Thursday, September 24, 2015

Heads up! Dates for your diary!

Dear Swimmers

I thought I'd send you a quick note to inform you of some date changes owing primarily to carnivals being run at the pool.

Don't forget, you can always check out our public holiday shut-down schedule here (including Christmas and Easter): http://www.swimsmoothperth.com/#!public-holidays/c24hz as well as the fact that your sessions in the app or your online portal won't show for the dates when we won't have sessions - so if they're not in there, they're not on. That being said, there are very few planned public holiday shut-downs, even this Monday's (28/9) 7am and 9.30am sessions will be on during HRH's birthday - thanks Ma'am!

Carnival changes:

9.30am Squad Sessions that are affected by Carnivals are: 

  • Mon 29/2/16*
  • Wed 2/3/16
  • Fri 4/3/16
  • Wed 9/3/16
  • Wed 16/3/16
  • Fri 18/3/16
  • Mon 21/3/16*
  • Wed 23/3/16
  • Wed 30/3/16
  • Fri 1/4/16

*Monday sessions will likely start 20 minutes later at 9.50am (TBC) due to me finishing my 1-2-1 session at the pool prior at 9.25am.

…these will either be run at Cottesloe Beach, Claremont Jetty or possibly an alternate pool venue (TBC). If the thought of an open water session doesn't inspire you on these dates, please be sure to cancel out of these sessions asap to allow others to have the opportunity to swim then. Thank you!

6.15pm Squad Sessions that are affected by Carnivals are:

  • Thursday 3rd March - CANCELLED (per the auto email out last night to everyone in this group)

Push Notifications / SMS:

If you have "Push Notifications" enabled within the app, I will send out the above details as simple reminders on the day before these sessions to hopefully avoid anyone showing up at the wrong place - just another reason to download and get using the app from the home page at http://www.swimsmoothperth.com - a fabulous little tool!

Please note, we will no longer be sending out bulk direct SMS's to the squad. These have been replaced by the Push Notifications within the app. I have however, reset everyone's Email / SMS settings to allow both email & SMS to be sent in the event that you have registered for a wait list and get offered a spot. Some people last week had their SMS notifications turned off and thus missed out on a wait list they were waiting for.

Of course, if you never plan to wait list for a session, you can always change your settings back in your profile! Too easy.

Have a great day!

Paul





Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Same, same, but different!

Dear Swimmers

Hope you're doing well and lapping up every one of today's 31ºC!

A couple of notes this week:

  1. we are still seeing a good number of people NO SHOWING for sessions despite you now having the tools at your fingertips to easily cancel out of a session up to 12hrs before that session starts. I hate to groan about this, but this morning was a prime example - we had 8 people on the wait list for the coveted "Red Mist" session at 5.30am and 9 people no show. This is very disappointing as every one of those wait-listers could have been permitted a start. Please make sure you download the freely available app in the Appstore (iOS) or Playstore (Android), search for "Swim Smooth Perth", download the app, login with your email as your username and your password as swim0400000000 (unless you've already changed it, and where the number is YOUR mobile number) and please get cancelling out of the sessions you cannot attend. It's really very easy. If you don't have an iOS or Android device, just perform the same function by visiting www.swimsmoothperth.com and using the login portal there. Of course those that don't show are not being charged a credit yet and the proposal was for this policy to be enforced from November onwards, though really you have everything at your finger tips now to please - out of courtesy to the program and the other swimmers - do this. We will be bringing this policy of charging for no shows forwards to Monday 5th October (my originally proposed date), now that everything is in place with the new system and it's been so for nearly 8 weeks now. I hope this seems fair and reasonable for all parties. Remember, if you have an emergency crop up that doesn't allow you to attend and you feel it fair and reasonable to request an early cancellation (no fee) then just email me later that day.
  2. Swimmers who continue to NO SHOW without notice (I have a list of about 20 people) may have their "permanent" bookings revoked and offered to someone on the waiting list. Again, I hope this is only fair. This might suit you better anyway (takes the stress off etc) and with the new system will allow you to simply register for the sessions you want to do, when you know you can make them. You might have to go on the wait list for a couple of your favourites, but if everyone is doing their thing and cancelling when they should, this should still allow you to attend. If you know already that you want to withdraw your permanent spot or are in need of cancelling a large block of sessions, just email me please.
  3. I have to commend the 9.30am squad on their ability to do the above mentioned request - almost every session here has a 100% show rate (thank you all!) and consequently many wait listers are finding they've been able to access these sessions as a result of people kindly cancelling out of these sessions when they know they can't make it. What should leave us all with no excuse is that many of these swimmers are "maturer of age" and would be the first to say they weren't the most technology savvy people…so if they can do it, so can you (please!).
  4. Some of you are still asking how to view their remaining credits and what does it mean when the iPad shows "zero credits remaining", either please read this explanation here or watch this NEW 3 minute video clip here, or simply wait until you receive the automated email when you have 2 sessions remaining and then follow the link to top-up.


