Images courtesy of Ann Senn. Photography by Erika McCauley of Erika McCauley Photographers

Read Chasing the Masters World Championships: The story of Life Time Fitness member Ann Senn (Part I)

For most amateur athletes, competing in national and international events for a couple years would hold enough memories to last a lifetime.

But that just isn’t the case for 51-year-old masters swimmer Ann Senn.

After competing in the 2008 FINA Masters World Championships in Australia, Senn ended last year by becoming the national champion in the 50-meter freestyle event at the U.S. Masters Swimming Long Course Meters Nationals in Oregon.

Until this summer, Senn had qualified for the national and international competitions by training by herself in the Life Time Fitness pool in Chanhassen and at other clubs.

In mid-June, Senn met Life Time Fitness instructor Barb Folsom while she was working with a Masters Swim group at the Chanhassen club.

“When you’re a swimmer, you know a coach when you see one,” Senn said. “You know somebody who is standing on dock who knows what they’re doing.”

In short time, Folsom was helping Senn prepare for the 2009 USMS Long Course Nationals in Indianapolis. But she did find a flaw in Senn’s training.

“I noticed she lost her oomph, for lack of a better word, before the warm-up was even done and I was very confused by that,” Barb Folsom said. “So my next investigation was into nutrition.”

Both Senn and Folsom said that Senn had to pace a 50-meter race (a sprinting distance) because she didn’t have the staying power to go max speed the whole distance.

“Typically what you tell someone in the 50-meter is ‘Get out there. Don’t think, just go,’” Folsom said. “If (Senn) went fast too early, then she couldn’t finish and she’d lose her legs.”

To combat this concern, Folsom sent Senn to Melanie Mertes, a nutrition coach for Life Time Fitness in Chanhassen, and found out Senn wasn’t eating enough to give her energy for swimming. “She was working in her lean muscle mass.”

Senn said Mertes’ tests concluded she wasn’t getting nearly enough protein in her diet, hence the quick fatigue while swimming.

Once Senn’s nutrition was sorted out, Folsom said she thought they would see some quicker times at nationals in Indianapolis but Senn didn’t compete as well as she hoped. Despite her own opinon, Senn still managed to qualify for the FINA World Championships that wil be in Sweden in August 2010.

However, the trip to nationals wasn’t in vain because Senn had the chance to have a stroke assessment and lactate test (scientific procedure that determine how quickly a person’s muscles fatigue) done by the head of science and technology for the Olympic training camp.

Suprisingly, the test concluded that Senn wasn’t as fit as she thought, despite her performance level.

“He said ‘Either you’re really tired or really out of shape,’” Senn said.

This was puzzling to Senn because she exercised nearly every day of the week, even in spite of traveling a lot as the chief strategy officer for Deloitte Consulting LLP in Minneapolis. Senn’s family also keeps her on the move as her two sons, Delaney and Zachery, compete in USA Swimming group events and her husband, Mark Ambrosen, competes in triathlons.

When Senn returned home, Folsom was a little confused by the test results.

“It made sense to me,” Folsom said. “But I was still trying to figure out how someone who did that much, could have no aerobic base.”

So Folsom then sent Senn to Jeff Rosga, the department head of personal training for Life Time Fitness in Chanhassen, to complete a MAP test that would determine her body’s use of oxygen. The test showed similar results as the lactate test, indicating that while Senn was in shape, she wasn't aerobically fit.

After the test, Senn said she remembers Folsom approaching her, giving her one look and glumly saying “Hey, sorry about your MAP test.”

Since the test results, Rosga has Senn following a 12-week dry land program to build her aerobic base, and she is also swimming middle length distance three times a week. Senn and Folsom will dive into the technique of her strokes before retesting her fitness level and beginning training for the World Championships in August.

But why all the testing and training for an international competition she fared so well in on her own? Although Senn has qualified for the Worlds, she has another big goal in mind.

She won’t talk about it, but she hopes to break the world record for her age group in the 50-meter freestyle at the international competition in 2010.

“I believe with every fiber of my being that (Senn) will get this world record in Sweden if we do this right,” said Folsom, who has worked for Woodlands Swimming, a reputable program in Houston that sends 15 to 20 swimmers to Olympic trials every four years.

The world record for the 50-meter freestyle for Senn’s age group is 28.44 seconds. In April, Senn set a lifetime best time of 28.85 seconds in the event in April, which marked the best time in the nation for 2009. “We’re not talking a lot,” Folsom said about the time difference.

