Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast with Laura Quilter - NZ Commonwealth Games Rep, to Masters Swimming and Ice Swimming

On this episode of Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast New Zealand's own Laura Quilter joins us to share her journey from the 2014 Commonwealth Games to becoming a masters swimmer and ice swimming enthusiast. Laura started masters in 2023, and discovered how she found joy and freedom from racing again.

Get ready to enhance your own swimming technique and learn from Laura, as she breaks down the art of breath control and the unique training routines that have propelled her success. Recently at the age of 31, she posted a lifetime best 50m freestyle swim and shared with us her thoughts about why she was able to accomplish that. Learn the secrets behind 25-meter underwater swims and the critical importance of exhaling fully for peak performance. Laura discusses the balance of squad training versus self-directed workouts, offering insights on how joining both a master's club and a competitive swimming club can provide the motivation and flexibility needed to stay at the top of your game.

Laura’s intriguing foray into ice swimming will leave you in awe. She recounts the physical and psychological hurdles of swimming in water temperatures below five degrees Celsius, from her initial 100-meter goal to conquering a grueling 1000-meter swim. Laura’s journey includes detailed discussions on strength and conditioning, fitness motivation, and pre-race rituals that keep her at her best. Tune in to hear a dedicated athlete's perspective on pushing boundaries and embracing the thrill of the sport at every stage of life.

Connect with Laura
Instagram
Facebook Page
Website

Chapters

• 0:09 Swimming Journey
• 13:50 Breath Control and Training Flexibility
• 17:20 Swimming Training and Career Highlights
• 20:42 Pre-Race Rituals and Olympic Excitement
• 26:32 Chilling Ice Swimming Challenges and Recovery
• 40:20 Strength and Conditioning Progression
• 45:29 Fitness Motivation and Swimmer's Insights

Transcript

Danielle Spurling: 0:09

Hello swimmers and welcome to another episode of Torpedo Swimt alk Podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Spurling, and each week, we chat to a master swimmer from around the world about their swimming journey. On today's podcast, we chat to New Zealander, Laura Quilter, who, in her elite career, was a national champion freestyler and a 2014 Commonwealth Games representative, and now she's turned her hand to masters racing and ice swimming, which I am really intrigued to find out about. At 31, laura recently swam a lifetime PB for her 50 freestyle by coaching herself and, having changed everything she was doing in her elite career, let's find out now how she did it. Hi, Laura, welcome to the podcast and thanks for joining me. Yeah, stoked to be here. Thanks for asking. Yeah, it's great to have you on. Where are you based in New Zealand?

Laura Quliter: 1:10

I'm in Auckland at the moment. I've been here for over 10 years, up from my little hometown in Gisborne.

Danielle Spurling: 1:17

Oh, very nice, Did you start your swimming in Gisborne?

Laura Quliter: 1:21

Yeah, I was thrown in as a little one. But it's kind of funny now because I enjoy surfing and it's ironic that it had some of the best surf breaks. But I was obsessed with the pool from day dot, so great surf breaks I didn't really play in them often.

Danielle Spurling: 1:35

So your surf lifesaving that you did wasn't centered around Gisborne at all.

Laura Quliter: 1:40

Yes, it was a mix of here and Auckland, but I did the version of Surf Lifesaving that's done actually in a racing pool. It's really popular in Europe as well, because they don't have as great beaches as we do often. So the Surf Lifesaving scene for me was quite different. I rescued orange fake mannequins in the pool and then absolutely blundered my way through the beach events.

Danielle Spurling: 2:03

Absolutely blundered my way through the beach events. Okay, because in Australia we call that royal life-saving for the pool and then surf life-saving for the ocean. So yeah, I know exactly what you mean. The club that I grew up at they used to be big into royal life-saving. So yeah, it's a big scene, I think.

Laura Quliter: 2:21

Yeah, I've just learnt something I didn't realise. It was called royal in Australia.

Danielle Spurling: 2:29

Yeah, I think, just to be different from the two, because surf life saving is huge here. Yeah, yeah, similar in.

Laura Quliter: 2:32

New.

Danielle Spurling: 2:33

Zealand yeah, because you've got such great beaches as well. Yeah, well, we've got so much to cover today, from your time representing New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games to your master swimming and coaching, and now your new passion, which is ice swimming. But let's start with your master's. What motivated you to transition from your elite swimming career to master's, and how much of a gap did you have in between the two?

Laura Quliter: 2:58

So there was no kind of intention to transition, I suppose, like into the Masters. It was actually just a desire to swim in a brand new pool that they'd built. So Hawke's Bay had, yeah, built a brand new 50 meter and I have to admit, I was a bit jealous. I never got to swim in it. And then the 2023 Masters was announced in Hawke's Bay and I just rustled up a few friends and it was more of a social trip, and I just rustled up a few friends and it was more of a social trip. So we took our bikes down, we did a whole bunch of cycling and that event was how's my maths? 2016 was my last like international event, so that's seven wait.

Danielle Spurling: 3:39

How many years is that?

Laura Quliter: 3:41

Seven years, yeah, seven, yeah, because it's now 10 years since the Commonwealth Games. So in that gap of seven years I've kept myself relatively active, like I do enjoy the gym and things and my swimming. I was really enjoying the triathlon squad, so I had a good social network there and those are the people I went to the Masters with and it was such a fun event like it was. You know, I didn't have the, the volume like the number of people that I had been used to, but the, the vibe of it and how much fun I had, was it got me, um, got me a bit hooked.

Danielle Spurling: 4:15

It got you hooked on it, so you've been back at it for just around about a year.

