How They Train: The Development and Sets of Philippines Olympic Hopeful Chloe Isleta
Chloe Isleta’s long and storied career continues unabated. At age 13, well before enrolling at Arizona State, the 5-1 back/IM specialist swam for Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics. At the 2012 Far Westerns, she posted a 2:01.83 in the 200 IM. As a senior at San Jose’s Presentation High School, she won the CIF (California) state championship in the same event (1:59.27). As a Sun Devil, she went on to be a five-time Pac-12 scorer in her primary events.
Isleta took a two-year hiatus following graduation (cum laude in mass communication and journalism), then began a pro swimming career, training elsewhere before returning to the fold in Tempe. These days, she is hard at work with the goal to represent the Philippines at the 2024 Olympic Games.
“She is a great example of how training can adapt with the athlete as they mature through the sport,” says her coach, Rachel Stratton-Mills. “When Chloe began with the program at 18, she was a 400 IMer, and we trained her accordingly. However, as she got older, we adjusted her training to be more focused on 200 IM and backstroke. This change occurred for many reasons, principally because Chloe believed training more at race pace with a speed focus would be best for her long term.
“Our partnership shows how a long-term swimming journey can grow and adapt along with the athlete. Chloe brings a very upbeat attitude to each practice, and is a joy to train. At the same time, she focuses on her work and details while lifting the level of those around her.”
RECENT CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
• Southeast Asian Games 2022 gold medalist (first Filipina gold in 29 years)—third Filipina overall ever to win gold
• Multi-national Philippine record holder
• Broke Philippine national records at 2022 World Cup Berlin, Germany
• 100 Backstroke SCM, 59.64; 200 backstroke SCM, 2:09.18; 100 individual medley SCM, 1:01.96
• Set Philippine national records: 50 backstroke SCM, 27.62; 100 backstroke SCM, 1:00.42; 100 backstroke LC, 1:02.58; 200 individual medley LC, 2:18.35; 400 individual medley LC, 4:52.57; 4 x 100 medley relay LC, 4:11.10; 100 individual medley SCM, 1:01.34
• Top 8 finisher at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in the 200 IM and 400 IM
CHLOE ISLETA – SAMPLE SETS
Following are some sample sets this season geared toward race pace swimming in preparation for this summer’s World Championships.
“The sets are typical of our Wednesday PM workouts,” says Stratton-Mills. “The percentages are calculated off each athletes’ best times. The times are printed on their training cards at the beginning of each training block.”
• 6 x 100 backstroke descend 1-4 (80%) hold 5, 6 on 1:30
*1:10.4, 1:08.1, 1:05.1, 1:01.4, 1:01.7, 1:01.7
• 1 x 300 active recovery (25 rotation drill/75 swim) on 6:00
• 5 x 100 backstroke descend 1-4 (85%) hold 5 on 1:40
*1:08.3, 1:05.3, 1:04.0, 59.9, 59.3
• 1 x 300 active recovery (25 scull/75 swim) on 6:00
• 4 x 100 descend 1-4 (90%) on 1:50
*1:05.6, 1:03.7, 1:01.2, 55.8
On Tuesdays, swimmers tend to do fast/easy work with a desired 1:1 work-to-rest ratio. Here is an example of what Isleta did LCM prior to the Berlin World Cup.
• 4 x 50 (25 FAST from a dive + 25 easy) on 1:00
• 4 x 50 drill/swim on 1:00
• 3 x 100 (50 FAST from a dive + 50 easy) on 3:00
• 4 x 100 kick/swim on 2:00
• 2 x 200 (100 FAST from a dive + 100 easy) on 5:00
Following is an example of a suited quality set done this season. Each athlete did the set a bit differently to adjust for individual needs. Isleta’s three efforts that day were:
3 x broken efforts:
• 1 x 200 broken backstroke 100 on 1:10 + 50 on :40 + 50
*55.7, 27.9, 28.6
• 1 x 200 broken IM 4 x 50 on :50
*25.8, 26.9, 32.9, 25.8
• 1 x 100 broken backstroke 50 on :40 + 50
*25.2, 26.6
CHLOE ISLETA – TOP COLLEGE TIMES
SCY Time Meet
200 Free 1:55.83 vs. WSU (1-12-19)
100 Back 53.11 Pac-12 Champs (2-28-20)
200 Back 1:55.14 Pac-12 Champs (2-24-18)
200 IM 1:56.67 Pac-12 Champs (2-22-18)
400 IM 4:10.55 Pac-12 Champs (2-23-18)
200 Fly 2:02.29 vs. NAU (12-16-16)
* * *
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” is in its second printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and distributors worldwide.