🏊‍♀️💪 Why Your Best Swim Doesn’t Show Up When It Matters Most

(And How to Fix It This Summer)

Hey Swimmers,

You’ve done the work all winter. The metres are banked. The pace is there. And yet, as the summer season approaches up there in the northern hemisphere, many swimmers still feel a quiet uncertainty… will it show up when it counts?

I’ve felt that myself more times than I care to admit.

In fact, in just 10 days I’ll be jumping on a plane to join many of you in the northern hemisphere for a month of coaching and racing. I’ll be at the Best Centre in Mallorca from 15 May to 7 June, and lining up again at BestFest. It’s one of my favourite weeks of the year… but it hasn’t always gone to plan.

Back in 2017, I kicked things off with what can only be described as a disastrous 5km swim along the stunning Es Trenc beach. The setting was incredible. The energy was high. But I got it wrong. My fitness simply didn’t match my attitude at the start. I went out too hard, and within minutes I’d blown up.

And just like that, my state unraveled.

The stroke tightened. The breathing became forced. Mentally, it was a battle just to keep moving forward. I got to the finish, but it wasn’t pretty. More importantly, it left a dent.

But here’s the key part.

Over the next few days, I didn’t try to magically improve my fitness. That wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I focused on recomposing. Resetting my mindset. Getting my pacing, rhythm, and internal dialogue back under control.

By the time the 10km race came around at the end of the week, when others were starting to feel the fatigue and let their guard down, I felt calm, composed, and ready. It turned into one of my strongest swims of the week.

Same body. Same fitness.

Different state.

That’s the piece most swimmers miss.

In our squads, we see it all the time. A swimmer nails every session in training, then tightens up in a key swim. Not because they’ve lost fitness, but because they haven’t prepared how they want to show up.

This is where sessions like Red Mist Endurance play such an important role.

They’re not just about hitting splits. They’re about learning to stay composed as the pressure builds. Swimming to a Red Mist Cycle teaches you to trust your pacing, to sit just ahead of discomfort, and to earn your rest. You’re training your mind as much as your body.

You start to recognise that feeling of control.

And crucially, how to return to it when things wobble.

As you head into your summer races, don’t just think about what you need to do. Think about who you need to be.

Because performance isn’t just physical.

It’s how consistently you can access your best self when it matters.

Train the body but tune the mindset and this is how you’ll truly prepare the performance.

See you on pool deck… or maybe on the start line in Mallorca.

Your coach, Paul.

P.S. I’ve put together a little Red Mist session for you to try this week - all of our squads around the world are tapping into it and giving it a go - see if it helps you: we’re calling it “Countdown to Lift Off!” - here’s the whiteboard, but if you follow the link below you’ll be able to get all your CSS paces and Red Mist Cycles dialled in specifically for you with helpful videos to make sure you really nail this session!