Episode 5 - an interview with the world's fastest female Ironman swimmer, Lucy Charles and her coach
Swim Smooth
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Navigating Unique Swimming Techniques and Career Insights
A seasoned swimmer shares their journey of mastering a unique stroke technique while navigating challenges in stroke length and frequency. Insights from legendary athletes and coaching advice reveal the complexities of perfecting swimming skills over a long career.
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What an amazing interview we have lined up for you today with the fastest ever female Ironman swimmer, Lucy Charles (UK) and her coach and partner, Reece Barclay (also a professional triathlete)!
Interestingly enough, Swim Smooth’s Head Coach, Paul Newsome’s best mate and former swim training partner (Roy Shepherdson), was one of Lucy’s favourite swim coaches back when she was 14 / 15 years of age and Lucy credits Roy with him directing her away from sprint freestyle into distance freestyle and eventually out into the open water. So we thought it’d be pretty cool to bring Coach Roy in on this chat to give an exclusive never-before-heard account of Lucy’s development as a swimmer to being today one of the best swimmers the sport of triathlon has ever seen! How’s that for a coincidence “small world” scene setting scenario!
In just the first 60 seconds of this podcast, Lucy’s thoughts and comments epitomise everything that Swim Smooth is all about. Listen to how she refutes the need to look pretty to be effective in the water as she very much embodies our “Swinger” Swim Type (www.swimtypes.com):
“People would probably say that my stroke, looking at it from the outside, is a fairly messy stroke - I’ve got a very high turn-over (stroke rate) and I haven’t got much of a leg kick either, so most coaches I ever had would tell me off for not kicking my legs (which I always found quite funny) and no matter what I did - I tried to work on it - but because the front end of the stroke was moving so fast, I just didn’t have the coordination to do that with my legs as well. I think it seems to work pretty well for open water - it’s definitely served me well so far - the key thing is, it might look a little bit messy from above the water but everything under the water is doing what you’re supposed to do and is quite a strong, powerful pull. I think when I was more of a pool swimmer, it was probably a bit of a neater stroke, but I’ve adapted it without really realising it for the open water.”
You can read / watch more about Lucy’s stroke here, including a full analysis by Paul Newsome of her stroke:
Super-Fish Lucy Charles - The World's Fastest Female Triathlete In Water? (July 2016)
We thought it would be even cooler to tag on a short 2 minute segment at the end with an interview between Paul Newsome and Britain’s best ever pool / open water swimmer, David Davies, who took a bronze in the 1500m freestyle in Athens (2004) and a silver in the 10km open water event in Beijing (2008) before famously failing to qualify for the London Olympic Games (2012) due to a new team of coaches who tried to make David look prettier in the water, only to see him do the one thing that his original coach (Dave Haller) said to never do: change what worked for him:
“When I swam 1500m in Athens in 2004 (where he won an Olympic bronze medal) I would swim with 40 strokes per length and a stroke rate of 94spm and that was my optimum stroke rate. I could increase my stroke length and look better, but I could never sustain that. When I met Paul and we had this chat it was like “wow, someone understands me and my stroke”. The way I swam was a little different and I used to swim next to Grant Hackett one of the best freestylers of all time - I looked a little like a rag doll next to him but I came pretty close to him in Athens and that was the best way for me to swim. When I started swimming I had a very experienced coach (Dave Haller) but people used to say I had a spider stroke - a very high turn-over and my hips used to swing a bit - but my coach said don’t ever try and change your stroke - that’s the way you’re supposed to swim.”
You can watch more about David’s stroke here:
https://www.swimsmooth.guru/streamvideo/cLi/cyx/david-davies-on-his-swinger-stroke-style/ (February 2014)
Enjoy and thanks for listening!
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.swimsmooth.com/subscribe
Interestingly enough, Swim Smooth’s Head Coach, Paul Newsome’s best mate and former swim training partner (Roy Shepherdson), was one of Lucy’s favourite swim coaches back when she was 14 / 15 years of age and Lucy credits Roy with him directing her away from sprint freestyle into distance freestyle and eventually out into the open water. So we thought it’d be pretty cool to bring Coach Roy in on this chat to give an exclusive never-before-heard account of Lucy’s development as a swimmer to being today one of the best swimmers the sport of triathlon has ever seen! How’s that for a coincidence “small world” scene setting scenario!
In just the first 60 seconds of this podcast, Lucy’s thoughts and comments epitomise everything that Swim Smooth is all about. Listen to how she refutes the need to look pretty to be effective in the water as she very much embodies our “Swinger” Swim Type (www.swimtypes.com):
“People would probably say that my stroke, looking at it from the outside, is a fairly messy stroke - I’ve got a very high turn-over (stroke rate) and I haven’t got much of a leg kick either, so most coaches I ever had would tell me off for not kicking my legs (which I always found quite funny) and no matter what I did - I tried to work on it - but because the front end of the stroke was moving so fast, I just didn’t have the coordination to do that with my legs as well. I think it seems to work pretty well for open water - it’s definitely served me well so far - the key thing is, it might look a little bit messy from above the water but everything under the water is doing what you’re supposed to do and is quite a strong, powerful pull. I think when I was more of a pool swimmer, it was probably a bit of a neater stroke, but I’ve adapted it without really realising it for the open water.”
You can read / watch more about Lucy’s stroke here, including a full analysis by Paul Newsome of her stroke:
Super-Fish Lucy Charles - The World's Fastest Female Triathlete In Water? (July 2016)
We thought it would be even cooler to tag on a short 2 minute segment at the end with an interview between Paul Newsome and Britain’s best ever pool / open water swimmer, David Davies, who took a bronze in the 1500m freestyle in Athens (2004) and a silver in the 10km open water event in Beijing (2008) before famously failing to qualify for the London Olympic Games (2012) due to a new team of coaches who tried to make David look prettier in the water, only to see him do the one thing that his original coach (Dave Haller) said to never do: change what worked for him:
“When I swam 1500m in Athens in 2004 (where he won an Olympic bronze medal) I would swim with 40 strokes per length and a stroke rate of 94spm and that was my optimum stroke rate. I could increase my stroke length and look better, but I could never sustain that. When I met Paul and we had this chat it was like “wow, someone understands me and my stroke”. The way I swam was a little different and I used to swim next to Grant Hackett one of the best freestylers of all time - I looked a little like a rag doll next to him but I came pretty close to him in Athens and that was the best way for me to swim. When I started swimming I had a very experienced coach (Dave Haller) but people used to say I had a spider stroke - a very high turn-over and my hips used to swing a bit - but my coach said don’t ever try and change your stroke - that’s the way you’re supposed to swim.”
You can watch more about David’s stroke here:
https://www.swimsmooth.guru/streamvideo/cLi/cyx/david-davies-on-his-swinger-stroke-style/ (February 2014)
Enjoy and thanks for listening!
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.swimsmooth.com/subscribe
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