-covid, I'm like all over the place. So in the summer if I want to have meters, then I track to Beverly, which is a 45 minute drive, and then local YMCAs and again it depends on who I can recruit because I don't like to swim by myself. So like we have a group that's going and it's it's, you know, play by ears. Like where are we gonna end up in the morning?

Danielle Spurling: 1:48

if you do, do you write your own programs or do you have a coach that oversees?

Ildi Szekely: 1:51

that. So I do have a coach. I am very lucky. I feel like I have one of the best coaches I've been working with the last 10 years. Um, and he I collected like seven years worth of his workout. So even if he's busy with his his uh club team I have like seven years worth of his workout. So even if he's busy with his club team, I have like seven years worth of goodies to go through.

Danielle Spurling: 2:11

Oh, that's really good. So do you ever get to see him in person?

Ildi Szekely: 2:15

No, I do get to see him. So I met him like 12 years ago through the Beverly Y when he was coaching there, and then he, for a short stint he was coaching BU Masters and we became very close. He's one of my closest friends so whenever I can I drop in and swim with that club, and actually went to Florida this past weekend because they have a training camp there, so I just crashed their party and swam with him. So I do get to see him in person.

Danielle Spurling: 2:43

So what club is he in charge of coaching?

Ildi Szekely: 2:47

he's coaching the Gators right now.

Danielle Spurling: 2:49

It's a local club and what master's swimming club are you a member of?

Ildi Szekely: 2:57

by name. Well, new England masters and I represent the penguins by name because of the Rowdy Penguins, because I usually score for them and they're a really fun team. But I don't technically train with them, so I'm not sure if that's considered cheating or not. So I'm New England Masters, if I go internationally that's my club, but if local club it's called the Rowdy Penguins.

Danielle Spurling: 3:25

That's a cute name and they're trust me called the rowdy penguins. That's a cute name and they trust me. They are rowdy. Well, I think that's part of the fun of master swimming, it's. You don't want to go along and be quiet, do you want to go along and have a bit of fun?

Ildi Szekely: 3:35

yeah, I agree, they know I have fun, that's for sure. That's they are fun that's good.

Danielle Spurling: 3:40

So you grew up in Budapest in Hungary and you had your early years there. Tell us a little bit about the environment and the culture and your early experiences in swimming.

Ildi Szekely: 3:50

All right, sorry, I'm giggling because it's going to be. I'm trying to be as short as possible. So, yes, I grew up in Hungary like that was still behind the Iron Curtain, and I like to refer it that way Right, because we were still part of the Soviet Union and I think the mentality was still kind of that I don't know if I should use the words backwards, but it was more the discipline, hardcore discipline, mentality and then winning at the week early on. So I started swimming when I was three years old and by six I was a registered club member and competing, and by nine, you know, I was doing doubles, and by 10, I quit, initially because I could not handle the fear, the abuse and the pressure and I begged my father to let me quit. And I was 10 years old and looking back right now I'm like wow, wow, that's really young, um. But I returned to swimming because we had a family friend who really encouraged that I was talented, I shouldn't quit.

Ildi Szekely: 4:50

And I did a short stint of rowing because my cousin um, who I love, like my sister um, and she was the Hungarian national rower and so she inspired me a lot. So I started rowing and then I went back to swimming and then I swam till like 15, 16 years old when I knew this is, I have to get out of this place. Like one way or another I have to leave Hungary. And it's kind of crazy to think back that I knew it back then that this is not the place for me. And then I ended up. I got very lucky, like it's a fortune of events, a sequence of very fortunate events that allowed me to, at that young age, to be able to come to the US.

Danielle Spurling: 5:36

So what happened to sort of facilitate that, because I know you sort of headed over to the US for school. How did that all come about?

Ildi Szekely: 5:46

headed over to the US for school. How did that all come about? Well, my cousin at that time met her first husband in Hungary, because back then they're allowed we were still transitioning from, you know, from the communist regime to like democracy at that time, so they had a lot of international companies. So she met her then American husband, who helped me find a summer program. I was 15 years old, so he actually sponsored me for a summer program at Hill School, which is a private school, a very prestigious private school, and I came back and I said help me, like anywhere you can, just please help me.

Ildi Szekely: 6:21

And then, a year later because that was a little too late for applications A year later he actually helped me apply and he sponsored my two years of high school in the US. Wow, so was that a scholarship that you were on so somewhat? So he actually paid for? Like I am forever grateful because he actually made my life possible. Um, it's really hard to conceptualize how, how much that means to me right now, but he actually, yeah, he sponsored me for the first year, um, and then the second year he was sponsoring me too, but I got a partial scholarship and from then on I was able to get a college scholarship to continue here assuming scholarship that's amazing.

Danielle Spurling: 7:08

So did you miss your family being over here at such a young age?

Ildi Szekely: 7:13

so I was such an emo kid so I am sorry to say that, but I was going through a really rough time. Um, because I haven't really internalized. You know, when you're a young kid you experience abuse differently, right, like physical, emotional abuse. You don't really realize how much it influenced you, you just want a way out. So, like I think, for you know, like at that time of my life, I just wanted an escape and I didn't look back, so I did not get homesick until like much, much later in life.

