Weekly Training Log – 03/06/2011

	Swim	Bike	Run	Strength	Total
Total Time	3.25 hrs	4 hrs	1.75 hrs	1.75 hr	10.75 hrs
Total Distance	5,000 m	65 miles	14 miles

This week was another recovery week, and for whatever reason, I found myself to be very tired for most of the week.  Monday started with strength training on Monday… and at this point, it’s pretty much always leg work.  We did a bunch of drills on the stationary bike which burned like fire, then some other plyometric exercises.

Tuesday was a morning swim where I have to say I felt absolutely aweful.  I was still suffering from allergies (sounds like an excuse!) and people that I am typically faster than crushed me.  In one drill, we were swimming 800 meters with paddles, pull buoy, and our feet tied together (if you haven’t tried it, try it… trust me, it’s like dragging an anchor).  I got my butt whipped.  Then later that same workout, we were doing sprints with flippers and again, I got killed.  Not good.  Tuesday night was an hour on the trainer.

Wednesday morning was my usual run in Umstead – and a beautiful brisk morning.  Wednesday night was dinner with friends, so no workout.  Thursday morning was another swim and another day of feeling like my swimming sucks.  The Dragonfly is back! Thursday night was just the end to a long day, so no workout for me.

Friday was a brick workout of 1 hour on the bike followed by a 30 minute run. It was really only meant to be a 30 minute run, but I had to make up for some missed rides during the week, so I made it a brick.  I actually felt pretty good, so all good.

Saturday was another brick workout.  Ryan took us on a 37-mile ride through all the steepest hills around Falls Lake… I still struggled to keep up with the guy, but I did MUCH better than previous weeks and I felt much more confident by the end.  Average was just around 19mph, which when you look at the hills was very very good.  There were a few flat sections where I saw my speed at 22-23 which is  good for me.  Following the ride, we ran 4 miles at a 7:05 pace.  There was one point on a flat section where our average was tipped at sub 6-minute miles.  Not bad!

Sunday was a “long” run.  We did around 6.5 miles and I just felt terrible.  A steak dinner the night before without much else probably didn’t help… but I did NOT feel good.

Anyway, the week is done and I just finished planning out next week and it’s NOT a recovery week.  I should be doing about 15.5 hours of workouts with a 70+ ride and about 15 mile run over the weekend.  It just makes me realize that it’s only week 9 and there are still 15 weeks left.  Brutal!

Tags: 37-mile ride, 800 meters, allergies, anchor, Anyway, beautiful brisk morning, Bike Run Strength, brick, brick workout, brisk morning, brutal, bunch, buoy, dinner, dinner with friends, dragonfly, Drill, Falls Lake, flat section, flat sections, flippers, Hospitality Recreation, hr 10.75 hrs, leg work, long day, m 65, Man-Made Disaster, Mile, Mile run world record progression, morning swim, MUCH better, paddles, Physical exercise, plyometric exercises, pretty good, pull buoy, rides, sport, Stationary bicycle, stationary bike, steak, steepest hills, strength training, sub 6-minute miles, swim bike run, swimming sucks, Thursday morning, Thursday night, time 3, Time 3.25 hrs, training log, triathlon, trust, Tuesday night, umstead, usual run, Wednesday morning, Wednesday night, Weekly Training Log, workout, workouts
Category Featured, Weekly Training Logs |

How Your Personality Might Affect Your Swimming

** The second round of voting for the About Swimming Blog Of The Year is open here. Votes have been reset from round one so if you enjoy our blog please vote again - thanks! **

---

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about our Swim Type system is that it highlights the link between personality and stroke style. Here are some classic personality traits you might recognise in yourself that may affect how you swim:

- You're self confident, goal driven and impatient! This is a classic trait of the Arnie / Arnette - your desire to take control and get on with things results in a short scrappy stroke with a tendency to fight the water. Work harder on land and you go faster, but work harder in the water without a good stroke technique and much of that effort goes to waste. Many Arnie / Arnettes feel frustrated about their swimming, especially when comparing themselves to other swimmers seemingly less fit but swimming much faster. By taking the time to relax a little and control what you're doing you'll develop your body roll and lengthen out your stroke. Here at Swim Smooth we jokingly call this 'taming the inner Arnie'! This driven personality will really serve you well so long as you are doing things right for your stroke and not pushing too hard.

- "Don't talk too much, just let me get on with it and swim fast!" If you feel this way when you swim then you're likely to be a Swinger. Classic Swingers are often the first on the pool deck for squad training and can't wait to get in the water and get on with it. They're well suited to distance swimming and love long sets with as little recovery as possible please! If you recognise this in yourself then try and be disciplined and take a little time out from hard swimming to do some stroke development work. You won't lose any fitness from doing so and you'll greatly benefit from some small tweaks to your stroke. Your get-on-with-it mentality is the source of the momentum and rhythm you have within your stroke which is often well suited to swimming in rough open water. When asked what they think about when swimming, Swingers rarely mention the stroke movements themselves (unlike the Overglider who thinks of nothing else!), instead they tend to focus on rhythm or use distraction methods to take their mind off the effort of swimming fast for long periods. This is a highly admirable trait and can give a real competitive advantage.

