Technique and conditioning

When I finished my last bike ride in Cape Town in 2008 my back and shoulders were ruined from 14months and 22000miles of pedalling, my legs were unbalanced and completely unflexible and I had tiny wasted upper body and core muscles. I couldn’t swim more than 400metres in one go and my swimming technique could best be described as sloppy.

Over the last sixteen months I’ve been lucky enough to be helped out by some amazing people from all round the world. I’ve been to long distance swimming camps in Jersey, Cork and Tenerife and have spent countless hours going up and down the harbour in Dover. I’ve been lucky enough to find Kettering Swimming Club and PACTRAC Triathlon Club that let me train with them for free. But there are two places that have helped me out more than anyone else and these are Swim for Tri in London and Core Cambridge.

I’ve been to Swim for Tri twice. The first time after just an hour of swimming in the endless pool and being videoed from different angles I cam out being able to swim twice as far without stopping. Three months later I had another session with them for an hour and came out 10% faster. I saw Ray there and his knowledge of swimming is incredible. I’ve got a few more sessions booked in with these guys over the next three months to try and squeeze out a bit more speed and efficiency. Check them out here at www.swimfortri.co.uk

Hayley at Core Cambridge has worked miracles on my core and shoulder. It’s been months of doing tiny movements to really isolate the specific stabilising muscles I need for the swim. Getting injured in November coincided exactly with stopping going to these guys for a month! I’m now back their training twice a week and their amazing facility on the outskirts of Cambridge and am feeling as strong as I’ve ever been. Check them out here at www.core-cambridge.com

Preparing for this trip has been an incredible eye opener and has made me realise what bad habits I’d got into by following the rugby based bigger is better style of training. There have been so many times where what I’m doing goes against everyday common sense: gaining weight to do an athletic event (to protect myself from the cold), using less energy and concentrating on a more efficient stroke to glide faster through the water, focussing on the tiny support and stabilising muscles to allow the big glory muscles to work at their best. I’m still learning everyday and I dont want to tempt fate but I’m feeling fitter, stronger than I’ve ever been and more pain and injury free than I’ve been since I was 15!