Danielle Spurling: 7:49

Do you go back to Hungary much now.

Ildi Szekely: 7:53

So, interestingly, I found somewhat like I was ready to quit Hungary, like completely. That was a period of 10 years. I didn't go home and I just recently found meaning again Like my passport expired in 2012. And my interestingly, like my father passed away last year and then going back and kind of revisiting, kind of like almost I don't say I grew in love again, but now I don't feel like. I feel like, okay, I could possibly find my roots again there.

Danielle Spurling: 8:34

Wow, I mean what a life change at such a young age. And obviously you've embraced living in America because after school you went on to study at Michigan State and then UC Berkeley. Tell us a little bit about that experience and college swimming.

Ildi Szekely: 8:50

Yeah. So again, I needed a lot of rebuilding mentally and emotionally. So I always wonder what would have been like if I wasn't in a basket case, like if I had more confidence. So when they tell you constantly all your life that you never amount to anything in a sport you love so much, you kind of internalize that and then even though, when you're good enough to get a scholarship, you still don't believe it Right.

Ildi Szekely: 9:18

So like, going to Michigan State for me was such a learning curve because I was first of all I had an option to go to Michigan State or Canyon College, and I'll never forget I again I feel so lucky because now I'm in the field of, like I'm an educational consultant, so I'm helping students find a college path for themselves. And like I did not realize back then, like what it means to have a full scholarship offer to two colleges, one division three and one division one. And and having that dilemma and I chose um, I chose Michigan State. And and it's interesting because I remember to this day, I was in at Mercesburg, I was in the office soaking wet, um, because I was just training, and the canyon coach was in the office soaking wet, because I was just training and the canyon coach was on the call with me for 45 minutes telling me that I'm making the biggest mistake of my life Because I should be a big fish in a big pond and I'm going to be a small fish in a big pond and in my head I'm like, no, I'm going to be a big fish in a big pond. So like I was I so definitely.

Ildi Szekely: 10:26

Michigan State has altered my life in a sense that I learned to love swimming again, but it took me four years because I was a workhorse, like I broke school records during a dual meet, but when it came to big meets I lost faith in myself and I never performed well. So I wish again, I wish I had more of the access to mental support and mental health to learn, you know, to love myself enough Like, yeah, I'm capable.

Danielle Spurling: 10:57

That's amazing resilience that you've shown, because obviously you had a not nice experience in your swimming in Hungary and to be able to come to America at a young age and then turn that around to become more resilient and then be successful in college is such a testament to your strength.

Ildi Szekely: 11:17

Well, thank you, I don't look at it that way, but because I'm like you know, the typical athlete mentality is never enough, right? I think that's such a like I always, when you like, achieve something, I want to, then let's go further, let's go further. Why can I reach more and more? So like, I'm never content. And I think that could be a negative thing too, because when, when can I say enough is enough?

Danielle Spurling: 11:42

Yeah, but but in in saying that that's one of the drivers that you know make successful people and also gives you motivation.

Ildi Szekely: 11:51

Yeah, swimming definitely has changed my life, but it was not always pleasant. I did take a seven-year hiatus.

Danielle Spurling: 11:58

So after college, while you were doing your master's degree, or did you swim through when you were at UC Berkeley as well?

Ildi Szekely: 12:05

I did swim through when you were at UC Berkeley as well. I did swim through UC Berkeley. So I, my senior year I made it made an Olympic trial cut and I was so, so, like, incredibly like excited about it and on that 200 butterfly and I wish I could have gone and at that time my my then my boyfriend was also qualified so for the ultimate trials. And I remember being in a training pool and like, oh, I just wish I could swim, but at the time I was not a us citizen so I was not able to participate. So I swam two more years um afterwards and and I just burned out. I felt like swimming has been just my identity and I couldn't. No one who knew me oh, you're the swimmer. And I just like started resenting people like knowing me, that I'm just a swimmer, and I'm like there is more to me and I also I lived in an area in California where there was really no access to the pool either.

Danielle Spurling: 13:03

Oh, really Okay, Because that's unusual. There's a lot of pools in California.

Ildi Szekely: 13:08

Yes, but when I finished Berkeley I followed my ex-husband to up north, into, because he was really wanting to live in the woods, and I told him, like the only way I go up there if I land a job. And I landed a job, so I was an English teacher and then I was in there and there was nothing. It's just the redwoods, beautiful middle of nowhere, with one tiny access to pool. But at that time I did not want to do anything with swimming.

Danielle Spurling: 13:51

No, that's understandable when you've had that life like that and you've been flogged as a young sort of swimmer.

Ildi Szekely: 13:54

You need that mental and physical break from it. What drew you back to start master swimming? Midlife crisis same with me. Yeah, I had to reinvent myself. Um, after I California, I packed my car and I drove across the country because I just wanted to reinvent my life. I needed to find myself again and I was really lucky.

