Honey I'm almost home (from the USA!)

Dear Swimmers

I hope you've been enjoying the heat and some great coaching with Coaches Sally, Derek and Ross in my absence. We've had a simply brilliant coaching trip over here in California and as I prepare to pack my bags and leave today to arrive home midday Friday, it's been great to reflect back on a great 10 days meeting some fantastic people and working with some great coaches. For your interest I've pulled together a bit of an image time line of what we've managed to cram in:

Saturday 11th November:

Leave Perth and arrive just 4 hours later in San Fransisco via a dip in Sydney here:

Bondi Icebergs Club

The best swimming experience I've ever had - it had to be done and dusted in less than 15 mins due to only a 2.5hr stop-over connection in Sydney. Short, sweet, but very worth it!

…and in San Francisco here:

The world renowned Stanford University pool - wow! Some epic swimmers have graced these lanes over the years!

Arriving in Palo Alto (silicon valley) just 4 hours after I left Perth was rather bizarre and I got to hook up and stay with a former athlete I used to coach some 15yrs ago in Perth:

Nice pad - Silicon Valley style!

Epic view over San Francisco as we landed

Sunday 12th November:

My drive to work to run a swim coaching session with world renowned Ironman coach (who had no fewer than 35 athletes in Kona this year!), Matt Dixon of Purple Patch Fitness, looked like this:

What can you say?!

A bit chilly on pool deck and 40+ swimmers to fine tune…all of whom were very excited to have me deliver their session as Matt uses our system and refers to us frequently…all the way on the other side of the planet! Very humbling.

A run along the coastline near Muir Beach was in order straight after we'd finished coaching. Stunning. See my quirky video here.

Monday 13th November:

I was invited to spend the whole day with CEO of Finis Inc (who produce all of our swim gear including the infamous Tempo Trainer beeper), John Mix, and his entire development team at Finis HQ to build relations, strategise for the future and to also shoot some fun video clips:

Finis sponsor some of the world's finest swimmers including 4 time Olympic medallist Anthony Ervin

This is Finis's official team mascot, "Finn" the agility paddle 😄

Tuesday 14th November:

It was then just a 1h30m plane ride down to San Diego to meet Adam, Cyndy, John Chip and the rest of our assembled Swim Smooth coaching team:

Cyndy says hi everyone!

Adam wasn't happy unless he hired the biggest, baddest machine he could find for our transport. Epic!

John Chip, Cyndy and Adam reunited again on Tamarak Beach, Carlsbad, CA

Check out this cool video swimming in the pristine Pacific Ocean. It was rather chilly!

Wednesday 15th November:

Today was all about getting ready to deliver our 24th 3-day Swim Smooth Coaches Education Course to coaches #333 to 352 the following day, but not before I guest delivered John Chip's squad in Solana Beach…the same set you guys did last Tuesday 😉 - we do this to ensure absolute consistency in approach with our now 48 Swim Smooth Certified Coaches worldwide and the effort shows:

Some of the growing number of swimmers attending John Chip's squad in Solana Beach, California - many of you will remember John as "Chevron John" from lane 3 on Wednesday's and Fridays right there in Perth - after leaving Chevron John's been on a life changing mission to follow his passion into helping others enjoy this great sport. We are super proud of him!

A quick stop at the world's first ever (and most famous) triathlon store, Nytro, where they stock the entire range of HUUB wetsuits and speed suits that we helped design 👍

Always time for a quick Starbuck's but I have to say it's not a patch on the coffee at Lake Espresso!

The coaching team debrief the night before involved great food, good wine and brilliant company - Stacee (Chicago), Cyndy (Houston), Linda (Florida)

Thursday 16th to Saturday 18th November (inclusive):

And so to the course with 20 coaches from around the world and also 14 swimmers from right across America travelling many miles to attend our 3-day course - humbling beyond words:

"Screw it, let's do it!" (as Richard Branson would say) - minimal sleep, copious jet lag but with great fire in the belly, we managed to get a quick dip in under this wonderful sunrise to start the course

One of the US's leading coaches and former Head Coach to Chile as well as Finis brand ambassador pleased to be learning the Swim Smooth way - we were honoured to have him along!

Coaches Morgon (senior sergeant in the Marines) and Jenn learn about our Swim Types system and how your height, build, gender, wing span and even personality affect how your swimmers swim. Knowing this allows our coaches to better tailor their approach to their swimmers

Coaches Chris and Liz get the same treatment - horses for courses, right?

