Swim

Learning to Draft in the Pool: Practising Feet-Swimming Over Winter

Swimming on someone's feet cuts drag and effort, and in one study left triathletes more efficient on the bike. What the drafting research shows, where to sit, and how to practise it in the pool over winter, though transfer is untested.

Winter Open-Water Swimming: Does Cold-Water Habituation Help on Race Day?

A handful of cold immersions can halve the gasp response, and the effect may last for months. What cold-shock habituation research shows, what it doesn't show about racing, and how to swim outdoors in winter without taking unnecessary risks.

Fixing the Weak Leg: Can a Winter Swim-Focus Block Shift a Slow Swimmer?

A winter swim-focus block is a popular fix for a weak swim. What the evidence says about how much swimming improves in weeks, why it doesn't help your bike or run, and how little bike and run training keeps those sports from slipping meanwhile.

The Winter Technique Block: Does Drill-Heavy Swimming Actually Change Your Stroke?

Winter is when many triathletes swap hard swimming for drills. What motor-learning research says about whether technique changes made slowly survive race pace and fatigue, and how to build a block that has a chance of sticking.

Stiff Ankles, Weak Kick? Flexibility and the Adult-Onset Swimmer

Runners and cyclists often have stiff ankles, and ankle range is linked to kick speed. But the kick adds little to front crawl speed at triathlon pace, and no trial shows stretching makes adult swimmers faster.

Fast Swimming for Slow Races: Does Sprint Work Help a 3.8 km Swimmer?

High-intensity swim training improves fitness in competitive swimmers, mostly young pool sprinters. What the trials and meta-analyses show, why they say little about 3.8 km, and how much fast swimming a long-course triathlete needs.

The 45-Minute Pool Session That Actually Makes You Faster

How to structure limited pool time so it builds speed as well as endurance: what goes in a 45-minute session, how much rest to take, where drills and toys fit, and how to rotate session types across a week.

Critical Swim Speed: Setting Swim Intensity Without a Coach on Deck

Two time trials and one subtraction give you a critical swim speed. How reliable the test is, why CSS is not a pace you can hold forever, and how to turn it into training paces.

Kick, Pull Buoy, Paddles: Which Tools Help Triathletes and Which Become Crutches

Should triathletes kick or save their legs? Do pull buoys and paddles build speed or hide weaknesses? What the research says about the kick, swim toys and the shoulder, and how to use each deliberately.

No Pool? What Bands, Swim Benches and Dryland Can (and Can't) Replace

When you can't get in the water, swim fitness slips but doesn't vanish. What the detraining evidence shows, which parts of swim fitness dryland can protect, which it can't, and how to come back safely.

Out of the Water With the Right Group: The Pack Effect on a Non-Drafting Bike

Exiting the swim with stronger athletes can help your bike even with no drafting: you get there cheaper by swimming on feet, then ride legally alongside a group that pulls you along. What the evidence supports and where it's logic.

Six Months, Same Pace: Why Age-Group Swimmers Plateau and What Actually Moves the Needle

Months of swimming without getting faster is common. The usual culprits are wasted propulsion, the same steady session every time, too few swims a week and no testing. How to tell which one is yours.

Filming Your Stroke: What Swim Video Analysis Can and Can't Fix

Video is the most direct way to see what your stroke does, but the research on video feedback in adult swimmers is thin. What it shows, what it can't, how to film usefully, and when expert eyes are worth paying for.

15.0°C: The New Cold-Water Number (And Why the Rules Still Say 16)

A 2026 study found the median critical cold-water temperature for wetsuited swimmers is 15.0°C, yet World Aquatics kept its 16°C safety threshold. Here's why both numbers matter.

Swim Easy, Bike Faster? Why the Classic 'Hold Back on the Swim' Advice Is No Longer a Blanket Rule

The "swim at 80-90 percent" rule comes from tiny, male-only lab studies. New 2025 research in amateur triathletes found it can backfire for women and does little for men.

Open Water Sighting and Race-Start Anxiety: Why It's a Physiology Problem, Not Just a Mental Game

Race-start panic isn't just nerves: anxiety measurably amplifies cold shock, and poor sighting technique adds real drag. Here's what the evidence supports, and how to train both.

Stroke Rate vs. Distance-Per-Stroke: What the Research Actually Says

"Just lengthen your stroke" is oversimplified. Decades of swim biomechanics research show the rate-vs-length balance depends on distance and fatigue — here's what age-groupers should actually train.

Drafting in the Swim Is a Skill You Can Practise

Myth: Drafting in the swim just happens on race day.

Winter Dips Shrink the Cold Shock, Not Your Race Time

Myth: Winter cold swims will make you faster on race day.

Drills Alone Won't Fix Your Race-Pace Stroke

Myth: A winter of drills will fix your race stroke.

A Winter Swim Block Doesn't Have to Cost Your Bike and Run

Myth: A winter swim block will wreck your bike and run.

Stiff ankles matter less to a triathlon swim than you think

Myth: stiff ankles ruin your swim.

A long, slow swim race doesn't mean every swim should be long and slow

Myth: an Ironman swimmer only needs long, steady volume.

Non-drafting doesn't mean the group is irrelevant

Myth: it's a non-drafting bike, so who you exit the swim with is irrelevant.

The kick isn't wasted effort — it's a support system

Myth: don't kick — save your legs for the bike.

You'll lose less swim fitness than you fear

Myth: miss a few weeks of pool access and your swim fitness is gone.

Video shows the fault — it doesn't fix it

Myth: film your stroke, spot the fix, swim faster next session.

45 focused minutes beats 90 unfocused ones

Myth: if you only have 45 minutes, you're stuck undertraining.

Critical swim speed isn't an all-day pace

Myth: critical swim speed is a pace you could hold all day.

Fitter isn't the same as faster in the pool

Myth: swim more laps and the speed eventually comes.

Stop copying the 80–90% swim rule

Myth: swim at 80 to 90 percent effort to save your legs for the bike.

16°C isn't the safe number you think

Myth: above 16°C, open-water swimming is basically safe.

Myth: 'just relax' fixes open water panic

Myth: just relax and the open-water panic goes away.

The stroke rate myth costing you time

Myth: a longer stroke is always a faster stroke.