Ildi Szekely: 14:15

One of my closest friends I met at Michigan State. He was at that time a professor in Adrian College and he used to take his kids in the summer to, you know, all over the country and the world to just for, like, a summer class and slash outdoor activity. And I remember calling him up and like can you, what are you doing? Can I join? I'm like, and I was in middle of jobs and I just left California, you know as, and arrived in the Boston area, because my cousin lives here and she has three, at that time three very young kids, and I wanted to be a part of their lives. I wanted to be the aunt, a cousin, a secondary cousin. They called me their aunt. So I love that.

Ildi Szekely: 15:02

And I couldn't find a job because I was in the middle of that teaching year. So I love that and I couldn't find a job, because I was middle of the middle of that teaching year so I needed something. I couldn't just sit there and then be a burden on my sister. So I called him and he said, yeah, well, I'm going to Guam for a month. He's a, join us. I'm taking eight kids and then four of them are girls, so we could use a woman chaperone. And I was like, wow, I'm like, look at the map, like I know it's a US territory, but where is Guam? So, a very long flight later I ended up there and it was, um, life altering and that's where, um, I was in Guam and and I was like, all right, swimming that sounds really, really, really amazing. Maybe I should try again.

Ildi Szekely: 15:43

And then my friend, one of my best friends, who was my roommate at Merseysburg uh, she's actually Malaysian and she went to UCLA and ended up going back and and starting a very powerful swim club and she flew me from Guam to Malaysia at that time and I spent a week with her and I started swimming with her and she and I was like I think I want to go and race at the world masters, which is gonna be in 2014 in Montreal, and I can just drive there. And I had this like tunnel vision of I'm gonna break the world records. So I started training um really hard and, uh, I missed the world record by two seconds and I had not realized at that time how insanely fast the world record was in that 35 age group. But I shot really high and but it was. It was an incredible journey and since then I've been swimming.

Danielle Spurling: 16:38

You've been hooked, so how much training, how much training did you give yourself before you went to the World Masters in 2014?

Ildi Szekely: 16:46

So about a year and a half I was doing yeah. So it's amazing how quickly things come back. That's when I met my coach, chris Morgan, who just revolutionized the training, because you know, I grew up, as I said, in Hungary. It was now what we refer to as garbage yardage. Like I was that generation that done a lot of a lot of yardage. Right, I actually have my workout book and I'm looking at it and I'm like wow, like insane, like mind blowing. So it's like four, four hundred butterfly pool, four, four hundred butterfly kick four, four butterflies meters. Right, I'm like wow, that was a morning workout when I was 12.

Danielle Spurling: 17:29

And you probably trained doubles all through that time. Did you do much strength work back then, or was it just all in the pool?

Ildi Szekely: 17:37

No, it was a lot of strength work and flexibility training. So, yeah, we were in the weight room and flexibility training. So yeah, we were in the weight room. And that wasn't strength work in the sense that you're like lifting a lot of heavy weights but a lot of like ropes, you know like stretch cords. That was a big one and we did some weights, but I wouldn't call it, like you know, barking up heavy.

Danielle Spurling: 18:07

Yes, yeah, of course. And flexibility training training was that sort of just on the pool deck, or was that something you did in a special sort of class with the rest of your teammates?

Ildi Szekely: 18:14

that was all our coach. We, we marched around the pool and we did all kinds of flexibility and drag and training that I don't want to remember. I'm still scarred, you know. You're still scarred. Oh yeah, I'm like because it wasn't like I don't like. If you like the flexibility training, if you didn't do it, the coach sat on you until you were able to, like, get into that position, right, put weights on you or one of the hardest one, like we had to put your hands behind your head and then you push your elbows together, right. So our coach used to go behind our back and push your elbows together and it forced it right Until it went. So that was a lot of crying, a lot of pain, but that was almost every Wednesday. We had flexibility training wow, wow.

Danielle Spurling: 19:08

And compare that to now and what you're doing. How, how many, how many sessions would you typically swim a week right now?

Ildi Szekely: 19:17

um, well, that depends, right, like so now I'm swimming smarter and also I'm a full you know, I have a full-time job and I'm also, like you know, in my mid-40s. So, like I, I need to be smarter of how I recover. But it depends, like I, I try to get in four to five days a week in the, in the pool, um, if I, if I'm like for for for montreal, I did a lot more, I was, I was in the pool at least six times a day, um, or six times a week, sorry, and but now I'm also doing alternative, like I do bar um, like I don't know, that's where Australia it's, it's. It's like it's a core workout, but it goes through your arms, legs, core, um, and lighter weights, but a lot of reps.

Danielle Spurling: 19:58

So, and I do that twice or three times a week in combination is that the only type of dry land strength work you do, or do you do heavy weights as well?

Ildi Szekely: 20:08

I don't do heavy weight. I ever since college.

Danielle Spurling: 20:11

It's just not for me, yeah yeah, sorry, I was gonna say well bar bar um.

