Hey Swimmers!

I hope your week is going swimmingly! I’ve just discovered a brand-new open-water swimming spot here in Perth that offers a welcome refuge from our current crop of rather unwelcome “marine insurgents” 🦈 - so I’m a particularly happy bunny this week!

And as we all know, happy swimmers make for productive worker bees! 🐝

With that in mind, I’ve been busy behind the scenes this past week refining our plans for 2027 - from our Swim Smooth Experiences and Clinics to our regular Squads and 1-to-1 Video Analysis sessions.

One thing this process has really brought home to me is just how much thought, planning and individual attention goes into delivering a truly exceptional swimming experience. In fact, I’ve recently been putting together a comprehensive coaching manual for our Swim Smooth Certified Coaches, documenting everything that goes into one of our week-long Experiences - from the initial video analysis and stroke correction to the carefully structured training sessions, open-water adventures and individual follow-ups.

And looking back over the wonderful feedback from our 2026 Experiences in Lanzarote, Mallorca and Crete, one thing became abundantly clear:

So, this week, I thought I’d take you behind the scenes and show you what actually happens during a Swim Smooth Experience - and why so many swimmers tell us it’s unlike any swimming holiday they’ve experienced before.

Because here’s the thing...

And it absolutely can be.

There are some fantastic swimming holidays out there, offering memorable adventures in spectacular locations. We’ve enjoyed plenty of those ourselves!

But here’s a question worth asking:

What if you could come home from that holiday not only with wonderful memories and new friends, but also swimming fundamentally better than when you arrived - and, crucially, understanding WHY?

That’s the thinking behind our Swim Smooth Experiences.

Over the past year, we’ve welcomed swimmers from around the world to Lanzarote, Mallorca and Crete. From accomplished athletes swimming at 1:20/100m to developing swimmers at 2:45/100m, the range of abilities has been extraordinary.

And that’s rather the point.

At Swim Smooth, we’ve always believed in coaching the swimmer, not the stroke. Your swimming history, your physiology, your goals and your personality all influence what will help you improve.

So, what actually happens during one of these weeks? Come along for the ride!

Day 1: The camera never lies (but it can be surprisingly kind!)

After arriving at our beautiful resort, meeting your fellow swimmers and settling in, it’s time for something that many people find both fascinating and slightly nerve-racking.

We film your swimming. Properly.

Underwater, above water, from different angles, looking at how you actually move through the water rather than how you think you move.

This is where the magic starts.

And this is so much more than simply watching a video of yourself swimming!

We take the time to carefully dissect your stroke, looking at everything from your body position, breathing and alignment to your catch mechanics, propulsion, kick and stroke rhythm. It’s super comprehensive - bring snacks!!

Using above- and below-water footage, slow-motion playback and detailed coaching explanations, we help you connect what you’re feeling in the water with what’s actually happening. Often, the two are surprisingly different!

Crucially, we’re looking for the root cause of your inefficiencies, rather than simply treating the symptoms.

A sinking leg position, for example, might have very little to do with your kick and everything to do with what’s happening at the front of your stroke. And because we analyse everyone’s swimming together, you’ll often learn just as much from watching your fellow swimmers as you do from your own footage.

As Elizabeth from Switzerland commented after Lanzarote:

“Our video taken on our 1st evening was of a better quality and very well exploited as an educational tool. It was especially interesting being able to interact while watching everyone else’s video.”

There’s something enormously reassuring about discovering that even the fastest swimmers have technical challenges, and that everyone has something to learn.

By dinner, the conversations have already started. People who were strangers a few hours earlier are discussing catch mechanics, breathing patterns and the peculiar things their legs seem to do underwater!

Day 2: From seeing the problem to FEELING the solution

This is where a Swim Smooth Experience really starts to distinguish itself.

Video analysis is brilliant, but identifying a problem is only half the battle.

The real skill lies in helping a swimmer physically experience the correction.

During our Crete Experience, Freya from Belgium had a relatively low arm recovery and a slow stroke rhythm. Through carefully selected Broken Arrow drills, we helped her discover greater freedom through her shoulders.

But there was a catch!

When she concentrated on lifting her recovery arm, her stroke became even slower, introducing an unwanted pause at the front.

So we added a FINIS Tempo Trainer, helping her coordinate the improved recovery with a more continuous rhythm.

Suddenly, the whole stroke flowed more naturally.

Then we asked her to deliberately return to her original technique so she could feel the difference.

That’s an important part of how we coach: don’t just tell someone what good technique should feel like. Help them discover it for themselves.

As Freya subsequently explained:

“The progress I made in such a short time is incredible. The video analysis was super interesting, but the stroke correction is the point where you truly make the change to your swimming.”

And she absolutely nailed it.

Day 3: Finding YOUR rhythm, not somebody else’s

One of the biggest misconceptions in swimming is that longer strokes are always better.

They’re not.

During our Crete camp, we conducted a fascinating experiment using Tempo Trainers to explore different stroke rates.

Sarah, a very accomplished swimmer, naturally swam at approximately 69 strokes per minute with a beautifully coordinated two-beat kick.

When we deliberately slowed her to 41 strokes per minute, something extraordinary happened.

Her pace dropped from approximately 1:22 to 1:50/100m, and she needed a much more forceful six-beat kick to compensate for the loss of momentum.

She was swimming nearly 30 seconds per 100m slower, despite doing considerably more work with her legs!

This wasn’t proof that everyone should swim with a faster stroke rate. It was a wonderful demonstration of why an apparently long, graceful stroke isn’t necessarily an efficient one.

For other swimmers, a small adjustment of just two or three strokes per minute was enough to change the sensation of their swimming.

The lesson?

Efficiency isn’t about looking like somebody else. It’s about discovering what works for YOU.

And because we have the time, tools and coaching expertise to explore these differences individually, every swimmer leaves with a much clearer understanding of their own technique.

Day 4: A little Red Mist, anyone?

Of course, technique is only part of the equation.

You also need the fitness and pacing skills to maintain that improved stroke when the going gets tough.

Enter our famous (or perhaps infamous!) Red Mist endurance session.

Using each swimmer’s Critical Swim Speed (CSS), we establish individually appropriate training paces and progressively challenge their ability to sustain those paces as recovery becomes more demanding.

The beauty of this approach is that swimmers of very different abilities can train alongside one another, each working at an intensity appropriate to them.

It’s not about who finishes first.

It’s about learning to control your effort, maintain your technique and discover what you’re genuinely capable of.

And yes, sometimes there’s a little bit of suffering involved!

As Tim from Mallorca put it:

“Real push but a realistic and well-informed push. I benefited most from being pulled out of my comfort zone.”

Importantly, we don’t simply prescribe the same distance to everyone. Training volume, experience, fatigue and individual goals all influence how we adapt the session.

Because the objective isn’t to see who can survive the most swimming in a week.

It’s to help you become a better swimmer for the months and years ahead.

Day 5: Taking it into the beautiful blue

Now imagine applying those new skills somewhere truly spectacular.

Perhaps you’re swimming along the dramatic volcanic coastline of Lanzarote, enjoying the turquoise waters of Mallorca or watching the sunrise over the Mediterranean in Crete.

These are the moments that make a swimming holiday so special.

But we’re still coaching.

Sighting, drafting, navigation, group swimming, adapting your stroke to the conditions - these are all skills that can be practised in the open water.

And just as importantly, it’s an opportunity to enjoy the simple pleasure of swimming somewhere wonderful with people who share your passion.

We always adapt the open-water programme to the conditions and the swimmers. Sometimes that means changing the route, shortening a swim or moving a session to the pool.

Good coaching isn’t about rigidly following an itinerary. It’s about making the right decisions for the people in front of you.

And often, it’s during these swims, over breakfast afterwards or around the dinner table that some of the strongest friendships begin.

Day 6: Putting all the pieces together

By now, something quite remarkable has usually happened.

Swimmers who arrived with a vague sense that their technique wasn’t quite right can often explain precisely what they’ve been working on, why it matters and how to practise it.

We revisit individual stroke corrections, compare familiar and improved movements, consolidate pacing skills and discuss how to carry everything forward.

Consider Peter from Switzerland, who had struggled with his catch for some time.

Through video analysis and carefully designed contrast exercises, we identified how excessively spread fingers were making it difficult for him to establish a stable hold on the water.

By experimenting with finger position and feedback paddles, Peter could actually feel the difference in his propulsion and body position. Watch Peter at the start of this video of our Stroke Contrasts set on Day 6 in Crete:

See Peter's genuine improvement

He described the resulting feedback as the best he’d ever received:

"I had been working on my very low pull through score for a very long time without actually finding a fix. The video analysis and the interview helped me a lot to make progress; overall this made for the best feedback I've ever had."

And that’s what we’re aiming for.

Not a hundred technical instructions.

One or two meaningful changes, understood deeply enough to practise independently.

Day 7: Goodbye? Not quite!

The final day is about reflection, consolidation and making sure the progress doesn’t stop when the holiday ends.

We discuss individual priorities, training structure, appropriate pacing and how to continue developing through the Swim Smooth GURU, with its technique resources, structured sessions and training plans.

Everyone should leave understanding what to work on next, rather than simply hoping their improved stroke somehow sticks.

As Rachel from Mallorca beautifully explained:

“It’s not just go for a week and goodbye, it’s the start of the new swim you! Trace your swim frustrations back to the root cause and get the tools to address them long term.”

And then, of course, there are the farewells.

Although, truthfully, they rarely feel like proper goodbyes.

The bit we never quite anticipated...

Here’s something we’re especially proud of.

Every single WhatsApp group we’ve created for our Swim Smooth Experiences is still active today. Every one.

These groups were originally set up to help swimmers communicate before, during and immediately after their camps.

But months and sometimes years later, they’re still sharing training updates, race results, encouragement, jokes and plans to meet again.

That tells us something rather lovely.

We’ve created more than a series of coaching camps.

We’ve helped build an international community of swimmers who genuinely care about one another.

As Remy from Switzerland observed after Crete:

“It strikes me how fast a bond forms between us, making our friendship last far beyond just a week. It’s far more than just time in the water—it’s about shared experiences.”

And perhaps the most meaningful endorsement comes from Roy, who attended Crete with a CSS of approximately 2:45/100m:

“Although I was the weakest swimmer, I still received lots of attention. That didn’t happen with other camps. Don’t be worried that you’re not good enough; you will get better as a result of this week.”

That is exactly the environment we’ve always wanted to create.

A place where accomplished swimmers inspire developing swimmers, where everyone receives meaningful attention, and where nobody feels that they don’t belong.

So, is it a swimming holiday or a swimming camp?

We’d like to think it’s the very best of both.

Beautiful destinations. Wonderful accommodation. Fantastic food. Spectacular open-water swimming. Plenty of laughs and friendships that last.

But with something else at its heart.

