Welcome to the Renaissance Swimmer blog. Dive in to get a taste of some of the concepts behind Renaissance Swimmer.
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How to Learn More From an Average Swim Than a PB
Don’t treat your average swims as failures. Use them to learn instead.
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Drafting in swim training – is a 5 second gap sufficient?
Improve your training by understanding when to draft, and when not to
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Finding Flow in Swimming
How to create the conditions to enter a flow state while swimming
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Get Faster, Slowly
How to make progress in swimming through patience and finding joy in the process
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Why You Should Sprint More
And How to Plan a Sprint Training Session At masters swim training, sprints are often an afterthought – literally something added into the last few minutes of the session. That’s not necessarily a bad idea. Practising changing pace when you’re tired is good for developing a finishing sprint at the end of an open water…
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Swim Paddles: Dangerous in the Wrong Hands?
A brief guide to swimming with paddles
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Do You Have an Annual Swimming Distance Target?
Having an annual distance target can be a great motivator for consistent swim training – but there are downsides
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Why Training for a Single Goal Might Be Holding You Back
Instead of chasing one challenge at a time, try creating routines that keep you fit, ready, and connected year-round. When I talk to people about swimming goals, they often speak about challenges they want to do or speeds they want to achieve. The conversation may then turn to how they will go about achieving that…
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How “Renaissance Swimmer” came about
And How Embracing a Renaissance Swimmer Approach Could Transform Your Swimming Life After writing “Swim Wild & Free: A Practical Guide to Swimming Outdoors 365 Days a Year”, I wanted to create something to help people with a wider range of swimming activities. My interests in swimming range from 50m pool sprints to marathon swims,…
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Why is a 1500m Pool Swim so Hard?
The 1500m is neither a sprint nor a marathon, yet it’s arguably more challenging than either
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Why You Should Take a Break from Swimming
A carefully managed period of lighter training now could help you swim stronger next summer.
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How Giving Back Can Deepen Your Swimming Journey
Giving back adds significance and meaning to your swimming Last Saturday, I went to the annual Aspire Channel Swimmers’ dinner – a celebration of (and for) swimmers who have raised nearly £350,000 in 2025 for Aspire, the spinal injuries charity. Most of this comes from English Channel relays. Other swims include Solent crossings and swims…
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How Public Speaking is like Winter Swimming
Winter swimming and public speaking both involve trepidation, discomfort, enjoyment and euphoria. Practising one helps with the other.
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Sub 60 by 60
How I finally broke the minute barrier, and what I learned along the way On my 59th birthday, I swam 100m freestyle in 59.87 seconds at Swim England’s National Masters Championships in Sheffield. It was the first time in my life that I’d broken the minute barrier – a significant milestone for many competitive swimmers…
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Winter Swimming, Dimes and Steamrollers?
Cold water swimming offers fun and lots of benefits, but the environment is potentially deadly. Learn when to step away. We’re currently running a winter swimming course at Outdoor Swimmer, and it’s been a good refresher for me on both the benefits and risks of plunging into cold water. I’m a late convert to winter…