<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Swim - Tri247</title><link>http://www.tri247.com/index.html</link><description>Latest swim articles from Tri247</description><item><title><![CDATA[Stroke Builder for iPhone and iPad]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9523.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Leading UK triathlon coaching company, thetrilife.com, have launched a comprehensive guide to front crawl as an iPhone/iPad app.

The app uses high definition video clips, narrated by Great Britain Olympic coach Dan Salcedo, to provide a step-by-step guide to stroke improvement, and assist the athlete in identifying their own faults. It also illustrates a collection of the most useful swimming drills.

Novice triathletes and swimmers will benefit from the Stroke Builder section of the app. Here, each phase of the stroke is clearly explained and demonstrated with video. The app suggests drills to develop an efficient and relaxed front crawl stroke so that novice athletes can swim their race distance comfortably without feeling exhausted.

For more experienced triathletes wanting to shave off a couple of minutes from their race swim time, the finer points of a great swim stroke are described in detail and the mystery of a good catch and pull unravelled. Athletes that know where their faults are will want to use Fault Fixer. Fault Fixer allows the athlete to compare their own swimming to a collection of video clips illustrating commonly observed faults and suggest drills to correct the fault.

Coaches will find the Drills Database invaluable, not only in terms of quality of the footage (drills demonstrated by former elite triathlete Andrea Whitcombe) and quantity of drills available but also because of the ease of use. The app will become the coaches&rsquo; pocket drill bible for showing their athletes exactly how a drill should be performed as well as providing the coach with reminders of which drills are best for which faults &ndash; no longer will coaches have to resort to links to youTube videos.

Liz Scott, director of thetrilife.com said, &ldquo;We have been working on this app for a number of months and we are delighted with the result. We wanted to create an app that would become a coaching tool that every triathlete and coach would want to have in their pocket at the pool. We think that we got what we wanted.&rdquo;

Stroke Builder is available now from the iTunes App Store.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Triathlon England confirm grass roots sponsorship with Speedo UK]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9515.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Triathlon England and Speedo, the world&rsquo;s leading swimwear brand, have confirmed a new deal which sees Speedo support growth in triathlon participation as an Official Partner of Triathlon England through various promotions running until the end of 2012.

Speedo will work with Triathlon England in two areas; the first is promoting access to open water swimming &ndash; a big perceived hurdle to entry for novice triathlon participants. The Speedo Triathlon England Open Water Training Series, which was delivered for the first time in 2011, will be promoted throughout 2012 around the country.

Further information on how to register will be found on the Triathlon England website and in Triathlete Europe magazine.  In addition to boosting novice participation, Speedo aims to support Triathlon England&rsquo;s growing membership through offering swim &ldquo;starter packs&rdquo; to every new member.

These packs with a retail value of &amp;pound;30 will include goggles, hand paddles and a kickboard, all vital training aids for the budding triathlete swimmer. In addition, all existing Triathlon England members benefit from a 15% discount when shopping at Speedo&rsquo;s online retail store.

Samantha Rankin, Membership Coordinator with Triathlon England welcomes the new partner: &ldquo;Speedo are really getting behind our drive to grow our participation and membership and adding real value to the membership package. We hope people will snap up this offer.&rdquo;

Mark Barfield, Director of English Operations confirmed Triathlon England&rsquo;s commitment to this new relationship: &ldquo;Our whole development team are working to increase access to triathlon and open water swimming is definitely one challenge to overcome. The 2011 Speedo training days showed us that there is real demand for these opportunities to train safely and with coaching input to make people&rsquo;s first open water triathlon a great experience.&rdquo;

David Newbury, Commercial Marketing Manager at Speedo UK comments: &ldquo;We are very excited to confirm this partnership with Triathlon England. The alignment of the Speedo brand with Triathlon England and the development of the Open Water Swim Training days is a key message in our shared aspiration to grow the sport of triathlon.&rdquo;

Speedo products can be purchased via www.speedo.com]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Review: Palm Paddles]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9481.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Tri247&#039;s Editor, John Levison, trials the Palm Paddle from Complete Fitness Coaching.

Ok, let&#039;s start off with something that Palm Paddles are not - at least, not in the conventional sense - they are not, despite the name, another set of &#039;swim paddles&#039;. By that I mean that this product does not resemble or indeed function like the typical &#039;large&#039; swim paddle which you would often use to improve strength/power through increased surface area - and perhaps move up and down the pool faster with your new &#039;giant hands&#039;.

The Palm Paddles are most defintely a training aid / technique tool, and while ultimately we all want the same end result - to swim faster - doing so through use of the Palm Paddle will be via improved technique gains rather than increased strength. Think of them as a different product category. That said, improved technique will probably then allow you to benefit further from additional strength and power... so ultimately they could be a complementary tool to your swim tool arsenal in my eyes.