- You're analytical and enjoy working things out for yourself. Perhaps the strongest correlation of all here: nearly all engineers and mathematicians gravitate towards the Overglider stroke type! That desire to be technically correct and swim with a long stroke may have been taken a little too far and introduced a deadspot to your stroke rhythm. There are many good things about your stroke in place but developing your catch is likely to be a priority, doing so will help remove that deadspot and get you get back in touch with the natural rhythm of your stroke. Overgliders can be guilty of over-complicating the freestyle stroke by thinking about too many things at once. Of course you should look to develop your stroke technique but obsessing about this can be detrimental to your progress as a swimmer. Your dedication to analysing and trying to correct your stroke probably served you well during the early stages of your development but as you start adding more and more things to think about it becomes impossible to juggle everything at the same time and removes focus from the importance of rhythm and momentum in your stroke.

- You look to swimming for achievement and to feel good about yourself. These are fantastic reasons to swim and sum up the motivations of many Bambinos who perhaps lack natural confidence in the water. In fact when we meet a Bambino for the first time they often tell us immediately that "I'm not very good at all!". Of course we'd all like to be better swimmers than we are but sometimes this focus on what you can't do, rather than what you can, will really hold you back. Many Bambinos have been told to swim the same way as the fastest swimmers in the squad but often this is simply not appropriate, either because of body type and build or from limited swimming experience. Developing basic water confidence and breathing will serve you much better than more advanced stroke technique - which can leave you feeling quite overwhelmed and disheartened. Don't panic though! Turn your thought processes around and tackle the true areas of your swimming holding you back and you will feel a lot more positive about your stroke and your swimming as a whole.

- You need a big event to motivate you. This is a common trait of the Smooth - as a talented swimmer it can be hard to get motivated after so many years of swimming. You know you can perform at a very high level but do you have the motivation? The key for you might be to introduce some changes to your swimming, perhaps taking on a fresh challenge by racing in open water or keeping a lot of variety in your training sessions.

- You need variety to keep you interested. From the pool deck the Kicktastic is easiest type to spot with their lack of body rotation and over-kicking style. If you are a Kicktastic this style will feel 'normal' to you but use a pull buoy and it can be frustrating and confusing to lose ground to your fellow swimmers. Psychologically, Kicktastics find long training sets or repetitive drills very boring and need a variety of stimuli and focuses to keep things interesting. Bear this in mind when designing your training sets and improving your stroke - variety is the spice of life!

For coaches, the personality aspect of the Swim Type system is incredibly useful. Getting your message across clearly and concisely to a range of swimmers is of paramount importance - a 'one rule fits all' approach simply won't do this. We all learn in different ways: some from verbal instruction, some from demonstration, some from hands on doing, some from technical explanation and some from story telling. Adjusting your delivery to the personality of each swimmer will really help you engage more directly with a broader range of athletes and improve the speed and effectiveness of your coaching.

Can you see any of these character traits in yourself? Or perhaps see some correlation between personality and stroke style in your swimmers? Let us know on the comments section: here

Swim Smooth!

Tags: admirable trait, arnie, basic water confidence, body roll, classic personality, Classic Swingers, classic trait, comments section, common trait, desire, distraction methods, early stages, fantastic reasons, fascinating thing, fastest swimmers, fellow swimmers, fitness, get-on-with-it mentality, good stroke technique, good things, hard swimming, Health, Human Interest, inner arnie, little recovery, little time, long periods, long sets, long stroke, Many Arnie, Many Bambinos, mentality, momentum, natural rhythm, Neurological Disorders, open water, paramount importance, personality aspect, personality traits, pool deck, pull buoy, real competitive advantage, repetitive drills, rhythm, rough open water, short scrappy stroke, small tweaks, Sports, stroke, stroke development, stroke movements, stroke rhythm, stroke style, stroke technique, strongest correlation, Swim Smooth, Swim Type, swimmer, swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Diving, SwimSmooth.com, swingers, taking the time, talented swimmer, tendency, time out, training, true areas, tweaks, verbal instruction, vote, Water Sports, water work, yourself
Category Swimming |

How Your Personality Might Affect Your Swimming

** The second round of voting for the About Swimming Blog Of The Year is open here. Votes have been reset from round one so if you enjoy our blog please vote again - thanks! **

---

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about our Swim Type system is that it highlights the link between personality and stroke style. Here are some classic personality traits you might recognise in yourself that may affect how you swim:

- You're self confident, goal driven and impatient! This is a classic trait of the Arnie / Arnette - your desire to take control and get on with things results in a short scrappy stroke with a tendency to fight the water. Work harder on land and you go faster, but work harder in the water without a good stroke technique and much of that effort goes to waste. Many Arnie / Arnettes feel frustrated about their swimming, especially when comparing themselves to other swimmers seemingly less fit but swimming much faster. By taking the time to relax a little and control what you're doing you'll develop your body roll and lengthen out your stroke. Here at Swim Smooth we jokingly call this 'taming the inner Arnie'! This driven personality will really serve you well so long as you are doing things right for your stroke and not pushing too hard.

