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.

I was reminded of an old friend the other day when I saw a post on 'wild swimming' or as we know it...swimming. So here are a few definitions for non BS minded folk. Wild swimming = swimming Hybrid training = training Cold water therapy = swimming outside Hyrox = adult PE Espresso = coffee Americano = weak coffee Decaf = dishwater Polarised training = lots of easy shit and some proper hard stuff Anyone got any?

Tips please… My TT bike is an XS frame Canyon Speedmax- and has 650b wheels because of the XS size. It’s super twitchy in a crosswind, and particularly on descents. Any handy hints to help me feel more confident?

We asked aound and it strikes us that ALL of these races have 2 things at least in common. They are all done best 'with others' and they are all pretty tough. 1. Craggy Island ( yes again) - the whole vibe is just unique. Doubled as the Lanark tri Club world champs 2. Aberfeldy ( yes again) - vibes, course, organisation up there 3. Llanberis Half - the first M dot race in the UK . Cold, tough only lasted 2 editions as the soft southerners complained it was too hard 4. Challenge Paguera - classic Majorca, honest and scenic 5. IM Lanzarote - hands down the hardest IM course, rarely sells out as it is never going to attract time chasing. The volcanic landscape is a defining feature. 6. 70.3 Gydinia - the Polish Riveria is beautiful, easy to get to cost effective and a fair but fast course 7. IM Wales - The town of Tenby just delivers, the place, the people, the landscape and definitely one to do with pals. Pretty sure GTC had 50 athletes entered for this one year, with some maddie in a Tutu. 8. Norseman - the OG XTRI so it has 'status' and atmosphere. The ferry jump is a bit of a gimmick, ,stunning bike course and a finish on a proper big mountain. 9. Celtman - this draws people in from all over the world and some year after year. It is a genuine 'community feel' and still retains the ethos of old school racing before the social media circus 10. Roth - we have talked about this race before. Anywhere that has tourist signs saying 'triathlon area' is different. The whole area gets a bank holiday and literally hundreds of thousands of cheering spectators make it as close to feeing pro as you get. There are hundreds of others so if anyone has some favs let us know the recommendations.

Sean and I were chatting on our call this morning about lists of 'The hardest' etc and we gave it a bit of thought. First up is our top 10 Scottish Triathlons of all time ( well in the 35 years we have been part of it). 1. Abefreldy - just has to be. 70.3 is the racers distance on a tough course in one of the most scenic parts of these islands. 2. Celtman - this is a really special one for far too many reasons but it is genuinely up there with the hardest races on the planet. Location is magnificent, Course is challenging, the feel and vibe of the thing just enthralling 3. Aviemore - yeah its off road but the Long Hard Durty has history. Originally based in the borders it was a bit of a 'cult classic'. Now established in the fabulous Cairngorm national park its possibly the most beautiful location. It is also a racers race, so that ticks some boxes. 4. Gullane beach - possibly the most challenging Std you are likely to race. Beach swim, sand dunes to run through and on and a rolling technical bike. Its a classic 5. Bishopbriggs - one of only 2 pool swims to make the list. The only fully closed road race in Scotland. Superbly run, beginner friendly and still draws full aero set ups. Sells out as soon as it opens for good reason. 6. Craggy Island - sadly no more. An off road classic. The original version where you had to swim to the island from the mainland made this a genuinely unique experience. 7. Ayr Sprint ( now replaced with Irvine) - another unique race run by the super guys at Ayrodynamic tri club. Two features - a river swim upstream and downstream and riding on the Electric brae ( an optical illusion where you have to hit the wee ring and pedal hard on what looks like a downhill) 8. Monikie - another hard Std distance. Lake swim and run in a country park with a challenging bike route. Not a lot extra just a solid race experience 9. Lochgilphead - low key and family friendly but the mention here is this race helps ensure that pool stays open! 10. Loch Lomond - this is gone now too due to traffic but it was a proper jewel in the crown. Swim in the famous loch and then a super fast bike course. Always produced something. The year they mismeasured the swim and it went from 1500 to 2200 was great for the swimmers