Swim coach Cassie Patten has great advice for a busy paramedic who has signed up for a 15km swim

“I am a shift worker and have no idea how to make a training plan work around my shift patterns. I work in the Emergency Services as a paramedic. My shifts run over 15 weeks and are a mix of 12-hour days, nights and late start shifts. Trying to follow a training plan is really hard.

This year I have entered the Dock2Dock 15k. Other than being ‘sensible’ and having a decent amount of months before the event, is there a recommended approach to training when your mind and body may very well be fatigued from shift work? I did the Oceanman 10k in Cyprus last November and just had to be as forgiving to myself as possible. If I was fatigued, then I’d change my swim to suit. It did make me really understand my body and how to treat it. Thanks.” Carl

Cassie’s answer

Firstly, massive respect for the work you do as a paramedic! That’s no small feat, and juggling that with training for a 15k open water swim is tough. I understand how tricky it must be to weave structured training into a demanding schedule.

Training for events when already tired from work is hard so it’s about being as proactive as possible in structuring sessions around your working week plus listening to your body and adapting accordingly.

Here are a few tips and ideas that might help:

1. Ditch the rigid weekly plan. Instead, think in training blocks. For example, over a two-week span you may aim to swim six sessions. Aim to swim a mixture of: two endurance, two technique/recovery and two interval/ threshold workouts. That way, if a brutal night shift wipes you out, you’ve still got a flexible framework to fall back on.
2. Train by feel, not just schedule. If you’re exhausted, it’s okay to swap a tough session for a gentle recovery swim – or even a nap. Fatigue + training = injury waiting to happen. Be kind to yourself and don’t play catch up. If you’ve missed a session it has gone, don’t try and squeeze it back in the next week.
3. Use shorter sessions when needed. Even 20–30mins of focused work (drills, tempo efforts, or technique) can be effective, especially if you’re tight on time or energy. Plus, you will feel better for doing something rather than nothing.
4. Prioritise quality sleep and hydration. It’s easy to forget but good sleep = better recovery = better swims.
5. Speak to a coach. I write training plans for people like yourself. What my swimmers do is tell me what their goal is and I fit it into their schedule for them.

Training for 15k is a great goal, remember what matters most is consistency over time, not perfection every week. You’ve got this!

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Swimming coach Cassie Patten answers a frequently asked reader query about how to prepare for your first ever outdoor swimming event

I have entered an open water event this summer. It’s longer than I’ve ever swam before and I’ve never swam an event in open water. I’m starting to get a bit nervous. Have you got any tips on what I should be doing to prepare myself both physically and mentally?
Suzy

Cassie’s answer:

Congratulations! Entering a long swim is a huge step and feeling nervous is completely normal. I remember my first 10km and I felt exactly the same. The good news is that with the right preparation, both physically and mentally, you can turn those nerves into confidence and make sure you’re ready for the big day.

My motto is “Train smart, not just hard.” Here are some top tips to help you get there.

Gradually build up distance

If your longest swim so far has been in the pool, it’s time to start increasing your distance in manageable chunks. Aim to add 10-15% more distance each week so your body can adapt without risking injury.

Simulate race conditions

Open water swimming is very different from pool swimming. When it gets a little bit warmer start swimming out in open water whether that’s a lake, river, or the sea. This will help you get used to factors like sighting (lifting your head to navigate), currents and water temperature – also outdoor swimming is amazing! Until then you can practice these skills in the pool, every first length in four lift your head like you would be sighting in open water. The more you do it the better you’ll become.

Work on endurance and pacing

In open water, you won’t have pool walls to stop and rest at. Practice swimming at a steady pace for extended periods to build endurance and learn to pace efficiently.

Add in strength and mobility training

Because you’re stepping up the distance, if time allows incorporate dryland exercises like core workouts and shoulder mobility drills exercises to enhance your overall fitness and reduce injury risk. These can be found at the WaveCrest Swimming website or YouTube channel – scan the QR code or search for ‘WaveCrest Swimming’. Now it’s time to train your mind as well as your body…

Practice managing race day nerves

As part of my pre-race ritual, I used to spend time thinking about my upcoming events. I would do this while brushing my teeth or making a cup of tea. The unknown can be intimidating, so run through virtual simulations of event today. It will help you stay calm and enjoy the moment more.