- "Don't talk too much, just let me get on with it and swim fast!" If you feel this way when you swim then you're likely to be a Swinger. Classic Swingers are often the first on the pool deck for squad training and can't wait to get in the water and get on with it. They're well suited to distance swimming and love long sets with as little recovery as possible please! If you recognise this in yourself then try and be disciplined and take a little time out from hard swimming to do some stroke development work. You won't lose any fitness from doing so and you'll greatly benefit from some small tweaks to your stroke. Your get-on-with-it mentality is the source of the momentum and rhythm you have within your stroke which is often well suited to swimming in rough open water. When asked what they think about when swimming, Swingers rarely mention the stroke movements themselves (unlike the Overglider who thinks of nothing else!), instead they tend to focus on rhythm or use distraction methods to take their mind off the effort of swimming fast for long periods. This is a highly admirable trait and can give a real competitive advantage.

- You're analytical and enjoy working things out for yourself. Perhaps the strongest correlation of all here: nearly all engineers and mathematicians gravitate towards the Overglider stroke type! That desire to be technically correct and swim with a long stroke may have been taken a little too far and introduced a deadspot to your stroke rhythm. There are many good things about your stroke in place but developing your catch is likely to be a priority, doing so will help remove that deadspot and get you get back in touch with the natural rhythm of your stroke. Overgliders can be guilty of over-complicating the freestyle stroke by thinking about too many things at once. Of course you should look to develop your stroke technique but obsessing about this can be detrimental to your progress as a swimmer. Your dedication to analysing and trying to correct your stroke probably served you well during the early stages of your development but as you start adding more and more things to think about it becomes impossible to juggle everything at the same time and removes focus from the importance of rhythm and momentum in your stroke.

- You look to swimming for achievement and to feel good about yourself. These are fantastic reasons to swim and sum up the motivations of many Bambinos who perhaps lack natural confidence in the water. In fact when we meet a Bambino for the first time they often tell us immediately that "I'm not very good at all!". Of course we'd all like to be better swimmers than we are but sometimes this focus on what you can't do, rather than what you can, will really hold you back. Many Bambinos have been told to swim the same way as the fastest swimmers in the squad but often this is simply not appropriate, either because of body type and build or from limited swimming experience. Developing basic water confidence and breathing will serve you much better than more advanced stroke technique - which can leave you feeling quite overwhelmed and disheartened. Don't panic though! Turn your thought processes around and tackle the true areas of your swimming holding you back and you will feel a lot more positive about your stroke and your swimming as a whole.

- You need a big event to motivate you. This is a common trait of the Smooth - as a talented swimmer it can be hard to get motivated after so many years of swimming. You know you can perform at a very high level but do you have the motivation? The key for you might be to introduce some changes to your swimming, perhaps taking on a fresh challenge by racing in open water or keeping a lot of variety in your training sessions.

- You need variety to keep you interested. From the pool deck the Kicktastic is easiest type to spot with their lack of body rotation and over-kicking style. If you are a Kicktastic this style will feel 'normal' to you but use a pull buoy and it can be frustrating and confusing to lose ground to your fellow swimmers. Psychologically, Kicktastics find long training sets or repetitive drills very boring and need a variety of stimuli and focuses to keep things interesting. Bear this in mind when designing your training sets and improving your stroke - variety is the spice of life!

For coaches, the personality aspect of the Swim Type system is incredibly useful. Getting your message across clearly and concisely to a range of swimmers is of paramount importance - a 'one rule fits all' approach simply won't do this. We all learn in different ways: some from verbal instruction, some from demonstration, some from hands on doing, some from technical explanation and some from story telling. Adjusting your delivery to the personality of each swimmer will really help you engage more directly with a broader range of athletes and improve the speed and effectiveness of your coaching.

Can you see any of these character traits in yourself? Or perhaps see some correlation between personality and stroke style in your swimmers? Let us know on the comments section: here

Swim Smooth!