A carefully structured, genuinely individualised coaching programme that gives you the understanding, confidence and tools to transform your swimming.

As Emma from Mallorca put it rather wonderfully:

“Imagine getting world-class tailored coaching, the most beautiful pool you can dream of, crystal clear seas, unlimited delicious food AND it all still feeling like a holiday.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Where will your next Swim Smooth Experience take you?

Following the popularity of our 2026 Experiences, and with both Mallorca camps for 2027 already fully booked, we’ve added two exciting new destinations to the calendar.

🇪🇬 Soma Bay, Egypt | 17–23 January 2027

Six nights in a beautiful Red Sea destination, with full-board accommodation, a fantastic 50m pool, wonderful open-water opportunities and our complete Swim Smooth coaching programme.

From €1,995 per solo swimmer.

🇪🇸 Playitas, Fuerteventura | 2–8 March 2027

Six nights at one of the Canary Islands’ best-known sporting resorts, combining a superb 50m pool, volcanic island scenery, open-water adventures and the same detailed, individualised Swim Smooth coaching.

From €2,495 per solo swimmer.

Both Experiences include six nights’ accommodation, full board and our carefully structured coaching programme, with places deliberately limited to preserve the individual attention that makes these weeks so special.

Explore the upcoming Swim Smooth Experiences and secure your place:

Join us in Egypt or the Canaries!

Because a great swimming holiday gives you memories to treasure.

A Swim Smooth Experience gives you those memories, wonderful new friendships, and the tools to become a better swimmer long after you’ve unpacked your suitcase.

Swim Smooth — Coach the swimmer, not the stroke.

Your Coach, Paul.

Hey Swimmers

During our recent Swim Smooth Experience in Crete, I slipped into the beautiful 50-metre pool between coaching sessions for an experiment:

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Give the GURU another try!

Hi Swimmers

I was looking back through our Swim Smooth GURU development notes this week and realised just how much has changed over the last 12 months.

But before I get into that, I wanted to share a brilliant bit of news from Queensland.

Three of our swimmers, Yolanda Carstens, Simone Blaser and Nicolee Martin, have just completed the 20km swim around Great Keppel Island, taking just under seven hours in some seriously rough conditions:

And here’s something I particularly love about this story: Yolanda and Nicolee are both 61 years young, whilst Simone has just celebrated her 48th birthday! Happy birthday Simone!

Because that’s the thing about preparing for a 20km open-water swim. It’s not simply about cramming in as many kilometres as possible. It’s about progressively building the fitness, endurance and resilience to cope with whatever the ocean throws at you. And by all accounts, Great Keppel Island threw plenty at them!

A massive congratulations to all three. What a wonderful example of smart, consistent training paying off, and a reminder that age needn’t be a barrier to taking on something extraordinary.

It’s funny, really. When you’re involved in something every day, you tend to notice the things that still need fixing rather than appreciating how far you’ve come!

What struck me wasn’t necessarily the number of updates we’ve made. It was how many of them relate to the little decisions we all make before, during and after a swim.

So rather than bore you with a list of software updates, I thought I’d share five practical ideas you can try this week, whether you’re a regular GURU user, haven’t logged in for ages, or simply want to get a little more from your swimming.

Try the GURU Again!

1. Take the Guesswork Out of Your Next Session

Ever arrived at the pool wondering what to swim?

Here’s something to try: rather than defaulting to another steady 2km, ask yourself what your swimming actually needs today.

Technique? Endurance? Threshold development?

We’ve been refining our Session Roulette feature so you can now select a particular session category and let the GURU suggest something within it.

It’s a lovely way of introducing variety without sacrificing the structure that makes training effective, and is now also on the iOS app!

Try this: Pick a session type you wouldn’t normally choose this week. You might surprise yourself!

Remove the guess work!

What’s the Difference Between Version 1 and Version 2 Sessions and Training Plans?

This is probably one of the biggest changes we’ve made, and it’s worth explaining because both versions offer something slightly different.

Version 1 Sessions were originally built around a single workout we’d delivered on the pool deck here in Perth. Our rather clever Intelligent Scaler could then make that session longer or shorter to suit your ability. It’s a great feature, but occasionally the scaling doesn’t quite replicate how we’d coach the session in person.

Version 2 Sessions take a different approach. They’re based directly on the four versions of each session we typically deliver to Lanes 1–4 in Perth. In other words, what you’re seeing in the GURU is exactly what our swimmers have been doing with us on the pool deck!

We’ve also made switching between pool lengths easier, with updated CSS targets, clearer on-screen instructions and improved PDF printouts showing precisely how to use your FINIS Tempo Trainer Pro. Less head-scratching on the poolside!

The training plans have evolved too.

Version 1 Plans are highly configurable. You specify your ability, how many times you want to swim each week, your target event and how long you have to prepare.

Version 2 Plans offer three distinct approaches:

• Training to Train: Structured progression without a particular race in mind. Our 10-week CSS Development Programme is a great example, with progressively faster CSS targets to keep you challenged.

• Training to Race: Event-specific preparation, such as our 20-week Rottnest Channel Swim programme. Everyone follows the same overall structure, but your CSS pace and appropriate session version make the training personal to you.

• Training for Fitness: Shorter, straightforward sessions to help maintain consistency when you simply want to feel fitter and enjoy your swimming.

All Version 2 plans also have predictive sTSS as well, so you can both visualise where your training efforts will theoretically take you, and equally, where you might come ‘unstuck’ when life inevitably gets in the way! It’s a great feature to keep you on track and show you what is realistic given your life outside of swimming.

We’ve introduced individual pay-per-plan options, allowing you to purchase a particular programme outright. Our UltraSwim 33.3 training plans are a perfect example. If you’ve got a specific event on the horizon, you can access the structured preparation you need without committing to an ongoing subscription.

Try this: Have a look at the Version 2 Sessions and consider which of the three training approaches best suits where you are with your swimming right now.

2. Don’t Let Your Pool Length Fool You

One of the most common mistakes I see is swimmers assuming their CSS pace should be identical in a 25m and 50m pool.

It shouldn’t!

Those extra turns in a shorter pool make a meaningful difference, especially when you’re trying to hit precise training intensities.

We’ve recently improved the GURU’s pool-length conversion functionality to help adjust your CSS and session targets when switching between pools.

Try this: If you regularly alternate between 25m and 50m pools, check whether your training paces account for the difference. That seemingly small adjustment could transform how manageable your sessions feel.

Get my CSS paces right!

3. Build Your Own Little Coaching Toolkit

We all have favourite sessions, don’t we?

Mine would probably include a good Goldilocks set, a challenging Red Mist session and, of course, my trusty Monday 10 × 400m!

But the same principle applies to technique.

Perhaps there’s a particular drill that helps your catch, or a video that reminds you how to improve your breathing.

The GURU now allows you to save favourite sessions and coaching videos, making it easier to revisit the things that work for you.

Try this: Identify three sessions and three technique reminders that you’d happily return to throughout the year. Variety is important, but so is consistency.

Favourite some sessions!

4. Look Beyond the Distance on Your Watch

We’ve spent a considerable amount of time improving Garmin and Apple Watch integration, including activity syncing, open-water distance calculations and workout summaries.

But here’s the coaching point: collecting more data doesn’t automatically make you a better swimmer.

Understanding what that data means does.

Instead of simply celebrating another 3km in the bank, consider whether your pacing was consistent, whether you maintained your stroke rhythm, and how the effort compared with previous sessions.

Try this: Look back at two similar swims from the last month. What can you learn from the comparison?

Am I as well paced as I think I am?

5. Make Your Progress Personal

We’ve also made it easier to navigate your swimming history and personalise activities with your own photographs.

That might sound cosmetic, but I think there’s something rather lovely about building a record of your swimming that captures more than numbers.

The sunrise swim you nearly skipped. Your first uninterrupted kilometre. That open-water session where everything suddenly clicked.

Those moments matter.

Try this: Find one swim from the last month that you’re genuinely proud of. Not necessarily your fastest or longest. Just one that reminded you why you love swimming.

Personalise my images!

The Technology Changes. The Philosophy Doesn’t.

When we started developing the GURU, the ambition was never simply to create another training app.

It was to make the knowledge, structure and encouragement you’d experience with a great Swim Smooth Coach more accessible to swimmers everywhere.

We’re still working towards that goal, and there are plenty more improvements to come.

But if you haven’t explored the GURU recently, perhaps this is a good week to rediscover it.

And if you have, I’d genuinely love to know: which feature do you find most useful, and what’s the one thing you’d still love us to improve?

After all, some of our best ideas have come from swimmers just like you.

Take another look at the GURU

Thanks for reading! Your Coach, Paul.

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Hey Swimmers

Every so often, I come across a swimming documentary or book that reminds me why I’ve devoted so much of my life to this wonderful sport.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed five in particular. They’re very different stories, but each explores something we sometimes overlook when we’re obsessing over stroke technique, training times and personal bests: the extraordinary human connections that swimming creates.

Here are five recommendations I’d encourage every swimming enthusiast to explore.

1. The Pool (2024) — Netflix

Quite possibly my favourite swimming documentary ever.

Released in 2024 but only recently added to Netflix Australia, The Pool, directed by Ian Darling, celebrates Sydney’s iconic Bondi Icebergs — unquestionably my favourite swimming pool anywhere on the planet.

The cinematography is absolutely breathtaking. The crashing waves, beautiful ocean light and wonderfully atmospheric soundtrack make it almost impossible to look away.

But what really captivated me wasn’t the scenery. It was the people.

For nearly a century, this extraordinary 50m ocean pool has brought together swimmers from every conceivable background. Through friendships, daily rituals, adversity and shared experiences, Icebergs has become something much more meaningful than somewhere to exercise.

As someone who has spent over 20 years building swimming communities, I found it incredibly moving. If you’ve ever wondered why people become so attached to their swimming squads, this film explains it beautifully.

2. Lido Land: How Britain Learned to Make a Splash — Tom Fort (2026)

Staying with the theme of community, Lido Land takes us on a fascinating journey around Britain’s wonderful outdoor swimming pools.

Many were built during the interwar years, when public swimming facilities became important places for recreation, wellbeing and social connection.

Tom Fort explores their fascinating histories, the colourful characters associated with them, their subsequent decline and, encouragingly, the resurgence of interest in these wonderful communal spaces.

Top Tip: I particularly enjoyed the audiobook on Spotify Premium. Narrated by Mike Sengelow, it’s a wonderfully relaxing listen, whether you’re travelling, driving or simply putting your feet up.

It also reminds us that a swimming pool’s greatest asset isn’t necessarily its architecture or facilities, but the people who bring it to life.

3. My Double Life — Mark Foster (2026)

This one felt particularly personal.

During my time at the University of Bath, I occasionally shared a training lane with Mark Foster, one of Britain’s greatest sprint swimmers. I say shared a lane rather than trained with, because Mark was operating at an entirely different speed!

