Swim Smooth

Last week – when I flooded everyone’s inbox with news that Swim Smooth was back (sorry, not sorry – as the kids say!), a gentleman from Oregon in the USA reached out to who informed me he’d just turned 89 years old the week before and that swimming was what was keeping him going in later life. He described his life in three parts:

1. His youth was the first third, he said, when he was very successful in both the pool and open water. This time included the dream of most all athletes, to be a member of the US Olympic team. He swam the 1500 in the Melbourne Games in 1956.

2. The second third would be his Masters Swimming in both the pool and open water. During this third he was honoured with an introduction into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame.

3. The final third is now, Dave said – dealing with the likely diagnosis of a rare neurological condition called ALS. Wikipedia states that, ALS or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, is a rare neurological disease that affects motor neurons—those nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. Voluntary muscles are those we choose to move to produce movements like chewing, walking, and talking.

Despite these challenges, Dave says that when he swims he tries to be Smooth and steady. He says, he’s not fast but he feels smooth and comfortable and that it is still a great feeling to just get in and try to glide through the water. Swimming has enabled Dave to keep a certain level of fitness. Mentally it is keeping him active with a positive attitude about life. So Smooth Swimming is a must for me, Dave says.

Dave Radcliff from Oregon in the USA, a 1956 Olympian and someone who has held every master’s swimming world record from 50m to 1500m freestyle for the 75-79 and 80-84 age groups, when he returned to swimming in 1995 at the age of 61. Dave’s 1500m freestyle World Record time at age 80 was 22:16.90, only 3 minutes slower than his time in the 1956 Olympics.

He’s here today to talk to you about the importance of using it, or losing it! Enjoy!

We've got a cracker of a podcast for you this week - a fireside chat with Rob Hutchings, author of The Downriver Nomad, as he tells his story about dealing with the adversity of an alcoholic parent, the heartache of trying to adopt a child, and how he's found solace in his open water swimming pursuits and his own triathlon adventures, including swimming the length of the Clutha River in New Zealand, a distance of 256km!

Rob has some profoundly deep messages in this podcast about discovering within yourself what swimming is all about to you, about how to find challenges without necessarily having to enter competitions, and how to really embrace the joy and release that swimming provides.

As a chiropractor and also a regular yoga and pilates student, Rob offers up some great advice with respect to a more rounded approach to your swimming with regards to injury prevention and rehab too.

We hope you enjoy!

Today we're joined by Ross Davenport - 3-time Olympian, 2-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, former European record holder and now FINIS international business development manager.

We talk about Ross's childhood as a wannabe soccer star, his break at 12yrs old from swimming and the pivotal moment that saw him return to the pool fully committed and ready for action. Interestingly enough, former podcast superstars Rebecca Adlington and David Davies have also have similar hiatus periods in their adolescent years only to return more fired up than ever. Ross's interview is a great one to listen to with your kids in this regard as there are some excellent life and moral stories to be gained.

As Ross discusses right at the start of the show, Paul was Ross's key referee for landing his role with FINIS, a position in which Ross has been in for over 8 years now. Ross's passion and enthusiasm for swimming really shone through when Paul first met Ross at the Loughborough University in 2013, shortly after Ross had retired from competitive swimming. During that meeting as part of one of the Swim Smooth 3-day Coach Education Courses, Ross blistered through an amazing 100m kicking set in well under 1:05! Crazy. The coaches loved it! From there, FINIS CEO, John Mix, was looking for someone who understood swimming and the company's training aids and Ross was Paul's obvious first choice for the role. After a trip over to California for the interview, John was suitably impressed and the rest, as they say, is history.

We hope you enjoy!

Paul

In today's podcast, we speak with Jess Potter, our online video analysis competition winner from a couple of weeks ago.

The conversation with Jess - a respiratory specialist from London, UK who's been fighting on the front-line over the pandemic - was so engaging that we thought you might benefit from her story in podcast form, if you wish to see the video analysis, please pop over to this YouTube link.

The video analysis commences at ~20 minutes into the clip. In it, we discuss the following:

how Jess's hand entry has led to some shoulder injury woes and how to fix them how Jess's pull-through on her left precludes her from being able to breathe bilaterally as comfortably as she'd like how Jess has been unable to master a 2-beat leg kick for marathon swimming because of her catch and pull through...fix these up though and she (and you!) could be onto a winner!

Enjoy!

What a cracker of an episode Paul Newsome and co-host Lucy Gibson have in store for you today with special guest, Rebecca Adlington - double Olympic gold medallist and former world record holder in the 800m freestyle event with an incredible 8:14.10.

Becky has recently got married and had her second child, Albie, so we are incredibly grateful to have spent an hour in her company discussing her story and rise to dominance in the swimming world. As well as her amazing career, the podcast covers life after swimming, her great relationship with coach Bill Furniss and a 20 question Pub Quiz challenge to boot!