Tags: admirable trait, arnie, basic water confidence, body roll, classic personality, Classic Swingers, classic trait, comments section, common trait, desire, distraction methods, early stages, fantastic reasons, fascinating thing, fastest swimmers, fellow swimmers, fitness, get-on-with-it mentality, good stroke technique, good things, hard swimming, Health, Human Interest, inner arnie, little recovery, little time, long periods, long sets, long stroke, Many Arnie, Many Bambinos, mentality, momentum, natural rhythm, Neurological Disorders, open water, paramount importance, personality aspect, personality traits, pool deck, pull buoy, real competitive advantage, repetitive drills, rhythm, rough open water, short scrappy stroke, small tweaks, Sports, stroke, stroke development, stroke movements, stroke rhythm, stroke style, stroke technique, strongest correlation, Swim Smooth, Swim Type, swimmer, swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Diving, SwimSmooth.com, swingers, taking the time, talented swimmer, tendency, time out, training, true areas, tweaks, verbal instruction, vote, Water Sports, water work, yourself
Category Swimming |

How Your Personality Might Affect Your Swimming

** The second round of voting for the About Swimming Blog Of The Year is open here. Votes have been reset from round one so if you enjoy our blog please vote again - thanks! **

---

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about our Swim Type system is that it highlights the link between personality and stroke style. Here are some classic personality traits you might recognise in yourself that may affect how you swim:

- You're self confident, goal driven and impatient! This is a classic trait of the Arnie / Arnette - your desire to take control and get on with things results in a short scrappy stroke with a tendency to fight the water. Work harder on land and you go faster, but work harder in the water without a good stroke technique and much of that effort goes to waste. Many Arnie / Arnettes feel frustrated about their swimming, especially when comparing themselves to other swimmers seemingly less fit but swimming much faster. By taking the time to relax a little and control what you're doing you'll develop your body roll and lengthen out your stroke. Here at Swim Smooth we jokingly call this 'taming the inner Arnie'! This driven personality will really serve you well so long as you are doing things right for your stroke and not pushing too hard.

- "Don't talk too much, just let me get on with it and swim fast!" If you feel this way when you swim then you're likely to be a Swinger. Classic Swingers are often the first on the pool deck for squad training and can't wait to get in the water and get on with it. They're well suited to distance swimming and love long sets with as little recovery as possible please! If you recognise this in yourself then try and be disciplined and take a little time out from hard swimming to do some stroke development work. You won't lose any fitness from doing so and you'll greatly benefit from some small tweaks to your stroke. Your get-on-with-it mentality is the source of the momentum and rhythm you have within your stroke which is often well suited to swimming in rough open water. When asked what they think about when swimming, Swingers rarely mention the stroke movements themselves (unlike the Overglider who thinks of nothing else!), instead they tend to focus on rhythm or use distraction methods to take their mind off the effort of swimming fast for long periods. This is a highly admirable trait and can give a real competitive advantage.

- You're analytical and enjoy working things out for yourself. Perhaps the strongest correlation of all here: nearly all engineers and mathematicians gravitate towards the Overglider stroke type! That desire to be technically correct and swim with a long stroke may have been taken a little too far and introduced a deadspot to your stroke rhythm. There are many good things about your stroke in place but developing your catch is likely to be a priority, doing so will help remove that deadspot and get you get back in touch with the natural rhythm of your stroke. Overgliders can be guilty of over-complicating the freestyle stroke by thinking about too many things at once. Of course you should look to develop your stroke technique but obsessing about this can be detrimental to your progress as a swimmer. Your dedication to analysing and trying to correct your stroke probably served you well during the early stages of your development but as you start adding more and more things to think about it becomes impossible to juggle everything at the same time and removes focus from the importance of rhythm and momentum in your stroke.

- You look to swimming for achievement and to feel good about yourself. These are fantastic reasons to swim and sum up the motivations of many Bambinos who perhaps lack natural confidence in the water. In fact when we meet a Bambino for the first time they often tell us immediately that "I'm not very good at all!". Of course we'd all like to be better swimmers than we are but sometimes this focus on what you can't do, rather than what you can, will really hold you back. Many Bambinos have been told to swim the same way as the fastest swimmers in the squad but often this is simply not appropriate, either because of body type and build or from limited swimming experience. Developing basic water confidence and breathing will serve you much better than more advanced stroke technique - which can leave you feeling quite overwhelmed and disheartened. Don't panic though! Turn your thought processes around and tackle the true areas of your swimming holding you back and you will feel a lot more positive about your stroke and your swimming as a whole.

- You need a big event to motivate you. This is a common trait of the Smooth - as a talented swimmer it can be hard to get motivated after so many years of swimming. You know you can perform at a very high level but do you have the motivation? The key for you might be to introduce some changes to your swimming, perhaps taking on a fresh challenge by racing in open water or keeping a lot of variety in your training sessions.

- You need variety to keep you interested. From the pool deck the Kicktastic is easiest type to spot with their lack of body rotation and over-kicking style. If you are a Kicktastic this style will feel 'normal' to you but use a pull buoy and it can be frustrating and confusing to lose ground to your fellow swimmers. Psychologically, Kicktastics find long training sets or repetitive drills very boring and need a variety of stimuli and focuses to keep things interesting. Bear this in mind when designing your training sets and improving your stroke - variety is the spice of life!

For coaches, the personality aspect of the Swim Type system is incredibly useful. Getting your message across clearly and concisely to a range of swimmers is of paramount importance - a 'one rule fits all' approach simply won't do this. We all learn in different ways: some from verbal instruction, some from demonstration, some from hands on doing, some from technical explanation and some from story telling. Adjusting your delivery to the personality of each swimmer will really help you engage more directly with a broader range of athletes and improve the speed and effectiveness of your coaching.

