Week 2 of 8: Steady Strokes: Navigating the Path to Consistency in Your Swimming Routine
In Summary (TL;DR)
This is Week 2: establishing consistency
How many sessions do you need to make an improvement?
What to do when you "fall off the wagon"
Bonus: 2 podcasts this week - 1) dealing with open water anxiety; 2) performing well in the open water
Q: How did you get on setting your CSS benchmark last week?
I know the “C word” (Consistency) is not particularly sexy, but if there was one thing I'd do if I could step back in a time machine and re-write my triathlon ‘career’, it would be to give my 20yr old self a good slap around the chops and tell myself not to worry about how good I was on my best days, but to ensure that I didn't dip too far on my worst days.
You see, my triathlon ‘career’ (if you can call it that) was plagued with injury, illness and under-performance. Conversely, one of my great friends and racing contemporary at the time (or rather, my “hero”), was an athlete named Tim Don.
Tim Don - Consistency King
Before Tim broke the Ironman world record in 2017 (and just months later was knocked off his bike and broke his neck before attempting to win the Ironman World Championships (which I think he would have done)), Tim won the Junior ITU World Championships in 1998 and then the Elite ITU World Championships in 2006 on the same course in Lausanne, Switzerland.
I fondly remember my coach, GB Head Coach, Chris Jones, recounting that Tim had told him that his only explanation for how successful he had been through this particular period was because he managed his training load such that he never got sick or injured. He just tapped away and gradually the seemingly meaningless thousands of individual sessions amounted to something quite extraordinary.
These days, that's all I focus on with my own training - being as consistent as I can be.
So here goes for Week 2: consistency
Guidance
Simple pointers for all swimmers, triathletes and their coaches
You've heard the story of Tim Don (and there are countless other great examples like him at the pointy end of the sport), but being consistent is often easier said than done.
Work, family, and our social lives all threaten to get in the way of being consistent, but
I've found that even some of the busiest swimmers in my squad make their training routine such a priority that it actually helps them function better in their day-to-day lives too.
Some of my most consistent swimmers say that the only way that they stick to their schedules is my diarising each session in the week, making it a key priority that they then stick to.
Understanding
Deeper insight into how to improve this aspect of your swimming
I've recently embarked on a new 20-week training program that I have written which myself and 120 other swimmers are all following.
Between 29 September and 2 October we will swim 33.3km as part of the second UltraSwim33.3 in Montenegro, which I was lucky enough to win in 2022.
Whilst I would love to try and win the event again in 2023, there's some stiff competition, and my only goal is to see what sort of shape I can get myself into for the event by being as consistent as possible:
By calculating my CSS pace from last week's blog and saving it within the GURU, I've been able to allocate a Training Stress Score (sTSS) for each of the 60+ swims I've done since the start of May. This score is arbitrary, but it takes into account the length and intensity of each session. Typically this score ranges between about 45 for a 3km Pure Technique session, up to 100+ for a 5km Red Mist Endurance session.
Of course each session you do creates both fatigue and builds fitness: you need to train to get fitter, but you also need to rest to allow the training adaptations to take place.
By plotting the sTSS score over time, you can start to see the fitness (blue) building in response to the peaks and troughs of the fatigue curve (pink).
It becomes quite motivating to see that blue line increasing, but you need to not get carried away and train too much and risk burn-out. That would not be good for your consistency!
You'll see at the start of my curve that I have a steady fitness rise inline with the fatigue waxing and waning, but between the start of June for the next 4 weeks, the fatigue line plateaus and the rate of fitness increase slows. This was purposeful (as explained below). You'll then notice an inflection point in the 2nd week of July where things start building again. I'm on the right track, and so too are the 120 other swimmers following this routine 👍.
🧐 Is this all a bit too technical?
No, not at all. Think of it like making a cake - your inputs (or ingredients) are how frequently you swim, at what pace relative to your CSS pace, and for how long - otherwise known as “F.I.T” (Frequency, Intensity, Time). You all do this already. By simply recording these inputs and doing them in the right quantities we can bake a very nice fitness cake indeed! All you need to do is watch that blue line go up whilst balancing your fatigue levels.
Routine
Actionable advice with a practical program that works
Conscious of a range of different swimmers partaking in this event, I built the program very progressively.
My personal nature is to go off like a bull in a china shop, but not this time. Instead, the structure has been super simple:
3 swims per week for weeks 1-5
4 swims per week for weeks 6-10
5 swims per week for weeks 11-20
In week 6 we added in a long, continuous pool or open water swim as our 4th session, and in week 11 we added in a weekly Red Mist Endurance session once our fitness had adapted to handle that increased load. This is what you see is having the greatest effect right now as that blue line really ramps up. Equally, the plateau immediately before that was purposeful to allow the fitness adaptations to take place and to allow the relative fatigue levels to drop off. The result? We are both willing and able to make the increase as we lead into the event.
Now, you might not be training for an event, but that doesn't stop you taking a progressive look at doing something similar yourself.
🤷♀️ How many sessions per week do I need to improve?
Well, hopefully you can see that going from 3 to 4 for me has been beneficial, but going from 4 to 5 has been transformational. You might not be able to fit in 5 sessions per week (or even want/need to!), but you could progressively and consistently try the following:
1 swim per week for weeks 1-3
2 swims per week for weeks 4-8
3 swims per week for weeks 9-16
4 swims per week for weeks 17+
…and see how you go with this, tracking those blue and pink curves as you go!
🧐 What happens if/when I “fall off the wagon”?
Get back on it again of course! In all seriousness, the Nike slogan of:
…is such a great thing to always keep in the back of your mind. Yes, sometimes injury, illness, stress, work, family, social etc etc can upset the apple cart and knock you off your goal of being consistent, but the only way to get back on track is to just do it. Just start again, using the progressive plan as I have outlined above.
Ultimate
Nothing beats direct - and truly individualised - coaching from one of our Swim Smooth Coaches
Sw-improvers:
Nothing Beats a Real Coach!
The empathetic and expert coaching service being offered to the Sw-improvers is very much what you can expect when visiting any of our Swim Smooth Coaches - consider booking a session with one today by following this link.
This week I've been working with our Sw-improvers to ascertain a realistic number of sessions per week for their training program. There's been some very healthy and engaged discussion around the practicalities of fitting in a regular routine around busy family, work and social lives.
I've then helped set them up with a training program that they can follow along with in the Swim Smooth GURU:
Let's hear from our Sw-improvers now with how many sessions they've set themselves and what their consistency has historically been like:
