In a recent International Swimming Hall of Fame article about Olympic gold medalist Mike Bruner (see here), author Michael Stott gave an impressive example of the long distance freestyle workouts given by famed Olympic coaches like Mark Schubert, Sherm Chavoor, Dick Shoulberg, Laurie Lawrence, Don Swartz, and Bill Rose in the 1970’s.

Setting the Scene

Stott described the 10,000-yard workout of 1976 Olympic gold medalist Mike Bruner where he finished in under 100 minutes, holding a pace under 1 minute per 100 yards in the short-course 25-yard pool at De Anza Swim Club.  With 700 spectators cheering on Bruner in a team fundraiser, the 19-year-old Stanford freshman and reigning American record holder in the 1650-yard freestyle, swam the straight 10,000 yards in 1 hour 39 minutes 18.59 seconds, under the goal pace of 1:00 per 100 yards.

While the swim was publicly announced later that same evening at the Western States Coaches’ Clinic by his coach Bill Rose, a young 16-year-old Bobby Hackett from Yonkers, New York had no idea what his California competitor had accomplished.

A New York City Phenom

Hackett was a precocious swimmer who had first dreamed of making the Olympic team when he saw Mark Spitz at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.  A tenaciously tough workout swimmer with an uncanny ability to pace himself within tenths of seconds of his goal times during long training sessions, Hackett made his first USA Senior National Championships at the age of 13 swimming for Coach Joseph Bernal.  

Coach Bernal had a certain style of workouts: long, hard, intense, and he always kept his swimmers on their toes.  He would plan his workouts ahead of time, but the swimmers had no idea what to expect in the old Fordham University pool, a 4-lane 25-yard pool without gutters (see blow).  “It was like swimming in a dungeon,” said Hackett.  The Bernal’s Gators Swim Club was not a big team, but with at least 10 swimmers per lane in the narrow pool, the turbulence in the pool was another challenge that Hackett and his teammates simply dealt with on a daily basis.

“Bernal never told us before the workout what we would do,” recalled Hackett.  “Workouts were always a surprise.  We had 13 workouts a week, training 4-4.5 hours per weekdays, and 3 hours each weekend day.”

Surprise Saturday

Then on one Saturday in December 1975 as Hackett had his eyes on the 1976 Montreal Olympics in July, Bernal announced the main set after a 15-minute warm-up: 100 x 100 @ 1:00 holding a pace time at the feet (i.e., he flipped at the end of each 100 and Bernal would take his time when his feet touched the wall).

To his credit, Hackett took the distance challenge to heart.  “OK, let’s go,” he thought.

His teammates cleared the end lane for him and off he pushed off on the first 100.  57 seconds on #1…and he continued again and again and again.  “I was struggling to hold 57’s, especially in that middle section between #30 and #60, but it was a good set, a real confidence builder.  The pool was very wavy, but my teammates were pacing me in the next lane over.  Some would go too fast; others would go too slow.  But Bernal made me call out all of my 50 and 100 times at the wall after each 100 was finished.  I would tell him what I thought my 50 split was and my 100 time – for all 100 one-hundreds.”

Hackett did that 100 x 100 @ 1:00 set in the turbulent Fordham University pool (that has since been demolished and where the football team’s locker now stands) six times before the 1976 Olympics.  

100 x 100 Sets

After the first 100 x 100 set, he kept getting faster on subsequent Century Challenges.  “Sometimes, I felt fantastic and was able to get down to 52’s the last half dozen 100’s after comfortably holding mid 54’s.  I kept telling myself to keep technically sound and keep the pace,” he recalled.  “I would call out my times, 27.1 for the first 50 and 27.4 for the second 50, for example.  Bernal would confirm the times and I would be off on the minute.  I would get into a rhythm.  Since I did a few of these sets alone, Bernal would often walk the poolside to aid my pacing. At the end of the set, he would smile and I knew it was a good workout that only took 1 hour 40 minutes.

The greatest invention was goggles.  Without these we would not have been able to train that many yards a day.  Times dropped in all events in 1976 from 1972 at a greater level than any point before or after this period, especially in the 1500.  In fact, the top three places at the 1976 Olympics averaged over 48 seconds faster than the winning time of 15:52 in 1972 by Mike Burton. And all three broke the then world record.”

Back in 1976, Hackett just grinded out the yardage on whatever morning breakfast he had that day where Bernal would surprise him with tough sets.  “Back then, it was sleep, swim, eat, study, repeat.  What a four years of high school,” said Hackett.

Stepping It Up

But the 100 x 100 sets were not the hardest workouts that Bernal challenged Hackett with.

Hackett remembers his hardest set ever leading up to the Olympics.  “It was a set of 10 x 200 in that old Fordham pool on a 2:00 interval.  I had to descend from #1 to #5, and from #6 to #10, but Bernal also asked me to negative split each 200 and not take a breath on the 4th and 8th laps of each 200.  That fourth lap was a killer because I had to do a flip turn and then pick up the pack on the second 200.”

But there were also other tough workouts that he was asked to do.  “We had a set of 20 x 500 [another 10,000-yard set].  There were groups of 5 where I had to descend #1 to #5, #6 to #10, #11 to #15, and #16 to #20.  The first 5 x 500 were on a 5:00 interval where I wore hand paddles, a pull buoy and those inflated inner tubes that went around our ankles.  The next 5 x 500 were on a 4:55 interval, but I dropped the inner tube around my ankles.   Then the next 5 x 500 were on a 4:50 interval, only using hand paddles.  Then the last 5 x 500 were just swims on a 4:45 interval.  I started #16 at 4:40, dropped to 4:37 on #17, and finished with a 4:27.  It was great for my confidence.

Another time on a Saturday morning, Bernal asked me to do another 100 x 100 @ 1:00 set.  I did it and the team celebrated with a cake.  They wanted to send me off to California for a great Olympic Trials.  I thought the workout was over and the cake tasted great.  But then Bernal told me to get back into the pool.  He asked me to do 2 x 1650, the first butterfly and then second freestyle.  I thought he was a jerk.  But I did it; a 17:30 on the butterfly 1650 and a 15:30 on the freestyle one.  I knew I was ready [for the Olympic Trials] after that.”

The Results

16-year-old Hackett qualified for the 1976 USA Olympic Team with a 15:12.76 in the 1500m freestyle finals at the USA Olympic Trials.  He later won a silver medal in 15:03.91 behind Brian Goodell’s gold medal time of 15:02.5. His time from 1976 is still a National Age Group record for 15-16 year olds, although he said, “48 years is long enough to hold a record. I expect it to be broken soon with that person breaking the 15 minute barrier (although this feat would be almost 20 seconds slower than the fastest 16 year old who is from Turkey. The target time should be 14:40 and not 15:00!).”

Hackett would continue on with a stellar swimming career at Harvard University, but missed out on representing the US again at the 1980 Moscow Olympics when the US boycotted.  But he was also able to graduate from the Harvard Business School and enjoyed a successful career in real estate.  He is now retired in Atlanta where he gives back to the sport as an assistant swim coach at Emory University.

He still holds one of the oldest US National Age Group records, a 15:03.91 in the 1500m freestyle, set back in 1976.

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