Laura Quliter: 4:20

Yeah. So that Masters sparked a little light in me and I've kind of over the last year I've dabbled both in masters and back into elite swimming, so it's been quite quite a unique experience. But I think what masters gave me was this opportunity to race free, like there was absolutely nothing that I had to, I suppose, achieve at that, and even like to make that even more apparent, the only reason I swam at that Masters is they gave people an opportunity to compete without being attached to a club, and at this point I had no intention of ever competitively swimming again, and when I read that you could just pay an extra fee and compete unattached, that got me into the event, and I've since joined a club and met a whole bunch of new people it is a great community once you, you know, are exposed to it and you start sort of um, you know swimming, swimming in it.

Danielle Spurling: 5:14

How did you find swimming in um races where you're against guys and and girls and they're all different ages and it's just on the time, did you find that aspect fun?

Laura Quliter: 5:25

yes. I did, it was it actually took a little bit of getting used to because I know that you're alone in your lane. But you know it is still a bit of a mind game because you have got that peripheral vision and you kind of have an idea of where people are and I did enjoy it. But I have to admit it was a bit intimidating to start.

Danielle Spurling: 5:42

Yeah, of, of course, of course. Now I didn't realize. You just mentioned that you've dabbled your sort of toes back into elite swimming as well. Tell us a little bit about that.

Laura Quliter: 5:53

Yeah. So that Masters kind of sparked me in terms of wondering what I could do now that I'm in my 30s and do, I suppose, manage my own training and see what I could do with a different approach. So I raced at the Nationals for the first time in eight years this April and again it was that master's mindset where I just had so much freedom. And what was quite funny is I did notice at the start of this year my mindset. I was putting all this arbitrary pressure on myself and I was getting really inside my head and it was quite this awful um, what do you call it when you get that sense of deja vu? And I remember I've got diary entries from back in 2016 about feeling like I was wasn't good enough at that point and I was like, oh, I can't be bothered with this, like I've got to go to work, you know, and it was. It was quite funny.

Laura Quliter: 6:44

So I think the the master's mindset of is this ability to just race a bit freer. And even though in January I actually did battle with those kind of self-expectations because I had thought there was, um, and very unlikely, but a small chance that I could make the Olympic Games team this year. So I was 0.5 of a second off at a 50, which is actually quite a large margin in a sprint, but that is almost closer than I was back when I was training full time. Wow, so it's been quite an interesting journey and that has actually got me swimming even more. I'm going to swim at the New Zealand Short Course Nationals next month and then Masters again when the next event comes that's fabulous.

Danielle Spurling: 7:30

Now I read that you had done a PB in your 53 at 31. That's a lifetime PB. What, what was? What was the? Um the time that you swam?

Laura Quliter: 7:41

I swam 25.31 this year and previous to that. My best ever is 25.8 wow.

Danielle Spurling: 7:48

So what do you put that down to? Obviously, your mindset's different. You you've sort of been able to put it in perspective, but what physically have you been able to do? Like? What change have you made from the training you used to do to what you do now?

Laura Quliter: 8:02

yeah, I have to to. I have to look at it fairly. In 2016 I was I'd moved up an event, so I was targeting the 200 freestyle in that season because it was a more likely chance of making the Olympic team. So, comparing apples with apples, I was targeting, you know, an event that was four times longer. I have, or had always been, a sprinter, so it's not like I was always swimming that 200.

Laura Quliter: 8:27

But, in terms of the main differences, my volume in the pool is so much less and that's because of a few factors A. I don't recover as fast as I used to. As much as I wish, I'll get into bed and feel like I weigh twice twice my normal weight because I'm just so fatigued, so the volume's down, um, and then because I'm, I don't have as much time as I did when I was a full-time swimmer. I'm much more focused on getting the best out of every session and I've noticed that I'm a much more, I suppose, aware of like how I move my body, and I've done a personal training certificate and I'm a nurse now.

Laura Quliter: 9:08

So my understanding of biology, physiology, the musculature, is actually a lot better than it was when I was swimming, and that's given me this entirely new approach of understanding the smaller muscles to engage, and the biggest one, actually, I think, is understanding respiration properly and how we oxygenate the muscles. And the biggest one, actually, I think, is understanding respiration properly and how we oxygenate the muscles and the ability to use the diaphragm when we're in this environment. That actually slightly compresses the thorax, making it harder to breathe, and also any kind of panic or unease means that we tend to breathe more shallow and we use the accessory muscles up through the neck, and that actually probably used to cause a bit of my. My neck pain, in terms of the prevalence of breathing disorders, is actually really common, and I noticed that, probably because of swimming, I used to breathe through my mouth and so even when I'm at work, I've been really aware of trying to focus on breathing through the nose and using my diaphragm and I think, in a small way, that has transferred to my swimming.

Danielle Spurling: 10:08

That's so interesting. Yeah, I love that that's. I think that's something that people you know would get a lot from thinking about, because I feel like I do that same thing, yeah, in terms of what I thought about breathing eight years ago.

Laura Quliter: 10:24

I used to think about the frequency and the position, so I would think my breathing pattern is every two or it's every four and I want to make sure that I'm rolling with the body. And that's where it ended, whereas now I am thinking about those aspects, but I'm also thinking about the depth of my breath and how I hold it, if that makes sense. I'm really trying not to be too tense and, like I'm quite a visual person, I'm trying to think of how that oxygen is really spreading through my body and getting it out as well. So playing around with different exhale techniques. I know that when we're taught to swim it's often that trickle of exhale and I think that's important because that's to develop a sense of comfort in the water. But I kind of prefer this like nasal exhale as my face comes into the water, and then a slight hold and a big burst before I breathe. But then it's interesting watching the international swimmers because there's also a different range of how they exhale some hold, some trickle, some burst it's.

Danielle Spurling: 11:27

Yeah, I've got a whole different way of seeing swimming yeah, I mean that that's really a fantastic perspective, and I think so, looking at your 50 freestyle what? What did you used to breathe in that and what do you breathe in that now? Do you take a?

