Welcome to Effortless Swimming, the podcast for swimmers, triathletes and coaches. Join Australian swim coach, Brenton Ford, as he reveals the latest techniques and information to improve your swimming. Let’s dive right in. Welcome to another Effortless Swimming podcast. Today’s guest is a friend of mine who lives up in the northern beaches in Sydney, Paul Bailey, who’s a master swimmer. And I’ve gotten to know Paul over the last couple of years as I’ve run into him at a couple of swim meets and we’ve sort of kept in touch from there. And the reason I wanted to get Paul on today is because it’s been really interesting to see how much has improved over the last couple of years with consistent training and continual focus on technique and skills and someone who’s got a really big goal in sight. So that’s why I wanted to get you on today, Paul. So welcome to the podcast. My pleasure, Brenton. So we ran into each other probably about 18 months ago, I think, at a national master’s meet.

And we said hello and then we kind of got talking about where you’ve come from and where you’re at at the moment with your training and fitness and all that sort of stuff. So for those that are listening, if you could give them a bit of a backstory as to where you started a couple of years ago and where you’re at now because I think it’s really interesting as to what you can do with consistent training and hard work. Mate, during the 1980s and from the 1980s, I had an uncle who’s had a fairly major impact on me. And I went to Newcastle that he was a policeman in Sydney and he swam with Riga Masters. Anyway, come 2007, I was looking to make some changes in my life and just that impact that this particular uncle had on me as a swimmer. I decided that I was going to take up swimming for the first time since I was in year six in 1978. So you spent a long time out of the pool. Yeah, a long time out of the pool.

As far as squads and competitive swimming, I’ve been a member of some local surf club since about 2000 or the early 2000s. And I’d just be a casual lap swimmer. I’d just duck down and do okay and not really time myself or have any particular structure and probably just knock out a cane a day in about 20 minutes. But that was about it for a long time. And then you started to get into Masters swimming a couple of years ago. And if you can explain for the listeners. So where are you at in terms of your times and in terms of your fitness and where have you gone to now in the last couple of months? In 2007, I find for myself a 400 meter freestyle is a pretty good benchmark for improvement for me. Because if they’re the ones that I gauge my form off or my fitness off. Yep.

Early 400 meter swims, I was swimming around the 7 minute 30 mark. At the nationals that you spoke about where we met, I think I swam a 706. So that’s about 18 months ago.

Sometime afterwards, I break the 7 minute barrier. But in the last four months, I’ve brought it down from around 706. I think it is to, in August, I did the last 400 meters swimming. I’ve brought it down to 6 minutes 15. So in the last year and a half or so, certainly not nearly a minute off from a time over 400 meters. Yeah. And that’s a huge improvement. And like that’s the, I think that’s really where consistency comes in with training. So have you, I mean, that’s a huge jump from 7, let’s say 716 in 2012 and now down to 615. So especially like the last couple of months, it seems like your times have really dropped. So what’s been the biggest difference? So let’s say a year, two years ago to this year. Has it just all started to come together for you? Like is the hard work just, is it really starting to pay dividends now? Or where’s it, what’s it come from? It’s an interesting, that is actually an interesting question.

It’s a combination of a lot of things coming together, I think. I’ve been working a lot for the last couple of years and getting bits of information here and there. I get it, like you’re familiar that I’ve watched a lot of the swimming stuff and attended one of your courses. And it’s just been a gradual knowledge build up to the extent that I probably came to a bit of a crescendo about four or five months ago. And I started to understand how the strokes are supposed to be a lot better. There were some fundamental flaws. I had even a technique that I wasn’t aware of. And now I know what I was doing wrong. Now I’m just gradually trying to correct that there is up any stroke mechanics. Yeah, that’s awesome. I mean, it takes, and I know that from just coaching as well, like it’s a, you never stop learning. And you’ve just got to, you know, you continually learning new things or understanding different parts about the stroke.

And then something will click. And especially if you get feedback with your own stroke. And I know you get regular one-on-ones with a really, really good Aussies from Mitch Patterson. And, you know, so you’re always there with constant feedback and coaching just to understand your own stroke. And I think that’s really important for someone who wants to get better is rather than just relying on their own, hoping to understand their stroke just by sort of figuring it out. Having someone else point things out can really make a big difference. Yeah, definitely. And finding someone that’s really good at identifying any technical improvement you can make, but finding someone that’s really good at relying how to make those changes, I found it was really crucial with Mitch and he’s very good at that. Yeah, so you find that you sort of click with Mitch and you get his way of explaining things. He’s a very, very nice bloke and he has definitely got a gift for swim coaching.