Ildi Szekely: 20:17

Classes are fantastic for swimming yeah, and, and it's, you know, like I mean, it's a fad, right, like even to yoga, to pilates, like you know it's, it's a fad of the of the generation. But what I like about it, it does go through your entire body yeah, we've got reformer pilates are very, very big in australia right now.

Danielle Spurling: 20:40

Everywhere it's got reformer pilates and um, yeah, and I think you know before that we do have bar classes, but I don't think it took off quite as much here as it did in the states they call it bar, like every studio is called now bar, but it's really a combination of pilates right, and then yoga and like alternate, like kickboxing, and it's.

Danielle Spurling: 21:00

I think it's a combination of all those and you recently went to doha for the World Masters in Qatar. Can you share with us your experience? Because congratulations you won the 100 and 200 butterfly in your age group. What were those races like? What was the experience like?

Ildi Szekely: 21:16

Yeah, yeah, you know, I love the world, I love traveling too, because you just never know who you're going to meet and what kind of you know camaraderie, and I just love people. Always interesting like people like even when I went to Qatar is who are you with? I'm like I came by myself and if for some people it's really hard, like, oh, you travel that far alone, I'm like like I'm not, like I'm meeting people, right. So like when I went to montreal, I think that was the last world masters that were separated from the real worlds, right, and after that, now it coincides with the world championships and so you get to embrace swimming in world-class facilities. So like when I went to budapest, hungary, in 2017, and in Qatar, Doha, qatar you actually race in the same pool as that, you know, and so you like feel special. It was phenomenal. It's like I think they've done a really nice job, even though it was less attended because of the time like timeline it was end of March, I mean end of February, so it was, I think, a lot, a lot of people can really come because they're working, they. It was incredibly well organized, fantastic. It was just a phenomenal experience because I got to, I had. I met so many Hungarians there in Qatar.

Ildi Szekely: 22:36

Yeah, I actually ran into friends I grew up swimming with I. I shared, we shared some horror stories with one of the friends who, like, oh you, you remember them? Like, yeah, I do remember. So we reunited that way. And then you see women like in their 60s, breaking world record, like there was a 60 year old American who who went faster than anybody any age group in a 200 backstroke and, like you know, it's very inspiring. Or you see, like a 90 year old woman get on the block and do the 200 butterfly. I mean for me that's, it's incredibly. Like if I have to die, I mean that I want to go that way, like getting on the blocks and doing the 200 fly. Like I'm sorry for the audience and people who have to pull me out of the pool, but like I can't see any better way to go yeah, absolutely doing something you love.

Danielle Spurling: 23:28

I think that's.

Ildi Szekely: 23:29

That's what's so inspiring about seeing all those older master swimmers it sure is, and it was the first time I ever done an open water in in the world scene, so that was a very unique experience for me too yeah, how did?

Danielle Spurling: 23:41

how did you feel with that the the open water swim.

Ildi Szekely: 23:43

I loved it. I mean, I felt a little unprepared because everyone was wearing the, the, you know the, the open water suit. She's a little longer. I was like you know, like I don't know, I didn't know that's, that's, that's the thing. So like I felt a little bit like a novice, but it was was. It was really fun.

Danielle Spurling: 24:01

it's a it's a different kind of group yeah, absolutely, and that was before the swimming started, the pool swimming started. Did you find that that affected sort of like what was your recovery like from that that swim?

Ildi Szekely: 24:13

yeah, yeah. So by by the end of the trip I felt like I was catarred out, what I called it um, because yeah, it was just like the four day gap in between was. I mean, I recovered, well, but it was just a little bit too long for being there for two weeks of the competition and the 200 fly is always almost on the last day, so like you have to wait and wait and wait around to race the 200 fly, what's, what's your race plan for the 200 fly?

Ildi Szekely: 24:43

talk us through um well, I always think of it as 450s. Right, it's not a 200 fly, it's 450s and it's it's. I'm a back, always a backhand flyer and I can't sprint for the life of me. So if I go a 50 fly all out, that's gonna be probably very close to my first 50 on that 200 fly. So like I know the adrenaline takes me out. So yeah, first 50 is all adrenaline and so like. For me the focus is the second 50, because that's when I start, you know um lagging. So like I have all right. The second 50 is you have to keep it smooth but you have to keep it strong, because by third 50 I know I can bring it home and I usually have my almost second fastest 50 is the last 50.

Ildi Szekely: 25:29

That's unusual, yeah okay, I'm, I'm, I'm very unusual. So when I went, when I swam the Olympic trial cut I almost even split my my 200, wow, 107, because I was at, um, santa Clara. It was no, it was Jenny, not Jenny Thompson. Is it Jenny Thompson? Invitational at in, uh, you at USC? I always forget it was. It was year 2002, um, and I was among olympians. Really a phenomenal experience. I had maggie boy, um, is it maggie bowen bowman? I forgot her. Oh god, I'm so bad with see, I was so bad with names. But I remember having two olympians next to me, um, and I was the last at the hundred because I was one at the order in 103s, 104s and I was like almost 108, 107 high and I came back with another 107. So yeah, I was always a bad kind of flyer wow, that's, that's amazing.

