Like Background Music To Your Stroke

December 2, 2016, 2:00 am

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One of our certified coaches in training Annemarie Munk says a good leg kick should be like "background music" to your swimming and it's an analogy we like a lot.

Unless you are an advanced swimmer with a strong catch and pull technique you should be aiming to swim with a light "flutter" kick. The legs are held nice and straight with the feet pointed and turned inwards so the big toes brush as they pass:

Technically this is called a 6-beat kick because there are 6 kicks in every full stroke cycle but you don't have to think about that too much. Aim for a light continuous flutter and the timing will naturally fall into place.

For the vast majority of adult swimmers the aim here isn't to create a lot of propulsion from your kick - that's an unrealistic goal. In fact studies have shown that even the great Ian Thorpe (who was famous for having an extremely powerful leg kick) only developed 11% of his propulsion from his legs^[1]. So even at the Olympic level the benefits of a powerful kick are fairly modest.

Instead, aim for your kick to keep your legs and body high in the water to reduce your drag, whilst expending minimum effort in doing so. Of course even a light kick takes some energy but that's OK because you'll gain much more back from reducing your drag. What's more your legs will soon become conditioned to the continuous light effort and it will become barely noticeable.

But how does this feel when you get it right? As Annemarie says, a good way to think about it is as "background music to your stroke". Your kick is always present but never loud or intrusive. It has a constant light rhythm but is not overpowering. It leaves you free to focus on your arm stroke to press you forwards.

Swim Smooth!

[1] Toussaint, H. M., Hollander, A. P., de Groot, G., Kahman, R., & van Ingen Schenau, G. J. (1990). Power of leg kicking in front crawl swimming. In N. Berme & A. Capozzo (Eds.), Biomechanics of Human Movement (pp. 456-459). Worthington, Ohio: Bertec Corporation.

Related materials in the Swim Smooth Guru (subscription required):

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Two Brilliant Performances At Ironman Western Australia

December 9, 2016, 2:09 am

≫ Next: Visualising Your Swim Fitness

≪ Previous: Like Background Music To Your Stroke

🎂 Swim Smooth is celebrating its 12th birthday this week! Happy Birthday to us! 🎂
(My how things have changed over the years: bit.ly/2hjEesh)

Ironman Western Australia took place last weekend at Busselton - with the swim taking place around the iconic Busselton jetty. As you can imagine for our local Ironman race, many swimmers in our Perth squads have been training for this great event:

For the blog this week we've picked out two inspirational stories from the Busselton race from Derek Cross and Sharon Connolly who have both come back from major injury or health problems to have fantastic races.

Derek smoked the 3.8km swim in sub 50 minutes (!) despite it feeling like "one of the easiest swims he's ever done". If you're an aspiring top age grouper, perhaps knocking on the door of being a pro, you'll want to know what it takes to swim like that and go on to a 8:42 finish. Derek spills the beans below!

But perhaps even more impressively, Sharon completed a 12 year comeback from a serious illness to achieve her dream of completing an Ironman. Focusing in her report on how she built her confidence and fitness in the water whilst overcoming numerous setbacks, Sharon's sheer determination shines through. As you can read below, the result was a brilliant swim whilst having a bloody good time doing so - amazing!

Both Derek and Sharon have been swimming the exact same training sessions that you can follow in the Swim Smooth Guru and our Waterproof Training Plans. Simple, effective swim coaching that works!

Swim Smooth!

PS. Also well worth a mention is Torrenzo Buzzone's phenominal performance to win the race in 7:51. Watch his video analysis session with Paul Newsome in The Guru here (subscription required): https://www.swimsmooth.guru/video/cJU/terrenzo-bozzone-analysis/

Derek Cross - Do The Work

You could say that the last 12 months of training and racing have been fairly bumpy ones for me. Almost exactly a year ago I crashed my bike after a race and tore the AC ligament in my right shoulder. 3 months, 3 surgeries and 1 plate followed to sort it out and during the entire time I couldn't swim a stroke. I watched my fitness disappear and my motivation struggle as I was forced to wonder numerous times whether I would ever race again.

Not long after the plate was finally removed and I was given the okay to train again another bike crash resulted in a fracture to the radial head of my left elbow. 6 more weeks of no swimming were necessary to sort that out. I still remember the joy I felt when I finally took a full stroke with my left arm in May 2016 - at that point I hadn’t swum properly for about 6 months.

At my first race back my skills were rusty and my confidence shaky, but I got through the race and had an alright day. My big take away from the race though was that I needed to swim quicker if I wanted to race in the pro category.

After that I was determined to get quicker but the question was how. I know from experience that my swimming reacts well to volume. When I swim more I go faster, simple as that. It couldn't just be senseless kilometres though, I had to be smart, so I set up a new routine.

• Monday was a solo swim with a session from the Swim Smooth Guru. Often a Pure Technique or a Tech/Endurance session, but sometimes a Red Mist if I was feeling good.

• Wednesday was a Red Mist session with the Perth Squad.

• Friday was a Threshold Session with the Perth Squad, followed up with a bit extra. This was a heavy session, often reaching over 6000m. Some Fridays I simply swam until I couldn’t. Tired arms not tired lungs as Aussie Coach Matt Koorey would say.

• Weekend it was open water.

My aim for this new routine was to hit at least 15km a week, pushing up towards 20km where I could. My mantra for all this became ‘do the work’. If there was a chance to be on the front of the lane, I took it. Wednesday’s sessions were a constant battle with motivation to get myself to the pool and do the work, but I got there every time. Once I was in the pool I was there until the end. Every time the alarm went off and I really wanted to stay in bed I would tell myself ‘do the work’ and get out the door.

I have always said that I don’t have much sporting talent, but I am very, very stubborn. During this training I pushed that stubbornness to the limit.

Fast forward a few months and I found myself standing on the Ironman WA start line. After following my swim routine for a few months I knew that my swimming was about the best it had ever been, particularly over sustained distance, however, I didn’t head into the race with any particular expectation. My goal was simply to relax, find a rhythm, pace it smart, find feet if I could and see how it went In the end that is more or less how the swim panned out.

From the gun I was pleasantly surprised how sustainable the pace was. I am used to 70.3 racing where the first few hundred metres are a sprint but with the Ironman on the weekend the pace was more controlled. The slower start meant that I quickly found feet and was able to settle into my rhythm. I have learned the hard way from Red Mist sessions how damaging it can be to go out too hard, too early and so for the first part of the swim I was content to sit in the pack, benefit from the slipstream and enjoy the moderate pace. I thought about pushing the pace but decided to conserve early and hold off until later.

The swim at Ironman WA heads offshore for about a mile along one side of a huge jetty before you turn and swim back to shore along the other side of the jetty. A mile offshore there is usually some chop and so it was at Ironman WA on Sunday. The chop was particularly noticeable on the return to shore which was on the windward side of the jetty. As we turned around the end of the jetty we hit the chop proper and the pace of our group slowed. Due to the controlled pacing at the start of the swim I was still feeling really good, so when our group slowed down I thought I would jump to the front and do my bit to keep the pace up.

The whole time I was swimming back into the chop I had a little Paul Newsome in my head telling me that you need to be comfortable breathing to both sides because sometimes you have to breath away from chop. I was never so happy that we spend time practicing ‘breathing to our least favourite side’.

Slogging back into the chop is a tough way to spend a Sunday morning so I tried to focus on keeping the effort even and pace sustained. After fighting most of the way back to shore somebody came past with about 300m to go and took a turn at leading, letting me jump back into the slipstream and get a break.

Not long after that we hit the shore and I realised we had been swimming at the front of the 2nd pack. I was pretty stoked later to find out that I had been 10th out of the water and had swum just under 50 minutes. What amazed me so much about the swim was that it had felt like one of the easiest swims I had ever done, which I largely put down to the conservative pacing early. It was the beginning of what would be an awesome day for me at Ironman WA!

Derek

Sharon Connolly - Start At the Beginning!

Don't be afraid to start right where you are, or start over, just start at the beginning and move forward. In 2004 I had a major cardiac procedure and suffered a severe head, neck and back injury. Over the next few years I struggled with chronic nerve pain and a belief that this would be my life from now on, I became a victim of my injuries and they began to define me.

In 2011 I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I heard about an app called the "Couch 2 5K" I downloaded it and started right where I was - the beginning! The beginning was awful - I couldn't even run for a minute when that voice told me to "run now" without feeling like I was going to die! A minute and a half later she told me to "run now" again - this time I wanted to die!

Daunted but determined I stuck with it and 8 weeks later I ran my first 5k non stop! A friend suggested I should do a triathlon - it sounded like the next challenge so I agreed to give it a go. The finer details of not owning a bike or having swum a lap for 20 years didn't stop me. Just under 4 weeks later I stumbled my way through my first triathlon - I loved and hated it at the same time. I loved doing it - I hated that I wasn't very good! However, I knew I could improve and I knew this was just the thing I needed in my life - challenges that I could overcome!

I continued to train and work my way through the various distances and after completing my first 70.3 Half Ironman I dreamt of an Ironman finish when I turned 50. The limiting factor in all of this was the regular sidelining from various injuries - but I just kept starting over and often from the beginning.

This year a recurring stress fracture in my tibia left me with 2 lots of 8 weeks without running - Ironman looked doubtful. My swim had always been average, often littered with panic attacks. I managed to get through each one but now it was time to work on it. Always hearing there "isn't much point as the small gains in time are better served getting quicker elsewhere." I had no choice as running was out of the question for now. How wrong this advice turned out to be!

I kept hearing about Paul Newsome and Swim Smooth so I invested in a 1-on-1 analysis of my stroke. I worked through the swim Guru app and the drills. I joined the squad. To start with I was quite daunted and couldn't keep up. Everyone was so friendly and I felt so encouraged that I kept coming back and kept working hard. Slowly I began keeping up. Slowly I went from forcing my way through the water to feeling like I was sliding through it. In a way I can't explain I sometimes felt the water was helping me move through it - allowing me time to feel where my arms were, how my body was rotating and moving. I was breathing easily both sides now and I even had different paces! Who knew there was more than just one!

Paul and I decided on the best pace for me for Ironman and I became the leader of my group. I was nicknamed "metronome" by them and I even looked forward to the Red Mist sessions now. We wanted an "intrinsic" pace for race day that would leave me feeling fresh for the 180k cycle and marathon ahead. Our aim was 2min/100m.

Worried about the effect of the mass start and a panic attack in a training swim 2 days prior, Paul had calmed me by text. His words stayed with me on the day - bubble-bubble-breath! It's just another day at the office.

The start was as expected - it's a Rugby match in a washing machine when 1500 other athletes all start together. A kick to the head sent my goggles flying but I had prepared for this and my double cap insurance policy paid off - I slid them back on from the top of my head and continued. I relaxed - I could feel the pull of the other swimmers and let the water take me. I could feel the water wanted to help me and the same as we go easy in warm up at squad I just kept going easy until the first buoy and some clear water.

I settled into my stroke and just bubble-bubble-breathed my way around that jetty. I had no idea of time - I was actually passing other swimmers on the way back to shore (this has never happened in the 3 other times around the jetty) I was loving every minute and a few squeals of delight joined my bubbles in the last 50 meters or so. I felt great and had had the perfect swim.

I came out of the water in 1:16 - exactly as planned (2min/100m pace)! I had plenty more in the tank and I was set now for the day ahead. Just under 13 and 1/2 hrs later I heard the words: Sharon Connolly You are an Ironman! A dream come true!

So, start at the beginning - start over as many times as you have to - start right now and go for it. Whatever your challenge is - whatever your dream is - go for it! Don't be limited by what you believe is possible - you can do anything you decide you can. Happy training!

Sharon

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Visualising Your Swim Fitness

December 14, 2016, 10:39 am

≫ Next: Experiment With Rotating *Less* When You Breathe

≪ Previous: Two Brilliant Performances At Ironman Western Australia

The PRO version of the Swim Smooth Guru has a brilliant feature in it called the "Fitness Tracker". It's neat way to visualise what's happening with your swimming fitness over long periods of time and why you might feel better some days than others.

Check out what happened to our Head Coach Paul Newsome's fitness during our recent coaching trip to the USA (each dot corresponds to one day):

(Click to enlarge)

Before the trip (green circle) he was swimming his regular training routine and fitness was building nicely (blue line). Fatigue was starting to build too so he won't have been feeling totally fresh.

Next the trip out to the states (pink circle) he only trained occasionally when he had the time. Notice fitness improvements have hit a plateau but fatigue levels are dropping. He feels fresh in the water but he hasn't built up his fitness sufficiently yet and swims a personal worst 10km swim!

Back home in Perth and in full training (blue circle) his fitness moves upwards again, showing him he's on track for some great racing this summer. (Note, the lines to the right of the blue circle show the future if he were to stop training completely.)

