I'm really trying to speak on resilience at the moment. I feel like this next generation is almost like sugarcoating everything. Like, oh, you didn't come first, but here's a participation. Like, no, everyone falls down, you got to get back up. And that's how you learn. Like resilience is like a muscle. The more you train it, the more it grows. And I think there's maybe like a little bit of a lack of resilience in kids and young adults these days. It's like, things don't go to plan. Like, I missed the Olympic team on the first night on 100 Butterfly when that was the plan. I had to get up 48 hours later and make the team. Like, I was absolutely gutted. I spent four hours boiling my eyes out to my coach. But I knew that the next day, if I didn't wake up with a new attitude, I was actually going to miss the team. Like, I was fortunate enough I'll have potential other options I could make it. But that wasn't like a given. Like, my given was almost 100 Butterfly, and that didn't happen. Welcome to the Effortless Swimming Podcast to show that help swimmers and triathletes love the water, become a better swimmer and live a better life. Here's your host, Brenton Ford. Imagine standing behind the blocks knowing that everything, years of training, sacrifice and your Olympic dream comes down to this one race. That was the reality for Brianna Throssel at the 2016 Olympic Trials where she had just one shot to make the team. In this episode, Brianna takes us behind the scenes of her Olympic journey. What it felt like to step onto the world's biggest stage for the first time, the nerves, the lessons

and the moments that shaped her career. From gruelling training camps in Thailand to the mindset shifts that helped her break through, she says an honest and inspiring look at the highs and lows of elite swimming. Plus, we dive into what's next for her. She steps away from the pool for now and explores life beyond full-time training. If you're looking for insights into what it takes to compete at the highest level and the mental resilience that fuels champions, you won't want to miss this one. Let's get into the podcast. So Brianna, take me back to what would be maybe your most nerve-wracking race. When was the time that you've sat behind the blocks and felt like the world was watching you and you thought, I've really got to get this right here? Well, for me, I probably think that would be my 2016 Olympic Trials. At that stage, sort of in my career, all I was known for was a turn to butterfly. So I knew I couldn't make it in any other event. My turn to butterfly was my only shot. And at that stage, we actually did heat semi-finals and finals of every single race. So it was a bit of a bigger program back then. And I remember going into the final and I was like, everything comes down to this one race. Like I don't really have a backup option to make it on the team. Like if I, for some reason, this race doesn't go to plan, like that's it, I'm not going to my first Olympics. So I think that race I'd have to have found, I was probably entering it the most nervous I've sort of ever been. But in that being said, yes, I wanted to make the Olympic team and it would have, you know, it was such an honor,

but I think it's not until you've been to one or two Olympics that you could really carry the weight of trying to qualify for the Olympics. Because that, you know, I found in, say, 2024 Olympic Trials last year, like that was also very nerve-wracking because I knew what an incredible experience the Olympics was and how I wanted to experience that again and represent Australia and where the green and gold. So, but I felt like in 2016, although I only had that one option to qualify, I didn't really know what an honor or how special it would really be. You don't know what you're missing out on if you don't make it right. Exactly. And I mean, I was fortunate enough to go to the World Champs the year before, but that just doesn't compare. And I mean, in terms of the caliber of athletes in the swimming pool itself is, you know, World Championships is equal to the Olympics, but it's everything that comes with the Olympics that makes it that bit more special and just the most incredible experience in general. Is there one of those three Olympics that you swam at? Do any of those stand out for different reasons? I mean, they all stand out for such different reasons. Tokyo, sorry, Rio, sort of my first, I would describe myself as young and dumb. I went in there, I didn't really know what to expect. I mean, I was 20 at the time and it wasn't that I was there to have fun, but I just, I was racing freely, I guess. I had to turn to butterfly, that was it. I think it was midway through the program and after that I was done. And I didn't really understand how pinnacle and pivotal the Olympics were.