Danielle Spurling: 26:33

What so? Your time back then was what? A 214? No, I was a.16.1. And what do you swim now?

Ildi Szekely: 26:43

So I was 2.22 in my 35-40 age group and my world record was 2.20. So now I slowed down, like I wish I could go back, because I was like, all right, then I get the world record, the next age group, which now was 2.24. I missed it by, you know, 0.5. Oh, so close? Oh yeah, I was so close, and it was the year before COVID, uh, just aged up to the 40, and, um, I was actually swimming with mono.

Ildi Szekely: 27:08

I had no idea I had mono. Who gets mono in their 40s? Right, and I and I also had like anemia at that. So I was like, okay, that's because my sister was like something's wrong with you, you need to go to a doctor or you need to get to go to a therapist. And I'm like, why? Like you're miserable. So I went to the doctor. I said, yeah, you're an anemic and you have mono. So, and then COVID hit right a year after, and then I couldn't train, like so I was training by myself, so I could never really get back to. You know that, because it's very hard to train by yourself. No one to push you.

Danielle Spurling: 27:46

Definitely and particularly butterfly. I think too.

Ildi Szekely: 27:49

Yeah, and once you reach 40, like I feel like once I reached 40 and 42, now I'm at 45, it gets so much harder.

Danielle Spurling: 27:58

It does. What's the record in the 200 fly now for 45?.

Ildi Szekely: 28:04

Still to this day. It's insane, Colin Pipes. I mean she was 222 and 224 and 40 to 45 and then 45 to 50. It's faster than the last age group. I'm like girl, can you slow down? Give a chance to some of us of us. Yeah, she was incredible. So yeah, it's still 24 wow, that is fast.

Danielle Spurling: 28:30

You'll get there, don't worry. This November we're coming up to our fourth birthday celebrations and we wanted to mark the occasion by giving you some more reasons to continue enjoying the podcast and show your support. So you can now subscribe to the show, and the subscription will give you lots of extra content that I know you're going to enjoy. As part of the subscription, you get advanced notifications that a new episode is dropped. You'll get four swim training workouts per month, and I know that they're very popular with everyone that listens in. You'll become a member of our private WhatsApp group and you'll get a shout out on the show. By becoming a supporter of the show, it helps us to continue putting out our weekly content, which is free for all. You can become a subscriber by following the link in our Instagram bio at Torpedo Swim Talk podcast or via the button on our Torpedo Swim Talk website. Hope to see you all in our Swim Talkers group soon. What other races did you do in the pool in Doha, you did the 100 and 200 fly. What else did you do?

Ildi Szekely: 29:43

That's it. I did the 100 and 200 fly and then the open water, the 5K.

Danielle Spurling: 29:47

Oh, okay, so you decided not to fill out the five events that you are allowed to do.

Ildi Szekely: 29:54

I never do. I only do the 50, 100, 200 fly Occasionally if it's a big meet. Occasionally I like to do like in smaller meets I sign up like I sign up for random events. I do the 400 im, I do you know the mile or the 1500 or the 800. But when it comes to like a, a competition, like a big one, because I don't, I want to focus on the two fly. If the two fly was on the first day or the second day, I would fill it up.

Danielle Spurling: 30:24

Yes, understood, I know it's the scheduling of the program and I think the world masters they don't ever. Well, they did change it this year. They put the 400 a bit closer to the 800. But then in doing that, because I'm a backstroker, I think they move the backstroke to the last day. So if they fix it for one person it doesn't always work for another person very true.

Ildi Szekely: 30:52

I just wish the plane fly was sooner, that's all and what do you find works for you in recovery? That's a great question and um, without throwing, I don't know, I don't want to do an advertisement Like I don't know how to say that without doing an ad.

Danielle Spurling: 31:08

No, that's fine Mention, what you do, people are interested.

Ildi Szekely: 31:12

My coach introduced me Chris Moore introduced me to Katsu about 10 years ago and it's a blood flow restriction. It goes around your arms and your legs and it acts almost like a blood pressure cuff. It restricts and releases the flow. So I've been using that for 12 years and I swear by it. I use it for warm up, I warm down, I use it like at home, when I'm sitting around and when I'm driving I always have the Katsu band on my arms and it helped me tremendously to recover. And I also incorporate easy swimming. Now I used to not believe in easy swimming. When I go to the pool and I just float around, right, I'm in, but I'm just because it helps with recovery. A lot of times people think like, oh, if you're not in, if you need a rest day, you just take a few days off. But you can rest by swimming easy as well.

Danielle Spurling: 32:06

Yeah, I agree, because it stretches you out. If you're sitting around, you get stiff and you can't use the muscles that you're used to using. So it's just like going for people that are runners. Go for a simple walk.

Ildi Szekely: 32:21

We go for an easy swim for people that are runners go for a simple walk, we go for an easy swim, exactly yeah, and I have to be. I'm really not good with recovery. Um, also, like I, I push my, I'm, like, I'm an energizer bunny. I push, push, push until my body breaks down and says no, you need to take a break. So I'm still learning and as I get older, I realized that I need to be more forgiving with my body.