The product is relatively simple - it fits into the palm (!) of your hand, is about the size of a bar of soap, with a small (adjustable) silicone tube on the top which you slide your middle finger through during use. The material (&#039;lightweight recycled polyethylene&#039;) is light, but strong, and the paddles have shown no signs of wear at all during use.



I&#039;ve been using the paddles for several months now - some before my enforced layoff - and for the past month while I&#039;ve been trying to get some fitness back during recovery. So how does it fair? Well, after a couple of initial lengths when the temptation is to &#039;grip&#039; the paddle, it&#039;s very easy to get used to - no long introductory period required. I noticed several things during use - firstly, and most obviously, swimming with the paddle takes away the feel of the water from your hands. That element is sort of like the feeling you get when doing a standard &#039;fist&#039; drill. The additional benefit to my eyes though is that while using the Palm Paddle you are still swimming normally - not with the closed fist - and hence it is much closer to your regular stroke. Secondly, without that feel and with the hand moving faster through the water as it is more difficult to grip/hold water, you are more aware of using your forearm through the stroke cycle to make up for the reduced function of the hand. This - broadly - is what the product is for, to help bring awareness to the whole catch and allow your hand/arm to fall into a more natural position. The third thing I found, not something expressly mentioned in the literature but useful to me anyway, was that after using the Palm Paddles I had a much greater awareness and sensation of using my fingers during the catch. Moving from paddles to no paddles swimming made you feel as if you had bigger and more powerful hands and I could really feel the finger tips functioning during the stroke cycle. 

I found that best results for me was doing very basic sessions along the lines of repeats of 4 * 100m with Palm Paddles, followed by a 400m swim or similar variants. The moving from the paddles to regular swimming (and back again) gives plenty of opportunity to feel the benefits and then quickly apply them to your regular strokes. There are of course limitless ways to construct swim sessions, and Complete Fitness Coaching provide some ideas for Palm Paddle use HERE if you would like something a little more inspiring than my sessions.

Overall, I really like the Palm Paddles. They are not, nor do they claim to be, a magic wand. You won&#039;t swim six lengths with them and suddenly have dropped two minutes off your 1500m time so don&#039;t buy expecting miracles. However, they are easy to use and integrate into most sessions, for me they certainly seem to &#039;work&#039;, they are light and so far highly durable - and at &amp;pound;20 a pair, not unreasonably priced either. They will remain a part of my swim bag for the forseeable future. Definitely recommended.

You can buy Palm Paddles online from Complete Fitness Coaching (www.completefitnesscoaching.co.uk)
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Speedo launches new speedsuit combo]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9397.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Speedo have launched their new FASTSKIN3 which is a FINA-approved system of cap, goggles and suit that are all designed to work together to reduce drag.  The system is claimed to deliver unrivalled benefits to swimmers, including a full body passive drag reduction of up to 16.6%, an 11% improvement in the swimmer&rsquo;s oxygen economy enabling them to swim stronger for longer, and a 5.2% reduction in body active drag.

Michael Phelps, regarded as the most accomplished swimmer of all time, has led plaudits for the concept, saying: &ldquo;Speedo FASTSKIN3 makes me feel completely at one with the water. I feel confident, I feel comfortable and I feel like I am wearing the fastest.&rdquo;

While suits, caps and goggles are conventionally designed separately, Speedo has designed and engineered all three elements together to generate a unified system that works in synergy, incorporating many world firsts in swimming technology.

The Speedo FASTSKIN3 Racing System utilises a new anatomical marking system, &lsquo;Fit Point Markers&rsquo;, at strategic points across the cap, goggles and suit, which indicate how to align the Racing System accurately on the body to achieve optimum fit for the best performance. Intuitive IQ FIT technology maximises swimming comfort while minimising resistance and drag.

David Robinson, Speedo President, said, &ldquo;Speedo has always been the pioneer of new swimwear technology and innovation, and this reputation is underpinned by the development of the FASTSKIN3 Racing System, another world-first from Speedo that will help swimmers achieve their full performance potential.&rdquo;

The Speedo FASTSKIN3 collection features three levels of technology, each tailored to the needs of swimmers of differing abilities: SUPER ELITE for professional athletes; ELITE for advanced competitors; and PRO for intermediate swimmers.

The Speedo FASTSKIN3 Racing System goes on sale exclusively on Speedo.com on December 1 2011 and will be broadly available elsewhere from January 1 2012.

Tri247 went along to the launch and shot a couple of videos:

General montage of the day


Rebecca Adkington interview
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[AudioFuel for run, bike and swim]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9367.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[AudioFuel have been producing music assisted running programmes for a while now but recently branched out into other aspects of multisport with the launch of their swim and bike sessions. As the lady of the house is already a fan we handed over the headphones and pressed &#039;play&#039;...