Join us and challenge yourself to 100m of fast freestyle for every time Paul says “you’re my absolute favourite swimmer” without reservation.

Ladies and gents, Rebecca Adlington - whoop!

Today we speak with a super inspirational athlete and coach, Swim Smooth Coach Paolo Mangilinan, who's based in Dubai, UAE.

As part of the annual Dubai Fitness Challenge - which seeks to encourage people to partake in 30 minutes of exercise every day for 30 days - Paolo decided to take it upon himself to swim 10km in the open water around the world famous and tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, every day for 30 days in November! Yes, that's significantly more distance than many of you might cycle or run in a month, and Paolo is swimming it, unaided, without a wetsuit, flippers, pull buoy or paddles and has so far backed up every day at an average pace of 1:30/100m! Insane! Listen to the podcast to hear what makes Paolo tick, what inspired him and who he hopes to inspire as part of this conquest, the highs and the lows and how he's drawn strength from those around him whom he coaches to make it through this arduous task!

Paolo has swims 29 and 30 to complete on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th November, so please give him some love and support on his Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/pao.mangilinan/ or if you happen to be in Dubai at some point in the future, check out https://www.swimsmoothdubai.com - he'd love to see you!

Enjoy!

We're back and pumped today with the achievements of Swim Smooth Manchester's Head Coach, Lucy Lloyd-Roach and her team of four female swimmers who on the 1st September broke the world record to be the first ever female English Channel Relay Team to swim across La Manche in full medley order - backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle - with each team member having to complete 60 minutes of uninterrupted swimming on their given stroke. Lucy swam the butterfly leg as British Master's butterfly champion, with Melanie Holland (a Triple Crown marathon swimmer and 4-way English Channel relay swimmer) doing the honours on the backstroke, Claire Thorne (multiple British Masters Champion) taking the breaststroke leg, and Sarah Hempenstall (Ironman and another British Masters Champion) rounding out the team with the freestyle.

The girls made it over to France in a stellar time of 12h17m and recount their training programs, experiences on the boat and their fund raising in honour of Surfers Against Sewage and also the Big Rick's team commemorating superstar marathon swimmer Mark Rickhuss who sadly passed away in 2005 at the age of just 41 from a heart attack whilst supporting another swimmer across the Channel.

Paul and Adam also discuss the latest developments at Swim Smooth, both locally and globally with our Certified Coaches, as well as the latest project the team has been working on to really enhance our online / remote coach offering.

Paul also celebrates his own 9-year "Channelversary" from the 8th September 2011, which proved to be the fastest of only two swimmers who made it across on the day which the Channel Swimming Association ratified as "the toughest conditions of 2011" - you'll see why here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnevVG4YiwQ 

Enjoy!

Today we're joined on the podcast by 5-time Ironman World Champion, Craig ("Crowie") Alexander.

Crowie was the 2008, 2009, 2011 Ironman Triathlon World Champion and previous course record holder (8:03:56 in 2011), and the 2006 (inaugural) and 2011 70.3 World Champion. In 2011 he won both the 70.3 and the full Ironman World Championships. Needless to say - he's a beast, but best of all, he's an absolute gentleman too!

Craig was humbled when Ironman legend and six-time World Champion Dave Scott lauded him as “the first true men’s champion the sport has seen in years.”

The most important thing to Craig is family. He is beyond proud of his wife (and the love of his life) Nerida, and his three amazing kids, Lucy, Austin and Lani. Everything Craig does starts and ends at home with his family. Crowie’s won a lot of titles over the years but the one he likes best is ‘Daddy’. As an aside from us, we've only met Crowie once face-to-face but recall how genuine and approachable he was and when the opportunity to record this podcast with the great man came up, he didn't hesitate, such is his show of great character - he's very much "the people's champion" as you'll hear in the first 60 second intro.

Post-retirement, Craig now runs his highly successful coaching program SansEGO (which basically means "without ego") which we believe, at it's heart, is a philosophy we can all learn from (details at: https://www.sansego.co). A lot of people talk about “life balance” but Craig really does walk the walk, not just talk the talkand his information from his website below is well worth a deeper dive, especially at this period in time of extreme uncertainty and worry:

"His load was extraordinarily heavy but he carried it with methodical focus and balance…and Craig seemed to find more and more comfort with his confidence in simply letting be, be. Alexander’s most impressive talents are not found in his swim, bike, or run competence. Instead, his unique ability to clear the mind’s clutter and make good decisions has been the key ingredient to his success on and off the racecourse. And this key to finding clarity for the 5 x Ironman/70.3 World Champion was getting the life balance right. He put the right people around him and understood that the whole was only stronger than the sum of its parts when the clutter (ego) was removed from the equation."

