Our Exclusive Interview With Super-Fish Lucy Charles
We've just released Episode 5 of the Swim Smooth Podcast and what a treat we have in store for you - our exclusive interview with the fastest ever female Ironman swimmer Lucy Charles and her coach and partner, Reece Barclay (also a professional triathlete and phenomenal swimmer).
Lucy has now twice finished second at the Ironman World Championships, totally dominating the swim and setting a phenomenal 48:14 all time swim record this year!
In just the first 60 seconds of the podcast, Lucy’s thoughts epitomise everything that Swim Smooth is all about. Listen to how she refutes the need to look pretty to be effective in the water as she very much embodies our "Swinger" Swim Type :
To add an extra dimension to the interview we brought in Lucy's old coach Roy Shepherdson (who spookily enough is one of Paul Newsome's best mates and was best man at his wedding). Roy's observations of Lucy's development as a junior swimmer are priceless and give real insight into why she become such a dominant swimmer in triathlon.
As always you can listen to the Swim Smooth Podcast on any of these platforms:
People would probably say that my stroke, looking at it from the outside, is a fairly messy stroke - I've got a very high turn-over (stroke rate) and I haven't got much of a leg kick either, so most coaches I ever had would tell me off for not kicking my legs (which I always found quite funny) and no matter what I did - I tried to work on it - but because the front end of the stroke was moving so fast, I just didn’t have the coordination to do that with my legs as well.
I think it seems to work pretty well for open water - it's definitely served me well so far - the key thing is, it might look a little bit messy from above the water but everything under the water is doing what you're supposed to do and is quite a strong, powerful pull. I think when I was more of a pool swimmer, it was probably a bit of a neater stroke, but I've adapted it without really realising it for the open water.
To add an extra dimension to the interview we brought in Lucy's old coach Roy Shepherdson (who spookily enough is one of Paul Newsome's best mates and was best man at his wedding). Roy's observations of Lucy's development as a junior swimmer are priceless and give real insight into why she become such a dominant swimmer in triathlon.
As always you can listen to the Swim Smooth Podcast on any of these platforms:
 Apple Podcasts |
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 Google Podcasts |
 Overcast |
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 Spotify |
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Enjoyed the interview and would like to see Lucy in action? If you are a Guru subscriber you can see our exclusive footage and study of Lucy's stroke here:
Swim Smooth!