Champions Mojo for Masters Swimmers

How Training Partners And Patience Built A World Record-Breaking Masters Swimming Career: Tim Shead, EP 294

• Kelly Palace, Masters Swim Journalist

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On deck in Fort Lauderdale at the 2025 Fall Classic Meet, Host Kelly Palace interviews International Swimming Hall of Famer and Masters Swimming Icon, Tim Shead as we explore how a missed shot at the 1976 Olympic Trials became the spark for a lifetime of learning, longevity, and dozens of world records. Tim’s story is a lesson in patience, training culture, and the quiet power of choosing meaningful swims over hollow wins.

We trace his path from Florida age-group lanes to the University of Pennsylvania and three decades in South Africa, where he sharpened his approach to nutrition, recovery, and resilience. Tim explains why his favorite event—the 100 IM—perfectly matches his philosophy: balance the strokes, manage the fade, slow the slowest. He talks candidly about the joy of training more than racing, the importance of lane mates who “ask no quarter and give no quarter,” and how simple, progressive sets can create compounding gains. Expect practical details on frequency, volume, and mindset—plus how water doubles as refuge when life gets loud.

One of the most moving moments is Tim’s account of spotting a young Kirsty Coventry’s potential and making the call that helped redirect her path—an example of mentorship that echoes through Olympic history. Along the way we dig into late-career peaks, personal bests at 55, and why success in Masters swimming is less about medals and more about honest progress. If you’re chasing faster times, deeper joy, or a training reset, this conversation delivers the perspective and tools to keep you moving forward. Subscribe, share with your lane mates, and leave a review to help more swimmers find the show.

Email us at HELLO@ChampionsMojo.com. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.

Check out Kelly's Books at www.KellyPalace.com

SPEAKER_00:

It's time for an on-deck interview to help you live well and swim well. Welcome to Champions Mojo. And now your host, Kelly Palace.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, I am doing an on-deck interview at the beautiful city of Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center at the Fall Classic Shore Course Meters Masters Meet, and I am with wow, 70 world records he has held, Tim Shedd. But now they're all gone, Tim. Oh no. But first, the question for you. We'll talk about that. Give me your name, your age, and your team.

SPEAKER_03:

Tim Shedd. My age is what 73. And the team when I swim in the U.S., it's for Fort Laudell. And when I swim internationally, it's for Cape Town, South Africa.

SPEAKER_02:

Are you South African?

SPEAKER_03:

No, no, but I spent 30 years there. So a good portion of my adult life was there.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. So what is your swim history? How does one get to 70 world records?

SPEAKER_03:

Jeez. Perseverance. There's a there's an adage that he who slows the slowest wins.

SPEAKER_02:

What is the swim history before that? Like where did you start swimming?

SPEAKER_03:

I grew up here in Florida. I swam here and then I went to uh University of Pennsylvania, swam at Penn. I improved quite a bit when I was at Penn, and so I tried for the 76 Olympics, and that didn't work out too well. I I uh went out to California and did a little too much partying and not enough not enough training and didn't make the team, didn't even make the trials. But uh learned the importance of nutrition and and got involved with with that and uh lived by that and broke my did my lifetime best at age 55. Uh I've swung my whole life. So I swam masters starting at 25, and I remember looking at the world records then and saying, God, if I was 45 right now, I'd have a world record. And then with each passing, you know, set of five years, uh the world record got closer and closer until in at 45 I I tied a world record and then I broke it, my first world records. Then at 50, I don't know. Remember, I got seven or ten, and then at fifty-five, I got fifteen or eighteen. I can't I don't remember. But yeah, my lifetime best were at 55. And uh so yeah, I've had world records in the breaststrokes, the backstrokes, and the IMs.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, you slowed the slowest. What is your favorite swimming accolade of all that?

SPEAKER_03:

Being inducted into the swimming hall of fame.

SPEAKER_02:

That is quite an accolade. Very nice. Um what is your best or favorite event?

SPEAKER_03:

Hundred IM.

SPEAKER_02:

And your training regimen.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh that's one of those four-letter words, isn't it? I love to train. That to me is more fun than the racing. And if you get good friends to train with, that's it's the social side of it. It's it's good for you, it's healthy. The competing and the swimming is just to the side. And oftentimes it's it's more stressful. Just to swim with good buddies, uh Hubie Kearns, and I've had great history of just fantastic training partners that we ask no quarter and give no quarter. And when we train, we just beat the hell out of each other, and that's how you get faster.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, what does that look like though? Is it are you swimming three days a week, four days a week?

