Journal · The Swim

The Swim.

Catch, body position, CSS, open water.

Articles

12 pieces

All114 The Swim12 The Bike13 The Run11 Triathlon39 Strength & Conditioning13 The Mind26
The Swim5 min read The Only Swim Test Worth Doing. Most triathletes swim one pace for years because they have never measured anything. Two efforts, one number, and every set you do afterwards has a target. Read the piece →
The Swim6 min read Deliberate Practice: Swim Drills That Transfer Doing a drill five hundred times changes nothing if nothing is being corrected. What separates practice that changes a stroke from practice that rehea The Swim6 min read Most Swim Drills Do Nothing. A drill is only useful if it changes the stroke you swim afterwards. Most of the ones people spend their Tuesdays on do not, and here is how to tell w The Swim7 min read What a Wetsuit Does to Your Stroke. It lifts your hips, cuts your drag, and quietly takes your shoulders away. Why the swimmer it helps most is the one who needs it least. The Swim5 min read Swimming Breathing Technique and CO2 Tolerance The athlete out of breath after 50 metres usually has plenty of oxygen. What they have is too much carbon dioxide, and it is a habit not a fitness pro The Swim6 min read Why Your Legs Sink. Almost every athlete I meet tries to fix sinking legs by kicking harder. It is the one response guaranteed to make it worse. Here is what actually hol The Swim7 min read Ninety Minutes, Nothing to Show For It. Most triathletes swim one pace for years and call it training. What a set is for, and why the rest interval decides the adaptation more than the dista The Swim6 min read Your Catch Costs More Than Your Engine. Swimming is the one discipline where more work can make you slower. High elbow catch, front quadrant timing, a two-beat kick, and where your air actua The Swim5 min read Open-Water Sighting Without Ruining Your Stroke Every time you lift your head, your hips drop. Do it every six strokes for 1500 metres and you have swum much of the race with your legs hanging down. The Swim5 min read The First Ninety Seconds. The panic people feel at the start of an open water swim is not fear and it is not a lack of fitness. It is a reflex, and you can train it out before The Swim5 min read The Pull Buoy Is Hiding Something. If you are markedly faster with a pull buoy than without one, that gap is your body position problem, measured. Most people treat it as a fitness resu The Swim5 min read Learning to Swim as an Adult Triathlete Adults do not learn to swim the way children do, and being fit and strong actively works against you in the water. The order you fix things in matters

Go deeper

The full framework is in the book.

Everything in these articles points back to the R.A.C.E. Framework. The book puts it all together in one place.

Read About the Book