We really hope you enjoy this conversation with Crowie and a big thanks and shout out to Coach Chris Southwell for arranging!

Well, we did it! This one's been about 3 or 4 weeks in the making! True to the worldwide collaborative efforts we're currently seeing around the globe with corporations coming together in a siege-like mentality and utilising technologies like Zoom and Slack to build a stronger team, so too have we compiled our resources to bring you something very special today.

At Swim Smooth, we've spent the last 10 years creating an amazing team of specialist coaches around the world who've become certified in our methodology to the extent that they run their own Swim Smooth Squads and training programs in their locale. We're super tight-knit as a team and that's allowed us to leverage the skills of our individual coaches to be able to bring you products and training tips that are both diligently structured and stand the test of time. 

Coach Jana Oosthuizen from Johannesburg, South Africa, first contacted us in 2013 as a physiotherapist seeking to extend her knowledge and skills as a swim coach after researching our keen eye for video analysis and the use of the latest technologies to really enhance our effectiveness as coaches. She was also prompted by our regular discussion and diagnosis of swimming-related injuries which has come (in the most part) from the shared knowledge between Head Coach, Paul Newsome, and his wife Michelle (also a physiotherapist, specialising in shoulder issues). Michelle actually wrote many of the shoulder health related passages within the Swim Smooth Book and was a regular attendee in the early day Swim Smooth Clinics around the world back as far as 2004/5. Jana came to Paul with the idea of producing a collaborative dry-land cord and injury prevention training routine between herself, Paul and Michelle to help swimmers around the world deal with being out of the pool during this period, and what you'll hear today is the result of that work which we're super pumped to finally get across the line!

Whilst many have quickly pushed a variety of dry-land cord work and exercises out into cyber-space, I think you'll understand when you listen to the podcast just how much more considered this program is, and how we'd like to inspire you to maintain aspects of this routine even when you return to the pool. So yes, it's taken us a few weeks to get it out there, but it's been worth it!

You can check out some sneaky peaks on our YouTube Channel and for the full program of 54 exercises (all filmed in glorious HD) and split out over 8 unique sets with accompanying downloadable PDF, check it out on the Swim Smooth Guru for just $1.99/mo.

Thanks for listening and supporting us and our coaches during this very difficult time. Stay safe and well everyone!

Hey there listeners,

Hope you're managing to navigate the mess that we're in right now with COVID-19. It's certainly a very bizarre, scary and somewhat overwhelming time.

Today's podcast will be a little different - essentially some unfiltered musings from Swim Smooth's Head Coach, Paul Newsome, recorded between a car park and bathroom (no less!) as he attempts to give some strategies that have helped him in the last fortnight with the closures of the local pool, dropping to a zero revenue state for the first time in his coaching career, but how he's trying to apply his coaching, planning and forecasting skills as a swim coach to navigate this financial side of this crisis. We are hoping you can do the same.

As Paul points out, he's far from being a financial advisor and anything stated here is designed purely for rumination and then action on how you can best use your own planning skills as an athlete to work through your own situation. If it prompts nothing more than for you to seek help and advice from a trusted accountant or financial advisor at this time, then please take action.

Given the nature of the "off the cuff" recording, there's a fair bit of repetition within this 57 minute recording, but hopefully the key messages come across well enough for you to take action as suggested and help to sooth at least a morsel of the anxiety you might be feeling right now if you've also lost your job.

We'd love to hear what you think - is this a little too left-field for your liking? Was it helpful? Let us know at feedback@swimsmooth.com 

We are back with an in-depth conversation today with Bec Johnson, a Type-1 diabetes ultramarathon swimmer coached by Paul Newsome here in Perth, Western Australia.

Bec was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes at the age of 17 and was determined not to let it ruin and control her active lifestyle, instead, she leaned into it and in 2015 set up the Type 1 Diabetes Family Centre in Perth (https://www.type1familycentre.org.au) to inspire others to live a healthy and active life with this incurable disease.

This year, Bec is taken on the huge goal of swimming the following 3 ultramarathon swimming events - and Swim Smooth Head Coach Paul Newsome will be with her along the way - coaching from the boat and occasionally keeping pace in the water alongside Bec (if he's not too afraid of the sharks that is!):

1. The Rottnest Channel Swim (19.7km) on 23rd February 2020
2. The Port-to-Pub Channel Swim (25km and the southern hemisphere's 2nd longest swim) on 21st March 2020
3. A 39.4km swim to Rottnest Island and back again (some time in April when the conditions look good!)

She is charting her progress through her fund-raising campaign: https://www.lifewithoutlimits.com.auand also on https://www.facebook.com/lifewithoutlimits2020/ and is aiming to raise $85,000 for the Type-1 Diabetes Family Centre (currently she's at $60,038 as of 7th March 2020).

