The Effortless Swimming Podcast

What does it really take to swim the English Channel or any marathon swim? My guest today, Craig Lewin, is a triple crown marathon swimmer and coach who's helped athletes tackle some of the toughest swims on the planet. We talk about how to train for hours in cold, rough water. How to stay motivated over years of preparation and the mental tricks that can carry you through the tough times when you feel like quitting.

If you've ever wondered how ordinary people achieve extraordinary swims, this episode will show you how and if you're already into long distance swimming. Myself and World Record Holder, Andy Donaldson will be running two long distance retreats next year. One in the wit Sunday is in June. And one in Tahiti in September.

So if you'd like to enhance your open water skills, learn from the best, and also have one of the best holidays of your life, this is a chance to join myself and Andy Donaldson on a long distance Swim retreat. I'll include the link in the show notes below.

02:26 Starting Your Journey: The English Channel Swim
05:39 Training Plans for Long-Distance Swimmers
10:57 Maintaining Motivation Over Long Training Periods
16:11 Nutrition and Fueling for Endurance Swims
21:20 Acclimatization to Cold Water Swimming
27:50 Pacing Strategies for Long Distance Swimming
31:48 Overcoming Challenges in Training
36:41 Mental Strategies for Endurance Swimmers
39:11 Choosing Your First Marathon Swim
43:15 Addressing Fears: Sharks and Open Water Swimming
47:27 Safety Tips for New Open Water Swimmers
50:59 Upcoming Events and Resources for Swimmers

Recently, Australian swimmer Lani Pallister made history by becoming the third-fastest woman ever in the 1500-meter freestyle. In this episode, we’re diving into her stroke to see exactly what makes her technique so effective and what we can all learn from it.

00:25 2-Beat Kick
01:01 Head Position/ Breath Timing 
02:26 Have The Head Turn In Time with the Shoulders
03:30 Catch Position
08:31 Kick Timing
10:01 Rotation
12:38 Recovery

How does an Olympic medalist take 19 seconds off her 800 meter time and nearly beat Katie Ledecky? In this episode, I'm joined by Jaimie Fuller from EO Labs, the creators of the Swim Better Handsets, a company I've worked closely with since their early days to share how this breakthrough tech is transforming performance from helping Paige Madden make that jaw dropping improvement to giving triathletes a way to measure swim power in Watts, sync with training peaks, and use AI to pinpoint exactly where they're losing speed.

EO is changing the way we understand the swim leg from Olympic podiums to your local pool. This could change the way you approach every stroke.

00:00 Introduction to Elite Swimming Technology
02:50 Transitioning to Triathlon Focus
05:34 Integration with TrainingPeaks
08:20 Gamifying Swimming Data for Triathletes
11:08 Membership and Data Analysis
13:52 Understanding Technique and Power Dynamics
17:01 Visualizing Swim Data and Performance Metrics
24:53 Analyzing Swim Performance Data
28:37 The Role of AI in Swim Training
32:23 Understanding Swim Technique and Efficiency
37:45 Learning from Other Sports
39:56 Case Studies of Elite Athletes
45:39 Implementing Changes and Measuring Outcome

This episode is taken from our latest Feedback Friday video. We have a triathlete from Sydney who holds 1:30/100m on his Ironman swims. Let's take a look at his strokes and see where he can find additional speed.

Watch on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kEXXSc9eac

00:37 Head Position
01:04 Body Position
04:10 Reach And Extension
06:13 Arm Angle

Grab the freestyle checklist here: 
https://effortlessswimming.com/freestyle-checklist/

Work with us (stroke analysis coaching):
https://effortlessswimming.com/es-training-and-membership-page/

Join a camp:
https://effortlessswimming.com/camps

Have you ever walked away from a swim thinking,
"Why does this still feel so hard?"

You're not alone. Most adult swimmers struggle with the same few challenges—again and again—and it’s usually because no one ever showed them how to fix it the right way.

In today’s episode, we’re diving into the most common mistakes adult swimmers make—and more importantly, how to finally fix it.

Let’s get started.

00:17 Mistake #1: Holding Too Much Tension

04:07 Mistake #2: Looking Forward the Whole Time

06:12 Mistake #3: Overkicking or Stiff-Leg Kicking

07:38 Mistake #4: Beginning Your Catch Before You Finish Reaching Forward

09:28 Mistake #5: Rushing the Breath