Laura Quliter: 11:46

breath. That was really fun because I decided to trial no breathing because that's what the um world record holder she, she doesn't breathe. So I was like, well, I'm not a world record holder, but let's see how close. You know, let's close the gap, and that's what I say to people when I'm coaching it doesn't matter if you're new to swimming closing the gap on where you want to be. And that gap may never get close, but there's something to aim at. So I decided to play around with that and I got more and more comfortable racing no breathing. But I found I couldn't sustain my stroke rate. So my times were coming down.

Laura Quliter: 12:21

I PB'd without breathing, but at the trials I actually started. I made the decision that I would take one breath at about the 35 meter mark, and that was kind of a to get a bit of that oxygen in, but also as a reset. I would see that little t at the 35 meter mark and it was this like you know, let's up the cadence of the kick, make sure that the head position's correct, because I often dig my head in with the. You know, when you're trying really hard, you get a little bit more bound up in the muscles. So at 35 meters. It was bang, get that oxygen, and then what else is there? Obviously, it's not that really long thought out process. That was happening in my training when I went to race. It was just this execution of skills and trusting that everything in the background would come through in those you know 25 seconds.

Danielle Spurling: 13:12

So, in terms of your training for that race training for 50, do you practice that kind of breath control in training or is it just something you're doing in a race?

Laura Quliter: 13:22

Definitely in training. So that was something that I had to get used to in some awful training sets, because I really don't enjoy that hypoxic style. I don't know if anyone else feels that when you do restrict the breathing and when you breathe again and the muscles kind of tighten and you might get a little bit lightheaded. So it's always best to obviously do hypoxic work with A somebody being aware of you doing it or with a training partner, um, because there are real risks to it. But I did notice my tolerance started to get better and one of the sets that I did quite frequently was a 25 meter underwater max. I would come up and it would. The rest would be five breaths. So it wasn't a timed rest, it was I would allow myself five breaths and then it was a 25 max, no breathing and then long rest.

Laura Quliter: 14:11

So underwater control, the breathing for five and the idea of that again Really getting my body used to using the diaphragm and controlling you know the head as well, because if you come up and you just take five quick breaths, then you got to go again. You just tie up and it's very challenging. Um, the first few times I did that I had to wear fins I couldn't make it without. Then I kind of graduated towards slow underwater without fins. Um until you know repetitively I built up to be able to do it without fins at a hard fast pace.

Danielle Spurling: 14:46

That's fantastic. I, when I think about my breath control, when I'm in training, I find it harder to get the air out so that I have enough room to take more in. Yeah, I am the exact same. Yeah, it's a funny feeling and I think, um, like I breathe 4242 in my hundreds and 200s, but if I go into a 50 and I probably need to do this more in training I don't breathe as often and that's when I get a bit stumped.

Laura Quliter: 15:15

So something like you've just described is really good practice for that kind of thing yeah, and I mixed it up a lot with 25, so I do one lap of really um, well thought, thought out dps, so like no breathing, long and slow, and then a 25 max, no breathing. So I kind of went from this like relaxed, hypoxic state to you know, max effort without breathing yeah, oh, fabulous.

Danielle Spurling: 15:39

And so, in terms of your training, you mentioned you've joined a master's club. Are you training with a coach or are you doing all your own sort of workouts, riding them yourself?

Laura Quliter: 15:52

I've been a solo battler this entire year. Wow, yeah, I've joined a club, but it's quite a cool club because you can, you know, pop into the Sunday sessions or the weekday ones or you don't have to. They're very accommodating. And I've also joined a club for competitive swimming. So I'm kind of, as I said, in these two worlds.

Laura Quliter: 16:16

So last year, at the end of last year, what was really good to kind of kick my butt a bit and get in was to train with a squad, and that I found really challenging. The sessions were awesome but, holy moly, they were hard and I was only training for the 50 at that point. So, you know, doing, doing lots of volume, I was kind of. I still love swimming, but I've done my dash with the really big mileage and, um, you know, actually it wasn't even big mileage in that squat, it was just hard graft that I would need for 100 and 200 and probably would have helped the 50. So that was a great way to dip the toes back in.

Laura Quliter: 16:48

But it's been quite a I don't know how to describe it. It's been a really unique experience training myself this year. Um, you know, through the dips of like low motivation and having to reach out to a few people and it's been really fun. I've been more free to join other people and have others to train with, so it's been this amazing fluid experience. And still being able to join in with my club as well is awesome because there's such a cool group of people yeah, that sounds really good.

Danielle Spurling: 17:18

I mean, it's good that you've you've got that flexibility. Obviously you're working and you're doing all these other things and so training by yourself, you can fit it in whenever you want to. But how? How often are you training each week? Like what's a typical weekly schedule for you?

Laura Quliter: 17:32

uh, for the 50 this year for my pb, I was probably only swimming three times a week, um, but those three sessions you know I would turn up, I would be mentally there for the whole session, if that makes sense. I wasn't letting my mind wander and it was all purposeful, um, but I was in the gym probably four to five times a week and I did supplement my gym with spin classes a lot actually. So in my thought process, behind the spin classes was I needed A, an increase in power in my legs, but also an increase in cadence for the kicking and when you're on those spin bikes going really fast, your hip flexors and things are going and it's a really tough, really really hard cardiovascular workout which, if I was being honest with myself, you know those are the steps that I found really hard to do by myself. I could do the short sprints but to do the like, more VO2 max and the threshold sets, they were actually really challenging for me to do and I'd be wanting to pull out early and all this kind of stuff.

