Taylor Ruck spent most of her summer focused on swimming.
She returned to Canada to train at the Toronto High Performance Centre once pools re-opened and has spent countless hours training as she continues to work toward her goal of making the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
But now, Ruck has two major focuses in her life.
When she is not in the water, she is taking Stanford University courses remotely this semester.
“The remote aspect isn’t that hard but just with Ben (Titley, her coach), the schedule is he assumes you devote all your time to swimming,” Ruck said with a laugh. “But now I have less time. Homework takes up all of my time. I have just been on my computer (all day). I am just starting to figure it out, but it is a good dynamic.”
Ruck is a Human Biology major, which has her hitting the book heavy since the semester started. She said she chose the major because, in addition to being interesting, there are plenty of options as far as career path.
“I like how open it is,” she said. “You can go into pre-med if you want, but there are whole other possibilities. I have been taking a few classes to figure it out. I feel like nursing is pretty cool. There is a lot of time investment there, so I am not sure how that is going to work with swimming. It will see how these classes go.”
Ruck, a junior world champion in 2015, won three bronze medals on Canada’s relays at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. She was fourth in the 100 back, and fifth in the 200 back and 100 free, just missing the podium individually.
Even more dominant was her 2018 season when she won a record eight medals at the Commonwealth Games and five medals at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, including an epic 200 free win over Katie Ledecky and Rikako Ikee, one of the most memorable international showdowns in recent years.
After taking an Olympic redshirt in 2020, Ruck said because of COVID-19 and other factors, she is waiting to decide about whether or not to do the same thing for 2021.
Taylor Ruck; Photo Courtesy: McKenna Ehrmentraut
But for now, she is doing everything she can to be ready for the 2021 Canadian Trials. Her summer began with focusing on technique work in the water.
“We are focused on hand technique in backstroke, not entering too close to the middle,” Ruck said. “I feel like I need to catch my hold on the water better. I am trying to get that back in both backstroke and freestyle.”
Then the training turned to putting in the meters to work on strength and endurance.
“The focus of training right now is building into strength and more meters. It was about technique at first,” she said. “I am feeling pretty good, but it is hard to tell with no meets. I think we are going to do some suited efforts soon. It has been really fun being able to hang out in our little bubble. I have had a good time so far.”
Especially because she knows not everyone has been able to be in the pool as long as she has because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Being out of the water made me appreciate it more, definitely,” Taylor Ruck said. “The longest break I ever had was two weeks. Appreciating swimming has definitely been something. I am trying to treat each week as something I couldn’t have gotten otherwise. Getting back in makes me appreciate more people who go through so much. I appreciate being able to get in. I definitely like being able to train. I just don’t want to take it for granted.”
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Keep your strength and endurance. Gratitude be the no. 1 word. The secret and magic to your success. God. Bless you. Flore. Jangeslag
Big thank you to Coach Ben and team in Canada, and Coach Greg and Tracy and team at Stanford. Also thank you to coach Amil in Kelowna and Taylor’s Eidse & Ruck grandparents for hosting while quarantined in Kelowna a few months ago.
And a big thank you to coach Bob & Kevin at Scottsdale Aquatic Club & Kim Courtney for hosting Taylor while in Scottsdale!
And a big thank you to JR Rosania for dry land training for Taylor in Arizona. It takes a village to raise an athlete. ??