His autobiography is a beautifully written, remarkably candid account of life at the pinnacle of international swimming while concealing his sexuality through much of his career.

Beyond the personal challenges, it’s a fascinating journey through British swimming during the 1980s, 1990s and beyond, offering an insider’s perspective on the sport’s evolution.

What struck me most was the contrast between the confidence required to compete against the world’s best and the vulnerability of feeling unable to be completely yourself.

A genuinely inspiring read.

4. The Swimmer of Auschwitz — Renaud Leblond

Something considerably more confronting, but equally powerful.

This extraordinary true story follows Alfred Nakache, a Jewish swimmer born in Algeria who became one of France’s leading swimming champions before being deported to Auschwitz during the Second World War.

Amid unimaginable suffering, Nakache drew upon his identity as a swimmer, his inner determination and the bonds he formed with others to help endure the horrors of imprisonment.

It’s a deeply moving account of courage, friendship and human resilience, and a reminder that the strength we develop through sport can sometimes extend far beyond sporting achievement.

Remarkably, Nakache would return to compete at the 1948 London Olympics.

5. The Swimmers — Julie Otsuka

I’ve mentioned this wonderful little novel in the blog before, but it absolutely deserves another recommendation, especially alongside these other stories.

The Swimmers follows a wonderfully diverse collection of characters who regularly visit an underground swimming pool. They come from different backgrounds, have different personalities, habits and reasons for swimming, yet within the confines of their beloved pool, they form something of an unlikely community.

I particularly enjoyed Otsuka’s observations about the different personalities you encounter at a swimming pool — the dedicated regulars, the creatures of habit, the swimmers who like everything just so, and those for whom their daily swim provides an essential escape from the outside world.

Sound familiar?!

When cracks begin appearing in the pool and its eventual closure looms, the characters are forced to confront what losing this shared space will mean to them.

It’s beautifully observed, sometimes amusing and ultimately quite poignant. The novel also explores memory, ageing and loss, giving it an emotional depth that extends well beyond swimming.

For anyone who’s ever felt that their local pool or swimming squad is something of a second home, this one will really resonate.

More Than Just Swimming

What connects these five stories isn’t simply swimming itself.

It’s belonging, identity, friendship and the remarkable capacity of people to find strength through a shared passion.

Whether you’re swimming at Bondi Icebergs, rediscovering a British lido or turning up to your regular Swim Smooth Squad, there’s something incredibly special about being part of a swimming community.

Find your swim community

And sometimes, the most important benefits of swimming have absolutely nothing to do with how fast you go.

Have you watched or read any of these? Or is there another swimming book or documentary you’d recommend? I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks for reading, your coach, Paul.

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Hey Swimmers

A few readers have commented recently that whilst they enjoy following my training and racing adventures, they sometimes struggle to relate to the paces, distances and times I talk about:

And I completely understand that.

When I write about swimming 10 × 400m at a particular pace, completing 20km of training in a week, or racing 33.3km over four days, I appreciate that these numbers might seem a world away from your own swimming.

In fact, this is precisely what makes Swim Smooth different.

One Benchmark. Infinite Possibilities.

At the heart of our coaching methodology is Critical Swim Speed (CSS), a practical measure of your current threshold swimming pace.

Once we know your CSS, we can prescribe training intensities relative to that benchmark, whether you’re swimming at 1:15, 1:45, 2:15 or 3:00 per 100m.

When I describe Monday’s 10 × 400m progressing from CSS +6 seconds to CSS +3 seconds per 100m, those same relative intensities can be applied to you.

Different speeds. Same relative challenge.

And through our uniquely Swim Smooth Red Mist Cycles, we can tailor the send-off times, recovery periods and overall structure of a session to suit each swimmer.

Nobody needs to swim at my pace. They simply need to swim at theirs.

Knowing Your CSS Is One Thing. Knowing What to Do With It Is Another.

Now, CSS isn’t exclusive to Swim Smooth. You’ll see it referenced in training plans, online programmes and by coaches around the world. And that’s a good thing!

But there’s an important distinction between knowing someone’s CSS and knowing how to build a genuinely effective training session around it.

How much recovery is appropriate? How should intensity progress? When should a swimmer feel in control, and when should they be questioning whether they can maintain the effort?

These decisions can completely transform the experience and effectiveness of a session.

It’s why we devote so much time to this during our Swim Smooth Certified Coach education programme.

We call it creating that feeling of being “sweetly uncertain.”

And when you get it right, something rather special happens.

Taking the Guesswork Out, Not the Enjoyment

You might think all this sounds rather scientific. Perhaps even a little too objective?

After all, isn’t swimming supposed to be enjoyable rather than an endless exercise in chasing numbers?

Absolutely!

The beauty of a well-structured session is that the framework actually removes much of the stress and uncertainty around what you’re supposed to do, leaving just enough uncertainty around whether you can achieve it.

That’s an important distinction.

As swimmers, you can trust that your targets are realistic and appropriate. As coaches, we can spend less time juggling arbitrary intervals and more time observing, encouraging and helping individuals improve.

And within a Swim Smooth Squad, swimmers of vastly different abilities can share the same session, each working towards their own appropriately challenging targets.

The Sweet Uncertainty of Progress

Some of our most rewarding sessions are deliberately designed to feel comfortably uncomfortable.

That wonderful moment when you look at the next interval and wonder, “Can I actually hold that pace?”

You’re not entirely certain. But you’re willing to try.

Because the challenge has been carefully calibrated, you can trust the process, even when it feels daunting.

That sweet uncertainty is where progress really lives.

Not in blindly pushing harder. Not in comparing yourself with faster swimmers. But in discovering what you’re capable of when the challenge is just right.

It’s also why our Swim Smooth Squads are such supportive, inclusive places to train. Everyone has their own targets, challenges and victories, but everyone shares that wonderful sense of camaraderie.

So next time I mention a pace or distance that seems completely alien to your swimming, remember:

It’s not about how fast I swim. It’s about helping you discover how well YOU can swim.

And that’s something every swimmer, at every level, deserves to experience.

Thanks for reading!

Your Coach, Paul.

⸻

A Note to Fellow Coaches

If you’re a coach who loves the idea of bringing this level of structure, personalisation and enjoyment to your own swimming community, we’d love to hear from you.

We’re currently inviting expressions of interest from coaches looking to develop their skills and businesses through our Swim Smooth Certified Coach pathway and new SwimCoachHQ platform for 2027 and beyond.

Our goal is simple: to give more coaches the education, tools and confidence to deliver outstanding swimming experiences to swimmers of every ability.

Register your interest and be part of what we’re building next:

Check out our Courses

Paul Newsome

Founder & Head Coach, Swim Smooth

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Hey Swimmers,

It’s something I get asked all the time, particularly when talking about swims beyond 10km.

A 10km swim is often regarded as swimming’s rough equivalent of running a marathon. Beyond that, people can perhaps comprehend the physical challenge, but mentally? What on earth do you think about for all those hours?

The answer is: lots of different things. And sometimes, gloriously, nothing at all.

In fact, I think varying your mental focus is every bit as important as varying your training. Too much intensity, too many targets, too much data and you burn out. But equally, too little purpose can make consistency surprisingly difficult.

My typical swimming week demonstrates this perfectly:

• Monday is my 10 × 400m session. It sounds mind-numbingly boring, but I love it. I work from around CSS +6 sec/100m down towards +3, trying to pace each repetition beautifully and chase that elusive 100 pacing score in the GURU. It demands calmness, restraint and resilience. I also squeeze it in immediately before starting work at 8am. No room for procrastination. Get in. Get it done.

• Tuesday couldn’t be more different: 3.5km of technique/endurance. No beepers. No targets. Just feeling the water and refining my stroke. Ironically, without Monday’s objective, I sometimes find this session harder to start.

• Wednesday is a 2km continuous tempo swim with my beeper at 1:30/100m. The game is wonderfully simple: stay ahead of the beep. I’m practising pacing, rhythm and starting strongly without needing a lengthy warm-up.

• Thursday morning is 1600m open water with my mate Chris. There’s essentially no performance focus whatsoever. We catch up, watch the sunrise, swim and enjoy being out there. Sometimes that is precisely what swimming needs to be.

• Thursday evening, the switch flicks back. It’s a hard CSS session with the Perth squad, chasing the young guns and holding pace. I’m also thinking as a coach: What am I learning here that will help the squad tackle this tomorrow?

• Friday is often rest. Saturday is our 5km Saturday Stoic, where the group provides the motivation. My lane mates keep me honest, and I usually retain something for the inevitably tough finale.

• Sunday depends on what I’m preparing for. It might be another relaxed ocean swim, or, before a big event, up to 12km wearing my Marlin GPS. I’ll turn 1:30/100m into a mental arithmetic game, building or losing “credit” every time the Marlin announces my latest pace. Suddenly several hours becomes a sequence of tiny challenges.

Taking those tools into a 10km+ swim

At the recent UltraSwim 33.3 in Skopelos, Greece, I found myself moving through almost all these mental modes during the 10km stage.

The opening 2km triangle was tactical: establish my position and create some daylight back to third, while elite swimmer Samir Barel disappeared up the road in first!

From 2km to around 5.5km, everything changed. The deeper water was supremely glassy and I became absorbed in the sensation of swimming: my two-beat kick, rhythm, timing and connection with the water.

Then came the headland and opposing current. Now it was about purpose: lift the stroke rate, maintain momentum, keep moving forward.

Finally, after the last feed: home.

How Do You Eat an Elephant? One Bite at a Time!

That segmentation is enormously powerful. Don’t swim 10km. Swim to the next headland. The next feed. The next kilometre. The next 100m. Sometimes simply the next stroke.

That’s perhaps my biggest advice for long-distance swimming. Build yourself a mental toolbox. Use numbers and pacing when you need focus. Use technique when you need something constructive to occupy your mind. Turn distances into games. Break intimidating challenges into small pieces. Draw energy from the people around you.

And occasionally, throw all of that away.

Watch the sunrise. Feel your hand connect with the water. Let your thoughts wander. Allow swimming to be the escape rather than another task requiring your attention.

Mental fortitude isn’t the ability to remain fiercely focused for six hours. It’s knowing when to focus, when to play, when to endure and when to let go.

And when things inevitably become difficult, remember this:

Thanks for reading, your Coach, Paul.

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Hey Swimmers,

Your Coach Paul here, coming live from not-so-sunny and a-little-bit-stormy Crete on our 6-day Swim Smooth Experience!

There’s something about swimming at sunrise.

On our Swim Smooth Experiences, the days are full. Really full.

There’s video analysis, stroke correction, presentations, pool sessions, open-water skills, discussions about techniq…

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Hey Swimmers

Last weekend, nearly 200 swimmers gathered on the beautiful Greek island of Skopelos for UltraSwim 33.3 - four days of open water swimming totalling, appropriately, 33.3km: approximately the straight-line distance between England and France across the English Channel.

