Champion's Mojo for Masters Swimmers
The award-winning podcast for Masters swimmers, adult athletes, and fitness enthusiasts who strive for peak performance and personal excellence. Hosted by world-record-setting Masters swimmer and Health and Performance Coach Kelly Palace, each episode offers inspiring stories, expert insights, and proven strategies to help you unlock your champion mindset—in the pool and in life. With nearly 300 episodes and a track record as one of the top-ranked swimming podcasts, Champion’s Mojo is your go-to resource for motivation, success, and well-being. Ready to dive in? We’re here to champion you!
Champion's Mojo for Masters Swimmers
Two Sport Champion On Swinging a Club and Swimming: Tricia Good, EP 260
Imagine winning a national swimming championship at 53 and simultaneously preparing to qualify for a senior amateur golf championship--all in the same week. Meet Tricia Good, a phenomenal athlete from the Sarasota Sharks Masters, who shares her surprising journey of triumph at the US Masters Long Course Nationals in Mission Viejo. Learn from her about balancing two demanding sports and the mental strategies she uses to excel in both swimming and golf. With the guidance of her coach, Rick Walker, Tricia's story of returning to swimming for personal fulfillment is a testament to resilience and focus, offering inspiration for those striving for excellence across varied pursuits.
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Email us at HELLO@ChampionsMojo.com. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.
Welcome to the award-winning Champions Mojo hosted by two world record-holding athletes. Be inspired as you listen to conversations with champions and now your hosts, kelly Pallas and Maria Parker.
Speaker 2:Hello friends, Welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast. I am your host, Kelly Pallas, and, as usual, I am with my co-host, Maria Parker. Hey Maria, hey Kelly, it's great to be with you here today. Yes, and Maria, this is a special edition of Champions Mojo from the Pool Deck and we have a great interview for you today. It's brief, it's short, but it's powerful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, interview for you today. It's brief, it's short, but it's powerful. Yeah, I wasn't there, but I was able to listen to the interview and some great takeaways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we hope you'll stick around and catch the takeaways. And here we go. Okay, I am on deck at US Masters Long Course Nationals in Mission Viejo, california, with Tricia Good. Tisha is a 53-year-old swimmer with the Sarasota Sharks and I heard on deck Trisha has the coolest story I wanted to share. But besides opening the meet with winning the 50 to 54 1500 meter free and breaking 21 minutes which is an excellent time, trisha swim a lot of events, but we're in the cool down pool and Tricia first, let's just talk about your 1500. How did that feel to win that?
Speaker 4:It felt pretty good. It was a big surprise. I didn't expect to win it actually, and I just, I don't know, I kind of went blind in the pool and just swam my own race. I was out in lane one, which is always comfortable for me, so I was actually surprised Very surprised.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love lane one for a distance event. You can kind of just focus on your own thing. So did it hurt? Only the last 50. Oh, my goodness, wow, so you have more time to take off if it didn't hurt until the last 50. The last 50 are yeah, okay so what is your training like?
Speaker 4:Well, well, I train in sarasota with the sharks and so rick is kind of our master leader and workout writer and varies workouts all the time. So it's good some days stroke, some days distance, some days mid-distance, some days speed, so he buries it through the week. I swim five days a week, an hour and a half, and then saturday we have our one hour of power. We call it our hop workouts hour of power and that's all. Sprint focus, no rest, just go for an hour straight and then on the side I do a little running, a little strength training, mostly just core.
Speaker 2:That's about it Very good. That's a nice schedule and we are talking about the Rick Walker, the head coach of the Sarasota Sharks, who's been on the show. He has a great interview if you want to find that one, but one of the reasons obviously you're a great swimmer to win, to be a national champion, but we're in the cool down pool, we both did 200 rest and you are telling me that you're not swimming tomorrow, which is Sunday, because you're changing gears to go do what I'm going to qualify for the US Senior Women's Amateur Golf Championship.
Speaker 4:So they have qualifying sites all over the country and I missed my Florida qualifying site. That's my home state. I missed it because I was taking my only daughter off to college and I kind of perused the schedule of the qualifying sites and there happened to be a qualifying site this week about 10 minutes away from here and I thought what the heck? I'm already out here. I'll extend my day and give it a try. So if I qualify we'll move to September and the championship is up in Seattle and it's a week long golf tournament.
