1. Attendance at training sessions

Swim training increases your enjoyment of the sport, improves your ability to swim faster and helps you become a better swimmer. We offer 4 training sessions each week and if you want to be a really develop as a swimmer two sessions per week is the minimum attendance required to do that. The 4 training sessions offer swimmers the opportunity to swim approximately 10,000 metres a week. Younger swimmers will obviously do less than this, but as you get stronger your body and mind will gradually adapt to the increase. Special training sessions and courses on specific topics are held on Sunday.

2. Time Keeping

Please make every effort to be ready on time to commence training. Arriving late is disruptive to others and it means that the important warm up part of the training session is missed. This can lead to swimmers failing to enjoy or complete the session as they are too exhausted. They can also potentially get injured because they haven’t warmed up properly.

3. Main Set

Improved competitive performances will only come about through training. The main set is a crucial part of swim training when the tempo increases considerably from the warm up. The reason for increasing the intensity of training is to help the swimmers’ cardio vascular system – your heart and lungs - to adapt to swimming faster and to prepare for competitive swimming. When swimming in a race, depending on the distance, the pulse rate of the swimmer will be approximately 160 to 200 beats per minute. In warm up it will be 120 /130 beats per minute. During the main set it will increase, depending on the intensity of the session, to between 130 and 170 beats per minute. Training at this intensity can be really hard work but if you want to improve it will only come about through completing the set without breaking off to go to the toilet or taking longer rests than requested. If you stop in the middle of the main set then it is virtually impossible to get back into the rhythm again and the benefit of the session is lost. The training set is put together with different abilities in mind. If you’re struggling to complete the set in the time, please discuss this with the coach and you can always drop to a lane with a longer recovery time if necessary.

4. Swimming Technique

Fairly simple changes in training can improve swimming performance. If swimmers streamline during starts, push offs and turns seconds can be shaved off race times. Pushing off streamlined means pushing off the wall with one hand on top of the other and not hands apart as many swimmers do. Swimmers often fall down in races because of poor starts and turns but if they are practiced properly in training then they will come naturally in competition. If swimmers complete racing turns in every set performance will improve considerably.

Please remember to leave a gap ( approximately 5 seconds) between each swimmer on push off or start or at least allow the swimmer in front to get beyond the flags before starting.

5. Swimming Equipment

Swimmers are asked to arrive at every swimming session, and to poolside with Floats, Fins and Paddles. It’s the responsibility of the swimmer to organise their floats and other swimming equipment and have them on poolside ready to use during training sessions. Floats, Fins and Paddles can be purchased at a reasonable cost from the Portland Shop. Examples of all the equipment are kept at Portland.

6. Drinks

One of the side effects of hard training is dehydration and this can cause swimmers to feel exhausted and prevent them completing training sets. So please think about drinks when packing your swim bag, but also remember to drink the fluids and don't leave them in your bag, or by the poolside, untouched.

7. Swimming Competition

Many swimmers in the club clearly enjoy galas, competing against others swimmers and clubs. Given the size of the club and the limited number of swimmers, Portland does exceptionally well in swimming competitions. However, just a little bit more commitment, focus and enthusiasm in training could make a substantial difference to your performance in galas. So if you are a competitive swimmer try and work hard in training, attend as many training sessions as possible and you will come away from swimming Galas with a real sense of achievement.

This page was last updated 15-Feb-2010