To run this analysis on your own training just enter your training sessions into the Guru's activity log and the fitness tracker is automatically updated. Super simple! Even if you're training mainly for health and fitness it's a fascinating analysis and seeing that little fitness worm edging upwards is super motivating.

Here's some things you will quickly learn (even if you're not a Guru subscriber you can learn from these points) :

- Consistency is everything! Miss sessions regularly and your fitness will quickly plateau or start to fall away.

- Backing off your training before a race gives you maximum performance on that day but for B or C races you might be best training right through them for maximum fitness improvements.

- You can't improve fitness too quickly as it requires physiological changes in your body which take time. That's why you need patience and a long term approach.

- High levels of training lifts your fitness up quickly but also cause high levels of fatigue, quickly forcing you to rest. With experience you can see if you are trying to gain fitness too quickly in the fitness tracker telling you to back things off a touch and avoid that "boom and bust" cycle.

- You can easily compare your training and fitness one year to another. Hit a higher fitness number than last year and you can be sure you are on for a solid PB.

- Don't take too long a break in the off-season as your fitness continues to gradually fall lower and lower, and you'll have to work hard to recover that lost ground.

Swim Smooth!

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Experiment With Rotating Less When You Breathe

December 23, 2016, 1:33 am

≫ Next: Like Being Plugged Into The Matrix Of Swim Coaching

≪ Previous: Visualising Your Swim Fitness

The correct amount of rotation in the freestyle stroke is 45-60 degrees through the shoulders and hips:

Here's Brad, doing just that:

(1)

Unless you have been focusing heavily on rotation in your stroke (e.g. trying to “swim on your side like a fish”) it’s unlikely you’ll be rotating much more than 45 degrees, at least on a normal stroke.

However, breathing tends to drive more rotation into that stroke making it much more likely you’ll be over-rotating (to beyond 60 degrees) when breathing. Here's Brad again, rotating out to 75 degrees as he takes a breath:

(2)

The problem with rotating this far is that it causes you to lose balance such that the legs scissor apart, creating a lot of drag:

(3)

You can also see this scissoring action in the underwater shots above - when breathing (2) and to a lesser extent on a non-breathing stroke (1). Since Brad breathes predominantly to his right (more on this below) the scissoring habit is still in place on a non-breathing stroke, albeit to a lesser extent.

Over-rotating also harms your stroke rhythm and is likely to cause the arm to swoop across the centre line under your body which will have you snaking down the pool.

Try Rotating Less

So the next time you swim run a small experiment and focus on rotating slightly less than normal when you go to breathe. Become aware of what your shoulders and hips are doing on breathing and non-breathing strokes, and try and keep the amount of roll about the same.

Since rotating further takes longer you might notice your breathing stroke takes less time and that your stroke rhythm becomes more consistent on breathing and non-breathing strokes. That’s a sign
that over-rotation when breathing is an issue for you and is something to address in your stroke.

Unilateral Breathers

If you only ever breathe to one side when you swim (unilateral breathing) then over-rotation is even more likely to have developed in your stroke. If you feel the benefits from reducing your rotation when breathing then make introducing bilateral breathing every 3 strokes a priority to help balance out your stroke.

"Sneaky" Breathing

As we outlined in our previous blog post here, you may notice that rotating less far on a breathing stroke means you have less time to inhale. In fact you might only have time for a "sneaky" breath between strokes. That's how good breathing technique should feel: a long smooth exhalation into the water and then a sneaky breath in.

Finally

Here’s wishing you a very Smooth Christmas from everyone at Swim Smooth. Enjoy a well deserved break over the holiday season, don't eat too much Christmas pudding and come back refreshed in 2017!

Swim Smooth!

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Like Being Plugged Into The Matrix Of Swim Coaching

December 29, 2016, 10:33 pm

≫ Next: Announcing New SS Coaches In Birmingham and Oxford, UK

≪ Previous: Experiment With Rotating *Less* When You Breathe

Swim Smooth's Swim Types system is a powerful way to look at your swimming. What is holding me back in the water and what's the optimum way for me to improve step by step? Answering those two questions for you as an individual is what Swim Smooth's Swim Type system is all about.

At the heart of the system lie six classic ways in which people swim freestyle, ranging from complete beginner to Olympic champion. We’ve given each a memorable name:

The Arnie - new to swimming, naturally strong but has a strong tendency to fight the water
The Bambino - new to swimming, anxious in the water with very poor feel for the water
The Kicktastic - normally swum as a child but overly reliant on propulsion from the kick
The Overglider - adult learner who takes a cerebral approach to improving their efficiency
The Swinger - experienced swimmer with a punchy stroke and lots of motivation
The Smooth - much admired experienced swimmer with classic long smooth stroke that traditional swim coaching aspires to

Identify your type from the Swim Type profiles (in detail here) and we can give you step by step instructions on how to improve your swimming - that REALLY WORKS.

Should we really all swim the same way?

A Coaching Perspective

After attending our recent Coach Education Course in Florida, here’s what coach Mike Jotautas (Kentucky) had to say:

Y'all, I'm still trying to absorb everything that I learned over 3 days... It's like I was plugged in to “The Matrix” of swim coaching - after merely “existing” as a swim coach. Having the opportunity to meet and associate with all of you was a pure privilege. It was spectacular to be around a group of people whom I felt were really speaking my language. Paul, Adam, and North America SS Coaches - you were like Morpheus and his team... I'm seeing everything in a new way, armed with the tools to become a better swim coach.

Mike was a great student over those 3 days but imagine how good he will become after being mentored by us for a full year, including 2 weeks intensive training at our home base in Perth, Australia. That level of insight and experience gives Swim Smooth certified coaches such an edge - letting them focus on a swimmer’s individual needs to take large strides forward.

Want some of this Swim Smooth magic applied to your own swimming? Find your nearest Certified Swim Smooth Coach here: http://www.swimsmooth.com/certifiedcoaches

(And for more information on becoming a Certified Coach yourself, visit: http://www.swimsmooth.com/becoming-a-swim-smooth-certified-coach.php)

Our Year End Quiz - What Swim Type Says...?

One of the most fascinating things about Swim Types is that it also takes account of your personality. In fact with experience it is possible to determine pretty accurately how someone will swim without actually seeing them in the water - just by meeting them and tuning into how they think (scary huh!).

Without realising it you might already have some of that “Swim Type knowledge” building up from meeting other swimmers at your pool. So for a bit of fun, here’s a quick year end quiz to test your knowledge. Which Swim Type might say each of the following? :

1) “How can that fat person swim faster than me??!”

2) “Did I miss the warmup already?”

3) “No, no, after you!”

4) “Can I get in and get started now?”

5) “I’m not going to train until I’ve got my technique dialled in.”

6) “Yip”

7) “Oh god, pull buoy again”

8) “I can’t believe I just did that!”

9) “What’s the point in doing all these drills anyway?”

10) “”

You can scroll down and see our answers at the end of this post. How many did you get right, Neo?

Yes We’re Pigeon Holing A Bit

You might be sitting there thinking this is just stereotyping and of course to some extent it is. But because Swim Types takes account of your sporting background, gender, strength, height, build, swimming experience and personality it is a thousand times more effective than telling everyone to work on the same thing in the same way. That one-dimensional approach only worked for the lucky few while Swim Types works for the masses.

Want to plug in to the matrix? Take the red pill here: www.swimtypes.com

Swim Smooth!

1) A classic Arnie thing to say showing their frustration at not taking to swimming as naturally as they do to other sports. Of course their stroke technique is holding them back and by working on the right things they can improve faster than any other Swim Type.

2) Ah, the classic Smooth is late for another session! Smooths tend to be very talented athletes but can lack motivation to get down the pool and often turn up late for sessions.

3) Even when they're quick enough to lead the lane Bambinos often lack the confidence to do so, perhaps worried they will hold others up.

4) Unlike the classic Smooth, the classic Swinger is bursting with motivation and is often at the pool early and looking to start squad sessions before time.

5) This is the stereotypical Overglider approach to swimming - an obsession with improving their efficiency by making their stroke longer. But what is long and what is overly-long?

6) You're unlikely to ever hear an Arnie waffle, in fact less is normally more when it comes to Arnie speech.

7) Kicktastics are slower with pull buoys, perhaps thinking they are not strong enough in the upper body to swim well with one. However swimming isn't limited by strength and the kicktastic lacks a good catch and pull through technique which we'll work to fix.

8) Always underestimating their swimming abilities, the classic Bambino gets a huge buzz when they find out what they really can do!

9) Swingers are motivated to train... but not to drill! They often rush through drill sets or skip them entirely.

10) Quiet and sometimes aloof, the classic Kicktastic is unlikely to make a lot of noise during a squad session.

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Announcing New SS Coaches In Birmingham and Oxford, UK

January 6, 2017, 2:39 am

≫ Next: Should You Take A Regular Recovery Week?

≪ Previous: Like Being Plugged Into The Matrix Of Swim Coaching

Swim Smooth are very proud to announce the certification of two new Swim Smooth Coaches in Oxford and Birmingham, UK.

Training to be a SS Coach is a huge undertaking. Developing the necessary skills and experience of advanced video analysis, stroke correction, squad coaching and open water skills takes time and cannot be rushed. We are fortunate enough to be able to pick our coaches from a large talent pool but even for the most experienced coach, training takes at least 1 to 2 years.

Whether you are a complete beginner or elite competitor, when you see a Swim Smooth Coach you can be assured you are seeing a talented highly trained individual with the very best coaching methods at their disposal.

A very big welcome to the coaching team Dave and Ali! :

Dave Knight, Birmingham & West Midlands : www.do3coaching.com

Dave has spent many years as an athlete in the sport, racing all over the world in the various distances. He has competed in numerous long distance/Ironman events including Ironman UK, Wales, Lanzarote, Barcelona and the European Championships at Ironman Frankfurt.

As a coach Dave's philosophy is that you never stop learning. He actively seeks out opportunities to work with other top coaches in order to gain experience in the methods that lead to success. Dave has spent time working alongside world renowned Brett Sutton and his squad of professional athletes in St. Moritz and Fuerteventura. This experience with Brett has helped shape Dave's own coaching methodology and many of the sessions Do3 athletes complete have their roots with Brett in St. Moritz.

Dave currently runs weekly swimming and running squad sessions in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire. ‘Do3 Squad’ has grown rapidly over the last 12 months and now has over 100 active members with all abilities from occasional newbie swimmers up to top age-groupers and professional athletes.

1-2-1 Swim Analysis and Stroke Correction - Warwickshire and West Midlands: http://do3coaching.com/services/swim-analysis-and-stroke-correction.php

Swim Squad - Stratford upon Avon. 6-7am Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: http://do3coaching.com/services/swim-squad.php

Swim Squad - Birmingham and Coventry (opening spring 2017!): http://do3coaching.com/services/swim-smooth-birmingham-coventry-squad.php

Ali Hollest, Oxford / Henley on Thames, UK: www.triswimcoaching.com

Ali has been competing in all distances of triathlon for years and is fortunate enough to be able to transfer his passion for the sport into coaching.

Ali understands there is a lot to take on in your first triathlon and particularly enjoys coaching and mentoring novice athletes and swimmers. Being a competitor as well as coach he understands that for some athletes, just crossing the finish line is not enough and you have times and PBs to improve on year on year, and podiums to stand on.

Ali believes that triathlon should be competitive but also enjoyable - it's important to get the life/work/social/wife/husband/kids/training balance right. As such his athlete training programmes factor in family and rest time as well as realistic training volumes. It is not always about the amount of time that is spent training, more often than not, results come from using the time you have available to train effectively; reducing stress and fatigue with adequate recovery.

1-2-1 Video Analysis and Stroke Correction - Reading and Abingdon: http://www.triswimcoaching.com/swimsmoothvideoanalysis

Swim Squad - Abingdon, 8:45-9:45pm Tuesdays, 9-10pm Wednesdays and 7-8am Fridays: http://www.triswimcoaching.com/triathlon-swimming-squad

Swim Squad - Reading, 7-8am Wednesdays: http://www.triswimcoaching.com/triathlon-swimming-squad

Swim Squad - High Wycombe, 8-9pm Thursdays: http://www.triswimcoaching.com/triathlon-swimming-squad

For full information on all our Swim Smooth coaches and to find your local Swim Smooth Coach see: swimsmooth.com/certifiedcoaches

And for more information on training to become a Swim Smooth coach, visit: swimsmooth.com/becoming-a-swim-smooth-certified-coach.php

Swim Smooth!

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Should You Take A Regular Recovery Week?

