Starting to think about Rotto...

Jane gets geared up for the 2014 Rottnest Channel Swim - her first Solo swim which she did amazingly well at!

Dear Swimmers

It's always about now that I start to get asked the question - when should I start training for the Rottnest Channel Swim?

I am very keen on people feeling like they can really commit to a solid 20 week program, starting this year on Monday 6th October. In reality, with the Christmas break this gets broken down to 11 weeks followed by 2 "squiffy" weeks and then a highly focused 7 week run-in to the big event on Saturday 21st February 2015. Registrations open on Monday 3rd November as per the details here: http://rottnestchannelswim.com.au/key-dates/

If you're going to be doing this event for the first time, or simply want to do better than you've done before, I'd highly encourage you to start thinking about "Training to Train" before "Training to Race", and that would involve an initial 8-week window which you could start on Monday 11th August. During this period you'd be getting yourself into a regular - but not highly regimented - routine swimming 3 to 4 times per week, simply focusing on getting your body ready for the rigours of what you will inevitably need to do to prepare properly for the event. You don't need to be super strict with yourself during this initial period (save that for October 6th onwards!), but honing your form and technique and getting some basic semblance of fitness back will really help to bolster your efforts later on. This can be as much as 3 to 4 x 1hr sessions per week in these early stages, with perhaps a longer mid-week session or longer open water swim at the weekend.

To that end, last year I prepared this special 75 minute presentation about the event which you should hopefully find very useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzwkyl_B0Dk

The link to the actual PDF program from last year (which will be similar again this year given the success of last year's swimmers - "if it's not broken, don't try and fix it!") is here: http://swimsmoothperth.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/its-here-our-2014-rottnest-channel-swim.html

You might also find this useful food for thought if you're contemplating the event this year: http://www.swimsmooth.com/addressing-what-is-holding-you-back.html 

I hope you find this useful to get you to start thinking about when you might like to start coming out of the woodwork. If you are thinking of doing a Solo, please let me know for my reference as it'd be great to keep you posted on all that we will be having going on for you guys this summer re long swims etc. 

Ouch! Wisdom teeth are finally out!

I'm personally hoping to swim myself (this will be my 4th Solo) and given my wisdom teeth extraction last Thursday (hence the no-show on Friday morning!), Monday 11th August will also be the first day in my program for the build up to the event, so I hope that you can join me - as they say, "there's strength (in motivation and spirit!) in numbers!"

See you out there!

Paul