Can you see any of these character traits in yourself? Or perhaps see some correlation between personality and stroke style in your swimmers? Let us know on the comments section: here

Swim Smooth!

Tags: admirable trait, arnie, basic water confidence, body roll, classic personality, Classic Swingers, classic trait, comments section, common trait, desire, distraction methods, early stages, fantastic reasons, fascinating thing, fastest swimmers, fellow swimmers, fitness, get-on-with-it mentality, good stroke technique, good things, hard swimming, Health, Human Interest, inner arnie, little recovery, little time, long periods, long sets, long stroke, Many Arnie, Many Bambinos, mentality, momentum, natural rhythm, Neurological Disorders, open water, paramount importance, personality aspect, personality traits, pool deck, pull buoy, real competitive advantage, repetitive drills, rhythm, rough open water, short scrappy stroke, small tweaks, Sports, stroke, stroke development, stroke movements, stroke rhythm, stroke style, stroke technique, strongest correlation, Swim Smooth, Swim Type, swimmer, swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Diving, SwimSmooth.com, swingers, taking the time, talented swimmer, tendency, time out, training, true areas, tweaks, verbal instruction, vote, Water Sports, water work, yourself
Category Swimming |

Drag Swim

We did this workout at the pool this morning and, as usual, I feel compelled to spread the word as I thought it was really effective.  I am falling asleep as I write this if that’s any indication.

This workout as I describe it has lots of equipment used, but some of it optional.

What you’ll need…

1. Pull Buoy: Standard piece of swim gear.
2. Elastic Band: Basically, you need something to keep your feet held together while you swim.  Used with a pull bouy, this keeps you from using your legs at all (ie. cheating)… until you try it, you have no idea how hard this makes it to swim.  Mine is a slice of an old mountain bike tube.
3. Paddles:  Another standard piece of swim gear – I use these.
4. Long Sleeve T-Shirt: The weight and drag make swimming much more difficult.
5. Snorkel (Optional): This is optional, but if you are a fan of using a snorkel and want a way to incorporate it into your workout, here is a chance to use it.  I use this.
6. Kick board
7. Flippers

The workout…

Set #1 – Warmup (300m)

25m freestyle with pull buoy

25m kick with pull buoy (instead of a kickboard)

Repeat for a total of 300m

Set #2 – Drag Kick (500m)

500m kick with kick board while wearing the long sleeve t-shirt.  The extra drag adds some difficulty to the kick set.

Set #3 – Dragging the Anchor (1,000m)

500m freestyle wearing the elastic band, pull buoy, long sleeve t-shirt, and snorkel (optional).  This starts out feeling easy, but between the elastic band tied around your feet and the long sleeve t-shirt weighing you down, your legs quickly become an anchor dragging behind you.  The key is to hold form as best you can and maintain good speed.

500m – same as the above, but add paddles.  The additional power you can get with the paddles will help your speed which in turn will help your form, but the additional resistance will also make it that much harder.

Set #4 – Flipper Sprints (500m)

10 x 50m sprints while wearing flippers and still wearing the long sleeved t-shirt.  Rest 5 seconds between each 50m.

Set #5 – Sprints (250m)

10 x 25m sprints with no equipment.  Rest 5 seconds between each 25m.

Set #6 – Cool Down (200m)

Tags: 300m, additional power, additional resistance, anchor, anchor dragging, buoy, buoy 25m kick, cheating, Drag Kick, elastic band, Equipment, extra drag, flippers, freestyle, good speed, Hand paddle, kick board, kickboard, legs, long sleeve t-shirt, mountain bike, mountain bike tube, paddles, Physical exercise, pool, pull bouy, pull buoy, resistance, Rubber band, Sleeve, snorkel, Sports, spri, standard piece, swim gear, Swimming, Swimming (sport), Swimming and Diving, Swimming board, T-shirt, The weight, warmup, Water Sports, workout
Category Favorite Workouts, Featured |

The Most Common Mistake Swimmers Make

Over the festive season you may have a little time to think about and plan your swim training for the next few months. Be careful though, you could well be about to make a fundamental and incredibly common mistake - that of 'heading to the extremes'. For instance you could plan to:

- Only do technique work and no fitness training (or vice versa)

- Swim only with a pull buoy and/or paddles

- Focus purely on short sprints to develop your speed

- Aim to make your stroke as long as you possibly can

- Increase your stroke rate as high as you possibly can

- Only swim in the open water (one for our Southern Hemisphere athletes)

- Stop working on your water skills completely

We understand the temptation to take a 'one track only' approach to develop your swimming - all the coaches at Swim Smooth have been, or are currently, competitive swimmers or triathletes and have made these mistakes ourselves in the past. Unfortunately heading to the extremes like this very very rarely works out for the better. The people that become very fast efficient swimmers devote a portion of their training to areas of weakness but keep all the balls in the air with a well balanced all-round program.

