Comments on: A Coached Swim

By: Richard Skerrett

Richard Skerrett — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 13:17:50 +0000

Not quite a third of the way yet. I managed a reasonable amount at the weekend but Monday and Tuesday were less successful – too much traffic! Today I have to stay home so I suppose I have to take the optimistic view that rest is good. With a bit of luck the rest of the week will be more productive.

You’re right about the costs of travelling. It adds to the cost of going to galas because they’re usually quite far away from here.The last one this year is going to be Cardiff – if I don’t decide to leave it out because of my slight tendon problems. I’m seeing a physiotherapist soon and should be getting the results of my knee x-ray soon too.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 11:23:18 +0000

In reply to Richard Skerrett.

Hi Richard,
Thanks for that, I did look into the Swim Smooth stuff and the coach in Cardiff but decided I wanted something closer to home so that I could afford a few sessions over the winter without the added expense and time of travelling to them. I’m sure they are very good but it works out quite expensive by the time you factor in the travelling costs as well.

It may be the case for some that the swim in a triathlon is the time to take it easy, but for me in sprint distance triathlons, if you want to win you have to be going pretty much flat out all the way through!

How are you getting on with your channel swim? You must be getting close to a third of the way through it by now?

Al.

By: Richard Skerrett

Richard Skerrett — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 11:08:08 +0000

Interesting blog, Alan, and very well written. I suppose you have seen all the on-line stuff from swimsmooth.com and Total Immersion.I went on a Total Immersion course a few years ago at Millfield School, which was very interesting. It didn’t revolutionise my stroke and they failed to teach me butterfly – in fact the coach advised me to give up, which I thought was a bit defeatist, although he was probably right. There is a swimsmooth coach in Cardiff, and I have considered going for a session with him. They do underwater video and I gather the lessons are very good value from speaking to a lady from my club (Carmarthenshire Masters) who had had a session with a swimsmooth coach.

As you probably know, Terry Laughlin is strongly of the opinion that the swim in a triathlon is the place to take it easy and not go too hard, although obviously the faster you can go while swimming in a relaxed fashion the better.Probably the same applies to a certain extent for the bike stage, although I know nothing about cycling and very little about running. I used to run when I was young but was absolutely useless.