Jon started doing ocean races about 15 years ago, including all the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series. As a swimmer without a previous competitive background he has had to work on ways of becoming more efficient and smart with training and racing.
He wrote the ebook “The Zen of Swimming” to look at how to have fun doing races and improve performance from a layman’s point of view.
Read a snippet of his book below, the full eBook can be downloaded from Amazon
Training for your events so you are feeling ready on race day:
Having a plan in conjunction with your coach to be in optimum condition when races start is really important. There is nothing worse than bombing out on race day as you have over or under done training. Preparation suitable to you individually that doesn’t injure you or tire you out too much will be ideal.
In my experience it is better to set your goals for the season and tailor your training with your coach. There is a trend now to do smart training in timed sets to build up speed and endurance as well as flexibility. It is all too easy to just jump in the pool and do lots of laps, which is fine if you just want to get fit, but if you want to do better than last year, you need to train smartly. Doing lots of drills and then timed sets will optimise your time in the pool.
How much should you train? That depends on your goals but I like to work backwards, and build up slowly to race days. I find it is very important to have a rest day during the weeks training, and taper before a race, plus have a rest for a for days after a race to recover. Having fun is key and turning up on the day feeling energetic and well prepared is also key.
Jon Muller