Coming just a year after the 150th anniversary of Captain Matthew Webb’s pioneering Channel swim, it felt like a wonderful celebration of how far our sport has come.

Rather than tackling 33.3km continuously, UltraSwim breaks the challenge into stages:

• Day 1 gave us two swims - 4km followed by 4.9km after breakfast.

• Day 2 was 8.5km to the famous Mamma Mia church.

• Day 3 was the 10km “Queen Stage”

• Day 4 took us 4.9km around a small offshore island, including an extraordinary swim through a narrow sea cave.

Conditions were almost idyllic throughout. Crystal-clear water, spectacular rocky coastlines and mostly calm seas - although Greece had one rather significant trick waiting for us: current.

Full Results

Finding Out Who Was Who

I’d prepared diligently and arrived feeling in good shape, but Day 1 always brings uncertainty. Who is here? How fast are they? And, perhaps most importantly, have I prepared well enough?

Within a few hundred metres, one answer became abundantly clear.

Former Brazilian professional marathon swimmer Samir Barel was in a completely different league.

Behind him, though, things were getting interesting.

I found myself battling with Chris Cole, a former collegiate 400IM swimmer from Los Angeles. Chris and his wife Bryn Handley - herself a former US Trials swimmer - can both swim sub-17 minutes for 1500m (way faster than I’ve ever swum). Along with another Brazilian swimmer, Andre Leao, we quickly formed a competitive little group.

Chris outsprinted me at the end of our opening 4km stage, while Samir was already more than a minute ahead.

Two hours later we went again.

Chris and I had agreed to rotate the lead every 500m, but I completely misjudged a chicane of marker buoys. A couple of unfortunate zigzags later and all the ground we’d worked so hard to gain disappeared. Suddenly Bryn and Andre were back alongside us.

With only around 6km of 33.3 completed, chasing aggressively would have been foolish. I settled into the group, conserved energy and managed to sprint into second at the finish.

Samir? Another three minutes up the road.

When the Current Hit

Day 2 was spectacular: 8.5km along Skopelos’ northern coastline towards the Mamma Mia church.

This time the coastline was on our right, making bilateral breathing particularly valuable. Chris and I managed to hang onto Samir until the first feed station at around 3.2km.

Then he simply disappeared.

Chris and I worked together until the 6.5km feed, where he mentioned some elbow discomfort. After a quick chat and a few suggestions on how he might tweak his stroke to help his elbow, we set off again - straight into an extraordinary 2km/h opposing current.

Progress became painfully slow. Some swimmers effectively became stationary and eventually had to be removed from the water.

I kept concentrating on rhythm and forward momentum and eventually finished around 4½ minutes behind Samir and 1½ minutes ahead of Chris.

The Queen Stage

Day 3 was the one I’d earmarked: 10km along the rocky coastline.

I wanted to swim positively, and from the start I felt smooth, rhythmical and controlled. Samir again disappeared ahead, but I gradually established a gap over the chasing group.

When another opposing current appeared around a headland, I focused on something wonderfully simple: stroke rhythm and my two-beat kick. Hands, arms and legs working together. Don’t fight the water. Keep moving forwards.

Interestingly, my data afterwards showed something else. My pace remained relatively stable while my heart rate gradually dropped - a form of heart-rate decoupling suggesting I’d probably under-fuelled and was running low on glycogen.

Lesson learned: even when you’re feeling good, keep feeding the machine.

I finished six minutes behind Samir, but approximately eight minutes ahead of Chris, Bryn and Andre.

An Even Better Second Place

As pleased as I was with my own performance, one of the highlights of the entire event for me actually came from someone else.

Long-term Swim Smooth swimmer Hillary Hansen, now 64, was also racing in Skopelos. Some of you might remember Hillary from the story we featured on the blog back in May 2024, Like a Fine Wine, She Just Keeps Getting Better With Age!1

I’ve had the pleasure of coaching Hillary since then, and watching her development has been absolutely fantastic. She has worked incredibly diligently on both her stroke and fitness and has managed to bring her CSS pace all the way down to an impressive 1:26/100m.

But UltraSwim represented an entirely different challenge.

Prior to arriving in Greece, Hillary had never tackled anything beyond 10km. Suddenly she was facing 33.3km spread across four days, dealing not only with the distance but also currents, feeding, recovery and the cumulative fatigue that comes from getting up and doing it all over again the following morning.

She was absolutely brilliant.

In fact, somewhat wonderfully, we both ended the weekend in exactly the same position: second overall in our respective categories.

I was thrilled with my own result, but I was probably even more delighted watching Hillary achieve hers. At 64, taking on her first challenge of this magnitude and performing so consistently across four days was a fantastic example of something we believe very strongly at Swim Smooth: you don’t have to stop improving simply because you’re getting older.

With intelligent training, consistency, good technique and a willingness to keep challenging yourself, you might just surprise yourself with what’s still possible.

The Perfect Finish

Day 4 might have been my favourite.

We swam around a small offshore island, through a narrow cave tunnel with sea urchins and molluscs clinging to the rocks, around the headland and then made a 700m crossing back towards the mainland.

Chris and I raced hard all the way home, and I managed to find a small surge over the final 500m to finish around ten seconds ahead.

Samir, naturally, was already finished.

But perhaps the best moment came afterwards: the traditional final 1km beach swim, when all 200 competitors start together regardless of speed or finishing position.

And that perfectly sums up UltraSwim 33.3.

Yes, it’s a race. Yes, we’re competitive. And yes, I thoroughly enjoyed pushing myself over four days.

But UltraSwim does something much bigger.

It takes a distance that many swimmers would never contemplate swimming continuously, breaks it into achievable stages, and surrounds it with spectacular locations, camaraderie, shared meals, new friendships and adventure.

You arrive wondering how you’ll manage 33.3km.

You leave wondering where you’ll swim the next one.

I’ll definitely be back.

Thanks for reading, your coach, Paul.

Get Prepared with our US33.3 Programs

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Hey Swimmers,

Tomorrow, Friday 18 September, I’ll line up for my third UltraSwim 33.3 - this time around the spectacular Greek island of Skopelos.

For those unfamiliar with it, the UltraSwim 33.3 is a staged marathon-swimming event covering 33.3km - the traditional distance of the English Channel - over four days and several point-to-point swims. It is a serious endurance challenge, but also a wonderful celebration of open-water swimming, bringing together an inclusive community of swimmers from around the world.

I’ve previously completed two UltraSwim 33.3 events, both in Montenegro, and was fortunate enough to win them both. However, it has now been three years since my last one - and during that time, my thoughts on tapering have evolved.

Traditionally, tapering involves noticeably reducing your training volume during the final seven to fourteen days before an important event. The aim is to lower accumulated fatigue while preserving the fitness you have worked so hard to build.

That underlying principle still makes perfect sense. What has changed for me is how dramatically I reduce my swimming.

Personally, I now prefer to keep swimming right up to the event. I reduce some of the volume, but perhaps not as much as I once did, while retaining small amounts of purposeful intensity. During the past seven days, I have still completed more than 20km of swimming.

Why? Because I like to maintain my feel for the water. If I back off too much, I can begin to feel flat, sluggish and disconnected from my stroke. Continuing to swim gives me confidence that my rhythm, timing and flow are still there.

However - and this is important - just because this approach works for me does not mean it is right for you.

What should your final week look like?

As we discussed in our 2017 article1 on tapering effectively, tapering should generally involve reducing volume while maintaining your normal swimming frequency and retaining a little intensity.

If you normally swim four times per week, you may still swim four times - but the sessions should become progressively shorter. This allows you to maintain the familiar rhythm of your week without accumulating additional fatigue.

A sensible final week might contain:

• One shortened endurance session early in the week, keeping the swimming relaxed and controlled rather than completing one final monster set.

• One brief CSS or race-pace session, using short repetitions with generous recovery to maintain sharpness. For example, 8 to 12 × 100m around CSS pace, but without turning it into a test of fitness.

• One easy technique or recovery swim, focusing on relaxed exhalation, rhythm, alignment and your natural feel for the water.

• One short pre-event loosener, perhaps 20 to 30 minutes, including a few brief efforts at race pace to wake everything up without creating fatigue.

The intensity should be familiar and controlled. This is not the week to perform a CSS test, introduce a punishing new set or prove how fit you are. That work has already been done.

For an open-water event, one or two short swims in the event environment can also be valuable. Use these to become comfortable with the water temperature, visibility, swell and your equipment. Practise sighting and swim a handful of short, purposeful efforts - but resist the temptation to turn every familiarisation swim into an unofficial race.

You should finish these sessions feeling as though you could comfortably have done more. That is often a difficult sensation for committed endurance swimmers to accept, but it is precisely the point.

Let the GURU guide you!

The Swim Smooth GURU can help remove some of the guesswork through its sTSS Fitness, Fatigue and Form curves.

As your event approaches, you should see your Fatigue score falling. Your Fitness score may also begin to taper slightly - and that is perfectly normal. You cannot substantially reduce fatigue without accepting a small decline in calculated fitness.

The key metric to watch is Form, shown as the green line within the GURU. As accumulated fatigue dissipates, this should begin trending positively upwards, suggesting that you are becoming fresher and better prepared to perform.

Get a 7-day FREE test of the GURU

For a major endurance event, I generally aim to build my Fitness score to around 60. I reached that level a few days ago, and it is now beginning to edge down as I reduce my workload before Friday’s opening swim. I’m comfortable with that trade-off because the fitness is already in the bank; the priority now is making sure I can access it.

Your tapering checklist

A successful taper should:

• Reduce fatigue without allowing you to feel completely inactive.

• Reduce session volume while retaining your normal swimming routine.

• Include small amounts of familiar intensity with plenty of recovery.

• Maintain your feel for the water, confidence and race-specific rhythm.

• Avoid fitness tests, unfamiliar sessions, new equipment and last-minute heroics.

• Prioritise sleep, nutrition, hydration and recovery away from the water.

• Leave you eager to swim rather than relieved that another hard week is over.

Above all, remember that tapering is highly individual. Your age, training history, normal weekly volume, current fatigue and response to rest should all influence how much you reduce.

The goal is not to arrive at the start having done as little as possible. Nor is it to squeeze in one final block of fitness that simply cannot be gained at this late stage.

The goal is to arrive rested but not rusty, energised but not restless—and still unmistakably feeling like a swimmer.

If you’re racing in Skopelos this weekend, make sure you come and say hi!

Thanks for listening, your coach, Paul.

1

Weekly Blog by Swim Smooth

Mallorca Clinic, BEST Fest & Our Tips On Tapering Effectively

SS Clinics and Camps…

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10 years ago · Paul Newsome, Swim Smooth

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Hey Swimmers,

You know, there are days when I absolutely love swimming; most days in fact.

But then there are days when I really, really can’t be bothered.