If we were designing your swim program for the New Year it would include:

- The right technique work focused on your individual needs (e.g. see our Swim Type system)

- Some hard training, some longer aerobic sets and some lighter recovery sessions where you'll adapt to the hard work you're putting in.

- The use of fins during drills to gradually develop your hip flexor and ankle flexibility without having to do dedicated kick sets. Fins also help develop your kicking technique - in fact we do very few kick sets with a board here in Perth.

- If you plan to race in open water next year then we'd include drafting, sighting, pacing and mass start simulations in your pool sessions. Yes, we would keep practising this even in the off season because these skills are hard to perfect and can easily take minutes off your race times all by themselves. They're also a lot of fun and provide variety in your training.

- A focus on pacing skills - another critical aspect of your swimming technique as a distance swimmer.

- Combine these aspects into single sessions to make things more time efficient - for instance a session combining open water skills with fitness and pacing work.

- Keep it fun but be as consistent as you can with your training.

From everyone on the Swim Smooth team we'd like to thank you for all your feedback and messages of support in 2010, it's been a pleasure working with you. We've got a lot of exciting things in the pipeline for 2011 which we know you're going to love. Here's wishing you a fantastic Christmas break and a very Smooth New Year!

Cheers,

Swim Smooth!

Tags: ankle flexibility, balanced, balls, christmas, common mistake, Common Mistake Swimmers, competitive swimmers, completelyWe understand, critical aspect, designing, distance swimmer, drills, exciting things, extremes, fantastic christmas break, festive season, fins, fitness training, flexibility, hard training, hard work, hip flexor, individual needs, kick sets, kicking technique, lighter recovery sessions, little time, longer aerobic sets, mass start, New Year, New Year's Day, open water, open water skills, Open water swimming, paddles, perfect, perth, Physical exercise, pool sessions, pull buoy, race times, right technique work, short sprints, simulations, single sessions, Smooth New Year, southern hemisphere, Sports, stroke, stroke rate, swim program, Swim Smooth, Swim Smooth team, swim training, Swim Type, swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Diving, swimming technique, SwimSmooth.com, technique work, temptation, training, triathletes, United States, versa, water skills, Water Sports
Category Swimming |

The Most Common Mistake Swimmers Make

Over the festive season you may have a little time to think about and plan your swim training for the next few months. Be careful though, you could well be about to make a fundamental and incredibly common mistake - that of 'heading to the extremes'. For instance you could plan to:

- Only do technique work and no fitness training (or vice versa)

- Swim only with a pull buoy and/or paddles

- Focus purely on short sprints to develop your speed

- Aim to make your stroke as long as you possibly can

- Increase your stroke rate as high as you possibly can

- Only swim in the open water (one for our Southern Hemisphere athletes)

- Stop working on your water skills completely

We understand the temptation to take a 'one track only' approach to develop your swimming - all the coaches at Swim Smooth have been, or are currently, competitive swimmers or triathletes and have made these mistakes ourselves in the past. Unfortunately heading to the extremes like this very very rarely works out for the better. The people that become very fast efficient swimmers devote a portion of their training to areas of weakness but keep all the balls in the air with a well balanced all-round program.

If we were designing your swim program for the New Year it would include:

- The right technique work focused on your individual needs (e.g. see our Swim Type system)

- Some hard training, some longer aerobic sets and some lighter recovery sessions where you'll adapt to the hard work you're putting in.

- The use of fins during drills to gradually develop your hip flexor and ankle flexibility without having to do dedicated kick sets. Fins also help develop your kicking technique - in fact we do very few kick sets with a board here in Perth.

- If you plan to race in open water next year then we'd include drafting, sighting, pacing and mass start simulations in your pool sessions. Yes, we would keep practising this even in the off season because these skills are hard to perfect and can easily take minutes off your race times all by themselves. They're also a lot of fun and provide variety in your training.

- A focus on pacing skills - another critical aspect of your swimming technique as a distance swimmer.

- Combine these aspects into single sessions to make things more time efficient - for instance a session combining open water skills with fitness and pacing work.

- Keep it fun but be as consistent as you can with your training.

From everyone on the Swim Smooth team we'd like to thank you for all your feedback and messages of support in 2010, it's been a pleasure working with you. We've got a lot of exciting things in the pipeline for 2011 which we know you're going to love. Here's wishing you a fantastic Christmas break and a very Smooth New Year!

Cheers,

Swim Smooth!