They can, you know, they are the highest of, the highest sporting competition in swimming. So I get, but going to the first Olympics is always so special. And back then it was obviously pre-COVID. We got to stay for the next week. We got to go to the closing ceremony. So there are a lot of incredible things that I'm so glad I did get to experience. And then obviously Tokyo is so special because I guess we thought there was a possibility it wouldn't go ahead. So I think the fact that we got there, the Australian swim team got in and out. There was no COVID, we got to race. I think we brought, I feel like the Australian team, not even just swimming, we brought so much joy to the Australians back home. It had been such a rough year and a half or year of lockdowns in and out. So I think for the swim team and everyone else to be able to perform to the equal amount of gold medals was so incredible. And I felt that we brought a lot of joy and hope back home to the Australians, which is obviously a really special and touching moment for us. And then Paris, stepping on the podium for the first time in Paris itself, obviously Paris is a beautiful city and I love Europe so much. So they're all so special for different reasons. And then in terms of going from your first one to your second to your third, did that experience, did you feel like you were able to carry that experience going through the next eight years from qualifying for your first one? And was there a certain moment in your racing

or in your training where you felt like, all right, I reckon I'm of that caliber and that level where I can actually make the Australian team. Like is there a certain moment that stands out for you where you had that belief that, all right, I think I'm a really good shot here and I know that I can be with those other swimmers.

In all honesty, I have had a really pivotal moment but it wasn't really self-belief. So in 2012, I got to go to my first Open Nationals which is in Adelaide and that coincided with the Olympic trials for the London Olympics. So I was 16 at the time, I made my first final in the 100 butterfly and the 200 as well. And I remember on the last night, I sat down, I watched the team get announced that we're going to the London Olympics and I said to myself, I was like, when they announced Rio in four years' time, I wanna be one of the athletes that's announced. That for me, I'd always been passionate about swimming and wanted to take it to the highest level I guess but that was a really pivotal moment in my career that I really set my goal of making an Olympic team. And I think being 16, making finals was also like promising in itself. I mean, I got to race Jess Shipper and Steph Rice and I just remember I was in four of them. So that for me, I was like, wow, like in four years' time, like I would love for that to be me. So that was like a really, I guess, thought-changing moment and it's how, yeah, I remember like my coach at the time, I sort of sat down with him and I was like, I wanna make the Rio Olympics in 2016. Like I wanna be on that team. And so everything from then on was gunning towards making that team in the turn of butterfly. Yeah, but in terms of self-belief and believing I can be up there,

I honestly have really laughed that throughout my career.

Obviously like I'm a butterflyer, Emma is number one, I'm always gonna be second to her and that's kind of how I viewed my whole life. And I mean, she is the goat of swimming. So yeah, it was such an incredible honor to be able to race her every time and to watch her conduct herself on pool deck. I mean, she's such a humble, incredible athlete and just goes about her business.

Yeah, she's a very, very admirable girl, but I feel like I certainly lack a lot of self-belief knowing that I'm always going to finish second to her in the hundred butterfly. So about moving to Dean's squad, like I sort of mentioned when we were chatting before, he's a coach that believed in me so much and that helped me so much as a person both in and out of the water. And I believe that sort of in the last, I guess in 2024, like I would say there were my best results that I've ever had. And I think it took that year and a half working with Dean, working with the support team around him and even all of our teammates to really believe in myself and have like full faith in myself. Can you talk a bit about the change in, like I guess environment culture of moving to Dean's squad two years prior to the Olympics because I can imagine it's like you're pretty much trained, you're training with some of the absolute cream of the crop in terms of swimmers in the world and we were talking about it before, like just Dean is so invested in getting the results for his athletes if they're willing to put in the same effort. So I can imagine like just being in that sort of environment every single day, twice a day that that would have a profound impact on the way that you maybe think about yourself or the way that you approach your swimming when you're surrounded by that level of athlete and so many of them. Yeah, I mean, it was such a big change and the most, the best change ever.

I am from WA and we were lucky if we got two on the team, maybe three. Most of the time we didn't have our coach. So I mean, I felt like such a lone wolf when I was on the team. Like I remember I was 16 and I made my first short course welds. I didn't know a soul, we're going to Turkey and I didn't know a soul on the team. I didn't have a coach, I didn't know any coaches. I was 16, I was from Perth, no one knew me. I kind of just got on a whim because everyone was having a break after the London Olympics. And to look at how that was and compare that to the 2023 World Championships or 2024 Olympics where I'm in Dean's program. He's got 10 athletes on the team. He's also got multiple support staff. I'm a senior athlete now. It just doesn't compare and I too like being able, being on the team with your teammates is the best thing ever rather than being a little lone wolf from WA who's you'd have to do your sets by yourself. You have like a coach that you work with. They might be from Victoria, they might be from Queensland but I always felt like an inconvenience because they had their own kids to worry about on the team. They don't really want to be doing my, having to time me for my sets. But yeah, like you mentioned about Dean's squad, he is the most passionate, enthusiastic, caring, incredible coach that I've ever been fortunate to work with and he will invest 110% in you

provided that you invest 110% back into swimming, into the squad, into your relationship with Dean. And I think that that is so pivotal. I mean, a lot of people ask me like, oh, like, is there a relationship with a coach important or the teammates, 1,000% it is. Like it's what makes or breaks an athlete. Like if you don't trust your coach or your gym coach or whoever it may be, then what is, what are you working with? So I know that I backed Dean, his training, his methods and percent. And I know it's what got me to being able to swim PB is the age of 28. So it was an incredible environment to be in and to be swimming next to Arnie and to for her to be on world record pace and training or Elijah on world record pace and training. Like he'd inspired me so much. And I know that I'm older than them. But like just watching them do what they do, it inspires everyone in the squad to be, to be better. Let's talk training sets. Is there a particular session that stands out to you as being the hardest session you've ever done or a particular set that you just got? Here we go. Time to strap in. I think this, this set is known by other people. Like I obviously, swimming is quite a secretive sport but I think this is where everyone knows that this session that we do. And it's on the Thailand training camp and there's a lot like Thailand training camp

is the hardest training camp I've ever been on. It's three weeks and there's this one session and it's typically a Monday morning. And I know it doesn't sound that hard but yeah, it's a 30 minute relay in either teams of three or if you're lucky four. I've always been lucky and had a team of four

as just a continuous relay in a 25 minute pool. It's just dive in max. And every single person is timed. Every single effort is timed. Every single coach is on pool deck. Every lane is timed. So you are held at the highest of standards. If you drop off point one, point two, you're yelled out, it's intense. So, and everything was obviously like a relay change over. So you're getting out of the pool, getting on the blocks. So down one end, it's like the short rest end and you might get 30 seconds. Nope, less than that, maybe 25 seconds when you touch a wall to get onto the blocks and the other end, you might get 45 seconds rest until a max effort.

25 and like someone like Kai Taylor, he does the whole thing without a breath. Like in the swimming part, obviously. Jesus. Like that is incredible. And every single effort is timed.

It's so high intensity. I think we ended up doing close to 40, 25s, max effort. Actually, no, maybe it was more than that. And I'm talking like they are max. And yeah, I mean, I usually would do like half butterfly, half freestyle. Yeah, that would have to be one of the hardest sessions. And I know it's only 30 minutes, but I remember looking back at my watch data and my heart rate was above 190 for 28 of those 30 minutes. Wow. Wow. And that pool is hot too. Like from, it's- It's very hot. Even though 50 is hot, but the 25 is probably 29 or 30 degrees. Yeah. Literally a bath. And obviously there's like, there's carry on on pool deck, there's music playing, it's like workers that like the resort would walk past and just look at us like what on earth is going on. And then one of my favorite moments, cause you do it every Monday for three weeks. But one of my favorite moments is like when that final time is up and everyone's just flaked out on the pool deck. Cause like everyone has just given 110%. They are so cooked and so exhausted, but you know that everyone has worked so hard. So it's like this feeling of achievement, but also like you're exhausted, but everyone's in the same boat. Like it's quite an incredible feeling, but that would certainly have to be one of the, one of the tougher sessions. And I know it only lasts 30 minutes. I mean, we have to make up like 6K before and after, but yeah, it's tough. It's really tough.

That's such a good way to do it though. As a relay, you've got everyone else there working, you know, you're in there as a team and you're being held accountable with your getting times at 25. And I also felt like it helped my relay changeover so much. Like I just felt so confident. Cause obviously you're getting on the blocks under so much fatigue and to be able to perform. Oh yeah. So you could be disqualified. They watched every changeover and like there would always be extras for DQs or whatever there was, but I felt like it helped my changeover so much. It makes a lot of sense, right? That's unreal. And I think back to when I was swimming competitively, like those shared experiences with other people is how you've really developed those strong bonds and friendships. And it's like, that's what really, I think gels people together. And that's like, there's, it feels like there's something out yet in the ether after you've done that with a group. Like you just feel like there's, it's almost tangible that you can just like that. That's shared pain that you've been through. Yeah. Yeah. It's quite an incredible sort of feeling, quite surreal almost. At Effortless Swimming, our mission is simple. Make swimming more enjoyable. Whether you're training for your next race, swimming for fitness or just love being in the water, we're here to help you swim faster, smoother and with more confidence. And one thing that can make or break a swim is your goggles. If you've ever struggled with foggy lenses mid session, you know how frustrating it can be. That's why we created the Effortless Swimming Hydro Clear Anti-Fog Goggles

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And so that Thailand training camp, how many Ks would you typically be doing through the week?