I think that’s worth saying because, as a coach and active swimmer always trying to encourage you with your own swimming, it’s very easy to give the impression that motivation is something you either have or you don’t. That the people who train consistently must wake up every morning desperate to get to the pool.

They don’t.

I certainly don’t.

Some mornings the alarm goes off and the last thing I fancy is getting into cold water, staring at a black line and putting myself through a tough session. I can think of ten perfectly reasonable excuses before my feet have even touched the floor.

Create That Appointment With Yourself

What I’ve learned over the years, though, is that motivation is far less important than routine.

If you wait until you feel motivated to train, your swimming will inevitably become inconsistent. But if Tuesday morning is simply swimming morning, there’s far less negotiation involved. You get up. You grab your bag. You go.

That’s one of the great strengths of being part of a regular Swim Smooth Squad.

Find a Local Squad

You’re not just booking a swimming session. You’re creating an appointment with yourself - and, importantly, with other people.

You know your lane mates will be there. You know the coach will have something planned. You don’t need to decide what session to do, how hard to swim, or whether today should be technique, threshold or endurance. That decision has already been made for you.

Your only job is to turn up.

And very often, turning up is the hardest part.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve arrived at the pool feeling flat, tired or completely uninspired, only to walk away an hour later thinking, I’m so glad I did that.

That’s because motivation doesn’t always come before action.

Quite often, action creates motivation.

You start swimming. You chat to somebody in your lane. You get through the warm-up. You find a little rhythm. Perhaps you hit a pace you weren’t expecting. Before long, the person who really couldn’t be bothered getting out of bed has disappeared.

This is also why I’m a big believer in making swimming enjoyable and social, not simply another obligation on your weekly schedule.

A good squad should challenge you, absolutely. But it should also be somewhere you enjoy being. Somewhere you feel welcome regardless of whether you’re flying or struggling. Somewhere that makes a difficult morning just that little bit easier.

Of course, there are times when genuine fatigue means you need to rest. Good training requires knowing the difference between I need recovery and I just don’t fancy it today.

But on those ordinary low-motivation days, my advice is simple:

Don’t ask yourself whether you feel like swimming…

Stick to the routine. Get yourself to the pool. Give yourself permission to have an average session if that’s all you’ve got.

Because consistency isn’t built from hundreds of brilliant, highly motivated days.

It’s built from all those perfectly ordinary days when you turned up anyway.

And strangely enough, they’re often the sessions you end up being most pleased you did.

Spice Up Your Sessions with the GURU!

Thanks for reading,

Your Coach, Paul

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Hey Swimmers

Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who showed such incredible interest in our Swim Smooth Clinic at the University of Bath this Saturday.

The clinic sold out in a record 2 hours and 34 minutes, which genuinely blew me away. I’m now over from Australia and particularly excited to be returning to Bath University, where I studied Sport & Exercise Science from 1997–2001. There’s something rather special about coming back 25 years later to coach swimmers and coaches in the very place where so much of this journey began.

But before heading west, yesterday offered a very different swimming experience.

Swimming in the heart of London

After arriving in London, I headed to Sea Lanes Canary Wharf for a swim in their extraordinary 50m, six-lane natural swimming pool in Eden Dock.

At 18°C, beneath grey skies, a little rain and enough wind to make stripping down to your bathers seem mildly questionable, there was definitely that familiar moment of hesitation before getting in. With colder water, you’re never quite sure how the body is going to respond until you actually take the plunge.

Once in, though? Absolutely beautiful.

The water was remarkably clean and clear. Eden Dock is isolated from the Thames and surrounding Docklands and is fed by groundwater naturally filtered through layers of chalk, sand, clay and gravel. There’s no chlorine, and the water quality is regularly tested. The reeds, vegetation and occasional bit of moss around the edges initially feel slightly strange to anyone accustomed to conventional pools, but that’s precisely the point: this is a natural swimming environment right in the middle of one of the world’s great cities.

Sea Lanes is open year-round and has been deliberately designed as a stepping stone between conventional pool swimming and open water. I absolutely love that concept.

Getting comfortable with colder water

And now is actually a brilliant time to start.

As autumn arrives across the UK and Northern Europe, water temperatures will gradually fall. Rather than suddenly deciding in January that you’re going to become a cold-water swimmer, allow the seasons to acclimatise you naturally.

Keep swimming regularly as temperatures decline. Initially, don’t worry about staying in for ages; consistency is more important than bravado. Enter calmly, allow your breathing to settle and consider a wetsuit or additional thermal protection as temperatures fall.

Most importantly, respect what your body is telling you and make warming up properly afterwards part of the session. Cold-water swimming isn’t a competition to see who can tolerate the lowest temperature. It’s about progressively developing confidence and familiarity with the environment.

While we’re here… what exactly is a 2-beat kick?

Sea Lanes also gave me the perfect backdrop to film something I’m asked about all the time: the 2-beat leg kick versus the conventional 6-beat flutter kick for distance freestyle.

I grew up swimming with a 6-beat kick, as most swimmers do, but switched to a 2-beat kick around 15 years ago. For me, it has ultimately allowed me to swim faster over longer distances while using considerably less energy. But here’s the important bit: a 2-beat kick might involve less kicking, but technically it’s actually harder to get right.

So what exactly are we looking for?

With a 2-beat kick, there is one downward kick for each arm stroke, connecting opposite sides of the body:

• Right hand enters, left foot kicks down.

• Left hand enters, right foot kicks down.

Another way of feeling the same timing is to think of the right foot kicking as the right arm pulls through, and vice versa on the left.

If that sounds a little like rubbing your belly while tapping your head, you’re not alone!

A simple way to start finding the rhythm is to breathe every four strokes to one side. If you’re breathing to your left, concentrate on feeling your left foot kick down precisely as your right hand enters and begins establishing the catch. Don’t initially worry about swimming fast — concentrate on feeling that cross-body connection.

Develop a 2-beat kick: The Criss Cross Drill

One of my favourite ways of exaggerating this sensation is our Criss Cross Drill. Put a paddle on one hand and a fin on the opposite foot — for example, a paddle on your right hand and a fin on your left foot. Making those two opposite extremities feel much larger makes it considerably easier to feel that contralateral connection: right hand entering and catching as the left foot kicks down. Then swap sides.

One important caveat: the 2-beat kick isn’t necessarily for everyone. You need a good catch and pull-through to make it work effectively. If you currently generate a lot of propulsion from your legs and simply switch them off in an attempt to adopt a 2-beat kick, you may feel as though someone has pulled the handbrake on!

Watch the full GURU video

The goal isn’t simply to kick less. It’s to connect the kick beautifully with the rotation, catch and pull of the stroke — creating rhythm, timing and propulsion through the whole body.

Take a look at the Instagram video below and watch closely for that opposite hand-to-foot connection:

Building the next generation of Swim Smooth Coaches

Today switches the focus from my own swimming to coaching.

I’ll be meeting our Swim Smooth Certified Coaches online to introduce them properly to SwimCoachHQ, something I’ve spent the last nine months creating to bring coach education, certification and ongoing development together with the practical tools required to build a successful coaching business.

That includes a brand-new booking and payment system, swimmer communication and CRM tools, video analysis, ongoing coach education and even bespoke website generation to help each coach maximise the visibility of their services within their own local community.

The idea is actually very simple:

Better coaches, supported by better systems, creating better swimming communities.

I’m particularly pleased that some of our coaches will be joining us at Bath University on Saturday. From there, we’ll see many more of the Swim Smooth family in Greece next week for the UltraSwim 33.3 on Skopelos Island, before heading across to Crete for our week-long Swim Smooth Experience.

It should be a fantastic couple of weeks.

And if you’re a coach reading this thinking, I’d love to be part of that, now is a very good time to put your hand up.

We’ll shortly be accepting applications for our next intake of Swim Smooth Certified Coaches for 2026/27.

If you share our passion for coaching the swimmer rather than simply coaching “the stroke”; for creating nurturing, inclusive swimming communities; and for helping swimmers develop technique, fitness and confidence in an environment they genuinely enjoy being part of, we’d love to hear from you.

Express Your Interest

From 18°C natural swimming in the middle of London, to returning to Bath after 25 years, to bringing our coaches together from around the world — it feels like a rather nice way to start this European trip.

Thanks for reading, your coach, Paul

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Hey Swimmers,

On Saturday 5th September, something rather special is happening.

For the first time, I’ll be returning to the University of Bath, UK to deliver a Swim Smooth Video Analysis Clinic - nearly 30 years after the seeds of Swim Smooth were first planted there.

Grab a spot!

I arrived at Bath in 1997 as a Sport & Exercise Science undergraduate, surrounded by an extraordinary sporting environment. Coaches and mentors including Robin Brew, Chris Jones, Richard Hobson and David Lyles helped ignite my fascination with coaching, while Bath itself was becoming a hotbed for British and international triathlon.

Five-time World Champion Simon Lessing was there, and in the build-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics - triathlon’s Olympic debut - I somehow became Simon’s “swimming b1tch”, getting unceremoniously hammered by him in the pool virtually every day!

But it was the coaching and biomechanics modules of my degree that really grabbed me. I became fascinated by why one swimmer moved differently from another and how video could help us understand what was really happening beneath the surface.

After graduating in 2001, I backpacked through India, Nepal and Southeast Asia before eventually landing in Perth, Western Australia. By 2002 I was coaching at Stadium Triathlon Club and offering my first video analysis sessions - initially with little more than a handheld camera above the water.

The equipment became considerably more sophisticated. More importantly, so did the coaching.

Since then, I’ve personally analysed and coached more than 12,000 swimmers through video analysis. Those early ideas evolved into Swim Smooth and our Three Keys of Technique, Open Water and Training, followed by the Swim Types methodology and eventually our coach education programme.

More than 800 coaches have attended our in-person coach education courses, another 300+ have completed our Video Analysis Bootcamp, and today our methodology has influenced coach education across 119 countries through our work with British Triathlon and World Triathlon.

And yet, amazingly, I’ve never actually delivered a Swim Smooth clinic at Bath.

Until now.

Snag 1 of 12 Places for Bath

Why video analysis still matters

This lovely review from Shaun dropped into my inbox this week after a video analysis session here in Perth:

“I have been watching videos online for years to improve but just one hour with Paul is all you need.”

Now, obviously I’m not going to complain about a review like that(!), but Shaun actually highlights something we’ve been discussing a lot recently.

There has never been more swimming information available online. YouTube, Instagram and countless other platforms contain millions of tips telling you what your hand, elbow, head, hips and legs should be doing.

The problem isn’t necessarily that the advice is wrong.

The problem is knowing whether that advice is right for you.

You can spend months diligently trying to correct something that isn’t actually holding you back — or, worse, introduce a new problem because you’ve taken perfectly reasonable advice intended for a completely different swimmer and applied it too literally to yourself.

