Dennis Baker: A Day in the Life

Certainly wouldn't meet Maglischo's definition. He is an incredible athlete, no question. But is he married with children, like many of us? Apparently not. Does he have a typical nine-to-five job? Nope, he works in an aquatic facility. I don't know how much punishment my body could take in a day, but I just don't have the time to train more than I do (even if I wanted to). If I would have to train at that level if I had his schedule, I am glad I have mine. I am happy to get in 3 days a week with work and family life. I don't think it is bragging at all and think Swimming Worlds asked him to post what he does and he is posting. The tone of his messages sound no different than Ande's. I continue to be amazed at what some people can do, if he can do it (Ande or Dennis) he should be able to write it. Heck I am excited sitting here in Downtown LA for a week at meetings that I was able to walk to the downtown YMCA and swim on my own 3 times. I don't get to write about it, but I am not doing sets of 300 butterflies either!

Recovery from what!?

if i were doing sets of 300's fly at the advanced age of 45, i would have a flashing neon sign in times square (thats in nyc:D )

I must say, though, that his entries almost sound a little like bragging. That's what I thought when I was reading it... but great for him that he can do those kind of sets.

Me too. :D That's because you're The Flash. And since you're also The Hulk, you could put the sign up yourself. And do a big green *flex.* i'd rather be capt omnipotent...but i don't want to be accused of cross-contaminating threads here.

24x100's free 8 on the 1:20 8 on the 1:15 8 on the 1:10 This recovery set is great because it really gives me energy for the next day. I try not to go fast or push it, but just make the send offs with the least amount of effort. To do this, one must find other ways to swim fast. Less head movement and better turns seem to do the trick for me. I try not to go fast? Who is he kidding! This guy is a swimming superpower. Not to change the subject, but while I was looking up this article I saw that another swimmer, Kalyn Keller, is jumping ship from USC and heading to Club Wolverine. I am starting to think that Dennis should head up to Club Wolverine and show those youngsters what somebody twice their age is capable of.

I've gotten to know Dennis a bit over the years.....had some great races against him as well. At Worlds I was giving him some grief for his so called "taper" (3 days)......IMHO he should be swimming quite a bit faster than he is right now based on his training/conditioning (2:16 200m IM, 4:41 500y free for example)......and most likely would with more rest before a major meet.

The biggest thing at my age...soon to be 44....about doing long workouts is building up to them......DON'T push too hard, your body WILL tell you when you are!!!! Here is a workout I did last spring while I was over in the desert - (Luckily there was a 25M pool where I was). Warm-Up 500 Swim/300 Kick/200 Drill Warm-Up Set 25/50/75/100/100/75/50/25 based on :30 Free 20x25 IM @ :45 25/50/75/100/100/75/50/25 Kick based on :30 Swim 5x100 Free @2:00 10x50 Free @1:00 5x100 IM @2:15 10x50 Fly/Free @1:15 5x100 Pull @1:40 10x50 Pull @ :50 5x100 IM @2:15 10x50 *** @1:15 5x100 Kick @2:00 10x50 Pull @ :40 5x100 Free @1:45 10x50 Free/Fast @1:00 500 Free 20x25 Fly/*** @ :45 12x25 Free @ :30 Cool Down 200 10,000 Meters I had been building up to this for a couple of months. I just wish I had the time to do this regularly. Right now I can get in between 3k and 5k yards a day if I'm lucky. Dennis is truly a stud for doing all that Fly.....I would die!!!! Literally!!! I can do 50's Fly and that's about it in practice.....

As one of Dennis' master swimmers I can vouch that he truly does all that he is posting. He is oneof the best if not the best swimmers I have ever known, also a great coach. He took someone who had not swam in 20 years and got me to the point where I have qualified for nationals in May. Thanks Bake!

I am really enjoying the "Day in a Life" series about Dennis Baker. I have known about Dennis Baker for years. In 1979, he had the second fastest time in the 100 Yard Fly at :49.6 behind Dave Wilison who broke the longest National high school record at that time of Mark Spitz (:49.1) with a :48.50. In 3rd place in the HS rankings was Jesse Vassallo and in 4th place was William Paulaus and both of these swimmers were World record holders. He had the second fastest time in the 200 Yard Fly in the 17-18 age group of 1:47.13 and the only swimmer at that time to ever go faster in that age group was Craig Beardsley who went 1:46.95 and eventually became the World Record holder in the 200 Meter Fly for several years. In fact today some 28 years later it remains the 31st fastest time in the USA Swimming All Time Rankings for the 17-18 age group. He made the finals of Olympic Trials in the 200 Fly in 1980 right out of High School. He made the finals again in 1984 in the 200 Fly. He went to swim for Arizona under famed coach *** Jochums and a lot of the workouts that he does are very familar with what *** Jochums does. There are 2 good books to read about *** Jochums and the type of workouts that swimmers do in his program and they are "4 Champions and 1 Gold Medal" by Chuck Warner and "Gold in the Water" by P.H. Mullen. This is the type of environment that Dennis trained in and its very unlike what the normal masters swimmers do as 45 year olds. Dennis is trying to make Olympic Trial cuts for the 200 Fly and has gone 2:04.97 and the qualifing times are 2:03. This year he went 2:06.XX and fell short. I think the reason he is doing the type of workouts he does is because he feels this is the best way for him to prepare and qualify for the 200 Fly OT cuts. He can do this because he has trained like this most of his life and his body can absorb this kind of pain that goes with these type of workouts. Its no surprise that he works out this way. He said last year in an interview with Swimming Wold magazine that he is from the old school when it comes to training like he did in the days of *** Jochums and he totals 45,000 to 50,000 meters per week. This is not really new here and I recall that Jeff Cummings said the same thing last year when he was training for the World Championships. His current lifestyle can afford him to do this between the coaching he does with 3 different teams. What is amazing about Dennis is that he said he was overweight and out of shape for many years before he got back and committed himself to swimming. I remember Dennis swimming masters in the 1980's but I believe he took about 10 years off because he was working as a CPA in accounting and had a very high stress lifestyle. In fact he said " I was living life in the fast lane, and I didn't know how to get out of it" and he acknowledges today "Now I am swimming in the fast lane and loving it." He lost about 35 pounds and had a complete change of lifestyle similar to what Rich Abrahams said when he was working as an attorney and smoking and not swimming masters. I applaud Dennis for trying to qualify for the OT at 45. I hope he gets there and he is working harder than ever to make it. If I remember correctly about 15 years ago, Mark Spitz wanted to be the oldest man to make and compete and medal at the 1992 Olympics. He had races on TV against the best USA swimmers of the day and everyone assumed he would make the OT cuts but would have have a hard time to make the finals in the 100 Fly at the 1992 Olympic Trials. He never made the cuts in fact I do not believe he was even close. I believe he went :58.03 and the cuts at that time were in the :55.59 range. Dennnis being 5 years older and not being as famous can make a run and I believe he has a legitimate shot. Swimmers have to be impressed with this. He is as fast or faster than Mary T and Shipper and he is a 45 year old man. Another curiosity is that he coaches at the Multnomah Athletic Club where Don Schollander swims. As everyone knows Don won 4 gold medals at the 1964 Olympics and was the young star of that Olympics. In one of the events he swam in those Olympics was the 400 Meter Free in which he went 4:12.2 on a hand time watch to set the World Record. Some 41 years later, Dennis as a 44 year old went 4:12.26 with electronic timing as a master swimmer. I am sure Don must know about this and maybe these two have met and talked about it. To put this in perspective, in the year 2046 will there be a masters swimmer to equal or better a time by an Olympian today?