Tyler Ford:          Hello, everyone. This is Tyler Ford. We’re here in Tucson, Arizona, and I am a master swimmer at Ford Aquatics Masters Swimming. I am here with my coach. It’s the only coach I know. I’ve been swimming here. I was thinking about it this morning. I’ve been swimming here in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and Jim Stites is the head coach of our masters program here at the U of A. We’re so lucky to have him. He’s so dedicated, and he’s really the only masters swimming coach I have. So with that I’m going to introduce Jim Stites, our masters swim coach here, and we’re going to talk a little bit about the program.

Jim Stites:            All right.

Tyler Ford:          So this is Jim. So we’re at the U of A, and they allow us to use the pool. Talk a little bit about times and what people can expect. We’ve got two workouts a day, Monday through Friday, and then on Saturday. So what can people expect?

Jim Stites:            So the weekday workouts are in the morning at 5:30 and then at lunchtime at noon, and they’re one-hour practices. We get in about 3,000 yards or meters, depending on which pool we’re in. Then on Saturday-

Tyler Ford:          It varies.

Jim Stites:            … it varies, and I announce each week what time the practice is going to be, 8:30 in the morning recently. Sometimes it’s earlier in the morning.

Tyler Ford:          What can people expect? There’s a ton. U of A just redid the pool. It’s awesome, and there’s a ton of different pool variations. So depending on the year and what’s going on, what can people expect in terms of what they show up for in terms of the pool they use?

Jim Stites:            So we’ve got three different pool options. We’ve got short course meters in the pool behind me. Then we’ve got short course yards, 25 yards, in this pool over here, and then during the summer we have it set up as a 50-meter pool. This year is an Olympic year, so U of A swimmers are going to see some 50-meter pool time starting this fall and going all the way through Olympic trials in July.

Tyler Ford:          If somebody wanted to learn more, let’s say they’re visiting or they’re a triathlete. Let’s talk a little bit about triathletes. So we’ve got all calibers of swimmers. We’ve got your swimmers that compete on a master’s level, and then we’ve got … What I like about it is, especially this time of year with Ironman, we’ve got all these pro triathletes coming in. So talk a little bit about triathletes and how they work out here.

Jim Stites:            Well, our program has mostly three different kinds of athletes. We’ve got swimmers who swim in masters swimmings, which happen all year around, about one a month. Then we’ve got triathletes that are here, and during the winter time we’ll see some more triathletes come from different countries, even different parts of our country just to train for triathlons. Then we’ve got fitness swimmers. So we’ve got all different kind of levels, slow, medium and fast.

Tyler Ford:          From my perspective being a swimmer here, I mean, if you want to get your swimming better, it’s a competitive place where people are pushing each other. You get in the lane according to your speed. Jim’s pushing us. He’s coaching us along the way.

Jim Stites:            We’ve got a challenging workout every day, and every day is a different type of workout. Usually-

Tyler Ford:          So talk about that. So Monday through Friday, depending on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, it’s the same workout for that day. So you know what to expect.

Jim Stites:            The same type of workout. Mondays and Fridays are more aerobic distance type. We will usually get your distance type people and triathletes. Tuesday is stroke day where you have more of an opportunity to work on the other strokes, including freestyle. Wednesday is speed day.

Tyler Ford:          Sprint day.

Jim Stites:            Sprint day.

Tyler Ford:          We call it reckless abandon, yeah.

Jim Stites:            Reckless abandon swimming, and that’s usually shorter distances with more rest. I feel like everybody, triathletes, distance swimmers, everybody needs some speed. So Wednesdays are a really good day. Thursday is what I call combo day. Some people call it Jimbo’s jumbo combo day, and that’s a day that could be used as recovery, or it could be used as a hard workout. It’s a little swimming, a little kicking, a little pulling, a little sprinting, all in one workout. Then Saturday is what I call the 02 max day where it’s not a pure sprint day, but it’s not a long distance day either.

Tyler Ford:          Wednesdays are probably the biggest day-

Jim Stites:            The biggest day.

Tyler Ford:          … because everybody’s on the same interval. It’s a lot of fun because you’re competing with everybody in the pool, depending on where you’re at. So one question to end with. So if you’re a master swimmer and if you were to give one word of advice in terms of how to improve your swimming, what would it be?

Jim Stites:            I think the best thing you can do, and of course I’m biased because I coach a swimming team, but I’ve seen it for 30 years now. The best thing you can do is swim with a team. If you’ve got people around you to race against that are the same speed as you to do pace with, you get a lot more out of it than if you go to a city pool or a recreation pool and just swim back and forth, back and forth. We call that, in the coaching business, playing wall tag.

Tyler Ford:          So I started swimming here 30 years ago. You’ve been my only coach, late ’80s or early ’90s. I’m now in my 50s, and I’ve seen my swimming change over the years, but I’m thankful for you and this program. Based on what you just said, would you change that advice based on age, or would that be the same advice?

Jim Stites:            I think swimming with a team is the best advice no matter what age you are.

Tyler Ford:          I would agree. Cool. So if somebody wants to learn more, you’ve got a website, times, all that. Where can they go to learn more about the program?

Jim Stites:            Fordaquatics.com is our website, and the updated information can be found right where I list our pool temperatures every day.

Tyler Ford:          Every morning, Jim takes the pool temp and posts it so you know exactly what temps are, puts the times up there. It’s awesome.

Jim Stites:            I want people to know the temperature because I don’t like complainers.

Tyler Ford:          So come join us. The more people, the better. We just wanted to give you a little informative about what the masters program is here down at the U of A. So thanks, Jim.

Jim Stites:            All right.

Tyler Ford:          Today’s Jim’s birthday, too. Happy birthday.