Same, same, but different!

What do you think is beautiful about the picture above? That's right! A reasonable "Mind The Gap" gap between the swimmers in this morning's Red Mist Session, limited drafting and ironically each lane working like a well-oiled machine with and ironically with very little "Red Mist" to be seen. How was this achieved I hear you ask? Not by shouting or bribing surprisingly, but with a change to the pecking order within the lane which we're going to try on Thursday 6.15pm and Friday's 5.30am, 6.30am and 9.30am sessions. Those of you who don't like to see the detail of an upcoming session, look away now:



The details for Thursday / Friday:

  • each lane has two groups (SAME)
  • each group has a leader, each with a Tempo Trainer (SAME)
  • both groups within the lane are on the same cycle time / target time (DIFFERENT), starting 50m apart, so that the two groups never (in theory!) meet

What this results in:

  • less drafting (we save that specifically for the Saturday 1-2pm session), but more of a "true" effort on your part, which will only be a good thing
  • more of a challenge, i.e. race simulation with those faster swimmers in front of you gradually pulling away
  • giving you a challenge of seeing how long you can hang on for and how this might aid your ongoing development
  • learning to psychologically deal with faster swimmers pulling away from you, but for you to focus on yourself and holding your stroke together when this happens!

Anyway, we'll give it a try this Thursday / Friday and see what you make of it! Interestingly Lane 2 in the 5.30am squad have been working like this for many months now and it seems to work very well. Let me know what you think, good or bad, once you've tried it!

Cheers

Paul

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Final Call for Saturday AM Session Proposal

Dear Swimmers

Just a quick update on this one that we are only at about half capacity to make the proposed Saturday long endurance session a feasible option and I will need to make a final decision on this over the weekend. I think I was a little late off the taxi rank with this one but thank you for those who suggested it. I also understand that committing to the full 12 weeks as an enrolment rather than PAYG might not suit all, but given the significant cost of running this session this is our only option. 

So, if you / your friends are keen, please let us know after reading the details below and completing the form at the bottom. I see it as an excellent chance to create some group atmosphere and support for the longer events. Thanks!

If we do not proceed and park this till next year, worry not about your focus, I will still be planning and preparing a program for you to follow individually. 

Saturday early AM sessions:

With the run-up to bigger events like the Rottnest Channel Swim and the Busselton Ironman / 70.3 event, we have investigated the possibility of a long endurance session on a Saturday morning at Claremont Pool. This is something we've only ever done very informally and it's always lacked a bit of group cohesion as a consequence. However, this is a massively costly affair given that we'd need the pool to open 90 minutes earlier than it does and to pay for a Duty Manager and Life Guard during this period, but given recent discussions with some of you, the popularity of such a session might prove viable if we ran it on an enrolment of say 12 weeks, rather than as a PAYG.

How it'd work:

  • the session would commence every Saturday at 5.30am and run for 12 weeks up to Christmas, starting 3rd October
  • it would start off as a 90 minute session, building to 2.5 hours as those of you preparing for Rottnest get fitter / stronger. For those of you doing shorter events (like Ironman / 70.3) you'd be able to get out after ~75 minutes having completed 4-5km. An idea would be for you to have your bike ready in the car park and to then head out on a long - á-la the perfect long brick session!
  • post-Christmas, once a group is established, we'd venture out into the open water to specifically train in the river / ocean as a group
  • the sessions would be focused on long endurance intervals and would feel almost like a cross between a Tuesday AM session and the harder Wednesday "Red Mist" AM session
  • we'd need a minimum enrolment of 40 people to make it viable
  • the enrolment fee for the 12 weeks would likely be $300, exclusive of pool entry (subject to confirmation of all costs from the Claremont Council)
  • this session would be open to anyone currently swimming in the squad AND also anyone new to the squad too 
  • swimmers should be capable of swimming 1,000m continuously

To register your interest for our planning / consideration, please complete this form:


Kind regards
Paul

Monday, September 14, 2015

Finally! Our new PAYG (BLUK!) app is launched - download it now for iOS and Android!