Danielle Spurling: 32:48

Yes, yeah, definitely, and especially you're working full time job as well, because you get tired from that, even though you know you might be sitting in a desk. It's mentally tiring, and so you do have to weigh up all those things and living life's tiring as well.

Ildi Szekely: 33:04

I agree, and I have a dog and I have to walk him twice a day too. So like I feel like that's, you know, he needs a 45 minute walk twice a day, so like, all right, so that's, that's an additional workout.

Danielle Spurling: 33:16

Yeah, that's an additional workout. You get your steps up doing that? Yes, I do. Can you talk us through a typical?

Ildi Szekely: 33:26

training session that you would do. Yeah, so okay, so, um, the Chris's, that. The Chris's sets are always like you have a warm-up, you have a prep set which right and then you have a main set, and usually his main sets are consisting like four to five rounds um, and, and I tend to always incorporate a lot of fly um, he always makes fun of me for that because I can swim fly forever and he's like no, you need to do fast fly, not the survival fly. Yeah, so that he has this amazing um structure to his workouts. So anywhere between, like you know, if it's meters, I would say 3,500 to 4,000 meters a day and and what is like.

Danielle Spurling: 34:10

Can you talk us through it like a main set? What kind of thing does he sort of set for you?

Ildi Szekely: 34:15

so like this is a shorter one, right. So like we have 400 warm-up. He's saying, oh, I was on the house. Then I do a six 50s. This is yards, so like the inner wall is gonna be different. So you go six 50s, one kick, one swim, and then six 25s where no breath, right. So on the 30,.

Ildi Szekely: 34:34

So like hold your breath, and then the main set is four rounds. So I'm gonna go three 50s on a 45. The first one is fly free. Second is free fly and then I'll fly. And then you're going to 125s or two times 125s on a 145. Where you go, the first 45 yards is breath control and the second one is the last 45 yards, breath control. So that could be like one breath or two breath or depends on how much you can hold your breath. And then you're going at 200. And that 200 changes by each round. So the first round the 200 are going to be 50 fly 153, 100 fly 103, 150 fly 53. And the last one is a 200 fly and you're doing this for ran right, well, that's, that's a set yeah, and this is one of the easier one.

Danielle Spurling: 35:31

I look forward to it actually do you do breath control on the butterfly as well, or is that just for freestyle?

Ildi Szekely: 35:38

no, I. You know I don't do breath control for the fly, so breath control is usually like warm-ups or warm dance or really in a main set like that. It's more like um, like working off your wall or working into the wall to hold your, to hold your breath. Are you a good turner? No, like the turn I, I'm off so, which is why I love meters I. I avoid every time short course uh races because I suck at the turns. So and I like open water because you don't have to do turns of course yeah.

Danielle Spurling: 36:13

Do you use much equipment in your training like snorkel, fins board, pool boy?

Ildi Szekely: 36:20

yeah, you know, interestingly not as much I, I feel like sometimes. So I, I started an Instagram account to teach a lot of skills and to promote the butterfly um to masters, and I think people have the tendency to abuse uh, equipment right like I. I believe in equipment, I love that, but I feel like a lot of masters and beginners use equipment without having a good technique right. So now you're reinforcing strength onto the wrong technique. All right, so I, I use equipment, but not as much I use pedals, but I, I have to say, I don't use pedals every practice. I put the pedals, I use snorkels once in a while warm up or if I do some fly set when I want to focus on more about my stroke and not worrying about the breathing and fins occasionally. But I kind of abandoned the buoy that I used to use.

Ildi Szekely: 37:16

I used to use a lot of equipment. We used to use a lot of equipment in college like the bands that goes around your legs. We used to use a lot of equipment in college like the bands that goes around your legs right and the buoys. That was a big one in college. Um, and if I do like I, I I prefer like occasionally, like resistance training. Like I, I use mesh socks for kicking and underwater kicks. That's really fun, or any kind of similar equipment like belts, you know to go on, but that's also for just resistance and power and when you use that resistance sort of work in the water, is that just over very short distance?

Ildi Szekely: 37:51

yes, absolutely. Um, go 25s, you know with it. Um, or really I do 50s, but if I do 50s with a mesh socks it would be like 50, like moderate, and then 25 or 12 and a half sprint with the mesh socks and I know you just mentioned your um, your Instagram or your social media that you started, and you do put a lot of butterfly things on there.

Danielle Spurling: 38:14

What sort of what message are you hoping to send out to people with that?

Ildi Szekely: 38:19

you know, everyone is so afraid of the fly. I mean, it was initially, uh, we started out like I was never on instagram. It was not my thing. Um, and a friend of mine, like 10 years ago, like he got really bothered because he saw so many uh masters videos that are like incorrect, right, like they were just spreading the wrong information, and he's like you need to start an account.

