Susan Heon Preston

Stats on Susan:

Member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team 400 I.M.

Member of the National Team 1980-1984

Collegiate 4 year All-American

Current record holder at the University of Pittsburgh

Currently, a mother of a 5 year-old daughter, Sarah and 2 ½ year son, Cole

Married to Jim Preston, Ironman Triathlete—I met Jim while coaching the Masters Team at PCCC

Teaching 5th grade in Menlo Park

Currently swimming with Stanford Masters

Competed in Santa Cruz 1 mile swim—1st overall

Competed in LaJolla 5-mile swim—3rd overall, 1st female

Notes from the Coach:

Our latest contributor to our Inspiration and Motivation is Susan Heon Preston. During Christmas break, I visited a masters workout at the University of Pittsburgh. After workout, I caught up with the Pitt coach and asked him if he knew Sue Heon, who holds two of the oldest records on the books at Pitt. “Never met her,” he said … “but she’s a legend here at Trees Hall Pool.”…. Heon is a legend. Susan Preston, affectionately known by this coach as “SP”, swam for both my Woodside Hills Aquatics age-group and Masters teams during the ‘90-‘95 seasons. As an extra bonus, she was my training partner and co-worker at PCCC, where we were instrumental in pulling off many pranks and practical jokes on other team members, co-workers, and innocent bystanders. We have some swimming experiences in common such as swimming for Dick Bradshaw at Pitt, and both have suffered through years of 200 fly training under his coaching. In her letter she said that she used to “push” me in practice – “TORTURE” would be the more accurate way to phrase it.

As an athlete, she is tough as nails. When she swam for me at WHA, she set the US Masters national record in the 500 yard freestyle, and the Masters World Records in the 400 and 800 meter freestyle events. During one of our infamous “non sanctioned fitness swims”, we took a group of people to swim 2 miles between the Capitola and Aptos piers during “El Nino”. SP decided the 8 foot swells would make it a challenge. She bought helium balloons and tied them to the people’s wet suits so we wouldn’t lose anybody (no lifeguards), and much to the tourists’ amazement, after throwing our paraplegic master swimmer out of his wheelchair and off the pier into the raging ocean said, “C’mon Ron, the conditions are fine … let’s go for it!”

SP always kept our office organized, so when they installed a new phone system into the health club where we worked, they left one phone attached to the wall in our office. When SP asked me what I wanted to do with the phone, I said “cut it off the wall”. When she did, the new system immediately went dead. Thank God for Ironman Triathlete Bill O’Brien, who coincidentally was a retired PacBell worker. Bill lived across the street, and after about 16 hours of “volunteer work”, he had the lines up and running by the next morning.

SP approaches life with tenacity and enthusiasm. I’m sure it comes from her incredible work ethic and training background. I have seen her wrestle through some very difficult “storms of life” and come out unscathed. She is married to another one of my former masters swimmers and Ironman triathletes Jimmy Preston. They live with their two children in Menlo Park where Susan is a school teacher.

Dear Fellow Swimmers:

Greetings from Northern California, coach Ron Chlasta’s “former” home. Over the holidays, I received a phone call from my old friend and training buddy, Ron. The first thing Ron asked me was, “Did you cut any phone lines lately?” Of course, this got us talking about old times, and then we started talking about your masters team, what you had accomplished and your goals for the 2005 year. It sounds like you will have a busy year.

When I first met Ron, I was swimming a workout at the Pacific Athletic Club. Ron called over, “Hey Team Foxcatcher!” Well that was the beginning of a new friendship as well as a new training partner. Swimming with Ron was not only fun; it was exciting! I swam some awesome swims for Ron as a masters swimmer. Some days, I would swim with the age group kids; other times with the masters, but there was always the "executive lunch" swim with Ron and Pär (Arvidsson). Most of our workouts had to fit into a 30 to 40 minute window because Par had to get back to work. The workout usually consisted of 10 of something--not very creative, but it must have been effective since we both completed a 10k open water swim in August of that year.

I am sure that you all have your own individual goals for the year at this point. Maybe it is to complete a certain set or to move up to a faster lane by a certain time. Maybe it is to try a new event or a new open water swim. Having goals keeps you focused. Whatever goals you have set for yourself, you need to take a look at them to make sure they are realistic and achievable. [In this picture, Cody Chlasta (holding flag) and Susan Heon get ready for the parade of athletes at the 1994 Canned Food Invitational Swim Meet in Redwood City, Ca. Also pictued is Sandy Neilson-Bell 1972 Olympic Gold medalist; Munich Games.]

This reminds me of my own experience with goals. I have been fortunate enough to complete in the Olympic Games. My performance at the games was not my best performance; my Olympic Trials performance was much better. My coach, Richard Shoulberg says it had to do with goal setting. We had only set a goal of making of the Olympic Team and hadn’t really given much thought to what happens after. I had reached my goal of making the team, but had failed to look at anything beyond that. My advice is this: once you reach your goals, make sure you look ahead to what you want to accomplish next.

Training for the Olympics with Richard Shoulberg was an exciting experience, although others may say different. Not only did he set goals with me, he challenged me both mentally and physically. Also, I believed in what he was doing and I respected him. There were many sets and workouts that I did which I still cannot believe I did. One of the most amazing workouts for me as an athlete was the day we did a 15,000 meter freestyle for time. I held 1:10’s the whole way. Talk about a confidence boost! This leads me to another key point--you need to believe in your coach and respect him. If he gives you a set that you think is crazy, you need to know that he has a reason for giving you the set.

After the Olympics, I returned to the University of Pittsburgh for my final year of college. My last race was March 25, 1985. I got out of the water until January 1990. I guess you could say I had enough of looking at the"black line". When I finally returned to swimming, I realized how much I missed the calmness of the water. Yes, I know…how is swimming 5000 meters a day calming? Since my return, I have been consistently swimming four to five days a week and enjoying each and every minute of it.

Currently, I am swimming at Stanford with Tim Edmonds. I have a great coach and a great group to swim with, Par being one of them. I am the only girl in the 1:20 lane in the morning, so I have 5 or 6 brothers that I swim with. They keep me going, not to mention they help to keep me motivated. Tim is always helping me improve my technique. Here are a few of his reminders to me: look down, remember your line, and rotate from the core. Also, I am fortunate to see Richard Quick and Skip Kenney at the end of my workouts. Both still are coaching me and helping me to improve my technique. It is amazing what I have learned. Richard has a quote that he uses, and I would like to share it with you, “You don’t get what you want, you get what you expect.” How true.

Swimming should be fun, and I couldn’t think of a better coach than Ron to make it that way. You are all fortunate to be working with him. I sure wish I had my training partner back, but since that isn’t going to happen, you all need to push him like I did.

Finally, as Mr. Shoulberg used to say, “To be the best, you need to train harder then the best.”

Good luck in 2005 and have fun reaching all of your goals. I will be looking for updates on your success.

Susan Heon Preston