Dear Swimmers

The wait is finally over! Now you can check out your schedule, book sessions, cancel out of sessions, automatically Sign In when you arrive at the pool (with a nifty little geocoding that recognises when you're close to the pool!*), pay for sessions, safely and securely store your payment information (if you wish to do so) for ease of purchasing more credits, book 1-2-1 Video Analysis Appointments and automatically receive our latest notifications all directly through your phone / tablet, add yourself to wait lists and easily see where you are in the queue for that session, and lots, lots more!

*this function has not been fully tested yet, so please give it a try and see how it goes tomorrow!

This new app replaces the Mind Body Connect app that some of you have been using and is significantly easier to use, looks and feels better, and allows a much better integration with everything we do. Some of you might like the Connect app (as it links to Yoga studios etc), and whilst it will still work, as of today I will be discontinuing support of this app (in terms of questions, emails, phone calls etc) and encourage you please to replace it with the new app instead given how much time and resources we have put into it.

Your app LINKS:

Open this email on your phone or tablet and click the links below to download the new app for free and then login with your account details, or search for "Swim Smooth Perth" in the Apple or Google app stores:



Late Cancellations:

Given how simple this new app now makes it for you to check out of a session, there should be no reason please why you can't let us know well in advance if you cannot attend a session. We are still seeing ~18% no shows on a weekly basis (a big improvement though from the 60% we saw between June and September). We've spent 4 months building this new system and a huge investment to make life easier for everyone and to offer up spaces to people who are desperately keen to join the program, so please download the app if you have one of the many devices above that support the app and let us know simply and easily when you cannot attend so that we can offer up your place to someone else, "no questions asked". We really appreciate your support.

Going forwards:

  1. we will soon be enforcing a charge of one credit for anyone simply not showing for a session that they are scheduled for or for cancelling within 12 hours prior to a session*
  2. I have been monitoring a list of people whom have not been cancelling out of sessions since we released the new system. This is a very small minority I'm pleased to say, but we need everyone's assistance and embrace of the new system for it to be fair for everyone**. Currently everyone booked into their sessions on a regular basis are considered "Permanent" members of the squad. Those who are using the wait list system are considered "Casual". "Permanent" members of the squad whom do not cancel out of sessions and simply "no show" on a regular basis even now that the new app is available, run the risk of having their permanent bookings removed and offered to the "Casual" members. This is only fair and you now have the tools at your ease and disposal to let us know when you cannot make it, so please use them. You will be notified individually if you are in this category once we allow 2 weeks for everyone to get the new app on their phones / tablets. This may well suit you anyway if you have a very irregular routine and would prefer to not have any ongoing commitments, instead choosing to book in (or wait list) when you know you can actually attend.

*in the event of an emergency and you have to cancel within this 12-hour period, please simply shoot me an email to swimsmooth@me.com with your issue and I will reinstate your credit.

**when polled back in May, we had a unanimous response from the squad that everyone wished to maintain the PAYG system in favour of a fixed monthly fee. The new app allows us to maintain this PAYG structure avoid a monthly payment plan, but only with your kind support, hence PAYG (BLUK!) Pay-As-You-Go (But-Let-Us-Know!). It's a win-win for everyone.

Cheers and enjoy the new app!

Paul




Friday, September 11, 2015

So, how was it?

Dear Swimmers

For those of you who turned up for the 530am or the 630am session this morning, how did you find it?

Remember, this is the exact same format that we use on a Saturday 1-2pm session. Some of you might be thinking, "right, that does it, I'll never attend a Saturday then!" but others of you might see the value in what we were doing there this morning with our "controlled chaos" open water skills session, and might be keen to tap into that one from time to time (there are always last minute spots to register for this one).

It's interesting really, because one of my primary motivations behind staying in Perth way back in 2002 was because of the wonderful ocean and some of the open water sessions we used to run down at Cottesloe Beach every Friday morning. I miss them hugely. Unfortunately with the media hype (and actual events!) the whole threat of marine life really has put paid to that plan of running sessions in the open water on a regular basis, so this type of session is our best "second". That being said, the controlled drafting and fun games that can be achieved under a watchful (albeit "authoritarian") eye still carries a lot of power for those of you training for triathlon or open water swimming, and in some cases is better than what we could practice in the true open water without assembling a field of thousands!