That is why, even after nearly 30 years of technological advancement, nothing quite replaces having an experienced coach standing beside you, watching how you swim and explaining the why, what and how of what needs changing.

Find your local Swim Smooth Coach

Video makes the invisible visible. Great coaching then helps you decide what actually matters.

From Bath and beyond

The 12 swimmers joining us at Bath will start with comprehensive above-and-below-water filming before moving into the classroom for their individual analysis. We’ll then spend two hours back in the pool turning those observations into practical stroke corrections.

Different speeds. Different backgrounds. Different Swim Types. Different solutions.

Join Paul Newsome on 5 September

Importantly, though, their development doesn’t finish when they walk out of the pool.

Every swimmer will receive their analysis and recommendations and 30 days’ access to the Swim Smooth GURU, allowing them to continue working through appropriate drills, sessions and training guidance once they’re back swimming in their own pool.

To us, that’s where technology is at its best: not replacing the coach, but extending the reach and impact of good coaching.

From one coach to the next generation

That philosophy is also behind what we’ve been building for coaches.

We’ve recently completely revamped SwimSmooth.com and SwimSmooth.coach, where we’ve announced our latest Swim Smooth Experiences for 2026 and 2027. As our Certified Swim Smooth Coaches come onboard to SwimCoachHQ™, they’ll also be able to publish their own clinics, camps and Experiences directly through the same platform.

swimsmooth.com

swimsmooth.coach

Swim Smooth '26/'27 Camps & Experiences

For me, SwimCoachHQ™ is something I could only have dreamed of having back in 2002 when I was starting out as a young coach in Perth.

Coach education, video analysis tools, bespoke websites built for you, bookings, payments, a CRM for better swimmer communication, marketing tools and even your own branded app - all within one integrated coaching platform.

The idea behind it is actually very simple: we want passionate coaches to spend their time doing what they got into coaching to do - coach people.

We want to remove as much of the red tape, administration and technological tedium as possible and give coaches the education, methodology and business framework to build something sustainable within their own swimming communities.

And that brings this story rather neatly full circle.

Nearly 30 years after sitting in a biomechanics lecture at Bath wondering how I might use coaching and video to help someone swim better, I’m returning to exactly the same place with better cameras, considerably more experience and an opportunity to help another generation of coaches start their own journey.

Perhaps one of them is you.

We’ll shortly be accepting applications for our next 2026/2027 intake of Swim Smooth Coaches, and we’re looking for passionate coaches from the UK and right around the world who share our belief in individual, swimmer-focused coaching.

If you’ve ever considered taking your coaching further - or wondered whether you could build a career doing something you genuinely love - we’d encourage you to put your application forward as soon as possible at SwimSmooth.coach.

Expressions of Coaching Interest

After all, back in 2002, I couldn’t have imagined where that first handheld video camera might eventually lead.

Maybe it’s time to see where yours could take you.

The technology has changed enormously.

The fundamental idea hasn’t: coach the swimmer in front of you.

Thanks for reading, your coach, Paul.

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Hey Swimmers,

You know, Google, and indeed ChatGPT or other AIs, are brilliant at finding information. Unfortunately, it isn’t always quite so good at telling you whether that information is still worth following, and whether it might suit your specific needs.

Search online for “how to swim more efficiently” and you may uncover an article published in 2010 telling you:

It might even advise you to leave your arm fully extended “for a few moments” before beginning the catch, just like Ryan from Tuesday’s 1-to-1 video analysis session was diligently trying to do, based on this advice:

Sadly, Ryan’s far from alone on this. I’ve worked with thousands of Overgliders over the years - luckily for Ryan, this hadn’t been ingrained for longer than a few months. But here’s the kicker, keep searching and you could find another article, published just six years later - by the same author in the same magazine - explaining almost the exact opposite to what Ryan had seen on YouTube:

The updated advice recognises that pausing at the front of the stroke removes propulsion, causes the swimmer to slow down and frequently demands a stronger kick to overcome the resulting dead spot - exactly why Ryan was so out of breath:

The problem is that Google doesn’t necessarily present those articles chronologically. The older article may have a stronger headline, more backlinks or better search-engine authority. Consequently, a new swimmer searching today is just as likely to encounter the 2010 advice as the correction from 2016.

Both can appear equally credible. Both remain online. Neither arrives with a warning label.

This is becoming ever-more prominent with the rise of social media like Instagram - sure, long, gliding strokes in idyllic settings look nice, get a lot of likes and appear to espouse a wonderfully efficient stroke, but are they really and are they really the right stroke for you, more importantly?

Longer Isn’t Automatically More Efficient.

For many years, swimming efficiency was closely associated with taking fewer strokes per length and a reduced stroke rate (Ryan’s was 41spm for reference this week). Swimmers were encouraged to stretch further, wait longer and make each stroke look as long and unhurried as possible.

It is an appealing idea because fewer strokes are easy to count and a gliding stroke often feels wonderfully smooth. However, as we explained in The Three Ways to Develop a Longer Freestyle Stroke1, stroke length can be improved in three very different ways:

1. Reduce drag.

2. Improve propulsion.

3. Artificially lengthen the stroke by pausing and gliding.

The first two can genuinely improve efficiency. The third normally reduces it.

Water creates substantial resistance, so the moment you stop producing propulsion, you begin losing speed. You must then accelerate again with the next stroke. That repeated slow-down-and-speed-up pattern costs energy, disrupts rhythm and can encourage a powerful “kickstart” from the legs.

Research discussed in The Data on Stroke Rate and Efficiency2 found that forcing swimmers to reduce their natural stroke rate increased oxygen consumption. They travelled further with each stroke, but became less economical while doing so.

That distinction is vital: stroke length is the outcome of good technique - not something you should manufacture by inserting a pause.

Coach the Swimmer, Not the Search Result

This doesn’t mean every swimmer should simply turn their arms over faster. Some swimmers genuinely rush, shorten their strokes excessively or fail to connect effectively with the water. Others - our classic Overgliders - need to remove the dead spot and develop better rhythm and momentum.

The appropriate correction depends on the swimmer.

So, when searching online, always check the publication date, the evidence behind the advice and whether it considers individual differences. Most importantly, be wary of any universal instruction claiming that one particular stroke style represents efficiency for everyone.

Google never forgets - but good coaching must continue to learn, question and evolve.

Are You Overgliding? Ask a Coach!

Thanks for reading,

Your Coach,

Paul

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Hey swimmers,

Last week I wrote about building back1 and how four weeks away from swimming might realistically take six or seven weeks to recover from. Quite a few of you have messaged me since to say how reassuring that was.

This was a lovely, poignant message from Greta which emphasises the context of what “building back” might mean for each of us:

Whether you’re rebuilding after illness, trying to regain some consistency, working towards a new level of fitness, or preparing for a big event, the principle is the same: small, achievable steps, repeated consistently, add up.

But eventually those steps get smaller.

And that’s where consolidation becomes important.

Nearly every Monday morning I swim perhaps the most boring set imaginable (and yet I’ve swum it 22 times already this year!):

10 × 400m, as:

• 4 × 400m @ CSS +6

• 3 × 400m @ CSS +5

• 2 × 400m @ CSS +4

• 1 × 400m @ CSS +3

It’s 4km of very controlled aerobic swimming, with roughly 20 seconds rest between each 400m - about a 16:1 work-to-rest ratio.

It isn’t difficult because it’s fast. It becomes challenging because it demands concentration, discipline and good pacing. Go off too quickly and you’ll certainly know about it later!

I’ve used this session for years as a benchmark. Sometimes improvement means swimming faster. But equally, it might mean a lower heart rate, better pacing or simply feeling more comfortable doing exactly the same work.

When I first returned after being ill, I wound my CSS right back to 1:24/100m. Considering I’d been around 1:12–1:13/100m when racing in Mallorca, that felt ridiculously slow.

But that was precisely the point.

From there I moved to 1:22, then gradually chipped away: 1:21, 1:20, 1:19, 1:18, 1:17 and finally 1:16/100m last week.

I could have pushed again this morning to 1:15.

Instead, I decided to consolidate.

I repeated exactly the same session using the same 1:16 CSS benchmark. The result was fascinating.

Last week I swam 4,000m in 53:50, averaging 1:20.76/100m. Today: 53:53 and 1:20.83/100m.

Essentially identical:

But look underneath the headline numbers and something interesting happened. My average heart rate dropped from 154 to 149bpm, my pacing score improved from 90 to 92, and I took 45 seconds less total rest.

I wasn’t faster.

I was better.

And that’s an important distinction.

One of our swimmers, Laurie, told me on the pool deck this weekend that these blogs had inspired him to add a couple of extra swims each week. That genuinely made my day right before my own 5km endurance set, because this isn’t about everyone chasing some arbitrary performance number. It’s about finding your own next achievable step.

Eventually, rapid improvements slow down. When they do, don’t immediately force the next jump.

Hold the pace. Improve the execution. Lower the effort. Pace it better. Feel more comfortable.

Sometimes progression is about moving forwards. Sometimes it’s about making where you already are feel easier.

This week, I’m consolidating.

Maybe you should too - our certified Swim Smooth Coaches are experts at helping you define what stage of the “journey” you’re currently at:

Meet your local Swim Smooth Coach

Thanks for reading,

Your coach,
Paul

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Hey swimmers,

Last week’s blog, “I Spend More Time Slowing People Down Than Speeding Them Up”1, generated plenty of discussion.

I write these blogs on a Thursday before our biggest day on the pool deck (Friday) which features two back-to-back CSS Development Sessions (we call them “Fresh ‘n’ Fruity”), a 5km Red Mist Endurance Session and then some lucky punter gets to do a 1-to-1 video analysis session to round off the week, focusing on their technique. Given this, I can always be assured that I will get some comments on a Friday morning about what I wrote on a Thursday. Last week was no different - Will, one of our lane 3 swimmers with a CSS of 1:28/100m, pulled me aside and playfully said:

What I gently reminded Will of, however—and I hope it was both reassuring and a well-deserved pat on the back—is that he's one of those swimmers who simply gets it. He understands the rationale behind the pace targets. He knows when to hold back and when it's the right time to push. As a result, it probably does feel to him that I'm always encouraging him to move forwards. And that's because I can. He's put in the work. He's built his engine. He's learned how to pace himself properly, week after week and session after session. Those foundations now give him the confidence and fitness to keep progressing. It's no coincidence that he's been one of our most improved swimmers over the last six months.

When you train like Will, you earn the right to push forwards. Those foundations allow you to take on harder sessions with confidence because you've developed the discipline to train at the right intensity on the right days. For swimmers who haven't quite embraced that approach yet, progress can often be slower than it needs to be. That was really the message behind last week's blog: a gentle call to arms for anyone who would benefit from introducing a little more structure into their training. It's certainly a lesson I've had to learn myself over the years, too.