Bec is a wonderful ambassador, not just for Type-1 diabetes sufferers, but for everyone in all aspects of life, seeking to squeeze the last drops of fun, joy and adventure in everything she does. She has a super positive outlook filled with gratitude that comes across highly in the podcast and to everyone that she meets. When MP for Stirling Vince Connelly (who features at the start of the podcast) speaks of Bec Johnson and the wonderful work she is doing for diabetes treatment in the Australian Federal Parliament just a few days after the first swim, he calls her an "an absolute powerhouse!" and nothing could more true! This weekend in fact, she will feature on the front cover of the Sunday Times Magazine "STM" in honour of International Women's Day - amazing! She is also the only Australian to have been selected as one of the 100 Fellows of the global Facebook Community Leadership Program and has been nominated for one of the coveted 40 Under 40 awards for her work as co-founder and CEO of the Type-1 Diabetes Family Centre.

Prepare to be wowed and inspired by someone who truly raises the benchmark to a whole new level!

Oh yeah...and we talk about some swimming too and Bec's training regime in the Swim Smooth Perth Squad ;-)

Enjoy!

P.S we must apologise for the occasional "welp!" from Paul's pet dog, Sandy! Naughty Sandy!

Today we are back with Season 2 of the Swim Smooth podcast after a lengthy hiatus, and boy-o-boy do we have a great show for you today!

Have you ever thought about swimming the English Channel? The busiest shipping lane in the world; typically 14-17 degrees celcius and non-wetsuit over a distance that frequently extends to 50km due to the current and tides that prevail in this stretch of water? Yes, no, maybe? Now, imagine taking on this adventure in the middle of the night at the age of 11 years old. Well, that is exactly what our guest today did way back in September 1988 to set the world record at the age of 11 years and 333 days! Totally amazing - please welcome Tom Gregory to the show!

Tom wrote a brilliant memoir about his experience some 30 years later on and we highly recommend reading this brilliant book published by Penguin: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/304/304736/a-boy-in-the-water/9780141988757.html

It's a brilliant story about the connection between a boy and his dedicated coach John Bullet (or "JB") to take on what many people still see as being the "Everest" of open water swimming.

We really hope you enjoy this podcast with Tom and welcome you back to Season 2 of the Swim Smooth podcast!

Today we speak with legendary Swim Smooth Coach and former Swedish Olympian from the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Anna-Karin Lundin. The interview takes place in sunny Mallorca, Spain immediately after the BESTFest 2019 of Open Water Swimming, of which she won a few of the Age-Group events outright against some very good competition. 

If you've never seen Anna-Karin swim, start off by viewing this awesome clip here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LDbps7O5Ps

We talk candidly about Anna-Karin's early successes in swimming (primarily as a breaststroke swimmer), her participation at the 1988 Olympics as one of the youngest swimmers at the entire event, her early burn-out and retirement from swimming and then her relatively recent renaissance through her coaching in Gothenburg and venture outdoors into the great open water arena! We also discuss how Anna-Karin joined the Swim Smooth team and discuss more about that at this link:

http://www.feelforthewater.com/2017/07/new-video-anna-karin-turns-to-dark-side.html

You can find out more about Anna-Karin' background and her coaching services athttps://www.simcoachen.se

Recorded in June 2019, this is a "mash up" of interviews featuring excellent snippets of advice from open water swimmers right around the world enjoying the fabulous BESTFest of Open Water Swimming in Colonia Sant Jordi, Mallorca, Spain. Featuring interviews with legends of the swimming world such as Jazz Carlin (dual Olympic silver medallist) and Jack Burnell (open water swimming extraordinaire and Olympian) and recorded live on the beach prior to and immediately after several of the events, this is sure to tickle your taste buds for jetting off to amazing locations to swim in azure waters with hundreds of like-minded souls!

Find our more about next year's event at: http://www.bestopenwater.com 

See you there in 2020!

Today, after a 2 month hiatus owing to Paul dealing with a  very bad back injury and some firm reflections and adjustments to his day-2-day schedule, the boys are back with a podcast recorded some 2 months ago on sunny Mallorca, Spain. This show was meant to go out immediately and was at the 4 week mark of Paul's injury sustained over the Easter period. Sadly, a big relapse immediately after this episode was recorded has seen Paul out of action for a further 2 months. It's a little ironic, as the aim of this show was to talk about some of the insights and research Paul and Adam had gleaned over the years with respect to sleep, HRV, over-training, injury and illness which has further spilled out into everyday life for Paul in particular. Given that the show includes some snippets and insights from Paul's first dip back in the water and what that felt like with the view to showing you how you might also return to activity after a hiatus (for whatever reason), it felt prudent to hold this episode (and the next 2 back) until this blip was properly overcome. But we're now there (fingers crossed and thanks for your patience!), so on with the show!

