Has come up 3 time this week and is something I have been working on in my own swimming. The guys at Swim Smooth were huge on this - their mantra was higher stroke rates are always faster and they did have some great back up data that showed the worlds fastest OW swimmers in tri were at 80SPM. Couple of things I have learned over the years that add in nicely. The bigger you are and by bigger I mean taller, more muscular, bigger hands and feet you do not gain as much as a smaller less powerful athlete by taking the stroke rate up. If you simply try and take your stroke rate up without having sound mechanics - there is a fair chance you lose grip on the water and work harder but actually go slower. Some people present as being 'one paced'. This is generally a lack of gears and is cemented in by them just swimming the same every time with no thought or focus to improve. That may not be deliberate as it does seem our sense of movement can be soluble in water. Gears are important - if we try to vary pace so if we swim slowly we may exert less force or even just swim lazy - both of which train us not to swim well. The stroke should be the same on every repetition - the change in pace coming from the increased speed of rotation. The hands don't move faster through the water - if the do we have lost grip. I looked at a range of swims to see what the data says - you may identify yourself in here. No names to protect the innocent. of course there are too many variables to make this a 'study' but I think it offers some insight. All pool swims. Person Normal pace/ SR Best pace/SR A 2:30/50 2:23/ 54 B 2:26/50 2:18/53 C 2:04/54 1:56/58 D 2:03/31 1:57/34 E 2:00/64 1:47/62 F 2:01/50 1:56/ 54 G 1:49/54 one paced H 1:56/48 1:46/51 I 1:53/60 1:47/63 J 1:46/50 1:28/58 K 1:46/60 one paced L 1:44/50 1:40/50 M 1:46/60 1:34/66 N 1:38/60 1:26/64 O 1:37/60 1:27/66 P 1:35/58 1:24/64 Q 1:35/60 1:18/70 R 1:33/54 one paced S 1:26/63 1:19/66 Whilst not 100% the case there is a strong correlation with stroke rate and speed. Always an exception that proves the rule but pretty much all the sub 2 times are 54 or greater, all the sub 1:30's are north of 60.

I was at the Northumbrian middle distance this year which was the British champs. There were folks from all over the UK, I was especially impressed with the Welsh contingent in their Welsh tri suits. It got me wondering if there is a Scottish equivalent? And further (because I have a problem with the GB kit) would it be possible to wear the ‘thistle’ at European champs?

A visit to the local pool can often make us wonder when we see someone effortlessly gliding up and down the lane. How do they do that? Chances are that swimmer was a competitive swimmer as a child, but not always. Beth Potter advised me a few years ago not to waste my time trying to build swim improvement into the Tri Club juniors - just get them to join a swim club. Thankfully I ignored her and we have just had 2 more of our youngsters make the national squad - neither of whom have ever been at a swim club. Two youngsters swimming 1:50/100 now down to the 1:15/100 level. This, I think, is significant as over the last 5 years all of the other 8 that made the national squad all swam in clubs. Before I go on, there is no special sauce or magic bullet just the simple art of aquiring skill through purposeful, repetitive practice. In 1993 Swedish psycholgist Anders Ericsson conducted a study on elite violinists and found that each of them had accumulated around 10000 hours of practice by the time they were 20. The 10k rule was popularised in Malcolm Gladwells book ' Outliers' and he drew on examples from sport and other activities such as chess to further show the benefits of not just practice but purposeful, deliberate practice. Young swim club swimmers then lets say from age 8 start swmming. Typically they swim 5 or 6 days a week, often dong double days. That equates to 20-25k of swimming a week or say 8 hours of actual swim time. 50 weeks of the year by the time they are 18 years old that comes to only 4000 hours! As adults looking to improve to that level which is club level, not elite then to accumulate 4000 hours would take far longer than 10 years. Let's use me as a relatable example. I had never swam more than a length of a pool at any speed until I was 27. That feeling of exhaustion reaching the wall spent and out of breath after a single length, oh yes its etched in the memory. So what do we have to do to aquire higher skill levels? Practice on its own won't cut it as typically we have no idea what it is we are supposed to practice. We have to learn first what to practice then go do that purposefully. Practice on it's own doesn't make perfect - it makes permanent.

Having spent over 3 decades in daft outdoor pursuits I have seen ( and made) probably every mistake in the book. There isn't a week goes by when someone does something to limit progress. Without thinking about it super analytically here are my favourites. In no particular order 1. Not being consistent and doing the boring stuff. Being distracted by the fun stuff - fine now and again but i its a feature it will limit progress. 2. Under Fuelling. Not just in sessions but every day. One that popped up for me personally simply not eating enough protein. 3. Doing the hard sets too easy and the easy sets too hard. This links to number 1...I just joined the boys for a chain gang..next days Vo2 session couldn't do it. 4. Skipping the sessions that target your weakness and always playing to the current strong suit 5. For triathlon - viewing it as 3 sports rather than a 'linked system'. If your weakness ( see 4) for example is the swim and you fail to address it, there will always be a limit on how well the whole system improves

We usually have spring camps and we have occasionally done an off season one just to set us up for the incoming darkness so we are heading to the Costa again in Oct. Triathlon Training Camp (16–23 Oct 2026) 🇪🇸 We’ve just opened applications for the next camp - this time on a more invite-only basis following the success of the previous edition. This version of the camp includes: • Longer endurance rides • Outdoor 50m pool sessions • Evening debriefs & coaching discussions • Supported bike excursion day • Structured swim, bike & run training across the week Link to book below: https://thefitescapemalaga.notion.site/The-Fit-Escape-M-laga-Triathlon-Training-Camp-35a38a7c0a9180b2a3f5c465fda0a368?pvs=143