January 13, 2017, 3:40 am

≫ Next: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Squad Swimmers

≪ Previous: Announcing New SS Coaches In Birmingham and Oxford, UK

Here's a question we just received from Guru user Brad Ermeling in Shanghai:

Ok... I'm addicted to this Guru site. Signed up for pro version and I'm amazed at all the resources!

I'm following the plan you recommended and it's been terrific. I've made so much progress with both fitness and technique in a short time. Thank you again.

One follow-up question... as I continue the 5 days per week routine, how many weeks or months should I sustain that before taking a lighter week? I think I read somewhere that it's good to train for three weeks and then take a recovery week. What would a recovery week look like? Swimming less days? No swimming? Same number of days but lighter workouts? Can you give a quick example of a recovery week?

Thanks!

Brad

"Should I be taking a regular recovery week?" is a classic question we get asked a lot by swimmers and triathletes who are serious about their training. Here's our thoughts:

When NOT To Schedule Regular Rest Periods

If you're training 8 hours a week or less (and 8 hours is quite a lot of swimming!) then it's unlikely you're going to need to additional scheduled recovery time into your routine. If you are going nicely with your weekly training and only occasionally feel tired when you swim then just keep training.

Then, as you go along:

- You’ll occasionally get fatigued to the point you feel tired in the water and perhaps don't feel like training either. When that happens take a few extra easy days (more on how to do that below). If you catch this early then you won’t need a full easy week, just 2-4 easy days.

- Life will throw something at you, perhaps a virus or maybe a panic at work and for that reason you have to take some time off training.

So training less than 8 hours a week (all sports) be prepared to take extra time off as and when necessary - but do this responsively, don't schedule it ahead of time. If things go brilliantly you might train many months without any additional rest but life normally doesn’t work like that!

When To Schedule Regular Rest Periods

If you're training 10 hours or more per week (all sports if a multisport athlete) then it's worth considering scheduling an easy week every 4 weeks or so (the classic routine is 3 full weeks training and then 1 easy week).

10 hours swimming a week is pretty serious training and normally only applies to elite pool swimmers or open water marathon swimmers. Of course if you're a triathlete you will hit 10 hours a week more easily as you train for three sports.

Over and above the 10 hours guideline, your recovery needs are going to depend on the intensity of your training and your own individual ability to absorb hard work. However you train, if you find that you are continuously and progressively getting more tired then experiment with scheduling an easy week to see how it works for you:

- Reduce the number of training session you do slightly - if you normally swim 5 times per week then reduce to 3-4 days.

- Make the distance of each session a bit shorter, perhaps two thirds normal distance. So swimming 2km rather than 3km, or 3km instead of a full 4km Red-Mist.

- Also drop your training intensity down - so you might still swim a shortened CSS set but 2-3 seconds per 100m slower pace, which will make it considerably easier.

- You should finish each session feeling good but if you do feel heavy fatigue in the water then abandon the session and get out.

- If you feel very tired or burned-out then don't train at all and take total rest. If you have got to this point you need to review your whole training routine as it's likely too much for you and you're over-training.

- It's common for athletes to feel a little lethargic during a recovery week. Keep some training going and you should feel more lively after 4-5 days.

Swim Smooth!

Related materials in the Swim Smooth Guru (subscription required):

↧

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Squad Swimmers

January 19, 2017, 9:55 pm

≫ Next: Announcing New SS Coaches In Texas, Channel Islands, Alicante and St Albans

≪ Previous: Should You Take A Regular Recovery Week?

Wanting to get more out of your squad training? If you swim in a Swim Smooth Squad with one of our Certified Coaches or another elsewhere, this is for you!

It was originally posted by our Head Coach Paul Newsome to his swimmers in Perth but wherever you are in the world it's just as relevant:

(Please note this isn't a real book!)

You can see Paul's accompanying videos for the Karma Resorts Rottnest Channel swim here: karmagroup.com/blog/ensuring-your-karma-resorts-rottnest-channel-swim-is-a-smooth-one/

Dear Swimmers,

I hope you had a great Christmas break and are fully recharged for a great year of swimming ahead of you! To get you motivated and fully back into the swing of things, why not start 2017 on the right note with 7 habitual changes you can make - or compound if you're already a good little squadie - with your swimming. You'll be very surprised how these little changes can stack up over time allowing you to improve your swimming performance, enjoyment and general wellbeing. What's more, they're the perfect new year's resolution and kick up the bum you might be needing right now!

I spent the Christmas holidays reading some great, inspiring books and at the top of that list was www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits.php (well worth a read - it's a classic, but a good one!)

So, here are my 7 Habits of Highly Effective Squad Swimmers for your reading - and pragmatic application - pleasure! Let's start off with a quote from 23-time Olympic Gold Medallist, Michael Phelps (I'm a bit of a fan you see!):

"If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren't willing to do."

…as is evidenced on a daily basis, not everyone is willing to maintain all seven of these habits all of the time, but those that do, do make the biggest improvements. See which of the seven you could make a better go of sticking to in 2017 and reap the rewards as a result! You might not be racing for your 24th Olympic gold medal, but why not choose to optimise your time spent in the pool as non of these are impossible challenges, in fact Audrey Hepburn (of all people!) famously said that:

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I'M POSSIBLE"

Here goes:

1. Consistency Is Key

When you have periods of inconsistent attendance at either squad sessions or in your own swim sets, your swimming really suffers. Everyone thinks they "know" that, but we still beat ourselves up about it when we miss sessions (for whatever reason) and then wonder why we're not improving - or worse - going backwards.

Michael Phelps is famous for saying that he can't recall the last time / day he didn't swim and we all know his results speak for themselves, but then we're not all swimming full-time aiming for legendary swimming status! It's an inevitable fact that as a husband / wife / partner / mother / father / worker / normal human being, there are going to be times when you simply have to skip a session. So what should we do to get ourselves back on the bandwagon asap?

Using some sophisticated algorithms that we built into www.swimsmooth.guru I've been able to track my own personal development for the Port-2-Pub 25km Solo Swim on the 25th March 2017. I'm hoping that by sharing this information it might give you greater insight into your own training.

It is possible to grade every session that you do with a point score (what's typically termed a "Training Stress Score") - a longer, harder session (like a Wednesday Red Mist session) might give you 100 points for example, versus an easy technique swim (like a Monday Pure Technique session) might give you 50 points. These points are all relative to the distance you cover in the session at an average pace relative to your Critical Swim Speed (CSS).

In order to gain long-term fitness you need to train of course, but you can't simply crank out 100 point sessions every day of the week or you'll implode (trust me, I've tried!), nor will you progress if you're not swimming regularly and consistently enough with sessions that never overly stress you. You need to balance the long-term fitness you are seeking with the short-term fatigue that your training generates. This is the "secret sauce" to good performances and everyone responds differently to how they handle this load.

As you can see from my chart below, things haven't been progressing as smoothly as I would have liked. Why not? Like you, I'm human too with a young family, a busy work schedule and the sense sometimes that I need to cram things in as best I can (not always ideal!).

I started in October and you can see that for the first 4 weeks leading up to my US Coaching trip, things are going really well. For the 2 weeks I was in the US I had to cut back on my training due to a busy work and travel schedule but ironically EVERY swim I did over there was amazing! Why? Simply because the 4 weeks I had trained prior were enough of a training stimulus to generate some real gains even though I was starting from a very low level of fitness. Essentially the extra rest periods in the US had the same effect as me tapering down to a key event; my fatigue levels dropped off allowing good performances and the training I was doing was just enough to claw onto my fitness gains. But this couldn't last, eventually the fitness drops away and you need more training stimulus. I got back to Perth and had my worst ever 10km swim at Champion Lakes - a full 18 minutes slower than I had been the last time I raced there (2014). This was the kick up the bum I needed to get back down to business!

For November and the first 2 weeks of December I nailed it, trying a little too greedily to claw back some fitness and hopefully deliver a much better performance at the Mullaloo 10km swim on the 27th December (due to poor weather this was rescheduled to 31st December and so sadly I missed it). But I over-stepped the mark. In the week before Christmas I felt totally lethargic and drained with no appetite to swim - I'm sure we've all been there! This though compounded with the holiday period and family commitments etc has forced a period of very inconsistent swimming BUT it has given me the opportunity to recover and get those fatigue levels down and get that motivation back up. Looking at this on the arbitrary fitness scale, I am at the same point as I was at the beginning of December, so effectively I've compromised all that hard work in the early part of December by being too greedy. As relaxing as Christmas time can be after the big fella has visited, the lead-up and stress prior can be very demanding and sadly there's no fancy chart that can measure this side of things, but it all counts.

So you can hopefully see that consistency isn't always about laziness as you might think, sometimes it can be brought on by trying to do too much, too soon and being too greedy about it - the result is the same: a drop in performance. Oftentimes operating at 80% of your true capacity is what facilitates the most consistent of training programs. That old adage of "a little and often" is often the best medicine.

2. Opt To Lead A Set More Than Once In A While

The ultimate best way to train is by yourself with a beeper set specifically for you, not in a squad. Argh! Did I really say that? It's true though - I should know, I've got no mates and always have to train solo! I've always made big leaps in performance in small time frames because everything I do is totally tailored to my current level of fitness. However, as I've just shown you, even then, it's possible to get this wrong and without anyone overseeing what you are doing, it's very likely that you might go astray. Equally, the motivation to train totally by yourself 100% of the time is (I believe) a finite resource. Whereas I have to rely 100% of the time on my own intrinsic motivation to train, the extrinsic motivation you receive in the squad from the coach and your fellow squad buddies is more than enough to outweigh the biased positives of training solo; in fact, it might just be what keeps the majority of you so relatively consistent in the first place! Many of you have been swimming with me for 10+ years now and I dare say even the hardiest of solo swimmers would have lost their intrinsic mojo by now had it not been for the collective motivation that the squad generates, so this is a good thing!

Squad swimmer Rob Franklyn said it best in what ultimately became part of my thank you speech at this year's Squad Christmas Party (thanks Rob!):

"Where does the black line lead? In life we rarely see people skinned of their pretences, force fields down. The environment at Swim Smooth is different. While being semi-naked and half asleep is a start, the fact that it all runs seamlessly and effortlessly, everyone has a predetermined position (assigned unknowingly to swimmers somehow) and each gets personal attention whenever needed (you are at the end of each lane whenever I stop for breath – how can this be!), lulls us poor unsuspecting into thinking it is a mere dream and the pain will stop as soon as eyes open. Your squad brings it all together and shows people as they really are. It matters not whether you are 20 or 70 y.o; a heart surgeon, student, teacher or labourer, funny or grumpy, competitive or in the way, all are just swimmers chasing the black line, feeling good about it, sharing a gag, clearing the head, soaking up the rays, making friends and enjoying the company. It's a rare place, it doesn't just happen without a lot of work on your part - I wanted to say thanks for letting me be part of it all for so long. Some of my best friends are to be found floating (mostly face down!) in the pool (or on the deck!)! So where does the black line lead – not sure but happy to keep following to find out!"

So, how can you reap all the benefits of the squad environment, but still optimise your training time with us? Simple, opt to lead your lane / group more than once in a while. Try not to shy away from the beeper being handed to you. Know that with sweet uncertainty you will make the target times, and if not, no big deal - pass it on! You gave it a go and you got chance to benefit from the pacing control that swimming with the beeper assists. Don't shy away.

3. Don't Swim On Toes*

Swimming on someone's toes has been shown to reduce your energy expenditure by up to 38%. That's great if you're racing an Ironman or a shorter open water swimming event and due practice is certainly worthwhile* but think of it another way (especially you Rottnest Solo swimmers) - you're working 38% easier than you would be doing leading the lane by yourself which is precisely what you'll have to do when you swim across to Thomson's Bay (no drafting allowed). Swimmers who incessantly swim on the toes of the people in front of them (rather than the recommended 5 to 8 second gap) are effectively always under-training. Period. You can't then expect to swim at anywhere close to the speeds you're holding in the squad if you're always on someone's feet. Yes I bang about this a lot, but ultimately you need to be in control of this. Only you can make this habitual change. If you slow down for a while, so what? Your future self will thank you for it.

You could say, well I do leave the right gap but I always end up on those feet in front of me. Two options: follow point 2 (above) and lead a little more frequently; or simply avoid the necessity to close the gap down after you've set off - maintain that gap and all will be right in the world!

*unless specifically instructed to do so

4. Don't Short-Turn*

If you're preparing for a swim event in the open water, guess what, you can't put your feet down at the shallow end (there isn't one) nor can you cut the corner off a straight line (across to Rottnest). The classic thing I see all too frequently is people short-turning and looking like they're fiddling with their goggles as a way to "explain" why they're doing this. Get some new goggles. Putting your feet down has the following detrimental effects:

you lose your rhythm
you mess up the rhythm of those behind you
you reduce your fatigue in a long set - this is NOT a good thing - this is something you need to learn to adapt and deal with for longer swims
you accelerate off the ground and into your stroke and straight onto the feet of those in front of you (see point 3)

If there's one habitual change that'll really make a difference for you, it's this one. Remember, short-term loss of being able to stay with your group for long-term gain of improved fitness. I know which I'd choose.