We strongly recommend this episode primarily for those of you struggling with work / life / training balance as well as those of you currently dealing with injury and illness whom are maybe in a reflective state themselves. If you're going great guns at the moment, you might want to skip this one and / or flick it over to a mate who might benefit from our musings.

Thanks for listening!

Paul & Adam

Oura Ring - https://ouraring.com

Peter Attia / Matt Walker (Why We Sleep) - https://peterattiamd.com/matthewwalker1/

Dan Plews - https://www.plewsandprof.com/our-story

Wow! What an interview we have lined up for you today! Paul and Adam chat with Stephanie Dixon, 19-time Paralympic swimming champion and world record holder from Canada, who recently attended our 3-day Swim Smooth Coach Education Course in Portland, OR, USA at the Nike World HQ.

Stephanie talks candidly about being born missing her right leg and how her body has adapted to deliver a perfectly balanced, streamlined and symmetrical swimming stroke which in Steph's words, allows her to "swim like a mermaid".

This wonderfully open, warm and charismatic athlete will teach us all more than a few things about living a life of balance, acceptance and making the absolute most with what you've got. Stephanie's motto is to recognise that we are all "enough" with whatever we've been born with, to whomever our parents and environment might be, it's what you make of that that really counts!

The first 2 minute intro is well worth re-listening to at any time you're feeling a little low and need a little lift and perspective in your life! We hope you really enjoy this cracking interview!

Paul & Adam

Today, enjoy an awesome interview with David Davies from Wales who is Britain's only swimmer to have achieved an Olympic medal in both the pool (1500m in Athens, 2004) and the open water (10km in Beijing, 2008).

Paul first met David in a cocktail lounge (of all places!) after the men's triathlon in Hyde Park at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, 2012. After spying Dave propping up the bar, Paul plucked up the courage to say hello to his hero in open water swimming and proceeded to then blubber on about how inspiring Dave's swimming performances have been and most importantly how his stroke epitomised the "Swinger" swim type (see www.swimtypes.com). 

Despite Dave appearing to swim with a "spider" like stroke (high cadence and seemingly short, scrappy strokes), his childhood coach Dave Haller recognised that this was the way that Dave was meant to swim - changing this (Haller said), would be detrimental to his performance. It's only when faced with his 3rd Olympic Games in his home country and the prospect of going from Bronze to Silver to (hopefully) Gold was Dave tempted to alter his stroke and approach, and as history will show, sadly he didn't qualify to swim in the 10km open water event nor final in the 1500m pool event. Dave discusses this in a very candid manner which you will find super interesting.

Dave also shares his tips on transitioning from the pool to open water - sage words indeed!

Dave is one of the nicest blokes you're ever likely to speak to, so it was a great privilege to speak with him on this show - we hope you enjoy!

Today, the boys chat with Sam Bradley (née Warriner), former world #1 triathlete and Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist for New Zealand, after a nine week hiatus following a whirlwind world coaching tour with Nike in Portland, OR and Sydney, Australia.

Sam discusses explicitly how she utilises a mental "switch" to move between her athletic / coaching self and her family life (which both Paul and Adam discuss is something they're very poor at doing). This, we believe, is something which everyone can learn to be better at, especially in this digitally connected age.

We discuss Sam's athletic career which peaked very late at the age of 37 when she won the ITU World Cup Series in 2008. Sam turned to triathlon very late in life and didn't actually turn PRO until 2005, so had a meteoric rise to fame following that.

Sam recently attended the 3-day Swim Smooth Coach Education Course in Sydney, Australia and found that despite having spent her entire career breathing only to her right - through our recognition that "if something's going to go wrong in your stroke, it'll go wrong when you breathe" - we found that she's actually faster by 3-4s per 100m breathing to her left. The interesting thing here is that most of the ITU events Sam raced were on LEFT hand turn courses where it's a significant advantage to breathe to the LEFT (for navigation purposes etc) and not the RIGHT. This proved to be quite an eye-opener for Sam despite how accomplished she's obviously already been in the sport, giving way to the notion that sometimes it's the simple things that can make all the difference.

You can read a lot more about Sam's coaching work at www.sweat7.com and on Instagram @sweat7sam 

Today we sit down with 4 of our soon-to-be Swim Smooth Certified Coaches at the end of their 2 week certification course here in sunny Perth and hear all about the training they've received to become one of our 52 international coaches. 

If you're a coach thinking of taking your swim coaching further, or are a swimmer who's pondered exactly what level of service you're likely to receive with your local Swim Smooth Coach, then this podcast will be very enlightening indeed. And if neither of these scenarios is you, and you're just interested in what values a small business has when it comes to ensuring quality and sustainability for the long-game, well then this might just float your boat too!

The training is long and arduous - featuring many 16 hour days all starting with a 4am wake-up call - but the results have been super transformative. We discuss in fine detail what it takes to reach this highest level of premium coaching service that we offer, and don't hide away from the parts each coach found hard (and why) and equally where they felt they excelled. 