Laura Quliter: 18:32

So my naughty way around that was to try and do on a spin bike, um, in a class with like loud music and lights, and for the 50 it worked, um, you know, and what was quite cool is my times came down sequentially every single race. So I don't think I'm quite done. I think I might have one more nationals in me because I didn't reach the plateau, but whether or not that training approach is the best moving forward, I think swimming is such a unique sport where we have to work in this environment that's got so much more resistance and you need to be just so technically excellent that I have started to increase my focus in the pool as much as I miss my gym. I'm doing 100 freestyle at the short course national. So for the 50 I was swimming three times a week, um, and now I'm swimming trying to go five, six, if I can right, wow, that is a big step up.

Danielle Spurling: 19:27

So almost double the k's that you're probably doing each week in doing so yeah, yeah, the k's still aren't big if you consider my background.

Laura Quliter: 19:36

They're big in terms of the recent training cycle. But what I really want my body to get used to particularly is the underwater kicking, because that's something that's never been a strength but for underwater. So the New Zealand A standard for the world champs this year is a 53.7. And you've got to be pretty fast underwater to swim that quick. So my best ever is a 54.00. So if I can drop 0.3 it'd be pretty cool to be back on the national team. But you know that's that's just a cherry on the top kind of thing. I just want to have another go at racing in the short course season.

Danielle Spurling: 20:11

Yes, yes, absolutely. Look, tell us a little bit about your Commonwealth Games experience in 2014. So you're off to Glasgow. What did you represent New Zealand in what events?

Laura Quliter: 20:22

So I was selected on the 4x1 women's freestyle relay team and also the 50 butterfly, so that was the greatest experience of my swimming career. I didn't manage to kind of step up after that, so it's just this one amazing memory. But I think what I'm almost most proud of is that I did do personal bests in every event over there. So I took, you know, I think it's quite a tough thing to be able to step up on an international stage and I'm quite an excitable person. I think if you've got this capacity to take that energy and excitement but funnel it into an effective swim, that's quite good, because it can go both ways. I think there's almost this like arousal bell curve of like being too hyped up and too tense and also being too low, like if you at the end of the career or it's an event you're not interested in and you just don't want to swim. That's also too low. So managing my I suppose, excitement levels and minimizing anxiety was quite challenging.

Laura Quliter: 21:23

But the one like there were two really cool moments, like I remember, in the marshalling rooms. They were underneath the pool and so when people were like jumping in the stands, I kind of, in a weird, weird way, I felt like I was a gladiator right, like you're about to walk out onto stage, but all you can hear are these people like screaming. You don't know what's going on. I don't know if there were TVs or not, but it was just this noise and then this like sweet smell of chlorine and sweat, because there's all these women, because obviously it's the relay, so there's lots of people sweating because they're probably nervous and they're warmed up, and then obviously chlorine because it's swimming and it was such a visceral kind of I've still got that memory in my head and walking out, you know, holding that girl's hands and getting to represent the country, that was such a cool experience. And then actually Australia Australia broke the world record in that event, so like that was also amazing.

Danielle Spurling: 22:20

Yeah, yeah, I mean that 4x100 Australian women's relay is pretty phenomenal, aren't they?

Laura Quliter: 22:27

Oh, I'm so excited for the Olympics. The Australian team is absolutely swimming out of their skin at the moment and we've got a few New Zealanders that are looking like our team's exciting this year.

Danielle Spurling: 22:38

Yeah, I agree. I mean Erica Fairweather and Eve Thomas. I mean you've got some great sort of females on the team and obviously Lewis Claiborne.

Laura Quliter: 22:47

Yeah, I can't wait. It's going to be awesome.

Danielle Spurling: 22:49

I know, yeah, I was going to ask you. That's one of my questions later.

Laura Quliter: 23:02

Which one of my questions later what, uh, which New Zealanders you want you thought we should look out for? Oh, you've named them. Yeah, erica. Erica and Lewis, absolutely, but I wouldn't discount Eve either. She's just like going strength to strength and and stepping up on those international levels. You know she performed so well at the world champs earlier this year. So was it this year? I think so yeah, yeah, february yeah, covid's confusing, I know Too many pinnacles in a year.

Danielle Spurling: 23:20

I know Well she has such a strong background. Obviously her mum was Sarah Hardcastle and, you know, raced for England and she's obviously training in Australia with Dean Boxall. So she's got the best of both worlds.

Laura Quliter: 23:32

Yeah, absolutely.

Danielle Spurling: 23:38

And yeah, absolutely, and she's so tough like, yeah, is she awesome, yeah, yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how she goes um up against our arnie, so it'll be very interesting. Oh, what I was going to also ask you was a little bit, um, when you mentioned the come off games and that sort of sense of you remember things because of the smell of the chlorine and the sweat and what was happening. But when you walked out onto the pool deck for that four by one relay to get yourself into that zone, do you have any techniques that you use to sort of calm yourself down so that you're in that sort of optimal level of the arousal inverted you?

Laura Quliter: 24:14

yeah. So I think, um, brief work helps me a lot, like kind of an extended exhale, because I tend to be more on the nervous side, so for me it's important to not be, not be too tense. Um, and then visualizing the changeover was probably the more important part. So I was the second swimmer and, um, I don't know how many other people are terrified of a break, but that was mine. I was like you know what, if I can see it in my head before I do it, then the rest, as I said, it takes care of itself.

Laura Quliter: 24:45

You've benched the training and we did our pre-cab in Mallorca in Spain, and that was the fastest I've ever swum before. So I kind of had that in the back of my head, being like you know, if I can replicate what I've trained to do, then you know, just trust that it's in there. I think I used to get in my way a lot in terms of overthinking and I hadn't realized, until I probably quit, that I had a big fear of failure too, and I think focusing on what could go wrong is definitely not the best mindset, and that's something that has been really fun to come back to, because you know, as I said, that, those that arbitrary pressure creeping in earlier this year and then, you know, having a bit of a reality check, just to say it's my choice to be doing this. I'm paying for everything. Now like it's quite a different experience.