Break it down

Instead of focusing on the full distance, mentally divide the swim into smaller sections. This for me was the most important part of swimming a long distance, I would always break up the swim into laps rather than the actual distance. Where you can do this is to think about reaching the next buoy, getting through the next ten minutes, or just focusing on your breathing. This makes the challenge feel more manageable.

Have a race day plan

Knowing what to expect will reduce stress. Plan your nutrition, warm-up, and pacing strategy in advance. If you’re using a wetsuit, practice getting in and out of it efficiently and finally practice what you were going to feed on in the swim. It is important to be able to train your digestive system as much as it is your body.

I hope all of these tips have helped, and most importantly, enjoy the experience!

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You can still work on your open water skills when you’re training in an indoor pool. Swimming coach Cassie Patten shares her favourite pool drill.

What are the best sets and drills for outdoor swimming for an hour-long pool session?
@danGoodway, via X

Cassie’s answer:

I love open water sighting drills. Swim half a length with your head up, focusing on crocodile eyes and pushing the water down to maintain the correct sighting position. The next length you would swim five strokes with your head up, focusing on crocodile eyes, and then five strokes down repeat this for the entire 25m. Finally, you would swim the entire length sighting every third breath. This is a progressive drill to enable your body to perfect the correct technique. Another idea is to swim an entire session without touching any walls. I turn at the flags and then just keep going. Only do this if there is space in the lane and it is safe to do so.

Cassie Patten is a British freestyle swimmer and Head Coach at Wavecrest Swimming. Cassie won bronze in the 10km open-water event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Read more advice from Coach Cassie.

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“What are swimming drills? I have heard lots about them and there’s hundreds of YouTube videos about them, but I have no idea where to start.” British freestyle swimmer and Head Coach at Wavecrest Swimming, Cassie Patten has your guide

“What are swimming drills? I have heard lots about them and there’s hundreds of YouTube videos about them, but I have no idea where to start. I swim in the open water and in the pool, should I be incorporating drills into my swims? If so, what do you recommend I should try and what should I avoid?”
Alexa, Outdoor Swimmer reader

Well, before we open a Pandora’s box, let’s try and simplify what we mean by swimming drills. I believe a drill is anything that is not full stroke, and its aim is to perfect a singular element of technique by isolating it and repeating it continuously. Little disclaimer here, I don’t necessarily count kicking or pulling as a drill, they are standalone practices.

There are hundreds if not thousands of different drills for the four swimming strokes, from very technically simple drills, for example, swimming with your hands in fists, to extremely difficult and hard to coordinate drills. 

My recommendation is to pick one or two that sit within your swimming ability and focus on them. Each drill will have a specific part of the stroke that it will assist in improving. There can be some overlap in this, for example, the extended doggy paddle drill can work on rotation as well as the catch.

I was a competitive swimmer for close to two decades and I know the tendency to want to pick the easiest drill that takes the least amount of brain power to get the metres done. However, as I matured and understood the reasoning behind drills, I tried to ensure that every drill I did had a clear outcome. 

I always recommend doing them with fins and small finger paddles on, as you don’t want to be getting a lot of propulsion from the broken-down element. If you have a snorkel that is even better as that allows you to keep your head still while focusing on what your arms are doing.

When I’m coaching, I use a handful of tried and tested drills to improve catch and rotation, these are:

• 11 and one – kicking 

• 11 and one – press

• 11 and one – catch

• Extended doggy paddle

• Archer

Simple and easy to follow videos of all these drills, alongside my break down of why you need to do drills, can be found at on my YouTube channel. I hope that helps in unpacking what a swimming drill is and which ones you should do.