We commence the  podcast with a frank discussion with our coach's mentor, Emma Brunning of Active Blu, who tutors for British Triathlon and the International Triathlon Union literally all over the planet. Emma has a strong passion for ensuring that coaches are able to manage their energy output for a sustainable coaching career and her insights and tutelage alongside Adam Young is what really sets this course apart.

We discuss exactly why we hold this final stage of certification only in Perth (despite it's isolation and expense to get to) and why we insist that even the most experienced of coaches who are invited to sit the certification process must complete all stages to ensure a consistency of delivery of our methods in the way they have always been intended. To coin a well versed phrase, "there are no short-cuts". This limits the speed of growth of our coaching program of course, and whilst we fully acknowledge that the easiest way to make a quick buck would be to invite every coach who's ever expressed an interest in our program and certify them all within 4-5 days (especially given the sheer volume of interest), this wouldn't be true to our values as a program, nor as people.

We then speak with:

Chris Bagg from Portland, OR, USA - a former professional Ironman athlete turned triathlon coach and Head Swim Coach on campus at Nike World HQ where we will be next running our 3-day Coach Education Course Mandi Kowal from Iowa City, Iowa, USA - the former head coach of the University of Iowa's rowing team who turned her back on the sport to follow a passion for triathlon and to regain balance in her life Pam Nichol from Irvine, CA, USA - a passionate triathlon coach from Newport Beach who gave up the corporate life in 2012 to pursue her love for swim coaching, particularly for the over 40s (and often 60s, 70s and 80s!) Toni Saunders from Brentwood, Essex, UK - a very successful triathlete in her own right who goes by the nickname "The Fish" and whom is an experienced swim coach wanting to transform her coaching with more advanced level video analysis and stroke correction and assimilation of the Swim Smooth methodology in her developing programs

We hope you love listening to our host of passionate coaches as we chew the swim coaching fat with them. To learn more about the full process and to sign up for the coaches network, please visit:

http://www.swimsmooth.com/coaches/become-a-coach

Enjoy!

Paul, Adam and Emma

Is there anyone more synonymous with the sport of triathlon, the Ironman distance, and performance at the very highest level than Dave Scott? If he were British, he'd be a "Sir" for sure...in fact, I think we should simply refer to him as Sir Dave Scott, what do you think? Maybe even "Lord"?

Winner of a record six Hawaii Ironman World Championship titles between 1980 and 1987 and still to this date some 30 years after his epic "Ironwar" with fellow six time winner, Mark Allen, one of the fastest ever runners off the bike, Dave Scott is simply "The Man" when it comes to Ironman. In fact, even though 2018 was arguably the fastest year on record (weather-wise) in Kona's 40th outing, if Dave put his 2nd place time in 1989 (8:10:13) up against last year's winners, he'd still have finished 9th place, beating the now bike course record holder Cameron Wurf's 2018 time by some 18 seconds. Incredible! 30 years later and he's still a legend of the sport. Think about the times that athletes in other sports were doing 30 years ago...these times and performances have been totally obliterated into the past through the enhancement of sport through technology. Given how technology driven triathlon is and how far it's come in 30 years, this is a real testament to where Dave Scott sits in the history books, being the first athlete ever to be inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame in 1983. OK, we think you get the idea - he's a god to many of us!

Paul and Adam first met up with Dave in 2013 in Boulder, CO as they took a bromance car trip from the east to west coast of the USA after Paul won the prestigious Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. Dave openly welcomed Paul and Adam into his squad and during coffee afterwards, both agreed it felt like they'd known Dave forever. In fact, this is what you always hear about the great man - despite his obvious standing in the sport, Dave always seems to have time for you, recalling important individual features about you and simply taking an interest in what you do. It's a very commendable quality above and beyond all the sporting accolades.

So now, sit back, relax and enjoy hearing from one of the very best ever in this open, honest and candid discussion with The Man!

Today we speak with Coach Matt Koorey about all things swim and triathlon coaching, starting with a deep-dive into the anxieties and phobias many of us have around swimming in the open water but are often too embarrassed to admit to and talk about.

Recorded on Australia Day, this is the perfect discussion with the perfect Australian coach who was inspired by his own father, John Koorey - the first Australian male to swim across the English Channel in 1969 in a brilliant time of 10h32m - to follow his passion for sport. And let me tell you, there is no one more passionate about this sport of triathlon than Matt (please excuse the odd expletive - it's the passion bubbling to the surface!).

Matt has completed both the 3-day Swim Smooth Coach Education Course (2013) and also spent 2 weeks in Perth with Head Coach, Paul Newsome (2015) completing our Certified Coaches program. Whilst not currently operating a swim squad or 1-2-1 sessions, Matt's philosophies and experience very much echo Paul's and the rest of the Swim Smooth coaching team, and to that end, they are very good mates.

