Sean and I were chatting on our call this morning about lists of 'The hardest' etc and we gave it a bit of thought. First up is our top 10 Scottish Triathlons of all time ( well in the 35 years we have been part of it). 1. Abefreldy - just has to be. 70.3 is the racers distance on a tough course in one of the most scenic parts of these islands. 2. Celtman - this is a really special one for far too many reasons but it is genuinely up there with the hardest races on the planet. Location is magnificent, Course is challenging, the feel and vibe of the thing just enthralling 3. Aviemore - yeah its off road but the Long Hard Durty has history. Originally based in the borders it was a bit of a 'cult classic'. Now established in the fabulous Cairngorm national park its possibly the most beautiful location. It is also a racers race, so that ticks some boxes. 4. Gullane beach - possibly the most challenging Std you are likely to race. Beach swim, sand dunes to run through and on and a rolling technical bike. Its a classic 5. Bishopbriggs - one of only 2 pool swims to make the list. The only fully closed road race in Scotland. Superbly run, beginner friendly and still draws full aero set ups. Sells out as soon as it opens for good reason. 6. Craggy Island - sadly no more. An off road classic. The original version where you had to swim to the island from the mainland made this a genuinely unique experience. 7. Ayr Sprint ( now replaced with Irvine) - another unique race run by the super guys at Ayrodynamic tri club. Two features - a river swim upstream and downstream and riding on the Electric brae ( an optical illusion where you have to hit the wee ring and pedal hard on what looks like a downhill) 8. Monikie - another hard Std distance. Lake swim and run in a country park with a challenging bike route. Not a lot extra just a solid race experience 9. Lochgilphead - low key and family friendly but the mention here is this race helps ensure that pool stays open! 10. Loch Lomond - this is gone now too due to traffic but it was a proper jewel in the crown. Swim in the famous loch and then a super fast bike course. Always produced something. The year they mismeasured the swim and it went from 1500 to 2200 was great for the swimmers

The first thing to do is to build confidence in the environment and that will only happen by being in it so if you swim once in openwater and turn up for a race there is a fair chance it won't go well. Open water confidence is a learned skill and develops when your brain repeatedly experiences ' I've done this many times and handled it successfully'. The people we all know that handle chop and current better have that track playing. So the 4 sports psyche ways to build confidence 1. Mastery experiences - completing progressively longer and or harder swims.Each success updates the brains prediction that the OW is manageable 2. Vicarious experience - swimming with confident, experienced people and watching them handle the conditions tells us its controllable 3. Physiological regulation - learning to interpret rapid breathing or raised HR as normal and not a panic cause. Actually had this with Judy this morning - she felt as if breathing is a struggle. It is just different so accept it and crack on without focusing on it as a negative. It is what it is. 4. Prep. If you need take the time to get in early. Float, tread water, practice sighting before you go Every calm well executed swim adds another reference that the brain can draw on so with time we know the upcoming swim is within our experience. We swim in all weathers that way when we glimpse the expanse its just a big pool with sometimes a wee wave machine. The next part - getting faster. So simply being confident - its not dark, its not cold, its not far means we can then channel all the effort mental and physical into the movement patterns. There are 4 main areas to tackle 1. Sighting - the act of lifting the head to sight breaks the flow of the stroke and disrupts the body line. The name of the game then is to minimise the disruption so use landmarks, kayakers and other swimmers to side sight on as well as looking up so you can look up less. Learn to sight with crocodile eyes rather than lifting the head and chest right up. It also helps to 'kick through' to minimise the drop of the legs. You can combine a sight with a breath - that may need a video. You can also practice it in the pool. 2. Adapting the stroke to the conditions. A lot of fast pool swimmers favour a more languid glidey stroke which is grand if there is no chop or wind. Any buffet or slap will kill the momentum so the normal smooth passage disappears. 3. Stroke rate - the data shows many ( not all) drop their stroke rate in openwater. If you use a garmin it will show you only 1 arm so typically we see say 26 - thats 26 cycles so actually 52 strokes per minute. In the pool your recorded SR is also showing low as you lose at least a stroke at each turn so if you are 52 then in the pool its more like 54. If you slow the rate down outside ( cos its a long way) then if you hold the same amount of water you will slow down and the converse is also true. 4. Swim longer reps - back to 'fake fast' we do need to include some longer reps as we do slow down over distance - so by long thats anything north of 400's.

Having spent over 3 decades in daft outdoor pursuits I have seen ( and made) probably every mistake in the book. There isn't a week goes by when someone does something to limit progress. Without thinking about it super analytically here are my favourites. In no particular order 1. Not being consistent and doing the boring stuff. Being distracted by the fun stuff - fine now and again but i its a feature it will limit progress. 2. Under Fuelling. Not just in sessions but every day. One that popped up for me personally simply not eating enough protein. 3. Doing the hard sets too easy and the easy sets too hard. This links to number 1...I just joined the boys for a chain gang..next days Vo2 session couldn't do it. 4. Skipping the sessions that target your weakness and always playing to the current strong suit 5. For triathlon - viewing it as 3 sports rather than a 'linked system'. If your weakness ( see 4) for example is the swim and you fail to address it, there will always be a limit on how well the whole system improves

Friday, in the water for 4:30pm see you there!

White Loch this Friday. In the water for 4:30 pm. All welcome!