It's a fundamental fact that in a squad of 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 swimmers there are going to be differences in speed (CSS pace) across the group. It is EXPECTED that on longer intervals and towards the end of a session you WILL get dropped by those who are faster in front of you. Take the ego hit, it's OK, trust me. Not taking it will leave you massively disappointed when it really counts. No one wants that.

Remember this is a list of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Squad Swimmers I'm yet to see in my 20 years of swim coaching anyone who would be regarded as being "highly effective" for their own relative level of achievement who cuts corners in swim sets. Recognise this as an issue and then make 2017 the year that you crack this habit.

*unless specifically instructed to do so

5. Pace Effectively, Don't Beat The Beeper And Don't Skip Intervals)

OMG, did I really write that? Two negatives in what is supposed to part of a positive habitual change to your swimming? Yes, I did.

This is not an instruction manual on how to use the Finis Tempo Trainer PRO - you all know how to do that, it's very simple. Either stay with the predetermined pace per 25m or beat it per 50m depending on the set / instruction / session. But when it comes to staying with the beeper, don't be tempted to beat it to fluff your feathers in front of your group only to have to then skip an interval (or two) to recover from what was effectively too fast. It's not fancy and it's not impressive. Impressive is sticking with the beeper and that all important "C" word: control.

Notice how this issue tends to happen more often in sub-threshold type sessions, i.e. Tuesday's Technique / Endurance sets and / or Wednesday's Red Mist Endurance sets. Here, technically it will be more than possible to beat the beeper at times - but remember there's a method in my madness - sometimes swimming at a sub-threshold pace (even if it feels "below" you) is important to develop your ability to maintain form, speed and a level of aerobic control at a pace which is significantly more reflective of what you'd ultimately end up averaging in a longer race. Think of it as developing a wider range of gears - too much emphasis at the higher end of your aerobic spectrum too frequently will massively diminish your aerobic development, especially if to achieve your efforts you need additional recovery time and reduced volume to achieve it.

Be a stayer.

6. Do Drills Patiently And With Panache

Of all the sessions I crave having some friends for to help with a little mojo, a Pure Technique session is not one of them. Racing through drills for the sake of it makes no sense at all. Showing control and patience is essential. Understand why you are doing the drill and then do it patiently and with panache. We've got a great resource of all our drills filmed from every conceivable angle and with full audio commentary available at www.swimsmooth.guru for $2.99/mo - or you can simply keep your head up, listen, watch and observe when we do drill demonstrations and give reasoning for why a drill should be done a certain way (especially in the Monday Pure Technique sessions). If there was ever a time to be a squad "slow coach" - during a drills session is that time. Even if you know the drills inside out, slow down a bit. These sessions are NEVER about how much distance you cover, but it never ceases to surprise me how disappointed some people look when they've "only" covered 2.2km but have done it with fine form. Enjoy these sessions and take the time to do the drills properly - your stroke (and shoulders) will really thank you for it!

7. Optimise Your Stroke For You

It's amazing what a little stroke TLC can do for even the most regular and consistent of squad swimmers. Many of your squad buddies who continue to progress with their swimming check in with me at least once per year for a stroke tune-up. During this session we film you from above and below the water, then sit down record the analysis of your stroke and what needs to be done, before finally hopping back into the water and with direct audio feedback using our clever little waterproof radio headset, I can give you realtime feedback with how you're going with the changes you're trying to make. So comprehensive and effective is the session that it's not something you need to keep coming back for week after week or month after month, think of it simply as your annual check-up and service giving you the key points of what you should be focusing on during your squad sessions, further optimising your training time.

Find your local Swim Smooth Coach, get in contact and book a session today: www.swimsmooth.com/certifiedcoaches

Cheers!

Paul

↧

Announcing New SS Coaches In Texas, Channel Islands, Alicante and St Albans

January 26, 2017, 10:23 pm

≫ Next: Come And Meet Us At The London Triathlon Show!

≪ Previous: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Squad Swimmers

Paul gives Pro Triathlete Lucy Charles' feedback on her stroke.
Whatever your level of swimming, get the exact same expertise!

Swim Smooth are very proud to announce the certification of four new Swim Smooth Coaches in The Woodlands - Texas, Guernsey - UK, Elche - Spain and St Albans - UK.

Training to be a SS Coach is a huge undertaking. Developing the necessary skills and experience of advanced video analysis, stroke correction, squad coaching and open water skills takes time and cannot be rushed. We are fortunate enough to be able to pick our coaches from a large talent pool but even for very experienced coaches, training takes at least 1 to 2 years.

Whether you are a complete beginner or elite competitor, when you see a Swim Smooth Coach you can be assured you are seeing a talented highly trained individual with the very best coaching methods at their disposal.

Congratulations Emma, Enrique, Gemma and Russ!

For full information on all our Swim Smooth coaches and to find your local Swim Smooth Coach see: swimsmooth.com/certifiedcoaches

Gemma Hollis, The Woodlands, Texas USA : www.pushglidekick.com

Gemma could swim before she could walk and has enjoyed a wonderful water based life, swimming, scuba diving, kayaking and just playing in the ocean on summer vacations! Learning to swim is not only a life skill but can open up a world of adventure, and she loves being part of other peoples adventures!

Gemma is passionate about great swim technique and how this leads to improved performance. She is focused on balancing technique with training to ensure efficiency and effective development for all. Working with the individual is the key to Gemma’s success.

Gemma is an avid triathlete, passionate about the sport which has seen her develop from a middle of the pack age grouper, to a podium placer, and now to representing Team USA in the World Championships in 2017. Helping people achieve their goals within the sports she loves is her prime motivator. The secrets to her success lie in utilising detailed video analysis and stroke correction techniques as well as running group swim sessions each week. The combination of 1-to-1 detailed work with the motivation of group swimming has seen great results for her athletes.

"For some, the swim is the hardest part of triathlon, for these people I aim to make their development easier and more fun. Learning to 'love' their swim training and appreciate how the swim fits within the sport of triathlon. For other people effective training can make all the difference. Whilst they say you don't win the world championships in the swim you can certainly loose it if your training and stroke isn't effective or efficient."

www.pushglidekick.com

Enrique Planelles Marcos, Elche, Alicante, Spain: www.enriqueplanellesswimsmooth.com

Enrique is our new coach in Alicante, specialising in preparing you for open water races, triathlon and swimming. He's a Spanish Tri Level III Coach, has a degree in Physical Education and a Masters in High Performance Sport with the Spanish Olympic Committee.

Enrique discovered Swim Smooth while training with the London Fields Triathlon Club and became passionate about our coaching from that point onwards. Enrique is technical advisor of swimming technique in the professional Alicante University Triathlon Team and coaches a national level squad of youth and junior triathletes. He is expanding his coaching into age-group triathlon and video analysis.

Book in for your session today!

www.enriqueplanellesswimsmooth.com

Russ Smith, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK : performance.3fit.co.uk/swimsmooth

Swim Smooth Channel Islands is led by TRI Fitness Owner Russ Smith. Russ, a self confessed "Arnie” has developed a love for Swim Coaching following a number of years as a triathlon coach and triathlete. Russ has devoted his life to developing his own triathlon knowledge and coaching skills to pass onto his Triathlon Training and Swim Smooth Squads in Guernsey. Having competed in multiple Sprint, Olympic & Middle distances races, Russ stepped up to Ironman in 2016 and loved the whole experience from start to finish (well nearly all of it!).

Russ’s philosophy to coaching is to bring as much knowledge, education and fun to the training arena as possible. Russ’s squads Work Hard, Train Hard & Play Hard and reap the rewards of fantastic camaraderie whilst receiving as much training and education as they can.

The Swim Smooth Guernsey Squads currently offer 6 coached Swim Sessions that can also be integrated into the TRI Fitness Triathlon Training Program Russ delivers. The Swim Smooth Guernsey & TRI Fitness Triathlon Squads have grown rapidly over the last 12 months with over 100 members.

performance.3fit.co.uk/swimsmooth

Emma MacDonald, St Albans & Bedfordshire, UK: www.swimdynamics.co.uk

Emma spent her childhood in Australia where swimming was a big part of her life, training several times a week and generally being in or around water most of the time!

While swimming continued to feature in her life, it was only once she left her career in London to pursue swim coaching full time, that she was able to fully dedicate herself to the sport. Emma set up Swim Dynamics in September 2015 and now coaches three weekly squads and 1-1 sessions with clients ranging from children and adults who are learning to swim, to beginner triathletes and seasoned Ironman competitors. Emma is very fortunate to have a 50m pool on her doorstep in Luton as well as the use of a private 25m pool in a state of the art facility in St Albans.

Emma cites meeting the Swim Smooth crew as ‘love at first sight’ ! The individuality behind their coaching philosophy suddenly made the sport accessible and inclusive because it was about coaching the person, not the stroke. Everyone, regardless of size, background, personality and ability, has the potential to be a better, fitter swimmer. That is a great gift to the sport.

Emma is a qualified Level 2 ASA Swimming Teacher, Level 1 British Triathlon Coach and has the RLSS UK National Rescue Award & First Aid Certificate.

www.swimdynamics.co.uk

For full information on all our Swim Smooth coaches and to find your local Swim Smooth Coach see: swimsmooth.com/certifiedcoaches

And for more information on training to become a Swim Smooth coach, visit: swimsmooth.com/becoming-a-swim-smooth-certified-coach.php

Swim Smooth!

↧

Come And Meet Us At The London Triathlon Show!

February 3, 2017, 2:12 am

≫ Next: When Taking Fewer Strokes Makes You *Less* Efficient - A Ramp Test With Harold

≪ Previous: Announcing New SS Coaches In Texas, Channel Islands, Alicante and St Albans

Swim Smooth are very excited to announce that we are going to be at the Triathlon Show London at ExCel from February 16-19th. It's going to be an action packed event for us with some exciting new products on debut, live Swim Smooth coaching every day at the pool and Paul Newsome flying in from Perth to deliver some very special seminars for you!

Come and see us on our stand (LT421) right by the pool, bring your own swim footage on a pen drive for analysis by a SS coach, pick up a swim tool at a bargain price on the stand and see the new fabulous Platysens Marlin gadget in the flesh!

Book A Session With A Swim Smooth Coach At The Show

Swim Smooth are exclusive swim coaches at the show and the great news is that you can book a 1-to-1 or group session with a Swim Smooth coach to tune up your stroke, improving your relaxation and efficiency in the water:

Book a session with a highly trained (and very friendly) SS Coach

Slots are filling up fast so please don't delay in booking your session. Further information: triathlonshowlondon.co.uk/whats-on/swim-zone-with-swim-smooth-and-finis

If you can't get a slot then why not bring some footage of your own stroke to our stand on a USB drive. We'll take a quick look for free and give you some good pointers to take your swimming quickly forwards.

Paul Newsome Seminars

On The Performance Stage, our Head Coach Paul Newsome will be delivering the following seminars :

Thursday Feb 16th 12:45pm: How to develop your swim specific fitness and ensure you’re ready for race day

Friday Feb 17th 11:45am: Developing your open water skills to swim effectively in the great outdoors

Saturday Feb 18th 5:15pm: Which pool tools to use and why?

Sunday Feb 19th 11:45am: How to develop your swim specific fitness and ensure you’re ready for race day

Every seminar is free with your entry to the show and guaranteed to give you great insight into developing your swimming!

The Amazing New Platysens Marlin - The GPS Swim Meter Designed To Talk To You

You might have already seen it on Kickstarter, the new Platysens Marlin is a very exciting new swimming gadget that Swim Smooth have closely been involved with developing and testing to make sure it delivers maximum benefit to swimmers. Come and see it for yourself on the Swim Smooth stand and pre-order at a very special price:

In a nutshell the Marlin is a swim meter that records and analyses your swim but with a unique twist - it speaks to you whilst you swim using bone conduction technology - giving you split times, guiding you through training sessions and helping you swim straight using GPS in open water. What's more, in the near future the Marlin will become fully integrated with the Swim Smooth Guru, such that training sessions can be downloaded to the Marlin and data from your actual swim uploaded from the Marlin back to the Guru. Amazing!

Paul introduces the Marlin:

Please come and say hello - we look forward to seeing you there!

Full show info: www.triathlonshowlondon.co.uk

Swim Smooth!

↧

When Taking Fewer Strokes Makes You Less Efficient - A Ramp Test With Harold

February 10, 2017, 1:26 am

≫ Next: Know Your Reasons: When To Stick And When To Quit?

