Bonnie Pronk owes her winning ways to Endless Pools
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Bonnie Pronk uses her Endless Pool for
a type of “therapy” to which most of us
can only aspire: Besides overall physical
conditioning, it is great for “specifity”
training, that is, for working on particular aspects
of her swimming technique, typically her kick or her
arm stroke.
It must work. By the end of last year, Bonnie, a
resident of Quadra Island, off the coast of southern
British Columbia, had compiled some astounding statistics
as a Masters competitor in the 60-to-64 age group,
setting 22 Masters world records and 31 Canadian records.
Among these were eight world records, with four first-place
finishes and one second-place finish at the Australian
national championships, in March. This was followed
by seven world records, with four first-place finishes
and one second-place finish at the World Swimming
Championships, in Christchurch, New Zealand, later
in the month. The following August, Bonnie added five
first-place finishes at the U.S. Masters Nationals,
in Cleveland.
Not surprisingly, her Endless Pool, which
she’s trained in for seven years, has
some enhancements befitting the intensity of her regimen.
Among them are stairs allowing her husband-coach to
observe her swimming form from above the deck, and
a clear front to provide another perspective from
pool-floor level.
She also has a mirror installed on the ceiling to
observe her backstroke technique. The mirror, in turn,
has a grid superimposed on it, so Bonnie can avoid
drifting out of her “lane.”
At the height of her training, Bonnie trains
“just about every evening, after supper,” devoting as much as 30 minutes to a given aspect of
her strokes. During less concentrated training periods,
she maintains her stamina with three or four workouts
per week in water from 80º to 83º.
For all her Masters achievements, though, Bonnie’s
fondness for her Endless Pool has much in common with
other owners, especially the convenience factor. A
competitive swimmer in her youth, accessibility to
the pool is integral to Bonnie’s rekindled enthusiasm
for the sport.
“We’re really out in the boonies,”
she says, “and it takes me about an hour and
a ferry ride to get to the nearest full-size pool.
And even that is sometimes problematic because of
the weather. So the Endless Pool makes a big difference.”
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