How many sessions as well? Nine, nine swim, but we wouldn't really go under set. Or under six. And there's a one Wednesday that's at 9K. That's a fun one. Yeah, so between six and nine, six and nine K and nine swim sessions. But I mean, on top of that, we're running around the track. Like it's like three gym, three run.

Three, three or four bike, circuit, yoga, core, med balls. Yeah, it's it's it's incredible that like the facilities are out of this world. Like I love that everything's everything's there. You don't have to get in the bus and wait for everyone to finish to come home. Like, you know, food is there. It's ready for it's like buffet style food. And yeah, like it's it's a very like lock in kind of training camp. You don't really leave. Maybe on a Saturday night, we go down to the town where there's this incredible supermarket and they cook steak and things like that. But apart from that, you don't really leave the resort. Yeah, it's it's great. I did. Jane says it's his favorite place in the world. Yeah, I bet Disneyland Disneyland for Dean. That's awesome. It was I'll try. Yeah, it's 10 years ago, actually, that a friend of mine started working at Tanya Pyro and he said it bring a group over. And so we started running camps there 10 years ago. And we've been there every year, apart from, I think, two through COVID, maybe. But it is it's just so good. Like roll out of bed, walk across the bridge, you're at the pool. And then and then dinner is or breakfast is like right next door. Yeah, it makes it so easy. Yeah, yeah, we yeah, it's a really incredible facilities. And yeah, like I love sort of love my time there. Yeah, it's a very hard work, but yeah, it's a beautiful place to be. Yeah, yeah, that's that's exactly right. And what about getting out of your training environment

like that like your normal training environment? Do you feel like everyone's able to that they're in this different mindset when they're able to just step out of their daily life and head overseas and go on these training camps? Like would you use it in the lead up to a like trials or Olympics? Like what when was it placed throughout the year? So we it was always in January, February sort of period, depending on

like because obviously Dean's very involved in the St. Peter's swimming like the school swimming. So he always had to be back for their school carnival kind of big competition. So it would sort of either be January, February from I mean, when I was in Dean's squad, but we also would always have a camp in May. And that was usually cans or somewhere a little bit warmer. Just so we do those like I guess it's the very point end of the season where a lot of things are done on long rest or there's time trials or that kind of thing. So we'd always go to cans for two to three weeks right before the trials for Worlds or Olympics, whatever it may be. And I mean, that is that's very much to one, get into a little bit warmer environment and two to eliminate all distractions. Like, you know, such a pivotal part, like the last three weeks in the lead up to Olympic trials is like a very sort of stressful time. And it was almost nice to just get away and all we're doing is focusing on swimming. I was really at uni. No one's worrying about, you know, if there's stress in the family or anything like that, like it's a very important time and the focus is 1000% on swimming and performing and training. Do you have a certain way that you'd sort of go into trials and competition in terms of like, is it like no social media or is it like making sure that you don't read at night? Like what's what's your sort of routine look like is when you're in those really sort of pointy end of your season and important parts of it? I'm like, I never shut down my social media.

Like even at the Olympics, like I was still on it. I definitely don't like delve into comments and read articles. Like, God, no, they're just keyboard warriors. But I feel like sometimes just like mindlessly scrolling TikTok. It's like a distraction. I remember at World Championships, literally this time last year, it was when the Super Bowl was on. And I just loved watching. Like the Chiefs of the after parties or whatever it may be. Like I'm going to tell us the answer, like Taylor. And I just like because it's just like mind numbing. It just takes your mind off like racing at the pinnacle of the sport. So I would like totally I definitely stay on my socials. But to look at other things apart from swimming. Just yeah. And I mean, like I'm a pretty big reader as well. Like I've got my Kindle and so if I do need to like, I'm like, OK, no. It's too much Olympics is popping up on TikTok. Like I'll just switch to a Kindle and I'll just read. Or if I know that I'm quite wound up, like I've raced that evening. I've got to race the next morning. Like I might not go on my phone. I'll just like just read because that would just put me to sleep, basically. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to say I'm asleep within like three pages. If I've trained or something that day, it's like it's very hard to stay awake at night. I've got a book that's taken me three months to get through in my halfway. So it's like it's a slow process. Yeah. In terms of like visualisation or mental rehearsal, I know that's been a big thing for you. What's your your process there? Like sort of step by step, like when do you do it?