Tags: ankle flexibility, balanced, balls, christmas, common mistake, Common Mistake Swimmers, competitive swimmers, completelyWe understand, critical aspect, designing, distance swimmer, drills, exciting things, extremes, fantastic christmas break, festive season, fins, fitness training, flexibility, hard training, hard work, hip flexor, individual needs, kick sets, kicking technique, lighter recovery sessions, little time, longer aerobic sets, Martinique, mass start, New Year, New Year's Day, open water, open water skills, Open water swimming, paddles, perfect, perth, Physical exercise, pool sessions, pull buoy, race times, right technique work, short sprints, simulations, single sessions, Smooth New Year, southern hemisphere, Sports, stroke, stroke rate, swim program, Swim Smooth, Swim Smooth team, swim training, Swim Type, swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Diving, swimming technique, SwimSmooth.com, technique work, temptation, training, triathletes, versa, water skills, Water Sports
Category Swimming |

The Most Common Mistake Swimmers Make

Over the festive season you may have a little time to think about and plan your swim training for the next few months. Be careful though, you could well be about to make a fundamental and incredibly common mistake - that of 'heading to the extremes'. For instance you could plan to:

- Only do technique work and no fitness training (or vice versa)

- Swim only with a pull buoy and/or paddles

- Focus purely on short sprints to develop your speed

- Aim to make your stroke as long as you possibly can

- Increase your stroke rate as high as you possibly can

- Only swim in the open water (one for our Southern Hemisphere athletes)

- Stop working on your water skills completely

We understand the temptation to take a 'one track only' approach to develop your swimming - all the coaches at Swim Smooth have been, or are currently, competitive swimmers or triathletes and have made these mistakes ourselves in the past. Unfortunately heading to the extremes like this very very rarely works out for the better. The people that become very fast efficient swimmers devote a portion of their training to areas of weakness but keep all the balls in the air with a well balanced all-round program.

If we were designing your swim program for the New Year it would include:

- The right technique work focused on your individual needs (e.g. see our Swim Type system)

- Some hard training, some longer aerobic sets and some lighter recovery sessions where you'll adapt to the hard work you're putting in.

- The use of fins during drills to gradually develop your hip flexor and ankle flexibility without having to do dedicated kick sets. Fins also help develop your kicking technique - in fact we do very few kick sets with a board here in Perth.

- If you plan to race in open water next year then we'd include drafting, sighting, pacing and mass start simulations in your pool sessions. Yes, we would keep practising this even in the off season because these skills are hard to perfect and can easily take minutes off your race times all by themselves. They're also a lot of fun and provide variety in your training.

- A focus on pacing skills - another critical aspect of your swimming technique as a distance swimmer.

- Combine these aspects into single sessions to make things more time efficient - for instance a session combining open water skills with fitness and pacing work.

- Keep it fun but be as consistent as you can with your training.

From everyone on the Swim Smooth team we'd like to thank you for all your feedback and messages of support in 2010, it's been a pleasure working with you. We've got a lot of exciting things in the pipeline for 2011 which we know you're going to love. Here's wishing you a fantastic Christmas break and a very Smooth New Year!

Cheers,

Swim Smooth!

Tags: ankle flexibility, balanced, balls, christmas, common mistake, Common Mistake Swimmers, competitive swimmers, completelyWe understand, critical aspect, designing, distance swimmer, drills, exciting things, extremes, fantastic christmas break, festive season, fins, fitness training, flexibility, hard training, hard work, hip flexor, individual needs, kick sets, kicking technique, lighter recovery sessions, little time, longer aerobic sets, Martinique, mass start, New Year, New Year's Day, open water, open water skills, Open water swimming, paddles, perfect, perth, Physical exercise, pool sessions, pull buoy, race times, right technique work, short sprints, simulations, single sessions, Smooth New Year, southern hemisphere, Sports, stroke, stroke rate, swim program, Swim Smooth, Swim Smooth team, swim training, Swim Type, swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Diving, swimming technique, SwimSmooth.com, technique work, temptation, training, triathletes, versa, water skills, Water Sports
Category Swimming |

The Most Common Mistake Swimmers Make

Over the festive season you may have a little time to think about and plan your swim training for the next few months. Be careful though, you could well be about to make a fundamental and incredibly common mistake - that of 'heading to the extremes'. For instance you could plan to:

- Only do technique work and no fitness training (or vice versa)

- Swim only with a pull buoy and/or paddles

- Focus purely on short sprints to develop your speed

- Aim to make your stroke as long as you possibly can

- Increase your stroke rate as high as you possibly can

- Only swim in the open water (one for our Southern Hemisphere athletes)

- Stop working on your water skills completely

We understand the temptation to take a 'one track only' approach to develop your swimming - all the coaches at Swim Smooth have been, or are currently, competitive swimmers or triathletes and have made these mistakes ourselves in the past. Unfortunately heading to the extremes like this very very rarely works out for the better. The people that become very fast efficient swimmers devote a portion of their training to areas of weakness but keep all the balls in the air with a well balanced all-round program.

If we were designing your swim program for the New Year it would include:

- The right technique work focused on your individual needs (e.g. see our Swim Type system)

- Some hard training, some longer aerobic sets and some lighter recovery sessions where you'll adapt to the hard work you're putting in.

- The use of fins during drills to gradually develop your hip flexor and ankle flexibility without having to do dedicated kick sets. Fins also help develop your kicking technique - in fact we do very few kick sets with a board here in Perth.