If you've ever shied away from swimming in a tie-knit group environment, this morning was likely to feel like "hell" - however, recognising the benefits of good drafting, controlling your emotions and taking advantage where you can will pay real dividends - up to 38% energy savings in fact. Check out this article as a little light weekend reading:


…interestingly enough the athlete mentioned in the article, Richard Murray from South Africa (someone I've assisted with his own stroke development, albeit briefly), capitalised on this drafting ability at the Commonwealth Games to claim a bronze behind Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee from England, but then just last weekend claimed the scalp of arguably the world's best ever all-round triathlete, Javier Gomez of Spain, by putting this plan into devastating effect. Amazing!

Could it be that you're missing a trick by not practicing this regularly enough to see some real improvements like Richard despite his weaker swimming background? And from a squad-centric background, everyone seems to always marvel how and why 66 year old Graham Crocker always seems to over-perform in the open water compared to his pool lane-buddies. I don't. Graham is exceptionally good at drafting and is hardy and resilient with it too. The best I've seen in fact. That's the secret - oops sorry Graham, the word is out!

So you might not think of yourself as "hardy and resilient" when it comes to the open water environment, but these are all skills that can be learned, just like any other, be it catching better, kicking more efficiently etc.

Anyway, I hope you had fun and if nothing else, I hope you liked the break from the norm. Back to the norm next week!

Cheers and have a good weekend!

Paul






Thursday, September 10, 2015

Variety is the spice of life!

Dear Swimmers

Wow! Wasn't that some amazing weather yesterday?! A taste of summer for sure!

In this newsletter:

  • a new Monday Pure Technique session initiative
  • mega fun planned for tomorrow's early Friday AM sessions - bring a t-shirt!
  • an update on the new app / how to cancel yourself out of a session
  • an update on the proposed Tuesday / Friday 7.30am sessions
  • do you want a session early on a Saturday morning?

Monday Pure Technique Sessions:

If you are registered for the 7am or 9.30am Monday Pure Technique session and were able to attend this week, you'd have experienced a great little session geared around taking off any feeling of need to keep up with our fellow swimmers and get some great feedback and input on some drills and technique work at your own pace. We removed the "ego" and desire to just rip through the drills to get the distance in, and replaced it with some dedicated focus on your stroke, specifically learning how to and the value of the UNCO drill - after all, if something's going to go wrong in your stroke, it'll go wrong when you're breathing. Guaranteed. This session focused on that with most of us being able to improve immediately by 50% (unilateral breathers) or 33% (bilateral breathers) just by focusing on this one simple aspect. Breathing. I hope you enjoyed it.

Everyone was warned that they'd only get in 75% of the normal distance that we'd do on a Monday, but everyone seemed to enjoy the added coaching input. I certainly went away quite pooped!

We have decided that we will do a similar session to this on the first Monday of each month, with the other 3 sessions being similar to what we've been used to but with the added insight of what we go through on the first Monday to assist your development. I hope you find this a useful new direction with the program.

You can read more about the purpose of each session on our weekly program here: http://www.swimsmoothperth.com/#!squads/c15ml 

Tomorrow's Friday 5.30am and 6.30am Squads - please bring a t-shirt!

With the success of Monday's session and the feeling that summer is just around the corner, it has prompted me to run a really fun session in tomorrow morning's 5.30am and 6.30am sessions which will gear you up perfectly for the open water and triathlon season.

Our most fun session of the week is the Saturday 1-2pm open water skills session, and it's long been my intention to allow those of you in the early Friday sessions to experience this session and it's benefits when otherwise you might not have been able to attend the Saturday afternoon session.

So tomorrow morning, given the expected high turn-out (as advised by our new system) which actually ADDS to this specific type of session, that is exactly what we're going to do!

The focus will be to condition you to swim well around other swimmers, to draft well and really refine this technique, to do some high-octane efforts and generally have a good bit of fun to start your weekend, after all, variety is the spice of life! Come prepared with all your normal gear plus a cotton t-shirt too! We'll be doing a lot of group exercises, typically splitting the two groups in each lane into two further smaller groups (so about 12 to 16 groups in total!) and might even have some diving (optional) involved too! You'll even get the chance to try and hang with the fastest swimmers in the squad as they work hard to try and drop you off their feet, but with good drafting technique you'll be amazed at how much ground you can save!

There will certainly be a bit of chaos involved, but then when have you ever done an open water event and it not been like this?! Shying away from a bit of controlled chaos is likely to lead to sub-par performances in the open water, which is why this session and Sally's Saturday 1-2pm session is so effective.

Depending on how this session is received, we may look to run this one on a Friday every 6-8 weeks, with warning given of when that'll be!

