Some Info on Cristina. . . .
Teuscher is a 200m Individual Medley bronze medalist from the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Read below as this two-time Olympian talks about training for the IM, achieving your goals.
Swimming Training Tips:
Tip #1 - Protein is Essential for Training
I really love vegetables, and red meat--which is really a staple, especially for female athletes. I know I was anemic in high school and I make sure I eat red meat at least once a week, and try to get a lot of protein. I eat a lot of turkey and chicken, almost everyday, I try to eat that with two meals a day, and I'll eat eggs for breakfast. Just remember to get the protein, especially the female athletes, but the male athletes as well.
Tip #2 - Remember to Enjoy your Training Program
Right now, since I'm out of college, I'm trying to change around my routine. I'm experimenting and trying to change my workout around now. I used to train ten times a week in the water and then three times a week of weights. Now I'm doing eight times a week of swimming, and then two times a week of weights, two times a week of Pilates and two times a week of Yoga. I'm trying to make a transition to where I can try to supplement swimming with other types of workouts, and I'm really enjoying it. I suck at Pilates, though! It's so challenging!
Tip #3 - Make Realistic Goals and have Fun!
I think about two things when it comes to this: first, make sure you enjoy it. Make sure you're swimming because it's fun and you love it. Number two, make small goals on the way to bigger goals, but they have to be goals you can control. I'm talking like 'I'm going to go to practice this many times this week, and I'm going to lift weights this many times this week. 'So they're goals you can checklist-off, and say 'Yes, I'm going to do this.' Making goals like 'I'm going to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games in 2004' is not a reasonable goal, because it's not something you can control, and you're not making little steps along the way. That can be an ultimate goal, but we really want to make small ones along the way, and make sure they're reasonable so you're not frustrated. If you don't end up going to ten workouts, you just go to nine because you were really tired, that's okay because you have to listen to your body.
Tip #4 - Tip for Improving as an Individual Medley Swimmer
My age group coach always said to me, "I always knew you were an IM'er!" I really like to mix it up. I do a lot of distance and mid-distance free workouts. I'll mix days like that in with IM days, or just backstroke or breaststroke days. I get to mix it up, and if you like to mix things up, IM is great because you never get bored. I think that my coach John (Collins) always made us work hard.
This is a quote from Rick Carey, one of John's former swimmers and a three-time Olympic gold medalist in 1984. He told me this story: the reason he went to John the first time was because a kid from (my club) Badger beat him. John told him that if he wants on this team he "better know that we're not going to be big fish in a small pond, we're going to be big fish in a big pond." I think that always has rung true because when you're at a state level--and it's very easy to get caught up in winning state--you're thinking "this is it." But you've got to think larger scale. I've always been fascinated with wanting to go to nationals and then the international scene and wanting to be the best at a bigger level...you know, always putting the carrot a little farther from the horse.
Tip #5 - Remember your Goals
I think the feeling of "Why do I do this? Why do I torture myself like this?", at 5:00 in the morning is one of the real reasons why people should write down their goals. I write down my goals. Write down your goals, and have them down in front of you...things that you can control so you can reach that ultimate "I want to drop time" goal. I think it makes it a lot easier if you have it written down in front of you so when you get up you can see them. If you think "Why do I do this?" you have the answer right in front of you. It also keeps you more positive and reminds you that when you're done at 7:30, you've done more in your day than most people will do all week after what you did in just two hours on a Monday morning. I think everybody goes through this. Just remember why you swim. Hopefully you're swimming because you enjoy it, not swimming for your parents or for your coach. Just make sure you're keeping that in check. When you wake up, if you're saying it too much, maybe you need to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.
Tip #6 - Turns and Changeovers
When I was little I started out as a backstroker, then I became a breaststroker, then a freestyler, and then a distance freestyler, from that point I switched to the Individual Medley (IM). I guess I'm just evolving as a swimmer. The best things to keep in mind as an IM swimmer are the turns and your changeovers.