Danielle Spurling: 25:36

Yeah, I think that's a great perspective. Absolutely, we'll be back with Laura after this short break. Did you know that you can now subscribe to the podcast by becoming a supporter of the show? It helps us continue to put out our weekly content, which is free to all who listen. You can become a subscriber through following the link in our Instagram bio at Torpedo Swim Talk podcast or via the button on our Torpedo Swim Talk website. It's as little as $3.

Danielle Spurling: 26:10

The subscription will give you extra content that I know you're going to enjoy, like getting advanced notifications that a new episode has dropped. You'll receive four swim training workouts a month. You'll become a member of our private WhatsApp group and you'll get a shout out on the show, and we have new content coming up all the time that we add in. Now back to Laura, and you recently got a little bit into ice swimming. Can you tell us a little bit about ice swimming, what are the sort of the rules and regulations around it for those people who don't know much about it that are listening and a little bit about the competition that you recently did.

Laura Quliter: 26:47

Yeah. So I just found this sport on Instagram. It like popped up on a reel six months ago and I thought, well, that'd be a heck of a challenge. Like I hate the cold, let's go swim in some five degrees. Like let's just see what happens. You know, um, but in terms of what the sport is, it started in 2009, uh, and involves swimmers competing in water that's less than five degrees celsius, in just a standard swimsuit and cap, so you can't wear your wetsuits or your neoprene caps. Um, I raced in a like standard issue racing suits, like a speedo suit and some of the other nuances of the sport.

Laura Quliter: 27:25

For safety is all athletes start in the water, so it's a push start. You have to surface by five meters, so you've got. You don't have the underwaters and it's also touch turns. So you know, that was all, um, something to get used to, particularly when I'm simultaneously training for short course, which is, you know, working on underwaters. Um, but that's all part of the journey. And then the last part, for safety as well as you, you compete with a belt around your middle and that's in case you pass out. They can drag you, drag you out. Oh, okay, I actually got into trouble because, you know, being that racing mindset, I did one up as tight as I could to reduce drag. And then we had like a safety meeting saying, hey, they actually need to be a little bit looser because otherwise the rescuer who's got these big gloves on can't actually get under the belt.

Laura Quliter: 28:16

So I loosened it the next day, um. But I suppose my motivation for getting into this wild sport which I now would absolutely recommend um was just a psychological challenge. You know, swimming 100 meters is nothing to me anymore because it's something I've done for so many years. But doing that in like less than five degrees seemed pretty radical. So I also my original intent was to do the 100 meter freestyle and that was the longest event.

Laura Quliter: 28:44

As my training developed I started to wonder what could be possible and I was nudged a little bit by a friend and I signed up to the 500 and that was so hard, like that was one of the hardest things I've ever done. But when I finished I was kind of like well, could I do the thousand like um. So I entered the thousand actually at the event, um, and that was amazing. I actually had somebody ask you know, is it, does it have any health benefits? And I don't know, because that was a pretty wild ride. It took me about two hours to completely recover after the thousand meters, um and my. My splits for perspective went from a 34 to a 51 per 50, yeah, but the, the whole journey was actually awesome because it, it, just it made me like this sounds really weird, like more in my body. So I was like less affected by the elements. You know like having to just strip off and get into my togs and swim at the beach when it's howling with wind and rain and dive into the lake sorry, feet first, don't dive into cold water, into the lake and, um, just get, get it done was really fun.

Laura Quliter: 29:53

And there's something quite exciting about like leaving your nursing shift, getting like changed in your big hoodie thing and getting into the water and being like I've gone from you know, like caring for these people, to just like being out in the wild in the middle of winter and I definitely felt that rush and I understand why people get into it. But what I would say was really interesting for me is I've got a certain level of exposure which I really enjoy and above that it's really not pleasant. So I enjoy about 20 minutes at the moment. More than that, the recovery time's really long for me and I just I don't really enjoy it. But I do think you know, with more training that would increase in time. But that was interesting on reflection. It's like cold swimming was awesome, but everyone's got different capacities and for me 20 minutes is awesome, but more than that not so much fun yes, I can imagine, like I saw on your Instagram, you were doing your recovery and it looked um a little bitous.

Danielle Spurling: 30:55

So can you talk us through how you recovered from that swim?

Laura Quliter: 30:59

Yeah. So before I did the 1,000, one of the ladies, a really impressive swimmer, she's done the ice mile and she told me before my race that she got a stress fracture in her spine from all the shivering and I was like what am I getting myself into? And you know, I want to challenge, I don't want to push myself too far. So I always had the mindset of like, if it gets too crazy, just pull pin. And I have to admit, like 10 laps to go. What was really interesting, I'll get to the recovery.

Laura Quliter: 31:28

But I had to change my stroke. Like in swimming you don't want to rotate too far side to side. I say to people it's like running. You know, if you run and you twist your body 90, 90, it's not very efficient. It's the same with swimming. But I had to do that at the end of that swim because my shoulders were so cold that I felt like I was dragging my hands as they were coming forward. So what I did notice is like I had to just roll my trunk, like really accentuate that movement just to finish.

Laura Quliter: 31:58

So when I did finish, I needed assistance into the medical room. So I wasn't actually able to stand up and I felt like I was 100% aware the whole time. But there were a few people afterwards that were saying, you know, I remember this or that, and I thought, holy moly, like I think I was a little bit more in space land than I realized, um, but it's all very methodical. So the recovery basically, there's a huge medical team and they will look at the athletes and, depending on your state in the event like when you're swimming, how you're looking, how your pace is dropping and also how you exit the water will dictate how you're cared for. So I was taken immediately to the medical room because I was unable to stand unassisted. Um, I did need a wheelchair, which was good. Um, managed to walk with support, um, but they they needed to dress me.

