I’ve been swimming for 19 years but I’ve never been very good…

I work very hard in the pool but it’s still always been a struggle for me.

If all the ITU guys in the world did a test set in the pool I’d probably in the bottom 20% in ITU racing.

Sometimes I beat guys out the water who are 3mins faster then me over 1500m.

At the weekend though I got out of the water in 3rd spot. People don’t know how I do it!

Here’s a few tips from me.

1. GET SOME STRENGTH…

Especially for Triathletes, sometimes it seems like a never ending battle to get a strong arm pull in the water. I think it’s mostly because cycling and especially running makes our pull weak.  So do something about it.

You can do more swimming….but this is very time consuming!

My tip is to get good at CHIN UPS. The likelihood is you’ll be rubbish at them if you are a weak swimmer but slowly build up and progress.  I do 4 sets of 8 pulls every week alternating grip.  Make sure you take as much rest as you need.

Compliment it with other strength work in the gym like Latt pullovers and push ups.

2. DRILLS

In my opinion it’s pointless banging out big swim sets and struggling through unless you are swimming with good technique.  So my advice is get in the pool and just work solidly on your technique.  If you have an easy swim planned then warm up with some easy swimming and then do as many drills as you can cram into 2k.

I do (50 drill, 50m swim) x 20.

Mix it up with catchup, single arm (by the side), single arm with paddles, doggy paddle, polo, sculling, double arm underwater pull, shark fin drill, leg kicking rotation drills. Get someone to watch you…

3. DO THE BEST SET IN THE WORLD

Long warm up.

5 x 100m with around 6mins rest. (from a dive, going as fast as humanly possible)

Long warm down.

When Rick set me this set my performance in races jumped up massively. As long as you give it your absolute all it really develops you swim speed and power in the water.  I always raced well after doing this set!

4. DO A MORNING SWIM BEFORE THE RACE

Before you have your breakfast before the big race.  Try to get in the water and do up to 800m of very easy swimming and drills.  This will activate a good technique and you’ll feel much better when you dive in for the race for real!

One thing I do if I am staying in a hotel which has a small pool is tie one end of an inner tube around my legs and the other end around the steps and thrash out some strokes!

5. BE CONSISTENT

Swimming needs your constant attention, so get in the water as frequently as you can. Even if its just 1000m’s in you lunch hour it’s still worth it.  Olympic level athletes are doing at least  5 swims a week of 5000m +

Think yourself lucky that you’re not an Olympic level swimmer, some have to do 80k + weeks!

I’m rooming with Captain Slug Eyebrows, Aaron Harris again and so far its not been too bad.  Were not on the rocks yet and no real arguments! It is only day one however.

Spirits in the camp are really good, its the biggest camp British Triathlon have ever had with 27 athletes and probably up to 10 coaches and support staff coming and going.  Everyone seems to be enjoying it, training, eating and sleeping/practicing stupid dance moves (may try to get a few up)

The weather is good, its about 20′c When the sun is out however, when the sun is behind the mountains in the morning as I found out today…IT’S BLOODY FREEZING!

Training wise, Bike, Run and Swim.  I felt rubbish on the bike,I did it though which is what matters.  These day happen all the time!

I’m off to chase around some more young guns!

Press Up Count: 75

Target: 150 per day before Des Moines race on 24th June

After getting a good ass kicking from the Russian Boys in Madrid – Vasiliev Brothers, Brukankov and Polyansky – I decided I was sick of having sand kicked in my face and I have set off on a mission to get fast at swimming quickly! So Stu Hayes and I began on a mission to build up to 150 Press Ups before Des Moines to add a bit of strength to our strokes!

Stu and I hanging out in the Indian

Last night after our curry we went back to watch Big Brother and began on the 2nd day of our mission! I will be keeping you updated almost daily on this challenge to defend ourselves against the these Russians. So far it’s going well but I have a big swim session on Sunday…

Clare and Michelle enjoying the vin rouge at the restaurant

I will try to film the last 100m rep and post it on here, so watch this space