≪ Previous: Come And Meet Us At The London Triathlon Show!

This week on the blog we take a look at how a top youth swimmer from Hong Kong has learned how making his stroke as long as possible has been detrimental to his swimming. In the process he has shaved off 12 seconds per 100m with less effort to swim with a truly perpetual stroke. Read on to see how he did it...

Tuning Up Harold's Stroke

The next generation of Swim Smooth Certified Coaches are in Perth right now going through some intensive training with Paul Newsome and the rest of the Swim Smooth team.

As part of their studies the coaches have been looking at swimmers of different ability levels to assess how they should swim for maximum speed and efficiency. Last week, one such swimmer flew down to Perth from Hong Kong for a series of training sessions with us - his development over the course of that week makes for an excellent case study:

Harold is a talented 15 year old swimmer who very much fits the "Smooth" Swim Type - moving through the water with a long smooth stroke. However, the interesting thing about his swimming is that he has tried to make his stroke a little too long, dropping his stroke rate (cadence) in the process to try and lengthen things out as much as possible.

Traditional swim coaching has said you should try and swim with as long a stroke as possible but at Swim Smooth we passionately disagree. A long stroke can be a good thing up to a point, it's when it becomes overly long and you add a glide that the problems begin. Actively pausing at the front of the stroke causes you to drop the palm and push forwards on the water.

Here is Harold during his initial filming, pausing at the front of the stroke and dropping the elbow as he does so:

Many swimmers simply slow down when they do this and start to sink in the water. Instead, Harold chooses to kick very hard to push through the dead-spot at the front:

Unfortunately much of the propulsion generated by his kick is wasted in pushing him through the delay and braking effect at the front of his stroke.

In the 1990s some swim coaches went off on a bit of a tangent believing that a longer, slower stroke was more effective. But prior to this way back in 1968, swim coaching god James Counsilman in his book "The Science of Swimming" warned of the dangers of this long-gliding catch-up style and how it was, in fact, less effective:

And here's swimming legend and 5 time Olympic Gold Medallist on the subject:

Note Ian can take as few as 24 strokes in a 50m pool (!) but actually raced at 34 strokes per length - nowhere near the longest stroke he could achieve.

But what about scientific studies? Check out our review here of the 2010 Southwestern University study, showing that energy cost increases when overly-lengthening the stroke, not reducing:

www.feelforthewater.com/2012/12/the-data-on-stroke-rate-and-efficiency.html

The key chart from the study is this one, showing that as speed is maintained and the stroke rate is reduced (and so the stroke lengthened) oxygen uptake increases:

You may have seen videos of good swimmers / coaches swimming on the spot in a flume tank maintaining the same speed but varying their cadence and purporting to be more efficient when swimming with longer, slower strokes. Don't be fooled into believing what you see here though as what they fail to show in the footage is how strongly they are kicking to maintain this speed (as Harold does) nor can we measure the physiological impact of what this increase in kick has on the cardio vascular system as the 2010 study did. Sure, it looks smooth, but the reality is that the longer, slower stroke comes at a surprisingly high energy cost.

The Southwestern University study above shows just this - as the stroke is lengthened and lengthened, the kicking rate increases and increases. What does this look like in practise? Here's coach Mike (a very smooth swimmer in his own right) demonstrating his normal stroke:

And at the same flume speed he lengthens things out as much as he can. Notice the increase in his kicking rate and how awkward the whole stroke looks:

Tuning Up Harold

Paul and the Swim Smooth coaches first worked on a series of drills and visualisations to remove the pause and brake at the front of Harold's stroke. Then in a follow up session, they put him through his paces during a ramp test, increasing his stroke rate progressively to find where his stroke works most efficiently and effectively - the "sweet spot" of stroke timing.

We filmed this ramp test for you to watch. It takes 24 minutes to complete but it's fascinating viewing to see Harold's stroke timing progressively click into place:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB2On3Bi5BM

Harold ends up swimming around 12 seconds per 100m faster at his new optimum stroke rate of 66 Strokes Per Minute (SPM) versus his original 50 SPM - all without any increase in perceived effort! This is a HUGE improvement for an already fast swimmer.

Here are the results from the ramp test. Notice the sweet spot at 66 SPM where his stroke is long and fluid, speed is fast and his effort level still remains quite low (6/10):

But how come he can move so much faster without any increase in effort during the test? Firstly because we removed the inefficient pause-and-glide at the front of Harold's stroke making his propulsion much more continuous. And secondly rather than simply pushing him through the dead-spot in his stroke when trying to glide, his kick can now accelerate him forwards with a much more flowing perpetual stroke.

In fact at his new 'sweet spot' of 66 SPM he's moving so quickly now the cameraman is having trouble keeping up:

You can find out more about the Stroke Rate Ramp test and how to conduct one on your own swimming at: www.swimsmooth.com/ramptest

A Massive New PB

Just today we heard from Harold back in Hong Kong as he had just set a PB of 58.58 for 100m freestyle using this new improved stroke - a 8.15 second PB - incredible! :

Well done on making those changes to your stroke Harold - we're sure there's plenty more to come as you adapt and continue to develop within your new stroke technique.

Swim Smooth!

↧

Know Your Reasons: When To Stick And When To Quit?

February 17, 2017, 2:47 am

≫ Next: The New Platysens Marlin - Order Yours Today

≪ Previous: When Taking Fewer Strokes Makes You *Less* Efficient - A Ramp Test With Harold

Hello from the Triathlon Show London at the ExCeL! The show is open today, Saturday and Sunday so why not come down and say hi to Paul, Adam and the rest of the Swim Smooth team on the Swim Smooth stand (LT421):

Swim Smooth coaches will be in action in the pool throughout the show, with SS Head Coach Paul Newsome running the following group masterclasses and elite swimmer demonstrations which make for perfect viewing:

Friday 17th Feb
13:15-14:15 Group Masterclass (Finis)
14:15-14:45 Elite Athlete Demo

Saturday 18th Feb
14:00-15:00 Group Masterclass (Finis)
15:00-15:30 Elite Athlete Demo

Sunday 19th Feb
13:15-14:15 Group Masterclass (Finis)
14:15-14:45 Elite Athlete Demo

He'll also be running the following seminars for you in the Performance Centre:

Friday 11:45: Developing your open water skills to swim effectively in the great outdoors
Saturday 17:15: Which pool tools to use and why?

Sunday 11:45: How to develop your swim specific fitness and ensure you’re ready for race day

We also have the brand new Marlin swim meter on the stand and some unmissable deals on Swim Smooth products. See you there!

Know Your Reasons: When To Stick And When To Quit?

The following blog was originally posted by Paul Newsome to the Swim Smooth squads in Perth four weeks ago. The adjustments he made are going really well and that spark is back in his life and training!

The post was been exceptionally well received within the squad with many saying how uplifting they found it, with many a man-hug on pool deck for acknowledging and recognising these feelings.

Along the same vein, check out this podcast with triathlon legend Mark Allen: http://www.richroll.com/podcast/mark-allen/

Over to Paul:

The following blog post is my musings on what motivates us to train and - in some cases - compete. What prompted me to write this was my recent decision to withdraw from the Port-2-Pub 25km Solo swim on the grounds that I couldn't find my "reason", something I've never had to deal with before. You may or may not care to know this information or of my life choices, but this is my account of that decision and I hope it helps you in some way.

Whilst this discussion is likely to seem somewhat egocentric, I am hoping that by sharing this open and honest account of the emotions of preparing for a big event, you might be able to solidify your own reason to forge ahead, or, if like me, elect to take a different path and to feel good about that decision in the shortest amount of time possible. Of course, this is likely to apply to many things in your life, not just swimming!

Knowing our reasons and being positive about them is essential I find to being empowered to pursue a goal; not knowing has the exact opposite effect and that's not a fun place to be.

In preparing this blog, I am reminded of two books that I recently read which are well worth a perusal if you're feeling similar emotions to anything expressed here:

Book 1:

…the subtitle says it all, "when to quit (and when to stick)"

I have spent many hours ruminating over even publishing this post because of: a) being perceived as a quitter (more on that in Book 2 below) and all the negative societal ramifications that usually has; and b) because with exactly one month to go before the Rottnest Channel Swim the last thing you might have expected me to discuss openly was the "Q" word especially when we're innately trained to believe we must never do such a thing. "If you don't quit, you'll make it" is the mantra we are taught to live by at all costs. In talking with several members of the squad though recently, I know that this is very much the point that you are also currently at too - if this serves to help you and you only, then so be it. That'll be a positive outcome for me. Everyone else might not be still reading anyway…! Yawn...

Book 2:

…excuse the profanity in the title!

Essentially this book is all about knowing what to care about and what not - typically what people think of you or what you perceive they do. I think we're all guilty within our peer group and swimming community in general of feeling the peer pressure to perhaps drive forth even if that might not be the best direction for us. Manson teaches us to cut our own path and be happy in our choices and not to worry too much about what people think because at the end of the day, no one really cares but you anyway! Is that an easy way of saying "it's OK to give up and have no drive"? I'm not so sure.

Know Your Reasons: When To Stick And When To Quit?

Back in June 2015 I ran a Q&A to find out a little more about the demographics of the Perth squad and to also aim to identify what makes them tick. Below is a snapshot of some of that information gleaned from the Google analysis:

Of all the information we collected, to me this was the most intriguing. I have been coaching the squad at Claremont Pool now for nearly 9 years and Swim Smooth itself has just had it's 12th birthday, and yet my perception of reality was totally warped against what the stats were showing. Even being "behind the scenes" of the whole squad operation, I am susceptible to heresy also.

I often hear on the grapevine such things about the squad as "someone has to die before you can get a place!" and "that's a very serious squad, only for the elite!" and yet this information seemed to suggest otherwise - 39.4% claim that they're just swimming for fun, fitness and friendship (as simple as that!), 16.5% are no longer competitive and are in "retirement", and a further 2.4% have no swimming background at all.

All up then, 57.3% have very little inclination to compete or prepare for a big event, instead they are driven by their own innate sense of motivation to be healthy and to simply share some social time with their mates. And that's OK. Perfectly fine in fact. Just not what I was expecting, and not what the international coaches who arrive this weekend will perceive either when they see our "slower" lanes averaging a good 15-20s per hundred faster than their own squads. In fact lane 1 on Wednesday morning averaged 1:52 for a continuous 1500m swim within a really hard 4km Red Mist set. This is always the visiting coaches's biggest collective comment after they spend two weeks with us - how fast the guys and girls all are and how disciplined and consistent they are in their approach. From an outsider's perspective, it's very much a competitively healthy group of people enjoying each other's company and that makes me very proud as a coach indeed.

I just wish I could learn to be like those guys myself as I've been doing it hard lately, coming to terms with the necessity to withdraw from this year's 25km Port-2-Pub race (more on that later).

I draw amazing inspiration watching my squad every day, taking instructions, following through, ticking all the boxes, sometimes achieving goals, sometimes not, but ALWAYS coming back for more. I often question how much I must sound like a broken record on the pool deck repeating instructions, listing familiar drills time and again, but still they come. As Rob from Lane 3 (Friday 6.30am) so eloquently put it:

"So where does the black line lead? Not sure but happy to keep following to find out!"

Keep following that black line!

My entire sporting life has been about competition. I was never the best swimmer in our club and certainly not in our county (state), but I always thrived on the competition, trying to beat my own personal bests at every opportunity. I had a dogged determinedness to be the "last to quit" thinking that if I can just outlast my competitor's own internal motivations then ultimately I'd be the only one left and would start to win everything as the competition pool shrank in numbers!

Inspiration doesn't come much better than this - 80yo Barrie Eaves also claims that if he just keeps going soon there'll be no one left to beat. Barrie swims every day of the week and doesn't blink an eye at Friday's 5km Red Mist Endurance session. Legend.

I've always felt the need to have a goal - usually a big flippin' goal at that - to keep me motivated to train, but perhaps this is where I'm going wrong? Perhaps the motivation simply needs to be about the enjoyment of swimming at this point in time. The enjoyment of the swimming community, irrespective of event or placing? My very good friend and whom I owe my entire coaching career here in Australia to (as he relinquished his position at the Stadium Triathlon Club in 2002 to make way for his psychology studies exactly when I was seeking a start), said to me over the Christmas holidays:

"I don't know how you do it. How you keep backing up for these big events. Don't you feel that you have a finite amount of motivation, especially when always training alone? I prefer to stay fit and healthy year-round, enjoying the experience of just being out on my bike, but avoiding the highs and lows of fitness / performance from peaking for certain events."

It should be noted that said friend is actually still incredibly fit and healthy and still backs up and performs well at some big events, he just doesn't devote all his time and emotional energy into it as I seem to be drawn to do*. Could this be you too? Are you the one racing for sheep stations that aren't necessarily even there to be won?