Adam's "Strategies For Your Business Success" chat goes down a storm, as always!

Head Coach's eye view from the pontoon that made for perfect stroke technique instruction

Coach John working with neo-Pro, Erin on the final day

The Coaches hard at work, mentored by our 8 Swim Smooth Certified Coaches on pool deck to oversee proceedings 

Coach Cyndy doing what she does best - empower people!

Getting some exposure for the Perth Squad 😉 where it all started! 👍

What a team!

A well earned beer after Day 3 - but which to choose from the Land of Choice?!

Sunday 19th to Tuesday 21st November:

No sooner had we finished the course but we were asked to deliver a radio interview with Ironman and USA Triathlon Hall of Famer, Mr Bob Babbitt (link to follow) to discuss the history behind Swim Smooth. We were humbled and privileged to be asked on the show as last week's guest was none other than Olympic Gold Medallist and one of the all time greatest female endurance athletes, Gwen Jorgensen

I was LOST. I found SPORT. I was set FREE. During our tour with Bob of the Challenged Athlete Foundation which has raised over $83 million for disabled athletes to continue their journey in sport often after catastrophic injury

California Dreamin'

Paying hommage to the mecca of triathlon, where it all began, Fiesta Island, Mission Bay, San Diego, CA

Video of us cruising around Fiesta Island - we could feel the goose bumps due to the famous location!

Hotel del Coronado - stunning!

Palm tree lined ice rink…on the beach! Go figure!

Epic sunsets!

Baywatch anyone?

Bromance on the beach with the guy who made my dream of running a truly world class swim coaching program a reality. Thanks Adam!

As ever crew, thank you so much for letting me take the time to go and spread the Swim Smooth word even further afield! I look forward to seeing you all back on pool deck on Monday 27th November.

Cheers

Paul

Paul away for 2 weeks coaching in the USA!

Dear Swimmers

Hope you're all enjoying this wonderful weather lately - it's totally amazeballs!

Just a quick note to let you know that Sally, Derek and Ross will be covering the squad sessions for me whilst I am away in the USA for the next 2 weeks on our annual Swim Smooth USA Coaching Tour. I've got a crazy hectic schedule which promises to be both exciting and engaging in equal measure. Here's what I've got on for your interest:

San Francisco

• Sunday = guest coach for Matt Dixon's Purple Patch Fitness triathlon squad (he had some 100+ athletes in Kona at the Hawaii Ironman World Championships recently so I'm honoured to have been invited). Matt frequently sends some of his top PRO athletes my way for additional swim TLC work when they're down under, but I've never actually met him. He's very well respected in the triathlon community!
• Monday = a whole day spent geeking out as the guest of John Mix, CEO of Finis Inc. who make all the gadgets and gizmos we use as our training aids. We're going to be shooting some cooperative video demos together to showcase some of their latest innovations. John has over 45 staff working for him, all of whom are former elite swimmers - such an amazing and inspiring place to work I'm sure!
• Tuesday = more coaching with Matt Dixon before flying out to Carlsbad, just north of San Diego

Carlsbad / San Diego:

• Tuesday = meet up with the Swim Smooth Coaching Team - I'm very proud to have a team of 8 coaches from around the USA (including the wonderful Coach Cyndy who'll be joining us from Houston and John Chip from CA - I'll be sure to say hello to her from everyone of you!) supporting me with our upcoming 3-day Coach Education Course at the Alga Norte Aquatic Centre
• Wednesday = meet the 20 coaches I've personally hand selected from over 120 international applicants to become numbers 333 to 352 to complete our International Triathlon Union / British Triathlon endorsed 3-day Coach Education program. Some of these coaches will then be further selected to attend our 2 week Swim Smooth Certification program in sunny Perth in March 2018. What better way to meet them all than with an open water swim at the iconic La Jolla beach, the birth place of the whole triathlon movement!
• Thursday to Saturday = 3-day Coach Education Course, culminating on the Saturday with 10 guinea pig swimmers keen to hone their techniques with the newly versed coaches - this creates a brilliant learning environment for all involved, albeit with over 40 people forming the congregation that day, a mojito or two will be in order afterwards!
• Sunday = meeting with several tech companies keen to partner with us on some exciting new projects (but that, as they say, is about all I can say about that)
• Monday = podcast interview with the voice of triathlon himself, Mr Bob Babbitt - will send you the download link accordingly
• Tuesday / Wednesday = some exciting promotional filming for a couple of new projects that are already complete and due out in the next month…watch this space!