Matt spent several years being mentored by coach Brett Sutton (arguably the most decorated coach in triathlon history with athletes such as Chrissie Wellington, Nicola Spirig and Daniela Ryf to his coaching credentials). Matt's first for knowledge and improving himself as a coach, athlete, Dad and husband come pouring out of this interview, so we really hope you enjoy!

From Matt's website:

"Matt Koorey has thirty-five years’ experience as an elite level triathlete. Nineteen years as a professional triathlon coach. Dozens of IRONMAN 70.3 and IRONMAN age group victories to his name. Coach to pro triathlete’s Michael Fox (8h11m IRONMAN) and Alex Polizzi, plus multiple age-group Kona qualifiers.

Triathlon isn’t just a sport for Matt. Triathlon coaching isn’t just a job. This is what he was born to do. He’s more passionate about this sport than anyone else on the planet. Working with Matt Koorey isn’t a quick fix, it’s about consistency and commitment for long-term gain.

It won’t be easy. He demands focus. He demands excellence. There is no hand-holding. No sugar coating. He tells you what you need to hear because he is as invested in your success as you are. While you don’t need to be a rock-star triathlete with extensive experience, you do need to be dedicated, with a winner mindset, driven to achieve your new personal benchmarks.

Matt Koorey’s triathlon coaching programs aren’t open to just anyone. Places are exceptionally limited and he takes on only those who are 100% committed to his philosophy and 100% committed to achieving success. If you’re ready to take your triathlon and/or IRONMAN training to the next level – and experience world class coaching – Matt Koorey is the secret weapon you’ve been looking for."

We couldn't agree more!

Find out more about Matt at https://www.mattkoorey.com 

This raw, lengthy (2h45m!) and in-depth interview with Simon Lessing, 5-time ITU World Triathlon Champion - and Head Coach, Paul Newsome's former training partner - is over 18 years in the making and over a decade since he gave his last audio interview, so be ready for something really special as we dig into the following areas:

Simon's background growing up in Apartheid South Africa - what he witnessed and experienced and how this shaped his early years His coaching role model, David McCarney, and his first experiences with swimming one of the world's most prestigious open water swims (the Midmar Mile) at the tender age of 9yrs old and how his stroke technique (which he also terms "Swinger" interestingly enough) really suited him well for open water swimming. We discuss the importance and relevance of this vs the commonly held view that  many people are blinded by aesthetics when it comes to understanding what truly makes someone economical in the great outdoors Moving to Europe to race the prestigious French Grand Prix series but the reality and brutality of doing this on zero funds with very little support which Simon attributes positively to his approach to his "do or die" attitude to having to commit and do everything possible to make the best of his talents, hard work and opportunities A run-down of his 5 ITU World Triathlon titles starting in 1992, through 1995 (x2 - Standard and Long Course), 1996 and 1998. Simon also finished 2nd (and denied a 6th title) in a sprint with the Kazakhstan athlete, Dmitry Gaag, who was later banned for the use of EPO Arriving in the UK and how he wasn't universally accepted as being "British" especially up against his great rival, Spencer Smith, who between the two of them, won 8 world titles throughout the 1990s. Simon's mother is British and he is always proud to claim that he never raced for any other country, including his birth country of South Africa. It's easy to look at the 2009 to 2016 period in British triathlon history with the dominance of the Brownlee Brothers and say "that's when Britain really took off in triathlon!" but that would in fact be totally incorrect - Simon's supreme dominance in triathlon over every distance over a period of 20+ years is what truly paved the way and gave everyone in Britain the belief that we could be a true force on the world scene Moving to Bath University as part of the World Class Performance team as funded by the National Lottery in '98/'99 in the build-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games. How effective was this move? How effective was the environment? Was it necessarily the best place for Simon to have been? How did various personalities and agendas play out in arguably the world's leading triathlon training facility at that point in time. Simon's raw and unfiltered look at this period is highly refreshing and gives Paul a wee kick up the bum to boot! Preparing and racing the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. What was the new draft-legal environment like? Did it suit Simon? What was the game plan? How did it unfold? History shows Simon's place of 9th overall was a huge disappointment for himself and everyone that supported him (including Paul Newsome on his couch in Bath with his student mates - including a young Leanda Cave - watching in eager anticipation in the wee hours) and Simon candidly digs into this whole period as we also reflect on the adjustment to Simon's training methodologies to prepare for what was essentially a brand new sport (draft legal) where everything was very new tactically Life after competing and what Simon brings these days to the athletes that are lucky enough to be coached by him

You can read more about what Simon is up to these days at www.bouldercoaching.com It is with great appreciation that we thank Simon for this excellent interview!