Ildi Szekely: 38:41

I'm like I, you know, like I I associated instagram account with showing you know, like, kind of like, oh, everyone, you have to look sexy and then the bikini and you show your body and then you get followers. I'm like I, just not me, I don't want to prance around the pool deck. And so he actually ended up buying me a gopro and he's like no, you're doing an account. So, like, I started in like right around covet, so I started posting a lot of technique balance videos um, like basic skill work, of how to improve the technique and how to get into the butterfly rhythm because it butterfly. I know it's intimidating, but if you get the technique and the rhythm right, it's just really finding that rhythm. It's really a simple stroke and I think once you get the rhythm and start working on those muscles. It's really a fun event.

Danielle Spurling: 39:31

Yeah, there's nothing better than swimming a butterfly when you're in rhythm. I can't do it anymore because I have a bad shoulder, but I still do one-arm butterfly, but I really do like butterfly. I wish I could put it back in my schedule.

Ildi Szekely: 39:44

Yeah, it's definitely hard on the shoulders, but I think that's where flexibility comes in right. So a lot of flexibility training that's very important as we age will help your butterfly and your rotation.

Danielle Spurling: 39:58

Yes, have you ever had any shoulder problems?

Ildi Szekely: 40:01

Knock on wood. Can I knock on wood, no?

Danielle Spurling: 40:03

not good surprisingly.

Ildi Szekely: 40:06

You know I wonder how many times I crossed the Atlantic back and forth. Just the amount of butterfly I have done in my life.

Ildi Szekely: 40:12

Yes, were you always a butterfly as a young swimmer, as well, I developed into one yes, um, around I would say like my, my coat, like so, when I quit swimming at 10 and I returned back to the club, I luckily I went to a different coach for the first two years, um, and he was wonderful and he trained me for the 4am, um, and I remember going I was 12 years old and that was my first year I think was the second year back of training from like the year hiatus and he put me in a 4am and I didn't do as well as he wanted.

Ildi Szekely: 40:49

I remember him crying on the pool deck Like he was really hurt and I was hurt because he was crying and I felt like I let him down. And then the butterfly was the next day and I went at 2.28. I was 12. Like I dropped, like the time I dropped like 20 seconds and he was like you are going to be a Butterflyer and so that was like that was it for me at 12 years old and from then on I was doing Butterflyer.

Danielle Spurling: 41:16

That's amazing. Yeah, that's great that you've got that young sort of passion for it and you've carried that on now as a master swimmer.

Ildi Szekely: 41:24

Yeah, definitely Hence that swimplify yeah swimplify.

Danielle Spurling: 41:28

It's great. That's your social media tag. Yeah, now, everyone that comes on the podcast. I like to ask them the deep dive five favourites about your current swimming life? So just give me the first idea that pops into your head what's your favourite pool?

Ildi Szekely: 41:44

Oh, Duna Arena in Hungary. If I could swim there every day.

Danielle Spurling: 41:51

That's a nice one. Well, I think the World Championships are going back there in 2027.

Ildi Szekely: 41:57

Yeah, definitely going.

Danielle Spurling: 41:58

So you can aim for that. Are you going to head to Singapore next year? I'm thinking about it.

Ildi Szekely: 42:04

It's just really really long flight, right so if from here, but I think I am I because my, my, as I said, my best friend lives in Malaysia and I am the godmother to her second son. So, like she said, like if you're coming, you have to meet your godson. I'm like that's an incentive for me to go definitely an incentive.

Danielle Spurling: 42:28

What's your favorite butterfly drill?

Ildi Szekely: 42:32

oh, that's a tough question. Um, because everyone's gonna say that one arm, left, right, double. For me I want to say my favorite all time butterfly. There is the one undulation, one fly stroke. So like you're hand out in the front you undulate one like a dolphin undulation and a butterfly stroke. Dolphin undulation, butterfly stroke. You kind of kick but it's, you know, I mean I say undulation, you're like doing that dolphin motion, but I like to call it undulation because it's not about the kick right, more about getting the chest. You know the chest pressed down and the dolphin motion, but your hands are still in the front. So you're kind of setting yourself up for the rhythm and then you do a stroke, because we tend to if you see master swimmers and I do the same thing and I noticed still in my videos that enter tend to pull sometimes a little too soon right and then like I rushed the catch. So this one really lets me to focus on keeping out a longer in the front and not rushing the catch in the front.

Danielle Spurling: 43:41

Yeah, that's a good one. Do you have a video of that on your Instagram?

Ildi Szekely: 43:46

Yes, I have plenty of those, yeah.

Danielle Spurling: 43:49

Cool, okay, well, people can go and look at that and they can see in motion.

Ildi Szekely: 43:56

How about your favorite training set? Okay, I have one, one of my favorite training sets. Again, it's a crisp one, it's short, it's only 1500, but it's um 30, 50s and I see if I can explain this right. I think it's yeah, you go five. Okay, see if I can explain this right. So you go go five, five, three, five, fly, four, three, four, fly, three, three, three, fly, two, three, two, fly, one, three, one, fly.

