Swim courses and Training for Adults
About
In partnership with Swim Coach Alec Richardson, we offer a range of courses for adults to improve and get more out of their swimming, be it getting a full-on hours workout in a lane or learning the basics of Front Crawl
The courses are delivered by a very experienced team:
Alec Richardson – Level 2 Open Water Swim Coach and Bristol Channel swimmer
Caroline Blunt – Proprietor of Waves Swim School
Charlie Stockford – Proprietor of Paddlefish Swimming
Caroline and Charlie teach and coach the Beginners and Improvers courses, and have a great deal of experience and patience to draw upon to help you progress. Alec runs the squad training lanes and uses his competitive and open water swimming background to make them demanding, but a bit more fun than a traditional Masters club.
There is a full range of courses from learning to swim Front Crawl, through to challenging swim-fit style training sessions (more details of each of the courses can be found below)
The courses mostly happen on Tuesday and Thursday evenings between April and July, and again in September and October.
These courses are booked as blocks a few weeks before they begin (not pay as you go) and fill up very quickly. To find out more about the courses and how to book, please follow “Alec Swim Coach” on Facebook, and follow his Organiser page on Eventbrite. If you have any questions, please use the contact form below.
https://www.facebook.com/alecswimcoach
Alec Richardson Events - 5 Upcoming Activities and Tickets | Eventbrite
Cold Water Swimming Introduction Sessions
Alec is also an avid Cold Water Winter swimmer, and strongly believes that it has many potential benefits for both physical and mental health. However, cold water needs to be respected and the effect it has on your body needs to be understood if you are to enjoy it safely.
So, on most weekends during the Pool’s Cold Water season, Alec runs “Introduction to Cold Water” sessions. These start with a talk and discussion covering the potential benefits, the physiology, and the approach and kit needed to fully enjoy cold water immersion. Then you get to have a supervised dip to experience it first hand (no need to be able to swim). Most people then warm up in the café afterwards.
If you are at all curious then getting educated before you begin is the best investment you can make.
More details and booking here:
Alec Richardson Events - 5 Upcoming Activities and Tickets | Eventbrite
What Courses are on Offer?
Squad – Swim-fit style Lane Training
Tuesdays at 7:00pm or 8:00pm, or Thursdays at 8:00pm, or WEDNESDAY MORNING at 6:45am
This is a full-on swim workout. You are a competent front crawl swimmer and can comfortably manage 1500m or more in an hour, though of course you would still like to improve your technique. When you swim in a lane in a public pool, you wish you could get more out of it rather than just plodding up and down having to awkwardly work around the other swimmers in the lane.
These sessions are designed to be varied and interesting, broken into blocks of differing pace and intensity. There will always be a technique focus point to work on, and the chance to improve your other strokes too. Sessions vary between 1700m and 2500m depending on the lane which suits you best, but the lanes are grouped so that you work well with the other swimmers to motivate each other.
Beginners Front Crawl – Tuesday at 7:00pm or Thursday at 7:00pm
You are generally happy and confident in the water, even when out of your depth. You can breaststroke your way up and down a pool, but front crawl eludes you. Either you can’t do it at all, or you can do a few strokes, but don’t get far before you have to stop and are gasping for air.
You would like to be able to swim a couple of lengths of front crawl with your face in the water and master breathing as part of the stroke, without panic setting in. Then be able to turn around and do it again after a short rest or get a few lengths in broken up with breaststroke and front crawl to increase your distance and fitness.
Improvers Front Crawl - Tuesdays at 7:00pm or 8:00pm or Thursdays at 8:00pm
You’ve got the basics of the stroke sorted. It looks and feels like front crawl, and you can just about manage four lengths of a pool without needing to break into breaststroke to breathe. But it exhausts you and you need a long rest before attempting it again. You really feel that you aren’t getting much propulsion from your stroke and would love for it to be relaxed and “easy”.
You would ultimately like to be able to swim front crawl for ten lengths of the pool without stopping, and without your stroke falling apart as you get tired. You are also a little curious about other strokes and fancy having a go at improving them too. Ideally, you’d like to reach the stage where you could get a reasonable workout in the pool and get in some distance and build your swim fitness.
Development Pod - Tuesdays at 8:00pm or Thursdays at 8:00pm
You can swim competently and just about manage to plod up and down a pool doing front crawl for a kilometre with the occasional rest, but you only ever swim at one speed. There is plenty of room for stroke improvement (there always is!) and you’re also happy interchanging with the odd length of backstroke or breaststroke.
You would like to get much more out of an hour in the pool. You would like it to feel like a proper workout and learn how to vary the pace and intensity of your swimming. You’d like to increase your distance and learn how to train, rather than just swim - perhaps for an event or to seriously improve your swim fitness.