#rudy garcia tolson
He Needed to Train. David Duchovny’s Pool Was Out There.
By Matthew Futterman
Along with the rest of the world, athletes have had their careers upended by the coronavirus pandemic. They are giving The New York Times an intimate look at their journeys in periodic installments through the rest of the year. Read Garcia-Tolson’s first installments here and here.
It was the weekend after the Fourth of July and Rudy Garcia-Tolson was still searching for a place to swim in Southern California. With all the public pools near his home closed, his attempt to come out of a three-year retirement at age 31 and make a fifth United States Paralympic team was stuck in first gear.
He’d started swimming and surfing in the ocean, plenty fun and a tough workout but hardly the best way to prepare to face elite competition in the 200-meter individual medley and the 100-meter breast stroke.
Then Garcia-Tolson’s phone lit up notifying him of an Instagram message. David Duchovny, best known for playing Special Agent Fox Mulder on TV’s “The X-Files,” was reaching out. Duchovny, a fellow swimmer and triathlete, had read the article in The New York Times detailing Garcia-Tolson’s efforts to find a place to train. The actor had an idea.
I was still trying to find a pool when I got one of the great messages of my life. It was from a woman who said she worked with the actor David Duchovny, telling me to get in touch with her about finding a pool to train in. She gave me his number and told me to reach out. When I did, he told me he had a 25-meter, one-lane pool in his backyard. I was welcome to use it whenever I wanted. I just needed to give him a little notice.
The funny thing is I actually met David at the Malibu Triathlon when I was a kid. I was there with the Challenged Athletes Foundation. He didn’t remember that when I told him, but then I showed him a picture of us, and then he totally did. How crazy is it that I met this guy like 20 years ago and now I am training in his pool?
So far I’ve gone about 12 times. I text him, tell him when I am going to be there. I park in his driveway, next to the garage. I go right to the pool.
The first few times we talked some. Now it’s less and less. I uncover the pool, get my equipment out, and within five minutes I jump in. I do my 90-minute, or maybe a two-hour workout and I am done. It’s pretty nice.
The first few days I was in awe that I was in Malibu, at an outdoor private pool. After I got over that, I was able to get into my zone.
It’s my fourth week now. I feel tired and sore, but it’s the good type of tired and sore that I really missed and enjoy. I’m hitting my intervals and going fast, and feeling good again.
