Exciting News

So last week I mentioned that I would hopefully have some exciting news about sponsors. Well now I do. I can now reveal that I have confirmed support from both Swim Smooth and Hammer Nutrition for the 2015 racing season.

First off Swim Smooth, I have spoken long and hard about Swim Smooth on this blog. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Paul Newsome and the Swim Smooth squad are about the best thing to happen to my swimming since heated pools. I used to be a pool swimmer when I was a kid and I spent much of that time trying to swim like somebody I wasn't. How could people kick so much I would ask myself? When I tried to kick that much I got exhausted. Why do I feel like I am flailing about? It wasn't until I started swimming with Paul that I realised that I wasn't swimming incorrectly, just differently. And in this case the the differently was okay, in fact with respect to open water, it may have even been better. Having a coach that didn't just understand those difference, but also worked with them was an eye opener for me. Swimming with Paul and the squad has made the world of difference to me in a leg that I had pretty much given up ever improving a couple of years ago.

I would swim with the squad if I had to fight through bears to get to the pool in the morning (as long as they were small bears - I wouldn't fight through a polar bear or anything, I'm not crazy). Getting support from Swim Smooth just makes it that little bit sweeter.

It would be remiss of me to go on about Swim Smooth without mentioning their new App. There is a link to it in the menu on the left of this page. I talk a lot about how good Paul and the squad is, but that doesn't help a lot if you don't train near a Swim Smooth squad. This is where the App comes in. This App pretty much distills all the Swim Smooth knowledge into one place. One massive, massive place. This App has so much information it makes my brain hurt. Training sessions, entire training plans, drills, fault finders, countless videos, the list goes on. It would have to be one of the best training tools I have ever seen. I use it and I do have access to the squad. I use it for those extra swim sessions were I want to work on something by myself, or if I can't get to the pool in the morning, or when I am away from Perth etc. The information in there has been a big factor in helping me improve my half ironman swim by a couple of minutes over the last 18 months or so. The App has a free 48 hour trial period and I would really recommend having a look for yourself.

Now on to Hammer Nutrition. Similarly to Swim Smooth, this is a company whose products I was already using by choice. So getting support from them is really icing on the cake. Like a lot of gear that I choose to use I went with Hammer because their products just seem to be very well thought out. Spend a bit of time on their website and it is clear that a lot of research has gone into their nutrition. On top of the science there is also very clearly an understanding of what athletes need and want for various different types of events. Racing long and don't want something sweet that after 7 hours is going to make you nauseous to even think about, perfect that is what Perpetuem is for. Racing in hot weather and need extra salts, here is Fizz and Endurolytes. Really their list of targeted nutrition is very impressive. No matter what length or type of event you are planning, pretty safe bet that Hammer will have something for you.

So anyway, that is my bit of exciting news for the day. I am really looking forward to being able to continue to work with both of these great companies throughout 2015.