- If you plan to race in open water next year then we'd include drafting, sighting, pacing and mass start simulations in your pool sessions. Yes, we would keep practising this even in the off season because these skills are hard to perfect and can easily take minutes off your race times all by themselves. They're also a lot of fun and provide variety in your training.

- A focus on pacing skills - another critical aspect of your swimming technique as a distance swimmer.

- Combine these aspects into single sessions to make things more time efficient - for instance a session combining open water skills with fitness and pacing work.

- Keep it fun but be as consistent as you can with your training.

From everyone on the Swim Smooth team we'd like to thank you for all your feedback and messages of support in 2010, it's been a pleasure working with you. We've got a lot of exciting things in the pipeline for 2011 which we know you're going to love. Here's wishing you a fantastic Christmas break and a very Smooth New Year!

Cheers,

Swim Smooth!

Tags: ankle flexibility, balanced, balls, christmas, common mistake, Common Mistake Swimmers, competitive swimmers, completelyWe understand, critical aspect, designing, distance swimmer, drills, exciting things, extremes, fantastic christmas break, festive season, fins, fitness training, flexibility, hard training, hard work, hip flexor, individual needs, Jeffreys Bay, kick sets, kicking technique, lighter recovery sessions, little time, longer aerobic sets, Martinique, mass start, New Year, New Year's Day, open water, open water skills, Open water swimming, paddles, perfect, perth, pool sessions, pull buoy, race times, right technique work, short sprints, simulations, single sessions, Smooth New Year, southern hemisphere, Sports, stroke, stroke rate, swim program, Swim Smooth, Swim Smooth team, swim training, Swim Type, swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Diving, swimming technique, SwimSmooth.com, technique work, temptation, training, triathletes, United States, versa, water skills, Water Sports
Category Swimming |

The Most Common Mistake Swimmers Make

Over the festive season you may have a little time to think about and plan your swim training for the next few months. Be careful though, you could well be about to make a fundamental and incredibly common mistake - that of 'heading to the extremes'. For instance you could plan to:

- Only do technique work and no fitness training (or vice versa)

- Swim only with a pull buoy and/or paddles

- Focus purely on short sprints to develop your speed

- Aim to make your stroke as long as you possibly can

- Increase your stroke rate as high as you possibly can

- Only swim in the open water (one for our Southern Hemisphere athletes)

- Stop working on your water skills completely

We understand the temptation to take a 'one track only' approach to develop your swimming - all the coaches at Swim Smooth have been, or are currently, competitive swimmers or triathletes and have made these mistakes ourselves in the past. Unfortunately heading to the extremes like this very very rarely works out for the better. The people that become very fast efficient swimmers devote a portion of their training to areas of weakness but keep all the balls in the air with a well balanced all-round program.

If we were designing your swim program for the New Year it would include:

- The right technique work focused on your individual needs (e.g. see our Swim Type system)

- Some hard training, some longer aerobic sets and some lighter recovery sessions where you'll adapt to the hard work you're putting in.

- The use of fins during drills to gradually develop your hip flexor and ankle flexibility without having to do dedicated kick sets. Fins also help develop your kicking technique - in fact we do very few kick sets with a board here in Perth.

- If you plan to race in open water next year then we'd include drafting, sighting, pacing and mass start simulations in your pool sessions. Yes, we would keep practising this even in the off season because these skills are hard to perfect and can easily take minutes off your race times all by themselves. They're also a lot of fun and provide variety in your training.

- A focus on pacing skills - another critical aspect of your swimming technique as a distance swimmer.

- Combine these aspects into single sessions to make things more time efficient - for instance a session combining open water skills with fitness and pacing work.

- Keep it fun but be as consistent as you can with your training.

From everyone on the Swim Smooth team we'd like to thank you for all your feedback and messages of support in 2010, it's been a pleasure working with you. We've got a lot of exciting things in the pipeline for 2011 which we know you're going to love. Here's wishing you a fantastic Christmas break and a very Smooth New Year!

Cheers,

Swim Smooth!

Tags: ankle flexibility, balanced, balls, christmas, common mistake, Common Mistake Swimmers, competitive swimmers, completelyWe understand, critical aspect, designing, distance swimmer, drills, exciting things, extremes, fantastic christmas break, festive season, fins, fitness training, flexibility, hard training, hard work, hip flexor, individual needs, kick sets, kicking technique, lighter recovery sessions, little time, longer aerobic sets, mass start, New Year, New Year's Day, open water, open water skills, Open water swimming, paddles, perfect, perth, Physical exercise, pool sessions, pull buoy, race times, right technique work, short sprints, simulations, single sessions, Smooth New Year, southern hemisphere, Sports, stroke, stroke rate, swim program, Swim Smooth, Swim Smooth team, swim training, Swim Type, swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Diving, swimming technique, SwimSmooth.com, technique work, temptation, training, triathletes, United States, versa, water skills, Water Sports
Category Swimming |