SPEAKER_03:

Right now it's only been two or three, but when it gets serious, you go five, five, maybe six times a week an hour a day. Oh, two and a half to three. You know, but but in the olden days she'd mix in some doubles in there, and then we had we'd do some biking and we do all kinds of different things. And there's a huge difference when you it's just a question of how much are you willing to give? I want it to be fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey Champions, did you know that Kelly publishes a twice-monthly newsletter called MastersMojo with free coaching tips, health hacks, resources, and motivation. You'll get recommendations for great books, set of the week, product spotlights, and news splashes highlighting Masters News, all to help you live well and swim well. Sign up at championsmojo.com or KellyPalace.com today. So what is your favorite set?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, geez. Favorite sets. I don't necessarily have a favorite set. I like to do I like to do sets where you know they're four or five long and you can descend within the set, and then if you have several sets of them, then you try to even improve from set to set. So and to me that takes the pressure off because whatever the first one is, you have to improve from that. So it puts it on yourself to do that. And then of course you urge your your lane mates on and they urge you on. And like I said, we're always having a bunch of people that train and don't give up. And when they're ready to give up, you don't let them. And when you're ready to to wave the white flag, they don't let you. And so that's and it's just fantastic.

SPEAKER_02:

Sounds like training partners are a big part of your success. Okay, what is your biggest comeback in your life? And it doesn't have to be swimming.

SPEAKER_03:

No, a big comeback was doing lifetime best at 55, yeah. Where it just did things I didn't think I could do. And it was what 2008, I think it was, and I went to Worlds and got six world records in five events, and from there went to the US Nationals and broke all U.S. national records, and then from there to the YMCAs, and everyone was just like off the charts fast. Um and some of those records, world records held 10 years. Yeah, at 55, doing the best. Okay. And now we'll see if I can do it again if I start training progress.

SPEAKER_02:

What are your goals for a comeback right now?

SPEAKER_03:

I'd like to be happy with the swims. I'm sure you're the same way. Winning is one thing, but if it's a hollow win just because you're faster than everyone else, but you don't swim fast, then it's hollow. You don't ever want to say that because some people never have the joy of winning a gold or a silver. So it sounds very bad to think that. But it's true. It's you you can't be proud of it when you haven't swim well. And so swimming well, whether it's a record or not, you know, you won if you've done something you haven't done, or you or you break a goal, and I don't care if you come dead last, if it's a personal best, you're a winner, you know, and that's that to me is what counts.

SPEAKER_02:

Totally, I totally agree with that. All right. What Olympic swimmer, dead or alive, would you like to have lunch with?

SPEAKER_03:

Olympic swimmer, dead or alive.

SPEAKER_02:

Anybody. Caleb Dressel, all right. What is a fun fact about you that someone may not know?

SPEAKER_03:

A fun fact about me that people know. And I love sailing. I love the water. I love the water. Water is my safe place. It's my refuge, it's my recovery. It's I don't care how stressed you are, you get in the water and you train and you feel wonderful. And so whenever you're stressed or something, find something, that thing that that just makes it all alright. And so that does it. And of course, having a fantastic spouse helps as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I agree with that. Okay. Anything that I haven't asked you that you want to share with the masters swimming community?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's just that you you never know in in your life where things are going to turn out. I was it was many, many years ago. I was when I was living in South Africa, I went to the championships and I saw a young lady swim. And I said, Oh my god, this girl could be something special, something special. And a kid I used to coach at the time, Dave Marsh, he was at the University of Auburn and they were winning championships. I called up Dave. I said, Dave, you gotta come down, you gotta get this girl. She's gonna be something special. So I went to her parents and I found out where she was gonna go to school, and I said, Oh, I don't think that's the best school to go to, the best program. And so I called Dave at Auburn. I said, You gotta come down here. Well, that young lady was Kirsty Coventry. And Kirsty Coventry, when she was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, totally unexpected, called me out in her acceptance speech for changing her life. So it's you never know where things are gonna turn. There was a very special talent, and you I didn't want to see talent go to waste or be hurt. And there's Kirsty now, head of the International Olympic Committee. So who knows where your life is gonna lead you? So that's was a very special moment. And you just saw talent and you said talent's gotta go somewhere, and you gotta make it right. We've been friends, she's from Zimbabwe and I spent time in South Africa. So it's just funny the way things work out.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, you never know. Uh a lot of great people start in the pool. All right, thank you for this time today.

SPEAKER_03:

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast. Would you consider leaving us a five star review on Apple? That's like getting a best time for us. Kelly and our team would be so grateful. See you next week for another Boost of Mojo.

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Kelly Palace, Host

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