Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Paul & Adam Magazine Interview



Dear Swimmers

You might be interested to read this little interview / profile on myself and Adam in this month's Triathlete Europe magazine complete with a few cheesy photos like the one above!


The article discusses the background to Swim Smooth, how we met and also our vision for Swim Smooth going forwards, especially with the new range of HUUB wetsuits. Hope you enjoy!



Also, I've just received 100 copies of our new Swim Smooth book over here in Perth, saving you some of the cost of shipping individually. Cost is $30 and I will have the copies down at the pool with me on Friday morning for the 5.30am, 6.30am and 9.30am sessions - grab them whilst they're hot! Amazon has already sold out and this was the scene at Swim Smooth HQ at the end of week # 1 with over 1,000 copies sold - amazing stuff!



Cheers

Paul

P.S happy birthday to Adam who was 40 on Monday!


PAYG card price increase

Dear Swimmers

Hope you are having a great week.

It is with much regret that I write to inform you that we must increase the cost of the current PAYG session cards to accommodate a $400 per month increase in lane hire at the Claremont Pool, effective as of 1st August 2012.

The cost of our sessions have not increased since 1st July 2009 and as such we have absorbed three pool lane rental increases during that time, with this newest increase set to be substantially higher than in previous years.

In order to minimise the effect on you and to hopefully seek your continued support and patronage, we have aimed to keep this price increase to an absolute minimum to simply cover these costs. We recognise that whilst all businesses as standard protocol increase their fees typically every 12 months, we have always tried to keep our pricing fair and reasonable, but equally appreciate that you pay a premium price for a quality coaching service in a great venue. I do sincerely hope that you can understand and support this and I thank you in advance for already remaining supportive of the squad during these colder winter months.

To soften the blow a touch, I am proposing that whilst Claremont Pool's prices to us will increase on 1st July 2012, we will postpone our price increase until the 1st August 2012, thus giving you an additional full month of opportunity to buy / stock-up on cards at the current prices. To buy a card now, click here: http://swimsmooth.com/perth_buycard.html

Price increases and what it means per session:

  • Casual visit = $15, price as of 1/8/12 = $15 (no change)
  • 10 session card with a 12 week expiry (from 1/8/12) = $120, price as of 1/8/12 = $130 or $13.00 per session (i.e. $1.00 increase per session)
  • 25 session card with a 16 week expiry (from 1/8/12) = $270, price as of 1/8/12 = $285 or $11.40 per session (i.e. $0.60 increase per session)
  • 50 session card with a 20 week expiry (from 1/8/12) = $480, price as of 1/8/12 = $500 or $10.00 per session (i.e. $0.40 increase per session)

Our 1-2-1 Video Analysis & Stroke Correction session will remain at $160 ($120 for a follow-up) until 1st January 2013, whereupon this fee will increase to $175 and $130 respectively for your reference.

Hope that all makes sense and is fair and reasonable.

Cheers

Paul




Thursday, June 21, 2012

Nutrition options for training and racing

Dear Swimmers

You may remember from a post I put out back in February 2012 in answer to a question by Chris Foley (5.30am squad) about nutrition (http://swimsmoothperth.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/help-at-final-hour.html) and training and how you might better prepare yourself for longer sets and also races etc.

Well, Suzanne Narbey (lane 4, 5.30am and 3-time Rotto Solo swimmer) has asked me to forward on some information about a product which many of WA's top open water swimmers are using to fuel themselves, including local super-star Rhys Mainstone and even the great Michael Phelps - PureSport. Here's some information which you might find useful:

http://swimsmooth.com/pauls_images/Puresport_booklet.pdf

Suzanne has a limited supply of this product available for anyone wishing to try it, please see price list below:


Please contact Suzanne direct on suzanne@advancetraders.com.au if you have any queries or to try some.

Cheers, have a great weekend and hope to see some of you at tomorrow's 1pm squad session!

Paul





Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Impact 100 WA

Dear Swimmers

Rory, Paul D, Chris Foley and Simon (all from the 5.30am squad) are involved in a new Charity called Impact 100 WA.  

The aim is to get 100 people to donate $1,000 a year (tax deductible) and then give one large grant each year to a deserving WA charity.  The aim is to pool their resources and also encourage more people to get involved in Philanthropy.
 
Impact 100 WA then pool the contributions to make large-impact grants to WA-based projects that are collectively chosen by the donors at an annual grant dinner in November.  You will be able to hear the stories from organisations and develop a feel for what the donation is actually achieving.  It means there is a bit more personal feedback and a chance to meet like minded people at the dinner at the end of the year. Each donor gets one vote on where the money is to go to.
 
Impact 100 WA has recently launched their website and facebook page and the links are below if you want to read a bit more information. To donate just click on the link on the home page, all contributions are fully tax deductible. 
 
 
 
The focus of the grant will be rotated annually, but this year is disadvantaged youth and youth at risk.
 
Impact 100 WA also has articles written about them in the Autumn issue of Scoop magazine (p78), The Post and Western Suburbs Weekly.
 
Impact 100 WA had our launch at government house a few weeks ago with Giving West, with speeches from Colin Barnett, Malcolm McCusker, Giving West, The Myer foundation and our chairman Simon Bedbrook. The response was fantastic.

Feel free to pass this on to anyone who might have an interest, we have very nearly got to our goal of $100k, Impact 100 WA are very keen to get there by the end of next week.
 
Kind Regards

Rory



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Tonight is ON!

Dear Swimmers,

Just a quick reminder that Tuesday's swim session tonight starts at 6.15pm - looks like it's brightening up a touch now and Sandy will be ready to take you through a cracking little set. Hope you can make it!

Paul



Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Tonight's 6.15pm squad session - CANCELLED DUE TO BAD WEATHER FORECAST

Dear Swimmers

Very sorry, but given the likelihood of the impending storm this evening and based on advice from the Claremont Pool, we have decided to cancel this evening's 6.15pm session with Sandy. The session will resume next Tuesday as usual. 

Any diehards wishing to still swim the session, can find details of the set still on the whiteboard, but no official session will run. 

We apologise for this inconvenience and hope you have a safe evening! 

I just had to post out this fun little clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU - it's a little risqué (not one for in front of the boss!) but incredibly funny and might help to lighten your afternoon / evening - hope you enjoy! ;-)

Cheers

Paul



Friday, June 8, 2012

In case you hadn't seen it…our first book!



...that exciting project I mentioned we were working on about 9 months ago was our very first published book:


...so exciting! We were approached directly by Wiley & Sons in April 2011 (one of the world's largest book publishing companies) to write all we know about swimming technique, fitness and open water skills and what you see here is the fruit of our labour this last year and something we're extremely proud of. It's always been a dream of mine to put what we do into a book format, so here it is, all 300+ pages of it!

I haven't yet had a copy to see myself, but will be getting some sent over in the next 10 days. We plan to have a bit of a party to celebrate and hope you can join us for that (more details to follow next week).

Exciting times!

Cheers

Paul