A friend introduced me to the AudioFuel running system a while ago after I had been running for years with my own mix of music on an iPod. I was initially quite sceptical but the whole package is actually very good and Martin Yelling quickly became a regular running partner. I&#039;ve downloaded several of the sessions and they all give you a good workout and assuming you aren&#039;t entirely tone deaf it&#039;s easy to find the beat. I have to say that the one which is included in this package isn&#039;t one of my favourites but it&#039;s still a good interval workout. Most of the sessions I&#039;ve been doing have been aimed at longer distance and my needs aren&#039;t necessarily typical...

As I use a turbo trainer on a very regular basis I was very interested to try out the cycling module. I must stress that I have never taken a spin class in my life (and have little intention of ever doing so!) and I was concerned that being so used to having constant feedback from my cadence, power, speed and everything else that comes off the CycleOps PowerBeam I would be a little lost. However, if you are looking for a really solid interval session this module delivers. Even without the electronic aids I found that you rapidly pick up the beat, just as with the running modules, and you can follow along without any need for a cadence sensor.

As with any turbo session you can work to how you feel with increases in gearing and cadence (and you&#039;re told all this very clearly as the session progresses). I repeated the session with all the electronics turned back on and checked everything was as I expected and then turned the display off to see if I could work to a harder level just using the music. The answer is that you can - it&#039;s a great way to drive you along through a session.

If I have one comment it&#039;s that the four minutes of rest in-between efforts is a bit too much - but then it wasn&#039;t that long after my last big race so perhaps that&#039;s just my perception and others might be very grateful for the break!

To get a different opinion on the AudioFuel approach (and because we don&#039;t have a waterproof MP3 player to hand!) we farmed out the swim session to Karen, a friend who routinely swims to music of her own choosing. Here&#039;s her verdict:

This programme is excellent. It consists of a pyramid workout; swimming progressively faster and then slowing down again using increasing then decreasing arm speed. It is easy to follow with the coach counting the beats to ensure you get the correct arm speed for each phase and the beats in the music ensure you keep swimming at the right pace.

Each phase of the pyramid is done by time not distance which means it can be used in any pool or even in open water. Also because I was concentrating on swimming at the correct pace and using good technique I found the time flew by and felt I&rsquo;d had a good workout. I have already recommended it to other people and would love to have a longer version.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Swim clinics in South Wales]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9368.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Thetrilife.com will be holding swim clinics aimed at developing your stroke during the off-season for swimmers and triathletes in South Wales over the next few months. The first is being held on Sunday 4th December at the International Pool in Cardiff and there just a couple of places still available.
 
The clinic is being led by former elite Ironman Richard Jones and BTF coach Thom Phillips and will focus on technique using an underwater camera system to video and analyse the stroke each swimmer. The clinic will cost &pound;85 and will include:


	a theory session on the fundamentals of an efficient swim stroke
	the filming of each athlete using an underwater camera system
	the demonstration of drills to improve stroke efficiency
	the analysis of your swim stroke using Dartfish analysis software
	a CD of your swim clips
	two swim sessions coached by Richard Jones and Thom Phillips


The course is suitable for triathletes of all levels of ability and experience, you can book directly on thetrilife.com website. There will be a follow up clinic at the beginning of 2012 when athletes will be able to see how they have progressed and move on to the next level of their stroke development.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Swim masterclass with Dan Bullock]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9336.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Congratulations to Kaylea Sutcliffe who was the lucky person we picked out of the hat to go to the Speedo swimming masterclass with Dan Bullock and Keri-Anne Payne at Royles. We sent a camera along to grab some images, check out the Galley link above.
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Aqua Sphere launch Energise compression line]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9297.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Aqua Sphere, the name behind some of the world&#039;s most innovative swimming kit, have announced Energize, a collection of swimwear which is designed to allow competitors to reap the benefits of compression wear during a race as well as in training, resulting in a faster swim.

Comprising three models - a training suit, a speedsuit and a tri-suit - the new Energize compression range from Aqua Sphere works by providing targeted muscle support, enhancing circulation to active muscles, and reducing muscle fatigue &ndash; thereby boosting an athlete&rsquo;s power, speed and stamina. Targeted compression of various muscle groups reduces lactic acid build up, helping athletes to recover faster. &ldquo;This is the first line of swimwear that utilizes advanced compression technology,&rdquo; says Martin Newton, Sales &amp;amp; Marketing Manager, Aqua Sphere UK. &ldquo;Typically water causes materials to lose compression but, excitingly, we&rsquo;ve developed a brand new fabric that maintains its compression properties when wet.  Using Aqua Sphere&rsquo;s exclusive Dynamix fabric, specifically engineered with a hydrophobic surface coating and elastic fibres to support and compress muscles, Energize suits flatten the body using a strategic panel construction that targets specific muscle groups including the quadriceps, hamstrings, hips, waist and abdominal muscles. The result is reduced oscillation during swimming, resulting in a faster swim and improved bike and run performance during the remainder of a triathlon.&quot;

The FINA approved Energize Training Suit enhances active recovery by protecting core muscles and is ideal for swims following long runs or bike rides. Available in a short leg suit for women (SRP &pound;79.99) and training shorts for men (SRP &pound;52.50), each is designed with an anatomical fit to precisely contour to the body and allow for maximum freedom of movement whilst reducing drag and increasing swimming efficiency.