What are you what are you visualising like at the start of a race? Like how's that process look for you? Yeah. So in the last sort of six months before Olympic trials, I sort of worked with a performance coach. I've never I'm probably not someone that like I've never really seen a psychologist. I know a lot of people see like psychologist during training and racing, but that I don't know, I just never really worked for me.

Or like, I guess almost I didn't feel the need. So I I found this this lady and she was so fantastic. Like she's actually an ex athlete herself for New Zealand in a completely different sport, but she gets it, you know. And I just felt like I I needed someone who understood how high pressure some of these situations are. And it was fantastic. Like I loved working with her. And yeah, I mean, she taught me so much. And I think the biggest thing is that I wanted to get up on the blocks at a competition or say Olympic trials or Olympics, whatever it is and say, I have done everything I can. So again, like working on that confidence situation is something that I was very pivotal to me is to get up onto the blocks to not be fazed by anything going on. If someone's done some crazy time in the heat, like they're not backing it up again at night. So I just try to let nothing faze me. Get in that very like calm mind state focus on myself and basically get up on the block saying I have left no stone unturned. I could not hand on heart could not have done or given anything more. So I think having that mindset for me was really important. Besides the turn of butterfly and I just always it's myself. No, this is fun. This is just a fun race. This is just helping me because that was just a different race for me that I didn't enjoy doing.

Yeah, it's I don't think so many people have have looked forward to a turn of fly before Lizzie. Lizzie loves it. Lizzie, Lizzie loves the turn of butterfly. And I just I have so much admiration for her that she sticks to her own race plan and just trusts herself one thousand percent, whereas I'm like I get so caught up knowing that like I'm more of a front. Well, I mean, in taking the turn of fly in Australia, like I'm more of a hundred swimmer than a turn of swimmer. So I should be out front of the hundred. And if I'm not, I'm just all over the place. So yeah, for me, like the turn of fly was just such a. I just went into every race sort of in the latest stages of my career. I went into every way, every turn of fly being like, you know what? I'm just doing this to help my hundred butterfly help my back. So that was my mindset on that. It's a way to do it. Yeah. And in terms of technique, like you did you sort of have to develop or change your technique over the last sort of eight years or foundationally, you're quite good, like with a certain things that you you've been focusing on. And if so, how did you go about working on them? Yeah, I feel like I've been so fortunate at my career that technically I'm a very good swimmer and very efficient. Like I have hypermobile shoulders, elbows and like my upper body is very hypermobile. So I was able to get into like crazy catch positions.

And I yeah, that's obviously like a massive advantage when it comes to swimming. So I felt like technically speaking, I've always been very, very good. But my skills have lacked and I felt like I have tried the last like when I sort of moved to Dean, I spent a lot of time on my skills. Like and I certainly found that my like in particular my underwater like got a phobia of holding my breath, so that's never going to work well. But I just I really learned to maximise my time underwater and actually just improve my the power of my kick a lot. And then like apart from that, like my turns and my starts and my finishes, like I guess just small things that were never really drilled into me. Like I would never ever breathe inside the flags. Well, I mean, Dean's what no one ever breathes inside the flags, just small things that are very that they become subconscious over a period of time. But for me, I was like, oh, well, OK, like that's something I think about and make sure I don't do it. Technically speaking, I felt like I've always had a really good foundation. But my skills have certainly been something I have really had a lot of attention to the detail in the last few years. And how did you go about increasing the power of your your kick? Um, a lot more kick and training like we choose that as a morning at like a dedicated kick sets on and like I'm I guess like looking back, like I'm I'm so proud of what I how far my came and then in the gym as well.

Yeah, but like we just did a lot of kick work, which I actually really enjoy. I have always enjoyed doing kick, but that just helped me so, so much. Are you how are you doing it? Are you like kickboard and snorkel or vertical kick? Like what kickboard and snorkels are? Yeah, kickboard snorkel all the time. I just think like for me, 90% of the time I'll do butterfly kick rather than freestyle.