Laura Quliter: 32:48

So I got stripped out of my suit, um, and patted dry. So when an athlete is really cold, they can't tell you if you're ripping their skin because they can't, like I couldn't really feel what's going on. So they pat you dry and then it's really important that you start to layer smartly. So the first layer was merino, because that helps to wick moisture but also warm at the same time. So pat dry and then get a whole bunch of layers on and then it's all about kind of this um, slow heating. So I was laid on a bed under like I know a couple of sleeping bags and then all these hot water bottles kind of patted around me and from that point, like I had my eyes closed most of the time because I was so nauseous, and it was, I think, the reason it was such an amazing experience.

Laura Quliter: 33:35

I just had to accept what my body was doing, because the the shaking like I had experienced that in my training, but only to a mild level because a lot of my training was done by myself so I couldn't really push it too far um, but it was so violent like I just you know, full shaking, and then you kind of come out a little bit, have a chat with someone, and then it would just hit you again. And I'm so glad the person before the event told me that the recovery was harder than the swim, because it was so right. Like the swim was really amazing because you're in control you know I'm going to finish this or you're still okay but in the recovery phase your body's just like taking over. It was quite, quite a weird sensation. But everyone also reacts differently. You know, my friend was like he recovered in half the time and he went to the changing room first and yeah, okay, oh, so it's quite different obviously yeah, there's actually.

Laura Quliter: 34:33

Yeah, there was an amazing athlete from Australia actually and she shocked me because she was so chill, like like just no shaking, was having a bit of chocolate or something afterwards, and I was looking at her like how.

Danielle Spurling: 34:47

How did you prepare, prepare with your training for it? Were you just training in a cold water pool and getting a little bit more each time, or did you stay with your normal training?

Laura Quliter: 34:58

um. So it took me a long time to build up the confidence to actually swim cold. So, like most of my training, because my my mindset going in was specificity, so I was like I, the water I'm going to swim in is less than five degrees, so the beach is up at like 14, the lake's probably the same. So I thought I really need to understand what it feels like to be in the cold water. So most of my sessions were actually done in an ice bath and what I did was I just wanted to work on simple exposure to start with. So how long can I just sit in here? And once I could do about five minutes, then I went into the submersion. And I tell you what the first time I put my face in that ice bath, the pain was such a unique experience because like I could put my face in. But when I started blowing bubbles to practice and those bubbles were hitting me in the forehead, it was like getting little punches. It was so weird. So that took quite a lot.

Laura Quliter: 35:57

But on reflection, doing the ice bath submersions, like going underwater and practicing like bubble bubbles and rolls, just you know, sat in this little tub. I think that worked really well, because when I got into that water my friend had been training in the rivers down south. They got colder so he was training in about seven degrees but he was like, holy moly, like that water we raced at two degrees, by the way. So the nationals was like my K was done at 2.1 degrees, which is pretty wild.

Laura Quliter: 36:26

So, yeah, most of it was done in an ice bath and then I did start to go more into like the ocean and the lakes. I probably should have done a bit more of that. But, as I said, like that was for me the biggest psychological challenge and what I found really interesting was like how my mindset was going into like a cold water, either an ice bath or a swim. The mindset mattered so much because my tolerance for the cold was so much dictated on how I felt, which is not so much in swimming. Like I feel like it was just exaggerated or exacerbated by the cold.

Danielle Spurling: 37:03

Yeah, absolutely, will you do it again?

Laura Quliter: 37:05

Yeah well, I you know, pending my ability to fundraise, I think I might go to the World Champs in.

Danielle Spurling: 37:10

January oh fantastic. Where are they being held? They're in.

Laura Quliter: 37:14

Molvino, which is a Italian city or town with 1000 people.

Danielle Spurling: 37:20

Oh, wow, and they're going to hold the World Championships.

Laura Quliter: 37:24

Yeah. So the people I met down at the ice nationals, they were awesome, so I've kind of got all excited about that. But you know, as I said, it's kind of it's uh hopeful but not a definite at this stage.

Danielle Spurling: 37:33

And are they? Are they running those in a lake or are they doing it in a pool?

Laura Quliter: 37:37

I think it's both because the the most coveted. So if you look at ice swimming, if you google it, there's warm, cool and ice, I think, or warm, cold, ice. Warm means that you've, like, signed up to ice swimming. I think I should fact check this. Cold means that you've done, warm means you've competed, cold means you've done a thousand and ice means you've done the ice mile. And there's also, like the extreme ice mile, which is 1.6 kilometers and sub two degrees, which I don't know how humans actually do that, but that's amazing. So I think I'm a cold swimmer now, which is exciting. I've graduated from warm um, so the world champs. To my knowledge there's. There's definitely pool races, because that's what I'm going for, um, but I'm guessing there's. There's lake stuff as well, because it's on a beautiful lake, but I'm actually not sure.

Danielle Spurling: 38:27

I've seen sort of Instagram of a guy that I actually had on the podcast. He's an ice swimmer, peter Plavik. I don't know whether you follow him, but he oh yes.

Laura Quliter: 38:37

He's awesome. Yeah, I follow him.

Danielle Spurling: 38:44

Some of his footage is in.

Laura Quliter: 38:46

It looks like in a lake, but they've put sort of they've put ends into it, so it's sort of like a pool in a lake, if that makes sense. Oh, interesting, yeah, I wonder if it will be. Yeah, some of some of the photos online are pretty wild where, yeah, there's like snow coming through and I think I read somewhere that they put led or not like led, but they put a light down. You know if it, if it's under the lake, because for me, you know if you're sprinting, it's like sprinting blind, like I think we put the light there so you can follow the black line, basically.

Danielle Spurling: 39:14

Oh, that's a good idea. I didn't know about that. Yeah, fantastic. I just wanted to circle back to something you said before, where, when you were training for that 50, you did sort of four to five sessions of strength work, and I know you're a personal trainer as well and you're obviously in charge of your own strength training. What are your sort of philosophies behind training strength for a swimmer?