Designed to be worn over a TriSuit for non-wetsuit races, the Energize SpeedSuit (SRP &pound;113.99) helps save energy by compressing the core muscles during the swim leg of a triathlon. Providing a streamlined fit that reduces drag, the SpeedSuit incorporates strategic side panels that work in conjunction with the Dynamix compression textile to reduce muscle vibrations and keep them fresh for the bike and run. Avid triathletes will appreciate the durable, deep-back pull zipper with attached leash that makes it very easy to pull on and off for quicker transitions.

The Energize TriSuit (SRP &pound;129.99) is designed to be worn throughout the entire race. Incorporating the compression properties from the SpeedSuit which maximize speed and efficiency during the swim, the TriSuit also features an internal shelf bra for women, a bioactive fleece chamois for comfort on the bike and a zipped back pocket for easy storage and access to nutrition during the bike and run.

The Energize range from Aqua Sphere will be available in a wide range of men&#039;s and women&#039;s sizes (28 to 40) from 1st February 2012 from select sporting goods retailers, swim shops and tri specialists. For further information call visit www.aquasphereswim.co.uk
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Swim For Tri weekend technique workshops]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9243.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[This weekend of swimming is for athletes of all abilities. There is no minimum or maximum swim ability requirement but please be aware it is not a learn to swim course. From the novice transitioning from breaststroke to front crawl for their first sprint triathlon to ironmen looking to break 50 minutes for the 3.8km swim, these intensive classes are ideal for those needing a major stroke overhaul. The sessions are not distance based, the emphasis is on performing the drills correctly with plenty of recovery time. We recommend that you take a rest day on the Friday before the workshop so that you are fresh to fully focus on the drills we ask you to perform. The day will be tiring mentally as much as physically.

By the end of the workshop you should feel stronger and more relaxed in the water, leaving with a greater understanding of your stroke and what you need to do to continue improving. Our expert coaches will provide you with ample feedback and drills recommendations to help get your swimming on track for a successful season of swimming and racing.

Workshops will be run in Cardiff, Dublin, Galway, Hatfield, Liverpool and Loughborough, for full details see the Swim for Tri website.

SFT are offering a 10% discount to all Tri247 readers till the end of November. Please call our office on 020 7001 7511 to take advantage of this offer. Please note that the lines are only open Monday to Wednesday fom 10am to 4pm and Thursdays from 10am to 1pm. The office is closed on Fridays.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[New goggle from Aqua Sphere]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9216.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Recognised for its relentless pursuit of innovation to enhance the swim experience for everyone,  aquatic expert Aqua Sphere is unveiling the K180 - the first ever hydrodynamic small socket goggle with asymmetrical and anatomical curved lenses, combining outstanding wraparound vision with the most comfortable and natural fit possible.  

Aqua Sphere is highly regarded for the technological excellence of its groundbreaking eyewear which uses clever curved lenses to deliver a full 180 degrees of vision. The K180 is its first ever small socket goggle and it has been devised to not only offer a wider field of vision than current racing or competitive goggles but to deliver superior performance because it sits very close to the eye.  Using an ultra-soft proprietary composite material, the K180 follows the natural line of the eye socket, ensuring the goggles feel completely secure and stable, even during pool dives and turns, and can be worn for extended periods with minimal discomfort. The curved lenses, integrated side loops and low profile buckles also create a more hydrodynamic profile than current options on the market because the latter have flat face lenses and their inherent corners and edges reduce their streamlining capability.

Available with clear or tinted lenses, the K180 is being packaged with a useful protective carry case plus three soft interchangeable nose bridges to enable the swimmer to create their perfect fit.   A K180+ micro gasket version is also being launched for even faster elite-level racing.  Both goggles are also available in Lady versions to offer the best possible fit for the female face.

The K180 and K180 Lady are &amp;pound;19.99 SRP, the K180+ and K180+ Lady are &amp;pound;24.99 SRP. The goggles will be available to buy from good swim shops from February 1st 2012.  For stockist info visit www.aquasphereswim.com/uk]]></description></item></channel></rss>