* I have a man crush on this guy's approach to life and his family / work / training balance it has to be said!

I often claim that I (only) swim about 10-12hrs a week (25-40km), but what is most apparent these days with a young family and busy work schedule, is that it's not the swimming duration that's the issue, it's how consuming the whole process of training for a big event - being the "be all and end all" or pinnacle of your training plan - from an emotional and psychological perspective. Or at least this is the case for me - this is where I'm going wrong, this is where the majority of my swimmers have it right.

Now don't get me wrong, focus, dedication and commitment which thus leads to consistency, performance and ultimately the ability to finish the challenge of completing an Ironman or swimming across to Rottnest Island is essential - the point is, have you got the balance right? What is your reasoning to put yourself through what you do? Can you simply say why you are preparing for your next event? If the answer is a loose "erm, because I think I should" I'd encourage you to think a little deeper. If you still can't find it and are beating yourself up, then perhaps your goal posts need some adjusting? Could this reasoning be the missing key to your spark and motivation loss at key times or am I just speaking to and about myself…??!! Possibly.

Remember, nothing is permanent - it's not like this needs to be "never again", you could, after all, spin around on a sixpence once you have made some adjustments in both your training volume and emotional approach (if its needed) and come bouncing right back. I know, and can feel already, that I'm going to be able to relight that inner fire now that I have listened and reasoned with myself about what I really want to spend my time and effort doing at this point in time.

Here's some possible (positive) reasons for taking action and sticking with it in no particular order of importance:

because I want to do what I've never done before
because I want to experience something entirely new to me
because I want to beat my mate
becauseI wantto beat my time
because I want to win
because I want to set a world record
becauseI want to be a newer, healthier me
becauseI want that flippin' number plate!
because I just want to do it

Note that these are all "wants", not "needs" or "shoulds". I couldn't find my "want".

Regrettably - but now excitingly - last weekend I made the decision to withdraw from the 25km Port-2-Pub solo swim. I've been asked many times this last couple of weeks "how is my training / racing going" but sadly it's never been a positive response. That's been hard to deal with in itself as I spend my whole life trying to enthuse others to enjoy swimming and yet here I was lower than low about my own.

As per the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Squad Swimmers blog post, my training had been going well leading up to Christmas. Hindsight has shown me that my motivation at this point was simply to get fit again, rather than any bigger picture thoughts of the event itself. But I over-cooked it and I'm an idiot. I was too greedy and pushed that balance button too far in the wrong direction. I burnt out. I was grumpy and miserable to be around. This was coupled with a niggling left shoulder issue I've been dealing with for the best part of a decade now (many, many years of unilateral breathing prior to switching exclusively to bilateral ~2002), but the ultimate issue was that I just couldn't find the reasoning within me for wanting to do the event (as great an event as it is I hasten to add!) and put my body, mind and soul through the sacrifices that I alone place on myself for these events. Fear of my shoulder totally giving in on me and having to then endure months of restorative rehab also just wasn't on my "want radar".

In short, I was racing for sheep stations for the wrong reasons.

I had three open water swims after Christmas and each of them ended in severe shoulder pain and numbness, but the more worrying thing was the zero lack of drive that I had to complete each. I would literally stop mid-stroke and just get out. Something I've never experienced before. It was depressing. The guilt of exiting early and feeling like a hypocrite was compounded by the fact that I then felt guilty about how I could have spent the morning playing lego with the kids or taking the dog for a nice walk - you know, the "normal" things in life.

So I had to make a decision and that decision was to quit. Yes, I'm a fully fledged quitter! Was I worried about how that would be perceived as a supposed leader of positive action? Certainly. Do I feel bad about that? Yes, but only momentarily. The truth is though that I'd already mentally quit this event 4 to 6 weeks before I made the decision to acknowledge it with others, even with myself. I am now very comfortable that I've made a choice to change direction rather than feeling I've simply given up, and there's a big difference.

I was reminded by close friends and family - after looking so down and grumpy - that the last time I looked truly motivated and inspired was when I did the ÖtillÖ race in the Scilly Isles back in June 2016. Why was this so? It was such a new event to me. No pressure. No expectation. Something different. Something which connects you to your environment in a way no other race could. Doing it for a reason above and beyond my own interests. I loved it and I was pumped. I was pumped in exactly the same way I see those of you training up for your first Rottnest swim or an Ironman look every time you pop down onto pool deck. I envy that look. Grasp onto that feeling and hold it aloft! You can do a lot with that feeling. Yes you'll be feeling tired right now. Yes your muscles will be aching and yes you might be nervous and apprehensive about even finishing the event but don't confuse that fatigue with malaise - it's not. Just you watch - you'll start to taper down, you'll freshen up, that mojo will come flooding back and you'll be ready. You'll be excited. You'll be set to take on the biggest adventure of your life and you will do it awesomely well. Just know your reason and then embrace it!

So, rather than wallowing in my own self-pity I've decided to get proactive, to make some changes, and it's been a liberating experience! I've stopped drinking, I'm going to bed earlier, I've cut out sugar, I'm drinking a lot more water (via my new Soda Stream), I'm trying to get my body physically back in balance after years of just swimming, blah, blah, blah... I've replaced the disappointing training sessions with more time with Mish and the kids and it just feels right. I feel "normal". I'm pumped again with the news of the Rottnest SwimRun event on 1st April (https://www.rottnestswimrun.com) and even did an 18km practice session this morning with Anna-Lee from the squad; and when I dusted off the cobwebs of my 8yo Cervelo and took just one revolution of it's beautiful carbon cranks rather than hitting the river for another loop, I knew instantly I'd made the right decision. I was alive again.

Know your reason and then go with it.

Paul

↧

The New Platysens Marlin - Order Yours Today

February 24, 2017, 3:23 am

≫ Next: Platysens Marlin - Two Corrections

≪ Previous: Know Your Reasons: When To Stick And When To Quit?

If you came to the Tri Show London last weekend you would have seen a very special new swimming tool on the Swim Smooth stand called "The Marlin":

Swim Smooth have been an integral part of the development team at Platysens, making sure the Marlin gives you the right feedback and prompts you in the right way to maximise your development as a swimmer.

The Marlin goes on sale in early May and the exciting news is that you can now pre-order yours from Swim Smooth and receive a healthy discount to boot:

www.swimsmooth.com/platysens-marlin-swim-meter.php

The Marlin is a next-generation swimming tool and is worn on your goggles, monitors everything you do and literally talks to you as you swim, giving you key feedback on your performance. It informs you of things such as the speed you are swimming, your stroke rate, strokes per length and distance swum. It can also talk you through training sessions step by step:

The Marlin is configured via bluetooth link with your iPhone or Android smart phone:

Here's a quick overview of what The Marlin can do:

• As you swim, provide you with spoken feedback on your speed, distance swum, stroke rate, strokes per length without you having to stop and look at a watch.

• Beep to control your stroke rate and set pace in a similar way to a Finis Tempo Trainer Pro.

• Download training sessions to the Marlin and be led through them step by step as you swim - removing the need for a written plan.

• Analyse your swim pace and performance after your swim to optimise your speed and efficiency.

• With the Marlin model, record, map and analyse your open water training. Note, as the Marlin has a clear GPS signal on the back of your head it can do this with far greater accuracy than a GPS watch which spends much of the time underwater during the freestyle stroke:

• You can also program an open water swim course at your local venue on your smart phone and have the Marlin guide you round, speaking to you whenever you go off course with corrective instructions to bring you straight again. Amazing technology!

• At no additional charge, Swim Smooth Guru PRO subscribers can connect their Guru account to their Marlin, sending Guru training sessions to the Marlin to follow at the pool. Sessions swum using the Marlin can also be automatically imported into the Guru for detailed Swim Smooth analysis. *

* Guru integration is targeted to be available in early May when the Marlin is launched.

Pre-Orders Being Taken Now

The Marlin goes on sale at the beginning of May and is sure to be in high demand. Make sure you get yours first (and receive a healthy discount to boot) by ordering from us now at these special pre-order prices:

Platysens Marlin-P (pool functionality):	£88 (normal price £100)
Platysens Marlin (pool and open water functionality):	£110 (normal price £125)

For more information and to order, visit:

www.swimsmooth.com/platysens-marlin-swim-meter.php

Swim Smooth!

↧

Platysens Marlin - Two Corrections

February 24, 2017, 6:19 am

≫ Next: Join Us In Mallorca For The BEST Fest Open Water Swim Festival! (And our 3 Day Coach-Ed Course)

≪ Previous: The New Platysens Marlin - Order Yours Today

In our excitement at announcing the pre-sale of the Platysens Marlin a few hours ago we made a couple of errors in the text:

Firstly, in one instance we described the 'Marlin-P' as the GPS/Open Water model, when in fact it is the pool only model. Instead the 'Marlin' model has the GPS/Open Water functionality.

Secondly, we listed the pre-order price of the 'Marlin' as £100 when it is in fact £110. If you were super-quick off the mark and ordered at this price then we'll honour that sale for you, so you've got yourself an even bigger pre-order saving! :)

Just to be clear the pre-sale prices are actually:

Platysens Marlin-P (pool functionality):	£88 (normal price £100)
Platysens Marlin (pool and open water functionality):	£110 (normal price £125)

You can pre-order your Marlin or Marlin-P now from:

http://www.swimsmooth.com/platysens-marlin-swim-meter.php

A big apology from us for these errors - we pride ourselves on the accuracy of our blog but somehow they slipped through this time...

Swim Smooth

↧

Join Us In Mallorca For The BEST Fest Open Water Swim Festival! (And our 3 Day Coach-Ed Course)

February 26, 2017, 7:49 am

≫ Next: 8 Tips On Swim Training - For Absolute Beginners

≪ Previous: Platysens Marlin - Two Corrections

Come and join the Swim Smooth team in Mallorca for the "BEST Fest Open Water Swim Festival" from May 28th to June 3rd! (And if you're a coach, also our 3 Day Coach Education Course - see below).

www.bestopenwater.com

The BEST Fest is an amazing set of open water swimming events in the stunning waters of this beautiful mediterranean island. With a different event on every day you can enter as many or as few as you like. Ranging from the 4x 500m team relay through to the mighty 10km Colonia Classic, the BEST Fest has something for you, whatever your level of swimming:

See the full video here: vimeo.com/175058116

All events take place in the beautiful waters around the town of Colonia Sant Jordi. The town is famous for the amazing beaches that lie either side of the town and the island of Cabrera, Spain’s first protected nature marine park, that lies a few kilometres away.

The Swim Smooth team will be in full attendance with many coaches (including head coach Paul Newsome) towing the line in the various events. We'll be running some special fun Swim Smooth events in the build up and during race week too. We're just finalising some details but watch out for an announcement on these soon. :)

For full details of the BEST Fest series and to enter, visit:

http://bestopenwater.com/

See you there!

Swim Smooth 3 Day Coach Education Course

As part of our trip to Mallorca we will be running our 3 Day Coach Education Course at the BEST Centre (www.bestswimcentre.com), also in Colonia Sant Jordi. The course dates are 25-27th May, immediately proceeding the BEST Fest.

We'll be sending out application details for this highly regarded course soon to our Coaches Network. If you would like to join us for the course and/or are interested in becoming a Swim Smooth Coach, make sure you are a member:

http://www.swimsmooth.com/coachesnetwork.html

Also see:

http://www.swimsmooth.com/becoming-a-swim-smooth-certified-coach.php

Swim Smooth!

↧

8 Tips On Swim Training - For Absolute Beginners

March 3, 2017, 2:32 am

≫ Next: The Swim Smooth Drill Set - Primary Drills

≪ Previous: Join Us In Mallorca For The BEST Fest Open Water Swim Festival! (And our 3 Day Coach-Ed Course)

First up, Swim Smooth Coach David Knight is in the running for Coach Of The Year in the 220 Magazine Triathlon Awards.

Help him out by voting here or by emailing Debbie Graham naming David as your Coach Of The Year!

8 Tips On Swim Training - For Absolute Beginners

If you're quite new to swimming freestyle, the chances are that you've been working on the basics of freestyle technique such as your breathing technique, kicking correctly, rotation and feel for the water.

Swim Smooth's stand-out product for learning freestyle is our inspiring 12 Step Learn To Swim Program, available with a Standard level Guru Subscription for just £1.99/US$2.99 per month:

www.swimsmooth.guru/sequence/cMI/12-step-learn-to-swim-freestyle-process/

But let's say you can now swim some laps of the pool, what next to keep improving? Of course you want to keep developing and improving your stroke but very quickly the swim fitness side of things also becomes a priority to work on. Of course technique is important but you need swim specific fitness to maintain your stroke technique over distance.