And I just know my like obviously fly kicks quite of like a rhythmic kick. It's very hard to have a head up, so I'd always wear a snorkel. And yeah, like kickboard snorkel and just fly kick most of the time. Gotcha. And what about on your back? Are you doing much on your back or mostly just on the front? Always on my front. Yeah, I just I don't know. I guess like fly kick on your back is quite different. I would think to fly kick on your front. Yeah, I did everything on my front because I guess like I was never, ever going to be on my back in a race, so I always train on my front.

And in terms of what you've learnt as a as a professional swimmer, like some of those maybe a character traits or skills you've had develop, are there any that stand out to you that you feel like will keep you in really good stead in your future after swimming? Yeah, I think there are so many transferable skills. And I mean, it's not even just from swimming. I think like as a professional athlete, there are so many valuable skills that we we embody and that can be brought to later on in life. And I think for me, when you go into a workplace, there are so many skills that can be learnt like Excel, Microsoft, whatever it is. Whereas these skills that we have learnt or not even learnt, but we just there in our nature, like being having time management, being disciplined, listening to others, listening to a coach, having good communication, you know, just having such, you know, autonomy in our sport, like, you know, we are we're motivated. Like they're just things that we as athletes embody and that's just absolutely comes naturally to us. And I think like soft skills like that can't really be taught. Like it's not like teaching someone how to write an essay. It's like they're things that are either within you or they're not. And I feel like that is their skills that can certainly be used for future.

Yeah, it's like, and I think in terms of as if I was going to hire someone, I'd much prefer to hire someone who maybe might lack in the technical skills side of thing, but in terms of their character being on time, those those skills that you develop at a well, I think in a high level, obviously any sport, but like if you've got to dedicate to you, if you're dedicating yourself to the sport for that long, like you've got to be be good at it. And I think that is if you've got that as your call, then the other technical stuff can be can be learned. And I mean, that's what we always had drilled into us. It's like when we're 11, 12, 13, our coach was my dad was my coach for most of my my younger years. And he's just like, which of your friends are up at four a.m. in the morning going, getting up and doing something. And like just would always have that drilled into us. And I think like I look back now and I was like, OK, yeah, yeah. We've heard that. We've heard that. But then like looking back, it's like, well, yeah, absolutely. That was a really, really good skill that I'm glad that I developed and dedicated myself to as a as a teenager. Yeah, absolutely. And I think like, you know, entering the workforce at whatever age people sort of enter like post uni, like I feel like a lot of people go through uni just doing the bare minimum. Whereas in our sport, you have to go above and beyond to get to be on a team to be number one, whatever it may be. So I feel like that's, you know, going those extra miles, not talking like in the pool, but just in general,

is really transferable and can translate for later in life. Like when, yeah, you're willing to literally go above and beyond to get something done or to help someone or whatever it may be. Yeah, absolutely. And you were saying before the call, you're on long service leave from swimming at the moment, you know, you just haven't been in the pool a whole lot post, post the games. What's what's that process been like for you? Having spent, I don't know, what is it? 12 plus years where you haven't had more than a handful of weeks out of the water to now just being in there only just a handful of times. Yeah, it's been interesting. I mean, like off straight off the back of racing, I took a five week holiday in Europe, which was amazing. But I feel like since coming home, like I've obviously swimming is a very, very structured lifestyle routine. So I've had to find structure in other ways, which has been interesting. And I've like enjoyed that. I have just been creating a routine that sort of works for me. But I think like something I've really has is the ability to say yes. I always said, like, you know, after Paris, like, I just want to be a yes girl and say yes to opportunities that, you know, I'd always thought, oh, like, so sorry, I've got training. Like, I was fortunate enough to be invited to such a cool new balance event at one of the one of the, like, really boutique, bougie sort of gyms in Melbourne, like, that's a Saturday. I'd usually just be in the pool being able to say yes to things like that has been so exciting. And obviously just something I'd never been able to do or to go

to the Melbourne Cup on a random Tuesday, usually it's like, oh, no, sorry, I've got training in morning and night during the day. So yeah, just being able to say yes to opportunities. And I mean, yeah, like, tonight I'm going to Luke Holmes and like usually be like, oh, no, like I've got training on Saturday morning and that's the main set, like I can't do anything Friday night. So yeah, just being able to say yes to different opportunities has been like really exciting. But I certainly am ready to like get some like swimming structure sort of back in.