Yeah, that’s fantastic. And I know that, I mean, with all this training you’ve been putting in, you’ve also dropped a lot of weight, eating healthier and just generally living a healthier lifestyle. So what sort of changes have you made to your diet in the last couple of years? And I’ve cut out alcohol in 2009. I had an experience there that I’ll just share that a lot of my first-class personal friends are aware of. I actually spent 10 days in a detox unit at Wail. I had been drinking too much and after my father passed away, I actually got addicted to Zanex and anxiety medication. And after spending 10 days in there and I’m fortunate enough to say it’s nearly six years and I haven’t touched any alcohol since then. And I also decided that, because I was 146 kilos when I walked out of that place, I decided I was going to make a fairly dramatic lifestyle change. And for the last 18 months on and off, when I need to, I’ve been seeing nutritionists

and my diets are fairly clean these days. And you’d say I’ve probably got a fairly high protein low carb diet. But I’ve been able to manage to drop from 146 kgs down to 110 kgs at the moment. That’s a massive drop in weight, like 36 kilos. And what I think is good also is it’s a gradual thing. It’s not like you’ve dropped that in six months. It’s not crash diet. It’s just keeping a healthier lifestyle. So you must be feeling a million bucks compared to what you were like a couple of years ago. I didn’t expect to be running around as in going through reasonably long runs. Maybe ever again, I couldn’t imagine myself doing it eight years ago or whatever. But I now actually enjoy going through long runs. There’s a bit of other stuff. I’ve been swimming. I’ve got three complete fitness pairs of some rotator cuff tendons when I was down at Angelong for the Australian Masters Games last year. So the physio weight training has been pretty important with me too.

Yeah, so you’re in the gym quite a bit. Do you think that’s contributed to your improvement in times? I wouldn’t rule it out. I’d have to say it has because I know I’ve got stronger in the last 12 months. Yeah, definitely. I think that’s another thing is the guys that I coach at PowerPoints, the ones who start doing gym, generally their speed improves with it. Because strength, especially for adults, anyone over early 20s, you can get away with a bit of a lack of fitness if you’ve still got the strength there. So it’s really important for adults from as I think, because you can get a certain amount of strength from training in the pool, but to take it to the next level you’ve really got to get in the gym or just doing stuff outside the pool and more weight-bearing exercises. Yeah, I find too that my shoulders still feel pretty sore after I’ve had a session with the squatters when we did the morning. And I worked from home so I’m lucky enough that I can duck off in the middle of the day

and just do a gym session. But I find those gym sessions are really good for working the soles out of my shoulders. Yeah, right. It’s really good because with swimming you’re not working all of your muscles. You’re working some a lot more than the other side. It really helps to balance them out by working the opposing muscles to what you’re using in swimming. Yeah, that’s fantastic. Another thing I want to ask you, and I like asking people when they get back into swimming, is why have you chosen swimming as the sport that you’re undertaking? What’s swimming in particular? Part of it’s probably the area I’m living on. I live on the northern beaches in Sydney. I’ve actually lived just across the road from the lake and the beach is probably only less than a kilometer away. I guess to a certain extent it’s a lifestyle thing. At the time when I was looking to take up a sport too, I was way too heavy to probably participate in any other sport.

So looking back I guess weight was a big factor with me. That and the fact when I was a young filler, I really, when I was in primary school, when I was swimming with squads, I really did enjoy swimming. And it was one of the sports that I enjoyed the most when I was younger. For those that don’t know where the northern beaches in Sydney are like, it’s this dreadful place in New South Wales that’s near the beach, it’s near the city and there’s pretty good weather to match it. It’s such a great place to be able to train and swim with the beaches there, really nice pools and some pretty good weather all year round. So it’s the perfect place to be swimming I think. And down here in Melbourne we’re very jealous. I had Chloe McCartle on the podcast last week and we were just talking about the Bay here, which can get under 10 degrees, which isn’t much fun. So you guys have it pretty good. And that’s why coming up there, I think it’s January,

February for a four-day swim trip up in the northern beaches. Up your neck of the woods. So you’ve given me some recommendations for a couple of swims and a couple of beaches there. So I’m really looking forward to experiencing what it’s like to live a week in the life of Paul Bailey. Thank you to you. That’s a great part of the world up there, especially for swimming. What are some of your favourite swims up that way? I’m a member down at Manley’s Earth Club. So I spend a bit of time there. But Manley’s at the southern end of a beach on a point. But around from the point there’s a bay called Cabbage Tree Bay, which goes across to a beach called Shelly Beach. And it’s barely calm when you’re around the point. It’s probably at a 750-metre swim across the Shelly Beach. And it’s actually a marine reserve. And you swim over big rock shells, and you’ll see big blue granter and thousands and thousands of, like, tropical fish.