Cassie Patten is a British freestyle swimmer and Head Coach at Wavecrest Swimming. Cassie won bronze in the 10km open-water event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Read more advice from Coach Cassie.

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Swimming coach Cassie Patten answers this reader Q about how to prepare for the around-Brownsea Island swim in June – a distance of 6.5km – with very little prior swim training

“I have been lucky enough to get an elusive spot on the around-Brownsea Island swim! But I don’t know how or where to start with preparing for it. It is in June, in about 10 weeks’ time! Which isn’t very long for someone who hasn’t done any proper swimming for about six months.

I have done similar swims in the past, so I know I can do the distance in theory. I have a reasonable front crawl steady pace, will probably take me the full 180 minutes – which is their cut off. I am reasonably fit, but nowhere near what I could be. It currently takes me about 45 minutes to swim a mile. It would be good to improve my swim time a little too.

I will have to do most of my training in a pool as water temperature still too cool. I was never a competitive swimmer, or part of any clubs or masters – so when I look up training plans on the internet I have no idea what I am really looking at. I often just go to the pool and do an hour of front crawl and see how far I can go. But I see training plans that are more about different things like arms and legs, body position. I also get bored swimming in a pool.

When it gets warmer, I have some distance swims planned in my local river with a friend. But what can I start to do now? I have kit – fins, kick board, webbed gloves – but I really am in a ‘all the gear and no idea’ situation. How much swimming should I be doing every week? How best to build up the distance? In the past when training, I have just swum as much as I can and then hoped for the best. But I would love to be in a stronger position this year and maybe enter another event in early autumn/late summer. Any help would be gratefully received.” Deb

Cassie’s answer

How exciting that you have such a great event in the diary! First, don’t panic! 6.5km is manageable with not a lot of training. However, we want it to be enjoyable, not just doable! Let’s go into detail and look at some other things that you mention. I completely understand that if you haven’t had a swimming background, some of the training jargon and kit needed can be quite a lot to take on board. So, what do you need to be doing?

Try and make sure that you are mixing up ‘just swimming’ with some tailored training. Let me explain why. If you get in and swim the same distance at the same pace, you are going to get a bit fitter through the low-level aerobic training, however, you will plateau quite quickly, and you’ll find it harder to get faster or fitter. If you add some intervals where you are pushing your body a little bit harder with punctuated rest intervals, you will find that both your fitness and speed will increase.

Training plan suggestion

A nice simple session to get started is to do a gentle warm-up of around 5-10 minutes and then swim up to 10×100m with 20 second rest, depending on your current fitness levels.

The first four 100s you want to swim at around 4/10 pace, focusing on technique and maintaining a good stroke rate (the amount of your arms go round in a minute). The next three 100s swim at around 5/10 pace, you should feel slightly more out of breath, that is okay. The next two 100s you’re pushing onto 6/10 effort, you may find that you need a little bit extra rest here to begin with, take an extra 5-10 seconds per 100m to allow your heart rate to come down before you push off again.

The final 100 swim at 7/10 effort.

Do this for a couple of weeks, then to make it harder you can either decrease the amount of rest you are having, or start at 5/10 and travel up to a finishing point of 8/10 effort. Finish off with a swim down.

You can do a similar session in open water, but you will go off time rather than precise distances, for example, instead of doing 4/3/2/1 x 100m you could do 10 minutes, then six minutes, then four minutes, then finish off with two minutes. Without seeing you in person, this is a generalised plan.

Without knowing how far you are swimming per week, it is a little tricky to prescribe how much you should be doing. However, a very general rule of thumb is, if you can swim just over your target distance in a week, you can hit that distance in a day. But over 20k this will change. It is important to train for an open water event. Too often I see people thinking ‘I’ll be okay on the day’ – you still have plenty of time to train for this.

I really hope that this helps you and your event goes well. If you want any more information on training programmes, I have a section on my website wavecrestswimming. com which has sample training sessions and I also can provide individualised remote training plans if that is something that you are interested in.