Speaker 2:Obviously, golf is different than swimming, and you said that, um, you played golf in college. Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 4:So I grew up swimming, playing golf, played soccer, played softball, played t-ball. I had a dad who was an athlete and coach and he just told us try everything and pick something you like when you get old enough and strong enough. And so I went back and forth between golf and swimming. I always liked both of them and I ended up having a coach. That was not the greatest for me mentally and emotionally growing up about 14. And that's about the time where girls particularly start dropping sport.
Speaker 4:And I always had golf and it was kind of my sanctuary time. I call it because I just got to go out, walk green hills, be with friends, sometimes with my dad, and I just told my dad I think I want to just quit swimming and just focus on golf. So high school came, I focused on golf and I got a scholarship to play golf at University of Michigan. I spent my four years there and then, just you know, went and lived life, started working, then just went and lived life, started working family and just got back into golf. Recently because my daughter was getting older and more autonomous, I thought I'm just going to start going out and playing. The last four years I got back into golf, but I always had swimming as my backup, my alone time. It became more of my sanity once I had a kid, because I could get underwater and nobody was demanding for me.
Speaker 2:Some people say there is a similarity in golf and swimming about rotational around the center axis. Do you get that?
Speaker 4:Yes, it is your center of gravity stays and you rotate around.
Speaker 2:And it's all legs, hips, shoulders, and you rotate around and it's all legs, hips, shoulders, and so I feel like in both of those sports swimming and golf that the mental game is a huge part of it. Yeah, in golf and swimming, what similarities can you share that you might find in both?
Speaker 4:Being a long-distance swimmer, I would say the mentality is the same, because you got a lot of time to fix your mistakes, you got a lot of time to just kind of blank out and you can't let too much in and messy up, and the more tense you get, the less control you have over doing well. So I think with long distance swimming and golf are similar With sprinting. No, I found out this me, I'm not a sprinter. I panic, it's not my game and that's okay. You can't do that in golf. You can't panic Like you have to take deep breaths, be patient and just wait and the results will come if you just you put the work in and you really have to just not think very much. And I think in long distance swimming you can't think too much Like I just get on autopilot and go and just focus on breathing, focus on something that's not physical or emotional, and so you tighten up, you're not going to perform.
Speaker 2:I love that. That is really great. So all you distance people out there, swimmers, you might be able to play golf at some point, right, maybe with lessons and lots of work. You might be able to play golf at some point, right, maybe with lessons and lots of work. Yes, yeah, it's definitely not something you can do overnight, but there is 18 holes. You can mess up three holes and still win, or mess up half the holes right and still win. I like that in swimming If you miss a flip turn or you don't have a couple of good laps. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you might want to share with our listeners? Just keep swimming, make it a lifelong sport. We just watched the 97-year-old guy finish the 200 breast about five minutes ago. Well, thanks, thank you.
Speaker 1:Stay tuned for the takeaways. Want to succeed like a champion? Five-time Olympic coach Bob Bowman, coach of Olympic legend Michael Phelps, says Kelly's book Take your Mark Lead is a powerful addition to your personal improvement library, and learners from all walks of life will gain key insights and enjoy this inspiring book. Take your Mark Lead debuted as an Amazon number one bestseller in five categories and is available online. And now the takeaways.
Speaker 2:Trisha Good from the Sarasota Sharks and the national champion in the 1500. She's got a double sports career going. Maria, what is your first takeaway? I?
Speaker 3:just love that. She said that as a kid. Her dad said try everything and pick one. So she picked swimming and then that didn't go well so she picked golf. So I just I guess my takeaway for that as a parent try everything, get your kids to try everything and then pick one they like and try to really get good at it.
Speaker 2:Yes, that was great advice. I loved when she compared golf to swimming or really to anything that you're trying. You can mess up nine out of your 18 holes and still have a good round of golf, and I feel like that's very similar in swimming. You know, you can mess up one turn and then have a good turn somewhere else. It's just it's okay to mess up. I think that's the takeaway that you can mess up. I think that that's the takeaway that you can mess up, and as long as you don't lose it mentally in a spiral, then you can be fine. So I love that it's okay to mess up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that too. Great interview. All right, thanks, maria, love you, love you, bye.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast. Did you enjoy the show? We'd be grateful if you would leave us a five-star review on iTunes to help others find us, and we'd also love to hear from you. We're on all social media platforms or you can reach us at championsmojocom.