Ildi Szekely: 44:22

But the last round you go like the freeze, always on the 45. So it's meters, right, so it's quick. So the three, five, three, four, three, three, it's always 45. And you start the fly on the minute. So five, three on the 45, five fly on the minute. Four, three on the 45, four fly on the 55. Three, three on the 45, three fly on the 50. Two, three on the 45, two fly on the 40. One, three on the 45, and then as fast as you can go, it's really quick, it's a 1500, but by the time you get down to that fly and you're doing, you know, on the 50 and the last on the 45, it burns and you don't. And it's an active recovery because you can really slack off on the 53, right, because it's on the 45 seconds.

Danielle Spurling: 45:16

Yeah, that's a great set. I'd like to try that. And swapping backstroke yeah, that'd be good.

Ildi Szekely: 45:22

Yeah, and again, you can alter that. So I always, when I post sets on my Instagram, it's like you know, what's beautiful about masters is you cater to your own needs. So you can alter, change the inner walls that fits your needs, and then even change like I don't expect people to do that fly, Like you could do that backstroke, breaststroke or any of the stroke you want to work on.

Danielle Spurling: 45:43

Yeah, that's a great set. I'd like to try that. And swapping backstroke? Yeah, that'd be good. How about your favorite pre-race snack?

Ildi Szekely: 45:52

Honestly, it's simple Bag your favorite pre-race snack. Honestly, it's simple bagels and bananas. Carb loading before, definitely. Uh, I feel like bagel has a carbs and then banana it's the potassium like.

Danielle Spurling: 46:03

So prevent the cramping and who's the swimmer you're most looking forward to watching at the paris olympics, and why, oh, oh I know I watched the trials eagerly.

Ildi Szekely: 46:14

Um, I have to say it's gonna be the race between sarah soystrom and uh, gretchen walsh, the hundred fly. I think that's gonna be my favorite, it'll be a great olympics. There'll be some great swimming going on yeah, I think, yeah, the American women are incredible. I think this year so, and you know the big rivalry with Australia.

Danielle Spurling: 46:38

It's a little overkill, but it's complete overkill that whole thing that NBC beat up with Michael Phelps and Kate Campbell. It's just ridiculous. It it was. She said it a year ago and it was a joke. It was a joke, it was a joke, and it's just ridiculous. And she's the loveliest person ever, oh, I know, and I just think it's terrible because all these people have like piled on and really said some horrible things, you know, on her social media channels and things like that.

Ildi Szekely: 47:15

That's like that's bullying to me. I honestly like one of the drawbacks for social media is is the negativity. So, like I, I block, like, and it's so interesting too because we over focus on the negative comments. You could have a hundred positive things and now one one negative comment and and I noticed it too, like I started dwelling on it and second guessing my stroke and and like my training, my 40-year experience, like, oh, what am I doing? So, like you, it's, it's tough, right. Social media is definitely an and um. I don't want to use the word weapon, but it is. It's just people can be very, very nasty, unfortunately.

Danielle Spurling: 47:59

Yeah, they can, I think, because they think they hide behind. I mean, there's a lot of those kind of sort of like troll accounts and they hide behind those. No one knows who they are and they think they can say whatever they want those. No one knows who they are and they think they can say whatever they want. It's it's a terrible sort of side effect of the positivity of social media, which there are positives as well and that's why I love swimming, because you know, once you're in the water, you just the noises are gone.

Ildi Szekely: 48:26

Exactly, it's just you on the water and nobody else.

Danielle Spurling: 48:30

I know, isn't it nice.

Ildi Szekely: 48:31

No one can contact you, no one can text message you, you don't have to answer emails, it's great, exactly, and that's why sometimes, like you know, like people reach out, like, oh, do you want to collaborate and do you want to do this? And and I had a few with the whole music in your ear, I'm like no, like I don't want music in my ear, I don't't want noise, I don't. You know, I just want peace and quiet. I don't need any other distractions on the water.

Danielle Spurling: 48:58

Yes, I understand. Yes Well, udi, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. It's been such a pleasure meeting you and hearing about your swimming journey and wishing you every success for all your races heading forward, and hopefully you'll get that world record soon thank you so much and it was a pleasure being on your podcast, yeah thank you.

Danielle Spurling: 49:21

Okay, take care, bye, bye. This november we're coming up to our fourth birthday celebrations and we wanted to mark the occasion by giving you some more reasons to continue enjoying the podcast and show your support. So you can now subscribe to the show, and the subscription will give you lots of extra content that I know you're going to enjoy. As part of the subscription, you get advanced notifications that a new episode is dropped. You'll get four swim training workouts per month, and I know that they're very popular with everyone that listens in. You'll become a member of our private WhatsApp group and you'll get a shout out on the show. By becoming a supporter of the show, it helps us to continue putting out our weekly content, which is free for all. You can become a subscriber by following the link in our Instagram bio at Torpedo Swim Talk podcast or via the button on our Torpedo Swim Talk website. Hope to see you all in our Swim Talkers group soon. Till next time. Happy swimming and bye for now.