I arrive back in Perth on Friday 24th November and will be back on pool deck fresh and energised on Monday 27th November. Until then, keep up the great work and enjoy the sessions with the coaching team!

For your reference, I've just prepared this matrix so that you can see who is typically leading which group, in which lane at each of our 11 weekly sessions:

Bremer Bay - a place you really MUST visit!

Road tripping' around the South West!

Dear Swimmers

Hoping you all had a good weekend in my absence. Without sounding like an advert for the Bremer Bay Tourist board, and having asked many of you if you've ever been only to be told "no, not yet" - this is a place you really must add to your itinerary. I hope you'll indulge me with a few of the photos and videos I took with our new swim filming drone to whet your appetite! #NoFilter #StraightOffTheCamera

We have had my family visiting from the UK for the last 3 weeks and took the opportunity to sneak away with them on a secret 5-day camping road trip to Wave Rock (Hyden), Esperance and finally Bremer Bay (somewhere I'd only ever heard the late, great Eoin Cameron talking about on the 5.15am ABC weather report). It was so windy at Wave Rock that we had to forego setting up the tent and booked into a chalet instead and then down in Esperance the wind had followed us and saw us literally survive our way through a harrowing 8pm to 7am gale force wind experience (75-80km/h sustained) during which I wrote my own obituary fearing we'd literally be flattened by a tree or tin roof!

Isla and Jackson looking pretty excited to be at the wonderful Wave Rock, but less excited about the miserable weather!

Everyone happy to have survived the worst that Esperance could throw at us and our canvas tent visiting Hellfire Bay, Esperance.

This photo of Jackson (aged 2) has adorned by parents kitchen wall in Wales since 2011 - finally they get chance to see the wonders of Lucky Bay themselves!

Mother Smooth overlooks a kangaroo with a joey in its pouch at Lucky Bay

Luckily, by the time we got to Bremer Bay the wind had started to die down and we were treated to two brilliant days of sunshine which showcased this part of the world better than we could have ever imagined. 

The Henry Peninsula is home to 5 or 6 great beaches (see the video link below) with the purest white beaches and amazingly clear aquamarine waters - the swimming and body surfing was second to none! In fact - dare I say it - Bremer Bay now knocks off Esperance and Kalbarri as my favourite place in Western Australia. Maybe you should take a look yourself - only 5.5hrs drive from Perth…

See the 4 minute video at https://vimeo.com/240827126 - hope you like the drone footage!

Incredible water clarity - great for a dip (albeit quite chilly!), Little Boat Harbour, Bremer Bay

Bremer's most popular beach, Blossoms

Bremer Bay river-mouth, similar in many ways to Margaret River (at least that's what the kids said!)

Bremer Bay Main Beach

Beautiful colours at Bremer Bay 

Your very own 2018 Rottnest Channel Swim Planner is now available...

Get your Rotto on like Janine in 2015!

Dear Swimmers

I hope you're having a great weekend! As promised, our 2018 Rottnest Solo training program is now ready to view at https://www.swimsmooth.guru/sequence/cK7/20km-rottnest-channel-swim-full-program/

Training starts on Monday 9th October! Whoop!

This year we've pulled out all the stops and have created an entirely bespoke step-by-step, session-by-session guide for you which allows you to systematically track your development to ensure you are in the best possible shape come Saturday 24th February (the Rottnest Channel Swim) or Saturday 17th March (the Port-to-Pub). 

In the past we've always produced a FREE training template (2016's can still be viewed here: http://swimsmoothperth.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/just-in-time-2016-rottnest-training.html ) which aimed to provide a skeleton program indicating recommended training volume and intensity over the period of 20 weeks. 

We've also still got our 75 minute Rottnest Q&A video archived on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzwkyl_B0Dk which provides deeper insight into what is required to participate in this great event.

Here's 2018's skeleton program for your reference, including all of our recommended races, rest days, build phases etc - feel free to pass it on to friends:

Whilst the skeleton program contains the detail for several of the longer distance pool sets, open water swims and races to do, if you are training independent of the squad itself, you are at a bit of a disadvantage of not being able to tap into the day-2-day sessions that make up the nuts and bolts of the squad. Now you can have full access to all this information (as described below - 100+ detailed sessions to print out and complete) and track your progress as you go. This will be ideal for those of you when are also attending the squad via the waitlist (and not getting all of your call-ups) or travelling away with work quite a bit. 