And normally the water’s really, really clear. So there’s been a couple of dolphin encounters too there the last couple of years. So it made its pretty magic part of the world where you’ll be swimming there. There’s a group called the Bolton Booth. Beautiful, actually, that swim there at 7 o’clock every morning. And they get 100 or more to swim there every day from 7 to, I think, about 7.30 when they get back at Manley Beach again. Oh, and that’s every day. May they go every day 365 days again. How good is that? I was up in Sydney last year just for a couple of days. And so I went down to the Bondi Iceberg pool just for a swim. The water was still a little bit fresh, but, say what, it’s just one of the best ways to start the day over there is just to swim in the ocean or the icebergs there at Bondi, which is like an enclosed pool which is sort of fed from the ocean. And yeah, it was just so nice there. You’re refreshed, you’re feeling good,

you’ve done your exercise and ready to start the day. So it’s a really good lifestyle up there in the northern beaches. And I find mentally, it’s really good to get out and have a swim in the ocean pools. But actually, I was actually having a swim about 15 minutes before we started our chat. I’m just trying to rub it in now, are you? Yeah, that’s beautiful. I mean, we had, the water’s still too cold here really to be doing any long distances in the water. But I mean, we had a really nice day. We were just coming into summer and we had a really nice day last weekend. So everyone’s attitude changes. Everyone’s happy and smiling and loving life when the weather’s good. So if you’re in a beautiful place like the northern beaches and you can have that kind of lifestyle, it is, it’s fantastic mentally. And I think that’s why everyone loves summer so much is just the weather and that lifestyle. Boy, it can make a big difference.

So that’s awesome. And just one last thing we’ll cover is what’s your sort of, you don’t have to share this with men and the listeners if it’s something you want to sort of keep yourself. But do you have like a big sort of goal in mind that you’re training towards where that you sort of chose when you first started? No, I think I just, as I’m going along there I’m getting a better understanding of my swimming. I think I just re-evaluated my goals when I sort of, I guess, the use of a better word reach a new level. So now that I’ve got the sixth, 15, so I had the 400 metres, I wanted to say the next goal would be to break six minutes and then once I do that, I’ll re-evaluate it from there and just keep going until I can’t keep improving, I guess. But I also, I’m talking about what is really challenging as a straight two and seeing as Mitch, I trained with on a Sunday morning, seeing as he’s such a good national level open buzzlier

and spent a lot of time working at improving the buzzline with Mitch and had what challenge really is doing the longer distance butterfly events like the 200 and I have set myself a reasonably hard challenge to the pain that’s in November next month. The first four events of the program were all 400 and I wanted them back to back. That’s going to be a big day. That’s going to be a very big day. I think the 200 butterflies on that day as well. Awesome. So I’m starting off with a 400 butterfly, out of the water into your 400 IM, then a 400 back and then a 400 breast, and maybe a risk for a couple of hours and then a 200 butterfly. Oh my God, that’s unreal. That’ll be your will event you did that night, that’s for sure. I won’t be putting any pressure on myself time-wise in any of those events right now. No, just get it done, stay relaxed and look forward to the next event. I love the approach of just set your goals

a little bit ahead of where you are and then work towards it, hit that goal and then reevaluate. I think that’s rather than having a goal which could be five years off, which can be a bit daunting and sometimes may not motivate you as much as something that’s just within your grasp. I really like that shorter term goal and train for that and then reevaluate. That’s a great way to go about it. It suits me. Yeah, and what works for you is the best way to go. So that’s fantastic. Well, Paul, thanks for joining me on the podcast and sharing where you’ve come from and where you are now because I know a lot of people are working hard at training and wondering whether or not they can find improvement in their times. So I think you’re a really good example of someone who’s putting in the work and looking to understand more about swimming and technique and training and going about it the right way. So you’ve done an awesome job so far

and I know you’re continuing to train hard and putting the effort. So thanks again for joining me on the podcast and I’ll see you around the pool sometime, I’m sure. We’ll be seeing each other next Sunday week if not Scrammer Pearl. We will. It’s even closer than I thought. So, yeah, in about a week’s time. That’d be awesome. So thank you again and we’ll see you in a bit over a week. Thanks, Steve’s mate. It’s been great. Thanks for joining us on the Effortless Swimming Podcast. To get transcriptions, bonus videos, and to be the first to hear about new episodes, go to SwimmingPodcast.com.