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British freestyle swimmer and open water coach Cassie Patten has advice for avoiding cramps when swimming in open water and staying safe

“I had a terrible experience with a body crunching cramp in my calf in deep water. I needed two people to help me. If I had been swimming alone, I don’t know what I would have done. Since then, I notice I get cramp after swimming for an hour or more. I can’t find a way to get rid of it. I have tried diet, supplements, sport drinks, yoga, rest, massage! I have huge anxiety around long-distance swimming but I want to do a 6.5k event this year, so I need to tackle it. When training I find myself not swimming the big 1k loop at the lake or prefer rivers as I can put my feet down at the edge quicker to stretch if needed. It means I can’t get into a flow-state of training and I give up without training properly. How can I overcome this?”

Cramp is the worst, it is such a debilitating pain and can come out of nowhere. My first advice is to make sure you always are swimming in an environment that is safe and lifeguarded, I know you had some fellow swimmers around you to assist in stretching out your leg, but we want you to be safe.

Let’s talk about the biomechanics of cramp. For those of you that have never felt it is a short, sharp muscle spasm which can occur in the foot or calf. It can be incredibly painful but does release with stretching. Cramp can occur when the muscle is fatigued and has been overused, a common cause of cramp can be dehydration or a deficiency in electrolytes of the blood.

Another cause of cramp convey is the muscle is particularly tight from other forms of exercise or a strenuous previous swim. I coach a triathlon team and I can always tell when they have been doing hard interval training the day before, as several of them will suffer cramp during my training session, especially during a kick set.

You have mentioned you have been working hard to prevent cramp, by staying hydrated and stretching, as it is vital to maintain flexibility in your foot and calf to help alleviate cramp. Are you warming up well before you swim? If not try and factor in a five-minute warmup where you walk on the spot, do some gentle calf raises as well as mobilisations through the legs can help.

My next piece of advice would be to assess your kick efficiency. If you are over kicking or have too much stress at the knee which is pulling on the muscles in your leg, you will be fatiguing quickly which can be the main cause of cramp. My top tip is to think about using your legs as balance, rather than for propulsion. The kick needs to be from the hips and glutes rather than from the knee and hamstring. Watch the video linked below for my top tips on how to kick efficiently. If you are unsure whether your kick needs adjusting please do speak to a local coach or alternatively you could send me a video of your kick and I can analyse it for you.

Try not to become focused on whether or not you’re going to get cramp. The more you think about it the more it will be in your consciousness, I feel like from what you said the cramp is being caused by a combination of an inefficient kick and fatigue due to overuse. Please do seek out a coach and work on the efficiency of your leg kick and fingers crossed that cramp will be a thing of the past.

Cassie Patten is a British freestyle swimmer and Head Coach at Wavecrest Swimming. Cassie won bronze in the 10km open-water event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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British freestyle swimmer and open water coach Cassie Patten has advice for a 79-year-old swimmer training to swim the Henley 5K

“I’m 79, usually fit. Just recovering from a nasty bout of bronchitis, two months now. Nothing left in the tank. I have swum the Henley mile for the past two years, breaststroke, just under an hour. Thought I’d up my game (and ego) this year and have signed up for Henley 5K. After a very short swim this morning the task seems a bit remote, but I’m determined. I want to do the distance front crawl, any advice?”

I really hope you’re feeling better from your bronchitis, it can have a prolonged effect on your lungs, please do not panic!

I love it when people set themselves a challenge, and it is incredibly normal to feel some apprehension upon starting training for a longer event. The fact that you have already swam the Henley mile sets you is great and is a great springboard to step up to a 5K. I would love to assist you in setting some realistic goals and targets to change from swimming breaststroke to front crawl.

Have you ever had any technique lessons? I recommend you try and invest in a couple. A good swimming coach will give you some clear and concise technique pointers to make you more efficient as well as assessing your breathing technique. One of the biggest differences between breaststroke and front crawl is the lack of accessibility to oxygen when your face is in the water. A lot of people don’t realise how quickly you can go into oxygen debt if you’re breathing technique is slightly inefficient. Please see the image (right) on a couple of tips on how to correct your head and breathing to set you up for a successful front crawl.