So for under $20/mo you get access to the following by going to www.swimsmooth.guru and following the prompts - enjoy! It's going to be a great summer with Swim Smooth Perth!

Full guidance all the way and accessible on any of your internet connected devices

Log in each day to view your dashboard and see how your efforts are stacking up

Set your goal so the Guru can prompt you according to how many sessions you can fit in each week

Every session (all 100+!) lined out on the left hand vertical panel so you can see exactly what's coming up!

Every session can be neatly printed out and brought down to the pool with you to follow step-by-step!

How can we claim the program is bespoke and specific to your ability? Enter in your latest CSS Test information (features as the 3rd session in Week 1) and the Guru will tell you precisely what Mode and what numbers to enter into your Tempo Trainer Pro in much the same way as Paul does on the pool deck for you each week - it's WAY cool!

Keep a track of your CSS development over the course of the program!

Every time you login, your next session is easily accessible from the dashboard!

Ensure continual development by learning to Tweak your CSS as you feel yourself improving!

Track your fitness improving and flag down times when you might be over-cooking it a bit and need to back off a smidgen - the Guru knows you better than yourself!

Feel like doing a non-plan session by yourself or with friends or even attending a squad session and want to enter the details of that instead? No worries, now you can - this will all count towards your total weekly distance!

Save the date for this year's Squad Christmas Party! Saturday 9th December!

Dear Swimmers

Please save the date for this year's Squad Christmas Party on Saturday 9th December! For the 3rd year running we'll be hosting the party at our place again so we'd love to have you all around and celebrate another fantastic year swimming in the Swim Smooth Perth Squad down at Claremont Pool.

Theme ideas on a post card…here's one to tickle your taste buds from the ever-effervescent Paul McQueen:

Hope you have make it. Further details to follow in due course!

Paul, Mish, Jackson, Isla and Sandy the dog 🐕 

Your Swim Smooth Perth Squad Weekly Digest!

Dear Swimmers

Hope you're staying warm and dry in this unseasonal spring weather - it was really shocking down on pool deck this morning. Mustn't grumble though, it'll be "cracking the flags" soon enough to coin an expression from my native Yorkshire!

So we have a couple of news items this week for your attention:

1. School HOLIDAYS / Public Holiday - business as usual!

Despite the next two weeks being the school holidays (and Monday the Public Holiday) you'll be pleased to know that it's "business as usual" at the squad, ensuring you're fit and raring to go this summer. We take great pride in minimising "down time" for your training routines, so hopefully this comes as good news to most of you!

2. Janet claims world title at the World Triathlon Championships in Rotterdam!

We are super excited to announce that 930am squad stalwart Janet Ferguson smashed the field in the 55-59 Age Group category at the recent World Triathlon Championships in Rotterdam. This adds to Janet's World Duathlon title that she won a couple of years ago. Amazing stuff Janet! We look forward to welcoming you back and hearing all about it, if you'll tell us that is (she's hugely modest is our Janet!)!

3. Additional Permanent Spots in the Squad!

It's the right time of year to let us know if you want to seek a coveted permanent spot in the following squad sessions, rather than having to always use the wait list. Given the popularity of the Friday 930am Red Mist Endurance Session, we've even secured an additional 4th lane which we've been using for a couple of months now, so if you can't access the Wednesday 530am squad due to it's popularity, this might be a great chance if you have the flexibility with work.

Here are the spots which are available:

• Monday (Pure Technique), Wednesday (CSS Development) and Friday at 9.30am (note Friday is a 1.5hr Red Mist Endurance session)
• Tuesday (Technique Endurance) and Thursday (CSS Development) at 6.15pm

Drop us a line by emailing swimsmooth@me.com if you'd like to secure one of these spots prior to the start of summer, but be quick, they'll get snaffled up quickly!

4. No cigar for Sue but a massive inspiration nonetheless!

As you probably heard via my app notifications this week, sadly Super Sue didn't make it across the English Channel for her 3rd time in a bid to take back her World Record as the oldest lady to have ever swum it successfully. Swimming through freezing fog and water temperatures of 14ºC were sadly too much for Sue, 71, and she and her team made the very sensible decision to put safety before heroics. Of course, it's not Sue's ability to swim incredible distances that inspire us all, it's her love for the sport, her passion, tenacity and beautiful nature which makes us all wish that we could be like Sue when we're in our 70s. Well done Sue! You'll always be a hero in my eyes!