If you have access to our app, you'll be able to see some of what we'll be doing here: https://app.swimsmooth.com/section/b8/ct3/skills/ 

Cancellations / New App:

I've just heard that our new bespoke login app (to replace the Connect app that some of you are using to varying degrees of success) is now into it's Quality Assurance Phase (1-3 days), followed by submission into the Apple Appstore (iOS) and Google Play (Android) (4-7 days). So with any luck we should have that ready for your free use very soon. It'll make signing in and cancelling out and registering for 1-2-1 sessions so much easier! Thanks for your patience.

The majority of you have been doing a great job of cancelling out of the sessions you know you can't attend and as such there's a lot of very thankful people in the squad who've been sat on our wait list (in some cases for up to 2.5 years!) who are now getting summonsed for sessions which they ordinarily wouldn't have once a specific session total drops below a certain threshold. This is great and I thank you for your assistance with this. For those of you who have been still no showing, please can I ask you to familiarise yourself with the new system (especially when the new app is available) as it really is super easy to do. See the how-to guide here

Tuesday / Friday 7.30am Sessions:

We are still yet to make a final decision on these. The hope is that we might have attracted some of you from the earlier sessions to look at doing the later 7.30am session in order to best manage numbers in the summer months. Whilst we have had a reasonable interest in these sessions (especially for the Friday 7.30am), the time slot is obviously not as attractive as I thought it might be, or that you're quite happy where you are. That is totally cool of course. 

If however, you have had a change of circumstances and think you could make this session over your earlier spot, please complete the form here:


One of the key advantages that we are starting to hear from those of you who've been recently being bold and choosing to lead your group more frequently, is that the opportunity to lead more will certainly be available in the 7.30am sessions, especially upon start-up (proposed for early October). Everyone who has made the biggest gains in their swimming recently have been the ones opting to lead more frequently, so if you're keen on taking your swimming to the next level and have the flexibility for a later start, this new session could make all the difference.

Saturday early AM sessions:

With the run-up to bigger events like the Rottnest Channel Swim and the Busselton Ironman / 70.3 event, we have investigated the possibility of a long endurance session on a Saturday morning at Claremont Pool. This is something we've only ever done very informally and it's always lacked a bit of group cohesion as a consequence. However, this is a massively costly affair given that we'd need the pool to open 90 minutes earlier than it does and to pay for a Duty Manager and Life Guard during this period, but given recent discussions with some of you, the popularity of such a session might prove viable if we ran it on an enrolment of say 12 weeks, rather than as a PAYG.

How it'd work:

  • the session would commence every Saturday at 5.30am and run for 12 weeks up to Christmas, starting 3rd October
  • it would start off as a 90 minute session, building to 2.5 hours as those of you preparing for Rottnest get fitter / stronger. For those of you doing shorter events (like Ironman / 70.3) you'd be able to get out after ~75 minutes having completed 4-5km. An idea would be for you to have your bike ready in the car park and to then head out on a long - á-la the perfect long brick session!
  • post-Christmas, once a group is established, we'd venture out into the open water to specifically train in the river / ocean as a group
  • the sessions would be focused on long endurance intervals and would feel almost like a cross between a Tuesday AM session and the harder Wednesday "Red Mist" AM session
  • we'd need a minimum enrolment of 40 people to make it viable
  • the enrolment fee for the 12 weeks would likely be $300, exclusive of pool entry (subject to confirmation of all costs from the Claremont Council)
  • this session would be open to anyone currently swimming in the squad AND also anyone new to the squad too 
  • swimmers should be capable of swimming 1,000m continuously

To register your interest for our planning / consideration, please complete this form:


Cheers,

Paul

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Thursday, September 3, 2015

Live from Le Channel...

Fletch made it in a little over 11hrs!!! A brilliant effort by a brilliant guy. Well done that man. Very proud of you!!

News just in from the English Channel...

Dear Swimmers

Squad swimmer Fletcher Barr is about to embark on a crossing of the English Channel at approximately 10:30am today (Perth time). Here's the info from Wayne the Train who is over there with him:

Hi Paul

The boat is called.
Louise Jane
Skippers name
Andy King.
The link to track Fletcher is below.
Fletch will leave England at
3:30am Thursday 03-09-15.
That will make it 10:30am Perth time the same day

http://www.channelswimmingassociation.com/pilots/louise-jane/

Stay tuned on twitter
@barr_fletcher

Thanks
Wayno

Good luck Fletch. We are all gunning for you!