If you haven’t swam a lot of front crawl before, it is important to gradually introduce it into your training. For example, if you have been training 1000m and the majority has been swum breaststroke, for the first couple of weeks, every one in four lengths should be swam front crawl and the rest continued with breaststroke. After that becomes more manageable make it 50m front crawl, 50m breaststroke. Keep increasing the increments every couple of weeks until crawl becomes easier and more manageable.

The way you train is important; a lot of people go to their local pool or lake and just swim up and down. That is fantastic for mental health and building a baseline of fitness, however, if you want to move to the next level, it is important to include interval training and more endurance-based workouts to your schedule. I know this sounds slightly daunting at first, but there’s lots of information out there including on my website wavecrestswimming.com and outdoorswimmer.com which breaks down how to approach training sessions.

Cassie Patten is a British freestyle swimmer and Head Coach at Wavecrest Swimming. Cassie won bronze in the 10km open-water event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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Swimming coach Cassie Patten recommends a dryland programme for outdoor swimmers to maintain fitness levels through the winter months

“Despite my best efforts my outdoor swims reduce in winter, due to cold water and distance to venues. What can I do to keep my fitness levels up? I’m 73 years old.” Gill

Cassie’s answer:

Hello Gill! A dryland programme is a great addition to a swimming programme and can really assist in keeping your fitness up over the winter.

You don’t need lots of equipment to get a good workout. Exercises that use your own body weight to provide resistance are great to develop strength.

I have created a programme below that uses both weighted and body weight exercises. I have broken the exercises down into three groups: upper body, lower body and core. Watch the videos to see how to perform the exercises safely.

For the any exercises I have not filmed I have explained them below.

Upper body exercises

Tricep dips

You will need a chair placed against a wall to stop it slipping. Start by sitting with your arms by your side and your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Grip the front of the chair seat with both hands.

Then slowly move forward, moving your bottom off the chair. Fully extend your arms and ensure your knees are slightly bent, feet flat on the floor.

Lower your body by bending your arms at a 90-degree angle. Finally, return to the starting position with your arms fully extended.

Press ups

Your hands should be palms-down on the floor, level with your shoulders. Keep your feet together, with the balls of your feet touching the floor.

Next, raise your body to a straight horizontal position by extending your arms. Finally, lower your body until your chest touches the floor. If that is too difficult to start with, lower your knees to the floor and do half press ups.

Watch how to do tricep pushbacks on a cable machine:

Lower body exercises

Squat in streamline position

• Stand in the streamline position, with your ankles, knees and hips in a line, hip-distance apart.

• To start the squat, think about sitting back onto a chair. You want to try and bend your knees to 90 degrees.

• It is important that your ankles, knees and hips stay in alignment and your knees do not either go out or bend closer together.

• Keeping in the streamline position makes you engage your core and therefore makes the exercise slightly harder.

Lunge in the streamline position

Starting again in the streamline position, stand with your ankles and knees both hip-distance apart. Take a step back so your leg can bend to 90 degrees behind you. Think about pressing up through that leg to return to the standing position.

Watch Cassie’s core workout for swimmers:

I would mix your sessions up by alternating one upper body, one lower body and one core workout. To make the sessions harder, you can increase the amount that you are doing per week, or increase theweights used on the lat pull downs. I hope this helps and the water will be warming up again soon!

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“Do you have any tips on getting back into swimming after a virus?” Swim coach Cassie Patten has advice for return to exercise after illness

“I have been on a bit of a journey this year; I was really getting into swimming and my fitness was the best it has been in years. Then two months ago I was struck down with a bad virus which has really hit me hard. For weeks I could not exercise at all, now when I do, I struggle to even do half of the distance that I was able to do three months ago. When I try and push the speed my arms just don’t want to move. I am finding it mentally hard! Do you have any tips on getting back into swimming after illness?”
Paula Smith-Sage

Swim coach Cassie Patten has this answer

I am so sorry to hear this, I can completely understand the frustration you mentioned about losing your fitness. Whenever you have an illness, your body takes time to get back to full health and I believe it is important to listen to what your body is trying to tell you. I know from my own experience when trying to return to exercise after illness, my head is normally raring to get back out there and work hard but the reality of my body’s ability to do that is not always the same. 

