Photo / Marc Serota

“Age Is Just A Number.”

By Sharon Robb

Dara Torres has turned back the clock both in and out of the pool.

The five-time Olympian, a Parkland mother competing in Beijing at the age of 41, is showing millions “that you can’t put an age on your dreams.” She has become an inspiration for legions of men and women alike.

The talk of elite athletes and weekend warriors throughout South Florida has been Torres’ well-chiseled 6-foot, 149-pound body and the fitness regimen that it took to get back to the Olympics.

The oldest female swimmer in Olympic history is capping a remarkable journey that started two years ago after competing in a masters meet. What started as a way to get back into shape and lose the 36 pounds she gained during her pregnancy led to a record fifth Olympic appearance.

At a cost of about $100,000, Torres put together a team of swim coaches, massage therapists, strength and conditioning coach, chiropractor, nanny and very understanding partner of four years, David Hoffman. It was Hoffman, a masters swimmer, who convinced her to get back into the water.

Torres’ training regimen was designed specifically for her ability and body type. Her genetic gifts were a bonus. Recovery, she said, is the biggest word in her vocabulary.

Her regimen was broken down into three components:

SWIMMING
Torres’ training emphasis was on speed and quality instead of mega-mileage. In addition to Coral Springs Swim Club head coach Michael Lohberg, at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex where she still trains, she also worked with sprint coach Chris Jackson, her masters coach. She swam five times a week, once a day for a total of 25,000 meters (about 15.5 miles), pared down from the 10 training sessions and 65,000 meters she put in earlier in her career.

STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
The focus was on training that stimulates the central nervous system. She shifted from heavy lifting that she did before the 2000 Sydney Olympics and incorporated calisthenics and plyometrics to strengthen her core. She worked out 60 to 90 minutes four times a week with Panthers strength and conditioning coach Andy O’Brien. As a result, she is 12 pounds leaner than she was in 2000.

MASSAGE AND STRETCHING
Anne Tierney and Steve Sierra of Innovative Body Solutions worked with her three days a week and before and after every race. Torres calls them “mashers” because the two licensed masseuses knead her muscles with their hands and feet and even stand on her. They also stretch her muscles while contracting them at the same time. The resistance stretching is based on Bob Cooley’s The Genius of Flexibility: The Smart Way to Stretch and Strengthen Your Body.

Diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma in 1992, the University of Florida 18-time All-American also underwent shoulder and knee surgery during her comeback.

Upfront and outspoken, Torres anticipated the raised eyebrows because of her age and seven-year hiatus from competition. She worked closely with the United States Anti-Doping Agency, asking for added unannounced drug testing.

“The thing that’s most rewarding is what can be learned about what I’ve done,” Torres said. “You don’t have to put an age limit on your dreams. I am hoping that people out there that may have thought they were too old to do certain things can realize they’re not.

“There are a lot of middle-aged women and men who have emailed me or stopped me in the street and told me I was an inspiration to them. That’s what inspires me is them. I have said from the beginning of this that age is just a number.”

Added Michael Lohberg, a six-time Olympic coach: “If she swims like this she can hang on for another 10 years.”

Sharon Robb covers participant, mixed martial arts and Olympic sports for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Chicago Tribune Company.