If you come from a background in a land based sport you'll know that it doesn't really matter how fit you are in that sport, very little carries over into swimming. So different are the muscles and energy systems used for swimming that super-fit land based athletes can be gasping for air after just 60 seconds of swimming.

So the bad news is that you will almost certainly be coming into swimming at a low level of swim fitness but the good news is that by building up the training side of things you can very quickly make some large improvements to your comfort levels, stamina and speed in the water.

Here's Swim Smooth's 8 Top Training Tips for maximum swim fitness gains:

1. Build Up To Some Longer Continuous Swims

It's tempting to swim at a strong pace but stop every 50 or 100m for rest. Try not to do this (even some experienced swimmers fall into this trap). Instead challenge yourself to go a little further every time you swim and build things up to swimming longer distances such as 200, 400 and 800m without stopping.

The key here is not to set off too fast and blow-up (see next tip) but swim things out smoothly at a moderate pace over those longer distances. This will work on your low level or 'base' swim fitness which you are likely to be sorely lacking - by working on this you'll be surprised how much easier continuous swimming can become!

2. Use A Tempo Trainer Pro To Work On Your Pace Awareness

If you've not seen a Finis Tempo Trainer Pro before, it's simply a little beeper which you put under your swim cap when you swim:

You can use it in a few different ways but the one we're going to talk about here is known as "lap interval mode" - mode 1 on the device. Say you want to swim at 2 mins per 100m in a 25m pool (that's 30 seconds per length) you just program the Tempo Trainer Pro to beep once every 30 seconds.

Start swimming when it beeps and swim at a pace so that you turn and push off for each length every time it beeps. The first thing you'll find is how you always start too fast (get ahead of the beep) and then slow down so that the beep catches you up. Learn to pace things out better on the first few lengths and you'll instantly be able to swim further with more comfort.

Over time as your fitness improves you can drop your time per length slightly to increase the pace - we call this "tweaking" and we have some clever ways of doing this when you get into Swim Smooth's full blown training methods down the line.

3. Focus Only On One Technique Element At A Time Whilst Swimming

When you start swimming freestyle there's a lot to think about, in fact it can be quite overwhelming. Make sure you only think about one thing at a time and keep things really simple - especially as you are swimming further and building up your distances.

Here's some suggestions of good things to think about:

- Blowing out smoothly into the water, as we see Jono doing here:

- Extending straight forwards in the water in front of your shoulder
- Keeping your head low when you breathe
- Brushing your big toes as they pass: tap-tap-tap-tap
- Pressing the water back behind you to send you forwards

Remember - focus on only one thing at a time!

4. Breathe Bilaterally If At All Possible

As you're new to freestyle your stroke is a little bit like a blank canvas without any bad habits in place. A great way to keep your stroke symmetrical and nicely aligned in the water is to breathe bilaterally - breathing every 3 strokes to both sides in turn.

Now the key to bilateral breathing is to make sure that you are exhaling smoothly into the water which relaxes you and means that when you to rotate to breathe you only have to inhale, not exhale and inhale in the short window available.

So to bring those two ideas together (breathing ever 3 and exhaling) try repeating the following Mantra when you swim: "breathe...bubble...bubble...breathe... etc" Say bubble into the water (forcing you to exhale) on a non-breathing stroke and then breathe on the third stroke. Easy!

5. Keep The Faith - Improvements Come In Jumps Often When You Least Expect It

If you've been going along for a few weeks seemingly without improving then don't panic - oftentimes fitness improvements aren't a progressive slope upwards sessions by session, they come along in steps. You might not improve for a couple of weeks but then will get in the pool one day and suddenly feel stronger from the get-go!

6. Use Training Tools But Don't Become Reliant On Them

Doing some swimming and drills with tools such as fins, paddles and pull buoys is a nice way to work on your stroke technique and create some variety in your freestyle swimming. Use each with a specific purpose to work on a key aspect of your swimming (Swim Smooth we recommend our Swim Smooth Guru to do that).

However, be wary of becoming addicted to them and start swimming most of your swimming distance using one swimming tool or another. Generally speaking they are best used for shorter technique swims whilst you swim without gadgets (straight swimming) for your longer fitness swims.

For longer swims, swim straight (no toys!).

7. Try And Swim 3 Times A Week

A very simple one this. If you can, try and swim 3 times a week or more. When it comes to fitness improvements, there's a big difference between doing something twice a week and three times.

Consistently swimming three times a week can take your swimming a long way.

8. Start Following A Training Plan

Wish you had someone or something to take you through all this step by step, session by session?

You need a training plan to follow pitched at the right level for you. At Swim Smooth we have a few different beginner plans to choose from, all included with a Guru PRO subscription:

Swim Smooth!

↧

The Swim Smooth Drill Set - Primary Drills

March 9, 2017, 11:19 pm

≫ Next: The Swim Smooth Drill Set - Secondary Drills

≪ Previous: 8 Tips On Swim Training - For Absolute Beginners

If you use The Swim Smooth Guru, or one of our other coaching products (e.g. our Waterproof Training Plans or The Swim Smooth Book), you'll be familiar with many of the Swim Smooth drills, including how to perform them, exactly what they correct and how to use them to develop your stroke technique.

Or of course you might have been lucky enough to see one of our Certified Coaches who use these drills with ninja-like ability to dramatically improve your stroke technique. Each has been personally and extensively trained by Head Coach Paul Newsome in Perth, Australia (see a list of their activities on the right side of this blog every week).

However, the Swim Smooth coaching system is now world famous and many other coaches might claim to follow our methods but perhaps without fully understanding the purpose of each drill and how to perform them.

To help clear up some of that confusion we've brought together the list below of our Primary Drills* and the PURPOSE of each drill.

If you don't have access to one of our coaches, to know how to PERFORM each drill, what to FOCUS on and how to use them to CORRECT your stroke step by step, you need the Guru:

For just £1.99/US$2.99 a month you can use the Standard version of the Guru and receive full instruction on all the drills below... and much more besides. It's amazing value for money:
www.swimsmooth.guru

**Swim Smooth Primary Drills* Index**

(If you are already a Guru subscriber, just click on the links below and get taken to the complete video instruction on each drill)

Sink Down Drill

Develops your exhalation technique to improve body position and reduce anxiety.

Breathe Bubble Bubble Breathe

Combines exhalation technique and bilateral breathing.

Popeye Breathing

Keeps your head low when breathing to keep your body position high.

Head Positions

Experiment with different head positions to see what works best for you.

Ballet Leg Kick

Improves your kicking technique to reduce effort and lift you higher in the water.

Torpedo Kick And Swim Back

Tunes up your leg kick technique to bring your body position higher.

Torpedo Kick With Fins

Improve core control by learning to lift your rib cage away from your hips.

Kick On Side Drill

A key drill to develop your posture, alignment and rotation in the water.

6/1/6 Drill

Maintain your posture and alignment while you introduce arm strokes - a good modern alternative to catch-up.

6/3/6 Drill

A progression from 6/1/6 introducing three consecutive arm strokes. Useful for developing rotation.

6/5/6 Drill

Use to perfect your alignment and posture without the interruption of breathing.

Popov Drill

Use to develop a classical high elbow arm recovery. May not be appropriate for open water swimming or stiff shoulders!

Broken Arrow Drill

Loosen off your shoulders and develop a nice clean hand entry into the water.

Scull #1

A primary drill to develop your catch and feel for the water. Press the water backwards to send you forwards.

Doggy Paddle Drill

Develop your catch mechanics, a high elbow catch and pull, and stroke timing. Different from kids doggy paddle.

Breathing Under Arm Drill

A preliminary step before the full Unco Drill.

Unco Drill

Known as the King Of Drills for good reason - Unco is a unique way to work on the rhythm and timing of your stroke.

P-Unco Drill

Add a pair of paddles to Unco for increased proprioception during the catch.

Javelin Drill

A powerful drill to improve your catch technique whilst breathing. Effective for all levels of swimmer.

Pull Buoy And Paddles

A classic way to swim with paddles is to combine them with a pull buoy to isolate the upper body.

Criss-Cross Drill

Use the criss-cross drill to work on your stroke timing, especially useful for those developing a 2-beat kick.

* Note, these are our Primary Drills that we commonly use within technique sessions. The Guru also contains a set of Secondary Drills which we use to focus in and correct less common technique problems that you might have.

Swim Smooth!

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The Swim Smooth Drill Set - Secondary Drills

March 16, 2017, 10:54 am

≫ Next: The Psychology Of The Tempo Trainer

≪ Previous: The Swim Smooth Drill Set - Primary Drills

Applications for our 3 Day Coach Education Course in sunny Mallorca from May 25th to 27th are closing soon. Apply now if you're interested in flying in for this extremely highly regarded course with Swim Smooth Head Coaches Paul Newsome and Adam Young : http://www.swimsmooth.com/coach-education-course-mallorca2017.php

Our last 3 Day Coach Education Course - Florida, Nov 2016

The Swim Smooth Drill Set - Secondary Drills

Thanks for the huge response to last week's blog post highlighting the purpose of the primary Swim Smooth drills. Such was the level of interest in it that we've decided to post out the list of secondary drills this week.

Swim Smooth secondary drills are not normally performed as a matter of course within a squad session but are used for specific stroke correction actions depending on an individual swimmer's needs.

As with the primary drills, you need one of our products (ideally the Swim Smooth Guru) to view the drill footage and detailed explanation. Click on the links below to be taken to the drill within the Guru:

Streamline / Torpedo Pushoff

The perfect way to start every lap and control your core

Baton 6/1/6

A version of 6/1/6 to stop the lead arm collapsing whilst breathing.

Waterpolo Drill

A fantastic drill to develop more punch and rhythm to your stroke.

Dive & Breakout

Perfect your start technique from the blocks for maximum speed in the pool.

Back Of Stroke Timing

Finish the back of your stroke correctly for maximum efficiency and propulsion.

Corkscrew Drill

Core control and rotation are the name of the game when you master the corkscrew!

Corpse Kick Drill

Develop your rotation whilst keeping the head still and aligned.

Single Arm (Traditional) Drill

An old-school drill to practise your catch and pull-through.

Shoulder Tap Drill

A neat drill to work on a clean hand entry into the water - can be used to fix a thumb first entry.

Doggy Paddle Extension

Improve your pull pathway under the body for efficient propulsion and drive.

Swimming With Bands

A challenging exercise to develop the rhythm and timing in your stroke.

Scull #2

Sculling just in front of the head for developing your pull technique and correcting a wide pull-through.

Scull Combo Drill

Bringing together all three sculling drills.

Double Switchback Drill

An advanced drill to challenge your balance and control in the water.

Push And Glide

Practise a streamline off the wall in a torpedo position - the perfect way to start every lap.

Sea Anchors

Experience the difference between a good and bad body position and the effect on your drag.

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The Psychology Of The Tempo Trainer

March 24, 2017, 2:30 am

≫ Next: Training And Racing Through A Season

≪ Previous: The Swim Smooth Drill Set - Secondary Drills

So, you're trying to improve your swimming and you've read a lot about how identifying your CSS pace (Critical Swim Speed) provides you with an objective measure on how to gauge improvements over time. Great!

You've ventured out and completed a CSS Test and have even invested in a Finis Tempo Trainer Pro - or considering one - to help you with your pacing at this newly identified pace. Perfect!

You recognise that knowing this pace and monitoring it over time is the best indicator of performance for any race distance greater than 400m. Marvellous!

You might have even used our CSS Tweaker a key feature for Swim Smooth Guru PRO users to make marginal gains in your pace each week in response to your key sessions. Fabulous!

But what does it feel like to use your new-found virtual training buddy the Tempo Trainer Pro on a day to day and week to week basis? Given his location nestled close to your ear in every session, you end up developing quite the intimate relationship with the little guy and as such it's worth noting some of his personality traits and how you're likely to respond to him to get the most out of your sessions:

Swimmers are from Venus, Tempo Trainers are from Mars - learn to develop a healthy relationship with your virtual training partner and your swimming will go from strength to strength!

The Tempo Trainer Pro is such a great, simple device that the psychology of its three modes are definitely worth exploring a little more so that you can really get in tune with him to maximise your training time and avoid some of the pitfalls we see on a daily basis during our "Tempo Trainer Relationship Counselling Sessions" we run here in the Swim Smooth Perth Squad!

Like any good counselling session, it's worth noting the history of your partner in a bit more depth to work out whether or not any familial history, prior experiences, episodes of early developmental trauma etc etc might play a part in how well you gel together, after all, here at Swim Smooth we're all about productive, positive relationships with our training aids and partners!

Coach Morgan provides Mike with some Tempo Trainer Relationship
Counselling during the start of a CSS Development session

In the beginning there was only blue...