Laura Quliter: 39:39

I think it needs to be well structured and have like a long lead in time. So hypertrophy is kind of this word that freaks a lot of people out because they assume that it's going to make you like the body builders up on stage. But the the truth of building muscle like that level of conditioning takes years and years of like optimal nutrition and lifting like specifically. So I think for me I finally got rid of this fear that I was going to get really, really bulky. When I was swimming younger I didn't want to lift heavy because I was afraid of like what I might look like. I'm definitely a lot physically stronger, but my philosophy is that you want a base of hypertrophy, so that's getting the body used to lifting with good technique at a somewhat higher rep range, so that it'd be, like you know, 12 to 15 reps and you can even start on machines to get the body. I think machines are awesome because they take away a lot of um mistakes. You know you move in a smooth plane of motion and you can build a lot of strength before you start to use the barbells and kettlebells and dumbbells. So I think a base of hypertrophy and the goal behind that is to both build strength but also technique. From there you want to build strength, and so that's a lower, lower rep range a little bit faster, and from there those two kind of blocks will allow you to go into the more explosive power, plyometric, the kind of fun stuff which I really enjoyed and, ironically, one of the best things that happened to me is I had to rehab a back injury last year and so the physio actually advised a heavy strength program, which I absolutely hated. I persisted with it because I was terrified that my back would be injured long term. I'm very tall, so you know looking after my spine is quite important. So, as much as I hated it, I persisted with this and, weirdly, at like three months of dragging myself to the gym and, you know, doing like deadlifts and squats and stuff, I just suddenly started enjoying the gym and I think it's because I could see the gains and at that point there was nothing about performance, it was just like get your body strong, um.

Laura Quliter: 42:02

But yeah, in terms of the philosophy, I think I don't actually think that swimming, um, specific stuff needs to be incorporated.

Laura Quliter: 42:11

Like my gym conditioning is about like strengthening the body with a bias towards the musculature that's used in swimming, but also with balance, because we're very anterior, so we use a lot of the front of the body.

Laura Quliter: 42:24

So incorporating back stuff is important for maintaining posture and also just well-being of the entire person, rather than just making them ridiculously strong. And just a set number of movements um, rotational and anti-rotational movements, I think can like just completely transform people's ability to swim, because it emphasizes that cross-body connection and you know that hip drive. So a lot of that connection can be challenging for newer swimmers, but when you feel it it just allows you to generate so much more speed. And the way I explain it to people is if you've ever done boxing and you stand there and you just like punch a bag, versus if you get that like you know that hip drive and you come through the amount of power that you generate through that punch when you use the hips, versus if you're just standing there punching. That's the same with swimming if you can learn to coordinate the core, so be able to, you know, use the shoulders and the hips, um, in unison. I think that's just one of the best things.

Laura Quliter: 43:28

So I don't have a beautiful philosophy to kind of just like, you know, just one line banger but yeah basically it needs to be um, it's a kind of a long process, but it's one that's well worth doing, and especially for master swimmers. You know, when we get older, unfortunately, as great as swimming is, for so many things, it's a non-weight-bearing activity. So if it's your primary source of movement, incorporating strength training as we age is so important because you're not getting that like, um, that stimulus to build bone density which we're at risk of, especially women as well, as we age.

Danielle Spurling: 44:05

So, yeah, passion, like definitely a passion point strength and conditioning yeah, yeah, I've really got into it in the last few years. I was, I just, you know, sort of played around with it but I've really made a sort of a commitment to I go definitely twice a week to do it, but I try to do three, but you know. But I'm trying to get in swims and spin and pilates and that's hard to get it fitted all in yeah, absolutely.

Laura Quliter: 44:33

What made you decide to focus on it?

Danielle Spurling: 44:36

a few injuries. I had bursitis in my shoulder and I think that you know I was definitely sort of relying more on those upper. I wasn't tracking my shoulders correctly and I wasn't using the lats. So I really was trying to, you know, strengthen that and get a little bit more balance in my body. I felt like it was uneven on both sides and my legs were weak, even though I'm a good kicker. My legs were quite weak and I'm a good kicker. My legs were quite weak and I wanted to work on that as well and I'm I'm just now starting to see a little bit of an improvement just a tiny bit, but I can feel. I can feel it. But as you get older, once you have one or two weeks off, you start to sort of you can tell it yeah, you know, feel it, go back. I can feel it in the water, go back as well. So it is something that you know it needs to be ongoing.

Laura Quliter: 45:28

Yeah, absolutely. And I think I saw something on my social media and just a reel and it said it was like the 10 minute rule and I loved it. It just said you know, on the days that you can't be bothered, even if it's like at home putting on like a strength thing on YouTube and just doing 10 minutes and from there if you're still not feeling it, you can leave it. But often, getting past that threshold of 10 minutes, you walk into the gym and you start your program for 10 minutes and from there you're allowed to leave if you want to. But I just thought that was such a cool idea. Obviously, like if you need rest, then then prioritize it, but if it's just a lull and that kind of motivational discipline, that 10 minute rule is quite a cool little idea.

Danielle Spurling: 46:10

I like that idea because I think sometimes the hardest part is actually getting to the gym. It's not what you're doing at the gym.

Laura Quliter: 46:17

I so agree and honestly, I've got the most insane um, like hurdles that I sorry, yeah, like strategies to hurdle over those barriers. So like I'll often blast some terrible music that I would never listen to. Like I'm talking like kind of screamo stuff, like I don't listen to that at all and just start getting ready and then leave and somehow that like blaring music like gets me really pumped and it might not be the best nutritional. I mean, I also use energy drinks. You know, on those low days they're such a treat for me because I actually really like them. I wish I didn't, but I do so if I can't be bothered, but I know it's an important day, I'll often treat myself with like an energy drink and then often I have like a great session because I'm like, oh, I got to like have my beta alanine today, world championships for ice swimming and trying out for short course.