As hard as it might be, you need to start again and work up to your previous fitness. For your first few sessions go and do a ‘Dr Feelgood’ session. That is a session where you just go with no expectations on distance and times to hit and you just swim. Take it easy and when you start to fatigue you just stop, regardless of distance. I recommend you repeat this a few times just to get you back moving through the water. If you find it hard to ‘just swim’ then think about implementing a technical focus. Use the lack of intensity to really dedicate some time to your swimming efficiency. 

After a few weeks of not having any intensity to your sessions you can start by building your swims per 50m. It is important to make a mental note to where you can push it to before you start to feel you are losing speed or where it starts to hurt your arms, that will be your top speed for a couple of weeks. You should reassess where this point is every week, an example of this would be to swim a 200m build pace per 50m from 40-60%. If at 60% you feel that you have hit your limit, then hold 60% as your top effort for a couple more sessions before pushing it on again. 

Everyone recovers from illness at their own pace so give yourself time and be kind to yourself. What you want to try and steer clear from is pushing it too hard too soon and getting post viral fatigue. Remember to nourish your body and hydrate well as that can help with recovery. I hope that helps, Paula. I am sending you lots of healing thoughts!

I hope that helps, if you want more information send me an email or a DM on Instagram @cassie_patten_ and I can give you more guidance on what to do.

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Swimming coach Cassie Patten believes the winter months are prime time for focusing on technique and maintaining fitness levels

I love outdoor swimming but I don’t really like swimming in the cold for longer than a quick three-to-five minute dip (which I also love!). I have two big swims planned for 2024 and I wanted to know your views on what to do on the ‘off season’. I can swim indoors if you think that would help me for next year. I plan to keep dipping, but I don’t want to lose all the fitness I have worked hard to gain this year.

Sue

Oh Sue, I feel for you with this. All of the lakes that I use are now firmly in their winter timetable and I have noticed lots of wetsuits and woollies being pulled on. As you mentioned, it is this time of year when the main events have finished and people lose motivation to go training or cannot be in open water for long enough to really feel a training benefit. People tend to call this time of the year the down season, or as you called it the off season. It can been seen as not necessarily being very important.

However, I believe the time between the end of September and the beginning of March is actually the most important training cycle of the year. You mentioned you have big events coming up next year and I read you have been working hard to improve your fitness over the summer. If you back off now then all those gains will slide away. It can be easy to think: ‘Why bother swimming now if I’m not going to be at an event for months, I will pick it back up next year.’ My advice is to reframe it to: ‘If I work hard on my fitness and technique now, think how great I will be next year at my events’.

I agree the winter months can be hard to find the motivation to get up and go swimming, that is why I believe having a training plan already written out with one technical element for improvement can really help you ‘see the point’ in going. Then you use your cold-water dips as your solace as I know how great they are. If you do not normally follow a plan and you are not sure where to start, have a look on the Wavecrest Swimming website.

I have formulated a couple of training sessions for you to have a go at to get started. They do not have to be fancy – a simple warm up, prep set, main set and a swim down is a great starting point.

Finally, I believe it’s really important to have a technique point in mind went swimming. The most common technique inefficiency I see is when swimmers’ hands enter in line with the head, not the shoulder. This can lead to injury as well as being a weak position for your hand to be in when starting the catch. My top tips are to think about entering at 11 and one o’clock to your head at 12 o’clock.

Secondly, think about sliding your fingertips into the water first rather than your thumb leading the entry. This can greatly reduce the likelihood of getting shoulder injuries as well as being in a better position to start moving the water back for the catch.

I hope that helps, if you want more information send me an email or a DM on Instagram @cassie_patten_ and I can give you more guidance on what to do.

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