Back in the Dark Ages, the Tempo Trainer (before he became "PRO"), had just one mode. This mode focused purely on stroke rate - or the cadence of your arms - helping swimmers adjust this to create symmetry and rhythm for their swimming. Historically, swim coaches have referred to the cadence of the arms in seconds between strokes or even seconds between stroke cycles (one right arm plus one left arm equalling one complete stroke cycle). For example, if you are swimming at a cadence of 60 strokes per minute, in the bygone age this would have been referred to as 1.00 seconds between strokes. A cadence of 54 strokes per minute would have been 1.10s between strokes.

When you start getting into some less regular numbers like 53 strokes per minute, you used to have to whip out your waterproof calculator and calculate that this equated to 1.132075471698113s between strokes. Not easy:

OK for numbers geeks but for everyone else?

Still, the faithful little blue Tempo Trainer - being as he's always been accurate to 1/100th second - would do his best to comply with your requests and a happy place was usually found.

With the advent of the "PRO" version though in early 2009, Finis heeded our requests from our previous work with the Wetronome (remember those?) to rejig things a little to bring the new yellow model inline with modern terminology and express things in nice round strokes per minute. And thus Mode 3 on the Tempo Trainer PRO was born - wahoo! No longer were swimmers left floundering with their calculators and wondering why their training pal wasn't speaking their same language.

Swimmer's relationships with their Tempo Trainers began to flourish. Now you had a simple way to fall into a blissful catatonic state, totally in the moment, focused purely on the rhythm of the stroke without any arduous calculations required, just: beep, beep, breathe, beep, beep, breathe…

Hallelujah! The Tempo Trainer PRO is born and swimmer to gadget
divorce rates plummet!

Integrated into the swimsmooth.guru is bespoke advice based on your own
unique settings to help you get a grip with which mode to use and when

Everything in the swimming gadget world was doing dandy until of course we started tapping into the notion that Mode 1 (cycle times accurate to 1/100th second) and Mode 2 (cycle times expressed in full, round seconds) could be used in subtly different ways to change the dynamic of how you meter out your training efforts at or around CSS pace. This methodology came at a price though: these two methods saw a big split in the swimming population; those that love the precision of Mode 1 and the instruction to "stay with the beeper", and those that love the flexibility of Mode 2 and the instruction to "beat the beeper". You might be in the third camp that hasn't even unboxed their Tempo Trainer PRO yet as you're simply unsure of which mode to use and when, let alone the appropriate setting for you? Fear not, help is at hand.

So how does your relationship with your Tempo Trainer in either of these two modes affect your training productivity? Should you always stick with the devil you know when training, or should you spice up your relationship every now and then by trying something new? Further, if you've never tried either method, how could you test your response and decide which is best? Let's tackle that question first with a real-life example from a session this last week here in Perth which you might want to try. You'll note that 4 versions are given: L1 (lane 1) would be for swimmers swimming slower than 1:50/100m at CSS pace; L2 for those in the 1:35 to 1:50/100m bracket; L3 for those in the 1:25 to 1:35/100m bracket and L4 for those swimming quicker than 1:25/100m. Choose the most appropriate lane for yourself:

One of our Wednesday / Friday morning CSS Development Sessions, nicknamed "Fresh 'n' Fruity"

Following on from the warm-up and build set, the main set in the image above shows two parts: a "prep" set where the Tempo Trainer PRO should be used in Mode 1, set at your CSS pace per 25m; and a "show me what you've got!" set where the Tempo Trainer PRO should be used in Mode 2, set at the appropriate RM (“Red Mist”) Cycle per 50m. A swimmer completing this set with a very handy CSS pace of 1:11.5s per 100m would see the following instructions in the Guru to assist with these settings:

Prep set: Mode 1

Show me what you've got set: Mode 2

Prep Set (Mode 1)

The swimmer is instructed in the "prep" set to keep with the beeper, i.e. every 17.88 seconds the beeper will sound and if they are pacing themselves out perfectly at their current CSS pace, they will hear the beeper as they pass through each 25m. You'll notice that the appropriate set for this level of swimmer would be L4 (lane 4) and that would involve 1 x 100, 2 x 300, 1 x 100 all with 1 beep recovery (17.88 seconds) between each interval. In the early stages of this main set it's easy for the swimmer to be a little gung-ho and to get ahead of their target pace and beeper on the 1st 100m interval, but doing so runs the risk of blowing up during the 300m intervals and getting behind the beeper.

On the 1st 100m interval the swimmer is likely to be enthused thinking "wow, I must be having a good day if I can beat my CSS!" but this feeling rapidly turns to woe when the beeper gets ahead of them and punishes them for their early pacing error in the 2nd 300m. What happens next is up to you: do you learn from your mistake and improve next time, or do you throw in the towel thinking that your relationship with your Tempo Trainer is beyond repair and that salvation is futile? How exactly do you handle your tempestuous relationship with your Tempo Trainer at this point? Is it going to be a positive or negative response?

Show Me What You've Got Set (Mode 2)

In the "show me what you've got" set, the instruction is different: the swimmer is instructed to go out and get as far ahead of the beeper as they feel comfortable knowing that whatever distance ahead they get will form their recovery before the next interval. The set is now 2 x 200 at RM4 (this is 4 seconds per 50m slower than CSS pace) with the aim of being 16-20 seconds ahead of the beeper on each one; this equates to still holding approximately CSS pace as per the prep set but is more open to your interpretation and inner motivation. This is followed by 5 x 100 at RM8 (this is 8 seconds per 50m slower than CSS pace) again with the aim of being 16-20 seconds ahead of the beeper at the end of each 100m. Finally, 6 x 50 at RM12 (this is 12 seconds per 50m slower than CSS pace) again with the aim of being 16-20 seconds ahead of the beeper at the end of each 50m.

Notice that the aim has a range of 4 seconds - a far cry from the rigidity of the prep set. The relatively large amount of rest towards the end of the set should also see the swimmer being able to hit paces quicker than CSS pace over the shorter distances even though by this point in the session they will be carrying the most fatigue. Try it yourself - how does it make you feel? Do you instantly find yourself pushing your chest out feeling like superman because you are now smashing your beeper into oblivion, or do you miss the pacing assistance of Mode 1 feeling a sense of "loss" not really knowing how well you are doing? Does your promiscuous Tempo Trainer incite a feeling of freedom or do you hate not knowing what they're up to and when they're going to next go off?

Give the session a try and let us know how you get on - do you like the precision of Mode 1 and the instruction to "stay with the beeper", or do you prefer the flexibility of Mode 2 and the instruction to "beat the beeper" - we'll publish the results and any interesting insights you care to share next week! Either reply to this blog email or post on the blog comments.

Swim Smooth!

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Training And Racing Through A Season

March 31, 2017, 2:45 am

≫ Next: Mallorca Clinic, BEST Fest & Our Tips On Tapering Effectively

≪ Previous: The Psychology Of The Tempo Trainer

This week on the blog we have a question from Tavis Bohlinger, originally from Southern California but studying at Durham University, UK:

I wonder if many Swim Smoothers, like myself, have signed up for more than one race this summer, perhaps Tri, OW, or a few of each. The question is, if we’ve spent all winter and spring training for that first 5k, for example, how should we be training in the intervening weeks between subsequent races? Do we keep taking recovery weeks? Do we carry on with business as usual?

That's a great question and it applies for anyone racing any distance of swimming, open water or triathlon event - how do you train through a race season for best performance in your races? Particularly if you're quite serious about your training and performances?

Key race: Brad Smith smokes the 21km Rottnest crossing

Training and Fatigue

Before we talk about training and race seasons, let's talk a bit about your normal training routine when you're not in a race season.

When you train hard week-in, week-out in an optimal way you have to live with some level of residual fatigue most of the time. If you take sufficient rest after one training session to completely freshen up before the next then you simply won't get enough training in. In other words "under-training".

Of course it's very possibly to go the other way - do too much training and end up very fatigued all the time so you can't perform well in any training session. This is "over-training" - you won't get much (if any) fitness gains and you also risk injury and illness.

So we aim to strike the right balance, training enough to get good fitness gains but not so much that we are tired all the time. How much training is optimal for you depends on the individual and how fit you are, but here is a rough guide:

For adult / age group swimmers, 4-6 swims a week is normally about optimal depending on fitness level.

For adult / age group triathletes, 2-4 swims a week is normally optimal depending on fitness level.

Tapering For Races

However when an important race comes around we normally need to back things off so that the normal level of training fatigue subsides and we are fresh for best performance in the race. This backing off of training is called "tapering" and for most pure swimming events, a taper between 3 and 10 days in length before the event is sufficient. You don't want to stop training completely when tapering but progressively reduce the distance and intensity of your sessions as you get nearer to race day.

Next week on the blog we'll talk a bit more about how to taper effectively but it's worth mentioning here that if you're only swimming twice a week then you don't really need to taper very much for an event. This includes triathletes swimming twice a week, who might be best served tapering mostly on the bike and run and keeping their swimming going normally with their last swim 3-4 days before race day.

Races As Training

Races are a lot of fun and to compete is the primary motivation of many athletes. Races are also very important for gaining experience and self belief too - and for those reasons it's unlikely you'll perform at your very best in the very first race of the season even if you're really fit. It takes a while to regain your "racing head" and ability to get yourself into that state of "flow" or "the zone" for best performance.

Of course a race is also a training session in its own right and will bring some fitness gains too. In fact races will probably turn out to be the hardest types of session that you do because of the element of competition and extra motivation that a race brings. So we shouldn't overlook the importance of races as training.

Are you searching for moments like these?

But there is a problem... By fully tapering down for a key race you are training less than you ideally would, returning you to that "under-training" scenario. Your fitness improvements will slow down, or stop coming at all. Despite the hardness of the race itself the overall training effect will almost certainly be lower than normal training.

That's not a problem for a one off race but let's say you want to do four events, each a week or two apart:

4th June - 5K open water race
11th June - Charity Pool Swimathon
25th June - 1500m open water race
9th July - Olympic distance triathlon

That looks great on paper but if you started your taper a week before the 5K race and rested up for each event then by the 9th of July you will have done less than half your normal training for 5-6 weeks. You'll have had a lot of fun but your fitness might be lower than at the beginning of June - and certainly lower than it could have been if the Olympic triathlon was your key event.

Here are a couple of key strategies to overcome this problem:

1) Think Of Races In Terms Of "A", "B" and "C"

One solution is to think of your races as types A, B and C and change your taper and mental approach accordingly:

"A" races are the most important ones for you, they're the ones that are getting you fired up and where you want to give your best performance. For these races you taper fully.

"B" races are where you want to enjoy them and do pretty well but no big deal. Give these races a mini-taper, perhaps 2-3 easy days in the build up.

"C" races matter little to you, they're perhaps smaller events for fun and experience. They might be a midweek club race for example. Don't taper for them at all - treat them purely as a training session!

Applied to the example events above, you might categorise each as:

"B" Race: 4th June - 5K open water race
"C" Race: 11th June - Charity Pool Swimathon
"C" Race: 25th June - 1500m open water race
"A" Race: 9th July - Olympic distance triathlon

Use a mini-taper for the 5K swim, don't taper at all for the Swimathon and 1500m and you'll be in best shape and have your race head engaged by the time July 9th's Olympic Tri comes around.

One final thought about A, B and C races: You might be surprised how well you perform in your B and C races despite the absence of a full taper. In fact you might actually perform better in your B races than in your A races and some athletes even find that they perform their very best in C races!

Sometimes this is due to the psychological stress of a big race or over-excitement and starting too fast before blowing up. But equally it can be because you don't actually need the taper you think you do. Many elite athletes err on the side of tapering less for this reason, especially for shorter events. Of course you don't want to go into any race very tired, but perhaps a smidgen of low-level fatigue is not necessarily a bad thing...

2) Spreading And Clustering A Races

So how should you position your A races through the season?

There's two ways you can do this, either cluster them very close together or spread them out to different points of the season:

Spreading: Here you space your key A races through the season so you are able to train well beforehand and then taper effectively for each. A gap of around 5-12 weeks works well. Some B and C races in the build-up to each will help you fine tune your racing and prepare yourself mentally and physically.

Clustering: Here you might place two A races on consecutive weekends - taper for the first fully, some light training in the week afterwards and go again the next weekend. If the first race is 60-90 minutes in length or less you can normally fully recover before the following weekend. As the time between is short, the fitness loss from reduced training is minimal.

If the first race is longer than 90 minutes (e.g Olympic distance triathlon) you might feel some residual fatigue in the second race, particularly if you really take it to the wall in the first one.

Of course you can combine these ideas and cluster 4 races into 2 groups a few months apart. And include some B and C races in the build up, training normally between races as you would in the off season:

(click to enlarge)

Swim Smooth!

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