That Triathlon Show

Brenton Ford is a swim coach and the founder of Effortless Swimming, one of the most well-known and well-respected resources of swimming knowledge for triathletes and open water swimmers. Especially for adult-onset swimmers without a swimming background. In today’s interview we start with an in-depth discussion of swim technique, before diving into specifics for open water swimming, training structure, and more. This episode is packed with information, and you’ll have a great chance of finding some advice applicable to your own situation that can help you improve your swimming. 

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: 

• The hierarchy of needs for improving your triathlon swimming: breathing, body position and tautness, rotation, catch and pull, timing and rhythm
• Common mistakes triathletes make in each of these areas, and how to fix them
• What to do when your technique looks good, but you’re not getting faster anyway?
• Swim technique modifications and specific training advice for open water swimming
• How much of swim technique and feel for the water is trainable, and how much is innate talent? 
• Training structure: when and how to incorporate technique work, threshold and VO2max sets, and endurance sets within your triathlon swimming program. 
• Listener questions

DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES: 

• We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you’ve already listened to an episode. 
• The shownotes for today’s episode can be found at https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts697/

LINKS AND RESOURCES: 

• Please support Effortless Swimming and That Triathlon Show by getting the best swim goggles on the market at shop.effortlessswimming.com. Use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.
• Effortless Swimming website, Youtube, podcast and Instagram
• Technique improvement and swim training for triathletes with Brenton Ford | EP#320 – Brenton’s previous appearance on That Triathlon Show

WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT?

If you enjoyed this episode, I think you’ll love the following related episodes:

• Power Rankings – Our top five sessions to improve your triathlon swimming
• Beginner Series 5 – Swimming for Beginner Triathletes
• Swim Types and Fault Fixers with Swim Smooth’s Paul Newsome | EP#188
• Open water swim training with Olympic gold medal coach Marcel Wouda | EP#246

You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc.

You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I’ve done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: 

• The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we do
• Contact us through our contact form or email me directly (note – email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)
• Subscribe to our Newsletter
• Follow us on Instagram
• Learn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals. 

HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? 

I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. 

• Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.
• Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far! 
• Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).
• Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. 

SPONSORS: 

• Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout.
   
• Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial.
   
• Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn’t wear off. Don’t let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.

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