Yeah, it's so funny. I forgot like just how how difficult it is to do anything else when you are swimming full time. You know, it's like, yeah, you've got time during the middle of the day. But like, you're not going to be up until 11 o'clock at night at an event or like you just can't do that. So yeah, God, that must be must be a nice, nice change. So yeah. And in terms of the the change going moving down to to Melbourne, you'll stay there going forward, find a squad. What's the plan? Yeah, I mean, like they're obviously the VIS and I'm good friends with Sam Williamson. So he's based out at Emsack over there. So yeah, I guess like that's kind of the rough plan under like, yeah, Craig Emsack. But yeah, I'm just really just taking my time. I guess also just finding my feet in a new city is another big thing. Like never lived in Melbourne before, never even spent time in Melbourne because there's never any swimming events in Melbourne. So I didn't even I mean, like we always go to Brissie or Adelaide. So I'm like, I feel like I'm fairly used to those places. But yeah, Melbourne is completely different. So yeah, I've just sort of been, I guess, finding my feet here for the past few months. And yeah, it was slowly start, yeah, making my way back into the water. Yeah, well, it's out. Yeah, there's no no no rush. It's like a may as well just enjoy the time that you've actually got off. And in terms in terms of like you've been doing a few keynotes and speaking engagements and things like that. Are there any particular core lessons that seem to come come up in each of those talks that you're doing? So you gave a really big one on Wednesday was to 700 students

and a hundred staff members. So that was probably my biggest one so far. And I I'm really trying to speak on resilience at the moment. I feel like this next generation is almost like sugarcoating everything. Like, oh, you can come first, but here's a participation. But no. Everyone falls down, you've got to get back up. And that's how you learn like resilience is like a muscle. The more you train it, the more it grows. And I think there's maybe like a little bit of a lack of. Resilience in kids and young adults these days. It's like things don't go to plan. Like I missed the Olympic team on the first night and 100 butterfly when that was the plan. I had to get up 48 hours later and make the team. Like I was absolutely gutted. I spent four hours boiling my eyes out to my coach. But I knew that the next day if I didn't wake up with a new attitude, I was actually going to miss the team. Like I was fortunate enough I'll have potential other options. I could make it, but that wasn't like a given. Like my given was almost 100 butterfly and that didn't happen.

Yeah, I just feel like the one thing I'm really trying to chat on at the moment is resilience. Unless obviously there's a key theme that I need to discuss. Was it like International Women's Day coming up? Like obviously women in sport and empowering women. Like I'm very big on that. But yeah, in terms of like a general theme, I really try to talk about resilience and picking yourself back up. And not everything smooth sailing, life isn't linear. So yeah. And quite often, and I think I've probably spoken about this on the podcast a bit, but like quite often, those like real downs are the ones where you look back and go, that happened for a reason. And I'm really glad it did. But right now it's very hard to say it. It's like they are the often the turning points in your life. And I find for me, if I'm working on a certain thing, say for effortless swimming, if I'm really frustrated, I feel like I'm not making progress with it or I'm like, it's a new skill or something I've got to learn. I know this is actually the right thing to be working on because it's hard and it's difficult and I'm getting frustrated. So I just keep with it and it will eventually come through. But to me, that's actually a sign, I'm working on the right thing here because it's difficult. Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like you have whatever it is in life, it doesn't have to be school or sport. But like challenging yourself is so important. I mean, that's why after Paris, I knew I was taking like the rest of that year off swimming and I was like, you know what? I feel like I love exercise and I'm very much about like a healthy lifestyle and fitness and that sort of thing.

But I was like, you know what? I need a little challenge. So like, I've never done more than five K in my life. And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna train for half marathon. And yeah, I did it on Christmas Eve. And yeah, like I just needed something to work towards a goal. And God, it wasn't easy. I'm like, world's worst run. I can't keep my heart right below. And I just think like that's so important is to challenge yourself in whatever way it is, like the personal challenge to you. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Brie, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I really appreciate you spending your time here. I know you've got quite a bit on. So yeah, thank you very much. And congratulations on all of your success over the last eight plus years. And yeah, just I've sort of watched you from afar. I've seen you obviously training with Arnie and I know Kia somewhat. So like just great to watch your progression and journey and watching you competing in Paris was amazing. So congratulations and looking forward to seeing what's to come. Thank you. And thanks so much for having me on the podcast. My pleasure. Thanks for listening to the Effortless Swimming Podcast. If you'd like us to help you become a faster, more efficient swimmer, go to www.effortlesswimming.com.