Simplified, Intuitive Practice

Here’s an exerpt from an email I received from a recent workshop student. I felt his question and my response may be helpful to those who feel overwhelmed or confused by what to do with TI in your practice times… I`m a little bit unstructured in my swim training so I need some advice. I`m [...]

The Perfect 25

THE PIECES OF THE PERFECT 25 No matter how short or how far we intend to swim, it starts one 25 meter (or yard) pool length at a time. The excellence of the whole swim is never greater than the excellence of each part of the swim- so why permit inferior parts? Excellence does not [...]

Machine Versus Fish

Next time you’re at the pool or waterway, take a look at the swimmers around you. It is not hard to see the difference between those who swim like ‘machines’ and those that swim like ‘fish’- those that are mechanical in their movements, plowing through versus those that are fluid and quiet- slipping along smoothly. [...]

Be Slippery When Wet

For the last several practice sessions in the sea I was working on improving my ability to hold a long stroke at higher tempos. For me, my goal is to take the long-stroke I enjoy effortlessly at 1.20 tempo, down into my race level tempo range of 1.00 to 0.90. Here was my open-water set [...]

Overlap For Length

I was inspired to write a few essays on this topic of stroke length because of my open-water swims last week. I was working with a Tempo Trainer, concentrating on my stroke-lengthening skill over 3km distance- increasing tempo, while holding stroke length. Stroke length is perpetually being attacked by water resistance (which increases with speed), [...]

Go For Muscle Or Skill?

I want to stimulate our thinking about the difference between focusing on building muscles (i.e. fitness) during swim practice versus focusing on building skill. Let’s take this example of the difference between a practice set using  paddles versus a set using a fist in the stroke. Paddles increase the surface area of the hand and [...]

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Focus For The Mind

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 6 of 9 – Focus For the Mind FOCUS Your mind needs positive, productive, prioritized things to dwell on while you are swimming, especially under stress (voluntary stress of racing or in fearful situations). Again, what you practice is what you will perfect. What you train your brain [...]

Building Gears Into My Stroke

I swam 3750m today at Akdeniz Univ pool. The water was 30.8 C. I started at 9:00. 10x 50m gentle, check-in warm-up Then 3x these sets: 6x 75m – hold SPL 15, 16, 17 per 25′s w/ 4-breath rest between 50m fist ez 3x 150m – hold SPL 15, 16, 17, 17, 16, 15 per [...]

Slow Work Produces Full Catch

I swam 3250m at the Akdeniz University pool. The water was 31 C. Started at 10:50. 10x 50m gentle, ‘check-in’ warm-up 5x this set: 50 fist, 50 FR 50 fist, 100m FR 50 fist, 150m FR The objective was to maximize the catch, while holding minimum SPL. Open-turns (to reduce exertion in hot water). I [...]

What’s The Right Angle of Rotation?

I swam 2250m at the Akdeniz University pool. The water was 30.5 C. Started at 8:45. 10x 50m gentle warm-up 7x this set: 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m The objective was to minimize SPL, and find a point that I could focus on and refine in each new set. Open-turns (to reduce exertion in hot water). [...]