Will’s sportive comments aside, for many of you, the message really resonated. Using tools like the FINIS Tempo Trainer to hold specific paces removes much of the guesswork from training. Instead of simply swimming “easy”, “moderately hard” or “hard”, you have an objective target that helps ensure you’re working in the right physiological zone for the session. It provides a framework for measuring progress rather than relying solely on feel.

Not everyone agreed, however.

A few readers questioned whether introducing too much objectivity risks taking away some of the freedom and joy that makes swimming so appealing in the first place. It’s a fair point. Most of us started swimming because we enjoy it, not because we wanted to stare at numbers all day.

For me, though, the numbers are never the goal. They’re simply a compass.

Without some meaningful way of measuring your training, it’s a little like firing a scattergun into the darkness. You can put in plenty of effort, but it’s difficult to know whether what you’re doing is actually moving you closer towards your goals. A handful of objective sessions each week provides direction, while still leaving plenty of room for those wonderful swims where you simply switch off and enjoy being in the water.

That brings us neatly to this week’s topic.

One of the biggest advantages of tracking your training over time is that it allows you to see not only how fitness develops, but also how quickly it can disappear and, perhaps more importantly, how long it really takes to come back.

Whilst it certainly wasn’t enjoyable watching my own fitness curve fall away so dramatically after Best Fest Mallorca 2026, following a month of illness, there has been something quietly satisfying about watching it steadily climb again. The daily improvements are small, almost imperceptible, but together they tell a reassuring story: consistent training, even after a setback, always moves you back in the right direction.

The chart below illustrates exactly what I mean.

It’s an old saying that every endurance athlete has heard, but until you actually see it plotted in front of you, it’s difficult to appreciate just how true it really is.

In May, I reached one of the highest levels of swim fitness I’ve enjoyed in years, culminating in winning the overall title at Best Fest Mallorca 2026. After the event, I stayed on to coach our Swim Smooth camp before unfortunately picking up an illness that kept me out of the water for almost four weeks.

The result was a dramatic drop in fitness.

What struck me wasn’t simply how quickly my fitness declined during that month, but how much longer it has taken to rebuild it. Even now, around six to seven weeks after returning to training, I’m still not quite back to where I was before getting sick.

The recovery curve is noticeably shallower than the decline.

A rough rule of thumb from my own experience this time around has been a 4:6 ratio. Four weeks lost through illness has required around six or seven weeks of consistent training simply to approach my previous level again. Everyone is different, of course, but it’s a useful reminder whenever life interrupts your training.

Quantifying Your Different Types of Training

Within the SwimSmooth GURU, we quantify training using Swimming Training Stress Score (sTSS). It’s a measure of the overall training load from each session, taking into account both duration and intensity relative to your Critical Swim Speed (CSS).

As a guide:

• A one-hour technique session might score 35-45 sTSS, whereas a more challenging Technique / Endurance session might take you closer to 75-85 sTSS.

• A CSS development session will often score around 65-95 sTSS.

• A demanding one-hour Red Mist session covering around 5 km may reach 120 sTSS or more.

• Longer open water swims of 8-12 km can accumulate substantially higher scores again.

The temptation is to think that if harder sessions build fitness faster, then simply doing more of them must be the answer.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly how many swimmers end up overtrained, injured or sick.

Fitness isn’t actually built during the training session itself. It’s built during recovery.

That’s why the GURU displays three simple metrics that work together:

• Fitness (blue) shows the long-term adaptations you’re accumulating.

• Fatigue (pink) reflects the short-term cost of your recent training.

• Form (green) represents your freshness and readiness to perform.

Monitor Your Fitness in the GURU

As fatigue rises, form naturally falls. Push that imbalance for too long and eventually something has to give. Sometimes that’s simply slower performances. Sometimes it’s injury. Sometimes, as I experienced this year, it’s illness.

This is also why tapering before an important race works so well. During the final 10-14 days before your event, you’re no longer trying to build more fitness. Instead, you’re allowing fatigue to fall while preserving as much fitness as possible. Your fitness may plateau, or even dip ever so slightly, but your form begins climbing, leaving you feeling fresher, stronger and ready to perform when it matters most.

I’ve written before about the importance of patience when returning after illness or an enforced break from swimming. The biggest mistake I see is swimmers trying to regain everything in the first week back.

Your body simply doesn’t work like that.

If anything, this chart has reminded me that consistency is far more powerful than intensity. The decline happened quickly, but the rebuild has required patience, discipline and trust in the process. There haven’t been any miracle sessions—just one good swim after another.

That’s perhaps the biggest lesson of all.

Don’t become disheartened if illness, injury or life gets in the way of your training. Your fitness will come back. It simply asks for the same thing that built it in the first place: sensible, consistent training over time.

So if you’ve recently had some time away from the pool,

Because while fitness may disappear surprisingly quickly, consistency will always win it back, and your Swim Smooth Coach is primed to helping you do exactly that!

Find Your Squad

Thanks for reading.

Your coach,

Paul

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Hey Swimmers,

One of the things I probably say more than anything else on pool deck is:

People are often surprised by that. Surely every coach wants their swimmers to go faster?

Of course we do. But paradoxically, one of the best ways to become a faster swimmer is learning when not to swim fast.

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Hey Swimmers

It is now just under 15 years since I swam the English Channel, yet the experience remains remarkably vivid.

On 8 September 2011, after waiting in Dover for nearly three and a half weeks, I finally got my opportunity. My daughter Isla was due to be born only a couple of weeks later, so this had become a genuine do-or-die attempt. If I did not swim that day, three years of preparation would end with me returning home empty-handed. Admittedly, I would be returning home to welcome a brand-new member of the family, so it was not all bad!

That long wait taught me something most people do not realise about swimming the English Channel: completing the training is only one part of the challenge. Getting yourself onto the start line is an undertaking in itself.

The next time you are sitting in a pub and a mate casually says, “I’d love to swim the English Channel one day,” here is the first thing you can tell them:

You cannot simply enter it.

There is no ballot, no mass start and no online form where you select a date, pay your money and turn up. Swimming the English Channel is part athletic challenge, part maritime operation and part negotiation with the moon.

Here is how it actually works.

Step one: book the boat, not the swim

The first thing an aspiring Channel swimmer must do is secure an officially registered pilot boat. These boats are the scarce resource in the whole operation, with bookings often made two or three years in advance.

Across the two recognised governing organisations, the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) and the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation (CS&PF), there are only around 13 registered escort boats available to serve swimmers from all over the world.

You contact the pilots directly and ask which tidal windows and positions they have available. You might be offered something such as “third swimmer on the July neap tide.”

That does not mean you are swimming on the third day of July. It means you are third in line during a particular tidal window. If conditions allow the first two swimmers to go, you are next. If bad weather intervenes, you might wait several days, move into another window or not swim at all.

The contract is between you and the pilot. You pay the pilot directly, usually with an initial reservation fee followed by a substantial deposit. The boat fee for a one-way attempt is typically around £3,500, although every pilot sets their own prices and terms.

Choosing your pilot generally determines which of the two governing organisations you register with. Both organisations appoint an official observer, enforce the rules and ratify successful crossings.

For my swim, I was registered with the CSA and piloted by Andy King aboard the Louise Jane. The relationship with your pilot is critically important. You are trusting them to interpret the weather and tides, select the correct starting time and guide you safely through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

You must prove that you are ready

Booking a boat does not automatically qualify you to start.

A solo swimmer must complete a verified six-hour swim in cold water. Under the CS&PF rules, that means water at 16°C or below, completed within 18 months of the attempt and at least 14 days before the tidal window begins.

That six-hour swim should not be mistaken for the training required to cross the Channel. It is simply the minimum evidence that the swimmer understands what prolonged exposure to cold water feels like.

There is also a medical assessment, paperwork and registration fees. Applications generally need to be completed by 30 April in the year of the swim.

By the time travel, accommodation, training camps, pilot fees and contingencies are included, an overseas swimmer could realistically spend £5,000 to £8,000 or more.

You do not receive a fixed start time

The Channel swimming season now runs from 1 April to 31 October, but most swimmers favour the warmer summer months.

When your tidal window arrives, you travel to Dover and wait.

And wait.

Your pilot studies the weather, wind, sea state and tides. The call might come the evening before. It could also come at short notice, with a start in the middle of the night.

My wait lasted almost three and a half weeks. Every day brought the same mixture of hope, frustration and uncertainty. You need to remain physically prepared to swim, but you also have to manage your energy and emotions. You cannot spend every day worrying that this might be your last opportunity, yet you must be ready if the telephone rings.

By 8 September, I was running out of time. Isla was about to arrive and I needed to return to Australia. This was my chance, regardless of whether the Channel was offering the conditions I might have chosen.

Most swims begin from Samphire Hoe or Shakespeare Beach. The swimmer enters the water from the boat, swims to shore, stands clear of the water and then begins on the observer’s signal.

From there, France is approximately 21 miles or 34 kilometres away.

Except, of course, it is not that simple.

Why Channel swimmers travel in an “S”

The tides in the Dover Strait are extraordinarily powerful. They flow along the Channel rather than conveniently carrying a swimmer directly towards France.

For roughly six hours, the water pushes the swimmer in one direction. The tide then changes and carries them back the other way. Viewed on a tracking map, a successful crossing usually resembles an elongated “S”.

This is not poor navigation. It is the pilot working with the tide.

Spring tides occur around the new and full moons, when the gravitational effects of the sun and moon combine. They move more water and create stronger tidal streams. Neap tides occur around the quarter moons, when those effects partially counteract one another.

Most swimmers prefer neap tides because the flow is gentler and the period around the turn of the tide is longer. That can provide more margin for error near the French coast. Faster swimmers may sometimes use a spring tide to their advantage, but it demands extremely accurate timing.

This is where a slow feed can become surprisingly expensive. If a swimmer stops for three minutes every hour during a 14-hour crossing, they lose 42 minutes. Near France, that could be the difference between landing quickly and being swept beyond Cap Gris Nez. What appears to be another 20 minutes of swimming can suddenly become two additional hours.

The pilot is not merely following alongside. They are constantly calculating where the swimmer needs to be several hours into the future.

The day the Channel showed its teeth

I completed my crossing in 12 hours and 14 minutes. Strangely, I have always felt a little embarrassed by that time. It is only around 46 minutes faster than the often-quoted average crossing time of approximately 13 hours, and I had hoped my swimming background might produce something quicker.

But times rarely tell the complete story in open water.

Conditions that day were horrendous. The south-westerly wind reportedly reached approximately 28 to 35 knots, and the water temperature was around 14°C. It was terribly rough, terribly cold and a genuine battle against the elements.

Later, 8 September was regarded as the most challenging day of the 2011 Channel season on which anyone successfully completed a crossing. Around 20 swimmers set out that day, but only two finished. I was one of them.