In today's show we chat with Joe Skipper, multiple Ironman podium finisher, Ironman UK winner and 7th place Hawaii Ironman finisher. Joe is basing himself over here in sunny Perth with the Swim Smooth Perth Squad for the southern hemisphere summer after discovering Swim Smooth online some 2-3 years ago and using the Guru to help him dial up a 50 minute Kona swim split this year to couple up with a 4h15m bike and 2h54m run.

Joe is an avid technology user when it comes to training and tells us how he's used this to help develop an innate ability to pace himself exceptionally well in races. Currently, there's a bit of a debate raging online on the advantages vs disadvantages of using technology when it comes to knowing your body, but Joe's insight together with both Paul's and Adam's experience should help you fathom out what is best for you.

This is a no-holds barred interview with Joe - one of the most open athletes out there who discusses openly the nitty gritty of his training and racing preparation. If you're an avid Training Peaks / technology user yourself, you'll love some of the in-depth discussions on these points.

You can find out more about Joe at http://www.joeskipper.co.uk and he can be followed on Strava also where he posts all his workout information.

It's been really exciting for the squad having Joe train here alongside all the members, so we really hope that you also enjoy this candid interview where you get to know much more about one of the real prospects for a future Hawaii Ironman podium.

Any coaches wanting to apply for our next three 3-day Coach Education Courses (5-7 April, Portland, OR, USA / 11-13 April, Sydney, Australia / 23-25 May, Mallorca, Spain) can do so at this link: http://www.swimsmooth.com/improve/coach-education/swim-smooth-three-day-coach-education-course where we'll also get down to the nitty gritty on how our coaching system is helping produce some of the world's best triathlon and open water swimmers like Joe.

Cheers!

Paul & Adam

Happy New Year! 

Here's the podcast you need to kick start your 2019 with a massive bang!

Today, we're very lucky to be talking with Professor Greg Whyte OBE - a legend in the Sports and Exercise Science world and a guy who has helped raise in excess of £40 million for Sport / Comic Relief with over 30 amazing challenges of human endurance with some of the world's most famous celebrities. 

Greg was Swim Smooth Head Coach Paul Newsome's sports physiologist as part of Chris Jones's One Vision triathlon team back in the mid-90s and the inspiration behind Paul following his path in sports science and coaching.

Greg's book "Achieve the Impossible" is exactly what you need to kick start your year the right way. It's a brilliant compendium that seeks to help you set yourself some objectives for the future and then go after them with the type of tenacity that allowed Little Britain comedian David Walliams to swim the English Channel in an amazing 10h30m and to then swim the length of the River Thames (some 140+ miles in 8 days). You can see more about the book here:

http://www.achievetheimpossible.co.uk

We go into great depth about how to take on these amazing endurance events and look at how 4 "normal" ladies from the UK (all of whom have faced various personal challenges in their life), go from swimming head-up breaststroke to swimming the English Channel in under 14 hours in some terrible conditions. WARNING!! This is super inspirational and you can observe the full documentary on this here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf9BW-h3ktXkOuKTJ9hkJOw

We hope you love the podcast with Greg and that it sets you up for a great 2019!

Cheers!

Paul & Adam

Ever wondered what this crazy-looking new sport of SwimRun is all about? You know, the world's biggest growth endurance sport that is turning heads and being rated as the single-hardest one day endurance event on the planet? Yeah, that one where you see people running around in their wetsuits, supposedly "cheating" with their pull buoy and paddles, and then weirdly swimming in their trainers from island to island?

Well wonder no more as today we are joined by the triple world champions, Annika Ericsson and Kristin Larsson who know a thing or two about the sport and are here to share their experiences and a wealth of knowledge and hopefully inspire you to take part in what has rapidly become Swim Smooth Head Coach Paul Newsome's favourite new sport!

Paul met up properly with Annika in Bali at the recent Bali-Hope SwimRun event where he was promptly beaten into submission by Annika and her male partner (on this occasion, Peter Aronsson, who smashed Paul & Andy Blow by 30 minutes in September) by just over 2 minutes. This followed a beating of nearly 8 minutes over the brutal 75km ÖtillÖ World Championship event in September (with Kristin at the helm) and by 20 minutes back in June 2016 at Paul's first event on the beautiful Isles of Scilly, UK. Needless to say, Paul has a new hero and it's that hero we're going to be speaking to today! So sit back, relax, enjoy and let's learn a little more about the sport of SwimRun!

You can learn more about Annika and Kristin at these links:

https://otilloswimrun.com/meet-world-champion-annika-ericsson/

https://otilloswimrun.com/meet-a-world-champion-kristin-larsson/

Some of the biggest and best SwimRun events can be found at the following links:

https://otilloswimrun.com

https://www.brecaswimrun.com

http://www.rockmanswimrun.com

https://www.bali-hope.com/2019/

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Paul & Adam