SPECIAL SETS
TRAINING
Coach Richard Hunter of TIDE Swimming in Virginia Beach, Va. discusses goals and workouts for one of his top swimmers, Kayla Wilson, a rising senior at Norfolk Academy who recently committed to Stanford for fall 2022. BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
S
eventeen-year-old Kayla Wilson shares some swimming genes. Her brother, Will, was a multi-time Virginia Independent School champion. Mom, Katy Arris, was a USA Swimming national team member, NCAA 1650 yard freestyle champion and 17-time All-American at the University of Texas. Kayla herself has compiled an impressive résumé since beginning a competitive aquatic career at age 5. Currently she is a six-time VISAA and six-time Virginia LSC state champion. Her home club is TIDE Swimming, where she has trained with Richard Hunter and the team’s national group since joining as a freshman in 2018. Following is a snapshot of her improvement in best times: Best Times through 2017-18 Season
Current Best Times
EVENT
SCY
LC
SCY
LC
50 Free
24.06
26.94
23.03
25.91
100 Free
51.29
58.57
49.30
55.68
200 Free
1:49.74
2:04.55
1:44.90
1:59.54
500/400 Free
4:58.46
4:39.28
4:47.37
4:23.15
100 Back
1:03.26
1:09
55.28
1:02.76
200 Back
2:05.22
2:30.72
1:58.05
Unrested
“As an age group swimmer, we saw a lot of upside with Kayla,” says Hunter. “She was very coachable, had a tendency to swim big and loved to race, especially when it mattered most. She is also one of the most competitive athletes I have ever coached. She has a quiet demeanor and is generally fairly stoic, but she hates losing. She is an athlete who wants the responsibility to anchor every relay. “When she joined the national group, my job was to improve her in-season racing and give her confidence to perform in practice. Kayla was not bad at practice, but she raced better than she practiced, and had labeled herself as a ‘meet swimmer,’” he says. 30
AUGUST 2021
SWIMMINGWORLD.COM
THE PLAN
“I set four main goals for her: “First, I gave her measurable data points so she could monitor improvement outside of competition. She had to learn to train different energy systems and get faster within a given energy system. Kayla had a black-and-white mentality of “I am either going fast or slow” when it came to training. “We use beats below max (BBM) when asking the athletes to measure heart rate. This gives them training zones that are relevant to them and their individual max heart rates as opposed to just asking everyone to be at a specific heart rate, i.e. 150. “As an example, Kayla’s max heart rate on a 10-second count is 34 (204/1:00). For our purposes, we use 30BBM as a threshold training zone. Her heart rate in that range is 29 beats in 10 seconds (174/1:00). We use a 10-second count so swimmers can get a quick snapshot of their heart rates during a set rather than waiting a full minute on the wall. So the priority was to get her to go faster in practice, swim more efficiently and increase her training capacity in order to hold a faster time without requiring her to go anaerobic. “When Kayla started at age 14, she would average roughly 1:091:10 per 100 on a threshold set. She currently is anywhere from :591:01, depending on the day and phase of our training. *** “Second, I tried to get her to believe in herself in any setting (in-season/champs season, practice/race, etc.). During her freshman year, she struggled adjusting to what was being asked of her each day—not from a volume standpoint, but from an intensity and recovery perspective. “She felt run down, and was comparing herself with her teammates, many of whom had been training with me for two years. She also had a very narrow scope in terms of what a successful practice looked like. “For any athlete who is struggling, there is tremendous value
[PHOTO BY JIM HART]
Kayla Wilson