Folsom said Senn has quite the training team now too since Mertes is helping with nutrition and Rosga with workout routines. Folsom said Senn has always been coachable and “is looking for information” to get better.

However, for the most part, Folsom said Senn’s quest at the international level will be mostly about her “god-given talent” and drive to reach her goals.

“She has a phenomenal talent and she’s willing to work for it,” Folsom said.

“She has this goal that she doesn’t want to let go of even though she has the stresses of everyday work and a family and all of that. She’s still able to carve out this niche to get it done.”

If you’re thinking about competing in your first triathlon, you might want to take a good look at the three activities involved in such a race.

Chances are you probably feel confident about the running and you’re not too concerned about the cycling. But the open-water swimming might make you cringe a little.

If this sounds like you, maybe you should think about joining the Masters Swim program at Life Time Fitness. Besides, many other triathletes have.

Barb Folsom, a Masters Swim instructor for Life Time Fitness in Chanhassen, MN, said plenty of triathletes have joined the Masters Swim program to develop the swimming portion of their event.

Of her 50 students, Forlsom said at least 45 are triathletes trying to improve their times in the water. Interesting enough, most of them are runners, she said.

“The running was easy. The biking was easy. They thought ‘Oh, no problem with the swim,” Folsom said, describing the mindset of some aspiring triathletes. “They got in with the swim and went ‘I’ve got a problem.’”

Folsom said they joined the masters program and “now they are getting a little bit better.”
While swimming makes up only one-third of a triathlon, Folsom said, most triathletes struggle the most with that portion because swimming requires the body to function differently.

“Swimming is hypoxic,” Folsom said. “That’s what singles-out swimming as being more difficult, in some cases, than the running and the biking in that they’re having to work without air.”

Because swimming requires so much work without oxygen, Folsom said the Masters Swim program has its students undergo a lot of training without air, such as performing drills where they swim underwater for 25 meters at a time.

She said they also have students complete some lake swims so they adapt to the uncontrolled swimming environment.

“It’s just the overall training of swimming that gets them ready for the triathlon,” Folsom said.

For many, Folsom said, a student’s development can be as easy as changing their breathing patterns while swimming so they take a breath every three strokes during the front crawl instead of a breath during each stroke.

“We work a lot on their strokes to make them more efficient,” Folsom said. “A lot on their kicking to make them more efficient.
“It’s just kind of a whole aquatics package they’re getting to just make them a good swimmer.”

However, Masters Swim isn’t just about teaching proper breathing techniques or a more efficient stroke.
For triathletes, it also means better results in the water.

“The smallest gap we saw was 4 minutes and the largest was like 18 so its significant,” Folsom said, describing the “before and after” statistics of her students.

In some cases, Folsom said, the training also helped triathletes perform better in the running and cycling portions of the grueling race.

“One of the ladies was really excited because her mile times were changing,” Folsom said. “I want to say she dropped 45 seconds per mile.”

Folsom credited the improvement to the student’s greater capacity and ability to apply some of the Masters Swim teaching to running and swimming. Folsom said she teaches a lot about the physics of swimming and this student applied some lessons, such as using your hips more or using your legs more, to the other parts of the race.

Ultimately, Folsom said, joining Masters Swim is one of the best things a triathlete can do because it provides the right guidance for the swimming portion of their sport.

“We have more expertise about swimming other than just getting in and swimming laps,” Folsom said.

“Most of the people who do it on their own just get in and swim laps. They don’t swim intervals. They don’t get stroke correction … They don’t get what they need to get better.”

Once a triathlete gets the courage to join the program, Folsom said, it’s fun to see just how quickly they can progress.

“The funniest is having them come in and having us switch their technique and just this light goes off in their head and they’re so excited,” Folsom said. “Because it’s no longer the worst part of the triathlon. It’s OK now.”

But many triathletes don’t join Masters Swim, Folsom said, sometimes simply because of the name of the program.

“Masters means 19 and over. It doesn’t mean you have to be a master,” Folsom said. “I find that intimidates a lot of people.”

Masters Swim is open to all abilities and the instructors work with the swimmers at their individual skill levels. If they can swim 50 meters on their first day, Folsom said, “they’ll be able to swim a 2,000 five or six weeks later.”

Folsom even remembers plenty of cases where aspiring triathletes were afraid of the event’s swim or even afraid of the water, but Masters Swim helped them conquer the fear and compete in their triathlon.

“That’s the part that just blows my mind,” Folsom said, remembering some students who were 50 years old, but couldn’t swim. “That’s really cool.”