Danielle Spurling: 47:11

New Zealand nationals, are you considering world masters championships in Singapore next year? I?

Laura Quliter: 47:18

would love to. It all depends on funding, yeah, yeah, I mean I'm like in a very awesome position where I'm in my new home my partner and I purchased in November, um, but that comes with, obviously, a lot of restriction in terms of what I can and can't do, um. But you know, I've started online coaching and things and that has been my way of hopefully being able to to follow this um newfound passion for master swimming, because I I didn't even realize when I was swimming that they follow the world champs. So you know and it's, I've met a few people online, um, that are into that master swimming, that go to all the big meets, and it's something I definitely want to be involved in. So would love to be there, but let's see how it goes yes, yes.

Danielle Spurling: 48:03

Well, we'll definitely also put a link to your website, your coaching platform, in the show notes so people can follow that up with you and have a look at that as well oh, awesome, thank you yeah, now everyone that comes on the podcast, I ask them the deep dive five, which is five favorites um in the questions that I ask you. So just give me the first thing that pops into your mind Favorite pool that you've ever swum in.

Laura Quliter: 48:27

Oh my gosh, the first one there's so many. Weirdly, the one in Auckland that's 60 meters long. It was a sunny day and I can't remember the name of it and it's terrible. Oh my gosh, there's one in Auckland that's 60 meters long.

Danielle Spurling: 48:41

Sorry, okay, that's right. There's one in Auckland that's 60 metres long. Sorry, okay, that's right. We'll look it up and we can put that in. The 60 metre pool is the Parnell Baths. What's your favourite freestyle drill?

Laura Quliter: 48:53

Penguin kick. It's not technically a freestyle. Well, yeah, it's a freestyle kick drill yeah.

Danielle Spurling: 48:57

Yeah, and what do you do with your arms when you do that?

Laura Quliter: 48:59

Do you have them at the side, just at the side, just at the side and that has been probably the drill that's helped my body position the most. So how often would you breathe every? How many kicks? Um, none, if I'm using a snorkel, or I tend to like the goal for me. So this is more on that sprint technique. I would be thinking about keeping my hips pointed at the bottom, so kicking hard, but getting my shoulders dry. So it's almost like twisting your body, um, but keeping the core tight. So I'd like twist about three or four times and then I would breathe. And when you breathe you've got to keep that kick cadence up, because if you like pause, you know you just sink. So yeah, I'd often do it with a snorkel or breathing every three or four twists.

Danielle Spurling: 49:44

Yeah, okay, that's a good one.

Laura Quliter: 49:50

How about your favorite main set for 100-meter freestyle fitness. Really good set. That's actually from my like competitive years. It was 100 all out, 275s all out, 350s, trying to hit 100 pace and 425s and it was just awful so it just made you want to vomit and you'd have to do that. I think it was three times in the early season and then it would drop to two and one in taper. So 100 max, 275, max, 350s, trying to hold 100 pace and 425s with whatever you you had left and how much rest interval did they give you in those?

Laura Quliter: 50:27

it was quite a lot. I think it was possibly doing the 100s on two minutes, 30, and then I can't remember the 75s, but we would have had at least a minute. Then the 50s were on less rest, so they were on 110, and then the 25s were on about 45 seconds well, that's a tough one, yeah lactate through the roof?

Danielle Spurling: 50:49

yeah, of course. And what's your uh favorite pre-race snack? A musashi energy drink, okay that's okay.

Laura Quliter: 50:59

That's the. That's the naughty answer, but that's that is definitely my favorite. Um, otherwise, I just love peanut butter and jam on toast. It's like the safe option that I really enjoy and it doesn't leave me bloated.

Danielle Spurling: 51:12

That's a nice one and last question how about swimmer you most admire and why?

Laura Quliter: 51:17

Lauren Boyle um, she's a close yeah, close friend now, um, but the way that she thinks about swimming, how much she's influenced my swimming, um, you know a from the way that she conceptualizes it and and thinks about it, but also just swimming alongside her and watching what she does under the water like she's a phenomenal swimmer and a phenomenal person.

Danielle Spurling: 51:41

So it's yeah, it's an easy one yes, yeah, she's got a bit of a sad story, hasn't she? Because did she get a world record that wasn't then counted because they didn't do the survey of the pool?

Laura Quliter: 51:54

I thought it was acknowledged.

Danielle Spurling: 51:56

Oh, it was maybe I think, because she's saying that was the 1500 meter short course in wellington. Yeah, I'm actually not sure yeah, I thought that that was one of the stories, but I could be off base there. I was going to check that out yeah, that'd be awesome.

Danielle Spurling: 52:12

I just saw the time, I just thought it was a little bit cool, but I don't know whether it was ratified yeah, yeah, because sometimes if they don't do the survey of the pool or it's not an official survey, then they they won't recognize it, which is crushing, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, laura, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. It's been delightful talking to you and hearing about your swimming journey and telling us all about your ice swimming as well. And best of luck with all of those championships coming up. I'm sure you're going to do really well. Thank you, with all of those championships coming up, I'm sure you're going to do really well. Thank you, it was so awesome to chat. Yeah, same, okay, then Bye, see ya. Thanks for listening in to today's episode. I hope you enjoyed my chat with Laura. Don't forget to check out Laura's website at auramoveNZcom to connect with Laura and find out more about what she offers.

Danielle Spurling: 53:06

I wanted to welcome some new subscribers to the Swim Talkers Fold. Welcome to Dee, teddy, emma, sarah and Kelvin. I hope you enjoy being on the inner sanctum of Torpedo Swim Talk Till next time. Happy swimming and bye for now.