With hindsight, that matters far more than whether the clock read 10, 11 or 12 hours. The Channel is not a swimming pool. You cannot meaningfully compare two crossing times without understanding the tide, wind, temperature, starting position and sea state experienced by each swimmer.

Sometimes success is not about producing the time you imagined. It is about continuing to move forwards when the conditions bear little resemblance to the day you had hoped for.

France does not count until you clear the water

Channel rules are beautifully simple and brutally strict.

The swimmer may wear one standard costume, one cap and goggles, but no wetsuit or buoyancy aid. They cannot touch the boat or another person. Food and drinks must be passed or thrown from the boat without physical contact.

To finish, the swimmer must reach France and clear the water onto dry land. If cliffs make that impossible, they must touch the rock face with no seawater beyond them.

Only then does the boat sound its horn.

The swimmer usually returns to England aboard the pilot boat, exhausted, cold and often seasick, while their observer prepares the report required for ratification.

Captain Matthew Webb completed the first recognised crossing in 1875, swimming breaststroke for 21 hours and 45 minutes. Today’s fastest swimmers have completed it in under seven hours, while other successful crossings have taken close to 29.

But the defining challenge has never been the straight-line distance.

It is gaining a place, completing the preparation, remaining ready through years of uncertainty and then matching your swimming to a narrow opening created by the weather, the tides and the moon.

Would I do it again?

When people ask whether I would swim the Channel again, my usual answer is no. I have done it, ticked the box and experienced everything I wanted from it.

I loved the challenge. I loved battling the elements, and I loved taking on something widely regarded as one of the hardest physical challenges a person can attempt.

Interestingly, it was not the hardest endurance event I have personally completed. That distinction belongs to the 2018 ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship, which I raced with Precision Fuel & Hydration founder Andy Blow. We covered approximately 75 kilometres, including 10 kilometres of open-water swimming and 65 kilometres of trail running, in a little over nine hours. For me, that was substantially harder.

But the Channel is different. Its history, uncertainty and reliance on nature give it a mystique that very few sporting challenges can match.

If I ever did consider returning, I would want to live in the UK for the summer. I would keep myself ready and hope to cherry-pick a favourable day, perhaps even attempting a carefully selected spring tide as some faster swimmers do.

For now, that remains very much a pie-in-the-sky idea.

So, the next time somebody in the pub says, “It’s only 21 miles, isn’t it?” you can smile knowingly.

On the map, perhaps.

In the Channel, there is no such thing as only 21 miles.

Thanks for reading. Your Coach, Paul.

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Hey swimmers,

Thanks so much for all your recent feedback on the blogs. It really inspires me to know that you're enjoying them. On to today's question:

It seems counterintuitive. If they race in lakes, rivers and the sea, surely that’s where they should be doing most of their training too?

In fact, famously, David Davies (Olympic bronze (1500m) and Olympic silver (10km open water) famously talks in our podcast from 2019 about how Beijing in 2008 was only his 3rd ever open water swim - not race, swim - and he collected an Olympic silver medal in the event’s inaugural edition!). You can listen to that full interview here to bring context to today’s blog:

But before we answer why David and so few other elite open water swimmers actually train in the open water, it’s worth asking a different question:

For most of us, it’s about far more than performance. It’s the freedom, the scenery, the fresh air, the camaraderie and the simple joy of escaping the black line at the bottom of the pool. We swim outdoors because we genuinely enjoy it.

Elite open water swimmers see things rather differently. For them, open water swimming is all about performance.

That changes the question from “Where would I most like to swim today?” to “Where will I get the greatest training benefit?”

Of course, open water skills matter. Sighting, drafting, feeding, swimming in close quarters and coping with changing conditions all need to be practised. But when an elite coach is planning a week’s training, they also have to consider travel time, unpredictable weather, water quality and whether the conditions will actually allow the session they want to complete.

Very often, the answer is that the pool simply offers a more controlled, measurable and productive environment.

I learnt this lesson the hard way.

Back in 1998, while preparing for the British Under-23 Olympic Distance Triathlon Championships, I decided to spend six to eight weeks training almost exclusively in the open water. I thought I was doing exactly the right thing by making my preparation as race-specific as possible.

Instead, I sacrificed quality.

I couldn’t consistently hit the high intensities I needed, and when the race started my pacing was completely off. My lactate levels skyrocketed and, although I still exited the water in third place, I lost over 90 seconds to the two leaders across just 1500 metres. That deficit effectively ended my race before the bike leg had even begun.

I thought I was training specifically for performance. In reality, I’d compromised the very training that would have improved it.

Does that mean you should stop swimming in the open water?

Absolutely not.

If your primary goal is enjoyment, adventure, confidence or simply spending time outdoors, then open water is exactly where you should be. Those benefits are incredibly valuable in their own right.

But if you have an important race coming up and genuinely want to maximise your performance, it’s worth borrowing a page from the elite playbook - which I do with my own training.

Here’s how I structure my own week

The important thing isn’t to copy this exactly, but to notice the role each session plays.

Monday – Red Mist Endurance (Pool)
I complete my classic 10 × 400 m session, typically swimming between CSS +3 and CSS +6 seconds per 100 m. This is the cornerstone of my endurance development, and the pool allows me to hold very precise pacing that simply wouldn’t be possible in changing open water conditions.

Tuesday – Technique & Endurance (Pool)
Around 3 km focused on improving efficiency using drills, fins, paddles and a pull buoy. I’ll often include sighting practice or swimming alongside training partners so I’m still rehearsing open water skills within a controlled environment.

Wednesday – Tempo Swim (Pool)
A simple 2 km continuous swim at my best sustainable pace. Think of it as the swimming equivalent of a tempo run. It provides a regular benchmark of where my fitness really is, even on days when I’m not feeling particularly fresh.

Thursday – Open Water for the Love of It
This is usually a relaxed 1.5–2 km swim with my mate Chris. It’s not about performance—it’s simply about enjoying being in the ocean together. Later that day I’ll complete a structured CSS threshold session back in the pool, where I can target exactly the intensity I need.

Friday – Recovery or Technique
Either a day off or another easy technical swim, depending on how my body is responding.

Saturday – Saturday Stoic (Pool)
A 5 km session combining technique, threshold work, Red Mist endurance, sprinting and open water skills. It brings together many of the key elements of the Swim Smooth approach in one session. This same approach is used by all our Swim Smooth Squads around the world:

Join a Swim Smooth Squad

Sunday – Long Open Water Swim
This becomes my race-specific session. Depending on the event, I’ll swim anywhere from 3 km to 12 km continuously while monitoring my pace with GPS and practising feeding strategies and race execution.

The structure of my week hardly changes. What changes is my CSS pace, which gradually gets faster, and the distance of my Sunday swim as my target event approaches.

The interesting thing is that even this probably includes more open water swimming than many elite open water athletes actually do. The majority of their training still takes place in the pool because that’s where they can most effectively build the engine they’ll rely on when race day arrives.

So the next time you’re wondering why elite open water swimmers spend so much time staring at the black line, remember that they’re not training for the environment—they’re training for the performance.

For the rest of us, it’s perfectly okay if performance isn’t the only goal. Swimming in the open water for the sheer joy of it is one of life’s great pleasures, and that’s a wonderful reason to head to the beach whenever you can.

But if your next race really matters to you, don’t assume that more open water is automatically better. Often, the fastest way to become a better open water swimmer starts with a well-planned week in the pool, using the open water purposefully for the things that only it can teach you.

Thanks for reading.

Your Coach, Paul.

Join Coach Fiona Ford in Italy to Work on Your Open Water Skills: 2-9 September

Join Fiona Ford for an unforgettable week of swimming on Italy's stunning Adriatic coast, where world-class coaching meets an incredible holiday experience. Combining expertly guided sea and pool sessions with personalised Swim Smooth coaching, this camp is your chance to refine your technique, build endurance, and immerse yourself in the beauty, culture, and relaxed lifestyle of Cesenatico—all under the guidance of one of Britain's most accomplished triathlon coaches.

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Hey Swimmers,

If you’ve been away from swimming for a few weeks, a few months, or even a few years, there’s a good chance you’re carrying around a little bit of dread.

That last point reminds me a little bit of the sign you often see in a pub that says “Free beer tomorrow.” Tomorrow never comes, obviously.

Nonetheless, I know the ‘dread’ feeling all too well and why it can be so prohibitive to your forward momentum.

As I wrote about last week, I’ve just come through three weeks out of the water myself after getting properly knocked around by illness. It would’ve been easy to force my way back in, try to prove something to myself, and expect my swimming to be exactly where I left it.

Instead, I chose to be kind to myself - much to the amusement of my training partner, Chris, who has now also succumbed to the lurgy:

That’s the first lesson when returning to the water:

leave your expectations (and in my case, my entire personality!) at the pool door.

You’re not trying to win an Olympic medal on day one. You’re simply trying to reconnect with something that you know makes you feel better.

Because here’s the thing that so many swimmers forget: almost nobody regrets going for a swim. We regret putting it off.

Six Is The Magic Number

Over the years, we’ve seen a remarkably consistent pattern.

For many swimmers, it takes around six swims to start feeling like themselves again.

Not one swim.

Not two.

And certainly not after the first session where you feel out of breath and wonder where all your fitness has gone.

The first swim often feels awkward.

The second can feel surprisingly hard.

The third and fourth are usually where you begin to remember why you love it.

By the sixth swim, the rhythm starts to return. The water feels familiar again. Your confidence begins to rebuild.

That’s why it’s so important not to judge your comeback on your first session back.

Judge it after six.

Give Yourself Permission To Start Small

One of the biggest mistakes swimmers make is believing they need to return at full speed.

You don’t.

Twenty minutes is enough.

A few gentle lengths are enough.

Turning up and chatting with your lane mates is enough.

The hardest part is rarely the swimming itself. It’s walking through the door.

Once you’re there, the water usually does the rest.

The Water Is Waiting For You

At Swim Smooth, we’ve seen it hundreds of times.

Someone returns after an absence feeling nervous, embarrassed, or worried they’ve fallen behind. A few weeks later, they’re smiling, feeling fitter, sleeping better, and wondering why they left it so long.

Swimming has a wonderful way of giving back far more than it asks of us.

So if you’ve been away for a while, here’s your challenge:

Don’t think about getting fit.

Don’t think about pace.

Don’t think about how many sessions you’ve missed.

Simply commit to six swims.

Be kind to yourself. Lower the bar. Take the pressure off.

Just get back in the water and let the process work its magic.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly it starts to feel like home again.

Join one of our Squads near you!

Thanks for reading! You Coach, Paul.

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Hey Swimmers

A few weeks ago, I was writing about arguably my best-ever week of swimming.

At 47 years old, I’d just enjoyed my strongest performances at BestFest Mallorca, swimming times and paces that I hadn’t seen for years. I was feeling fit, confident and excited about what might be possible later in the season.

The irony wasn’t lost on many of my swim…

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