5. 1-2-1 Video Analysis Special with Coach Paul or Sally until the end of the month

Following on from being invited to speak at the 2018 Rottnest Channel Swim seminar a couple of weeks ago to specifically talk about injury management and developing the right stroke for your body type, build and swimming goals, we are pleased to announce that we are offering a 15% discount on our world renowned 1-2-1 Video Analysis and Stroke Correction Sessions by using code "summer18" when you book in for a session with either myself or Sally until 30th September. You might be surprised how seemingly small changes to your technique can have a massive impact on your swimming efficiency and injury prevention. Check it out today, you won't regret it!

To take advantage of this great offer, use the booking app from www.swimsmoothperth.com and input code as follows in the screen below when you get to that point in the booking process:

Availability:

• Paul - good availability from 16th October onwards
• Sally - good availability immediately

6. Jason Snell to take up the English Channel challenge in 60 minutes time…

Head to http://cspf.co.uk/tracking at 4pm our time (Friday 22nd September) and check the tick box by "Mighty Mo" to watch 930am squad super fish (what is it with all these 930am legends?!) Jason Snell attempt to become only the 8th person to have swum both the English Channel and climb Mount Everest. You can see a video from Channel 10 about Jason and his stroke in my backyard pool here:

https://vimeo.com/231059342 

7. Rottnest Channel Swim Program

As per previous years, many people from the squad who aim to swim the Rottnest (or Port-2-Pub) Channel Swim as a Team, Duo, or Solo, simply up their attendance regularity and add in key sessions like this the Red Mist Endurance session to ensure they're well prepared come February / March each year. 

If you're looking for a little additional help with your programming though (especially as a Solo swimmer), you might like to check out https://www.swimsmooth.guru/sequence/cK7/20km-rottnest-channel-swim-full-program/ which for $19.99/mo gives you full access and detail to all our recommended sessions, races and the ability to track and monitor your fitness to ensure you're in the best possible shape come race day. We'll be updating last year's program in the next week ready for kick-off proper on Monday 9th October. In the meantime you might like to check out this helpful 74 minute presentation from 2014 about all the key concerns you might have about the event:

View video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzwkyl_B0Dk 

These video tutorials that I did as the Head Coach of the 2017 Karma Resorts Rottnest Channel Swim might also appeal:

View video library at: https://karmagroup.com/swim17/#lP1FB1vluTSkRYBC.97 

8. What really is an efficient swim stroke? Challenging convention with the help of one of the world's best coaches and his most unconventional swimmers!

Hopefully you follow our weekly blog at www.feelforthewater.com which goes out with tips and techniques to help you with your swimming every Friday evening (Perth time). If so, you'll have seen our in-depth article on what is referred to as "Swim Golf" or "SWOLF" for short. In fact, if you own a wearable piece of swimming technology, you might have even seen a SWOLF score yourself of your own swimming pop up after each swim you've done. For years this metric has been held up as a good measure of efficiency, but here we debunk that myth for good:

http://www.feelforthewater.com/2017/09/is-swolf-or-swim-golf-really-true.html

Knowing these stats, trends and quantitive data then, I decided to approach and yesterday interview a coach with 5 Olympic Gold medals to his name, four of who are with the famed and somewhat "unconventional" Janet Evans from the USA, whose 800m freestyle world record stood for an amazing 19 years and was only broken in 2008 by the UK's Rebecca Adlington (one of my favourite swimmers of all time). Watch the video interview below as I challenge convention with Bud McAllister (Head Coach of WAIS swimming), ask the question "why is everyone typically taught to swim the same way even though we KNOW we are all anthropemtrically very different" and ask his advice on his favourite training sets (note how similar they are to our coveted Red Mist Endurance Sessions!).

This was a definite highlight of my 20 year coaching career, watch the interview here and apologies for some of the wind noise in the background:

Coach Paul with coaching legend, Bud McAllister, 5-time Olympic Gold Medal winning coach!

That's a wrap folks! Thanks for listening!

Paul

Honey, honey, honey...

Gives you a whole other reason to wear your goggles!

Dear Swimmers

Whilst we are waiting for newzzzzzz of Sue Oldham and Jason Snell to swim the English Channel (should have been today, 13th September but the weather is proving uncooperative), squad swimmer Chris Knott (lane 1 Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 5.30am) has bee(n) buzzzzzy creating some awesome raw honey which quite a few of the squad have already bee(n) using to power themselves through some of the harder training sessions. Details are below should you wish to contact Chrizzzzzz directly - enjoy!

Cheers

Paul