John Kenny: How to Become an Open Water Swimmer-ep. 93
Love swimming? Ever wanted to become an open water swimming?
Stop Being Your Own Worst Enemy
On the Open Sky Fitness podcast this week, Rob and Devon had a motivating discussion about how important it is to stop being your own enemy by limiting yourself from thinking positively and from reaching your goals. Even if you don’t think you are limiting yourself, you probably are without even realizing it. Both Rob and Devon give great, personal examples and advice on how to better understand yourself and overcome any mental obstacles that are getting in the way of you becoming who you want to be in life.
How to Become a Better Swimmer
Today’s podcast is about swimming and Rob spoke with one of the top athletes and coaches in open water swimming, John Kenny, about how to train and compete in an open water swim. John talks about personal training experiences and shares his advice on how to plan a workout; what to eat before and during a swim; and good swimming technique to be able to improve your freestyle stroke and endurance in the water. If you want to add swimming to your workout or train for a specific event such as an open water competition or a triathlon, this will be a very helpful podcast for you to listen to.
About John Kenny
John is from a competitive swimming and running background. He competed in both sports at the high school and later at the college level for Cornell University. He competed in swimming for Cornell for 4 years and where he was a 1-time MVP. During his college days and beyond, John found his niche in the sport of open water swimming. John was a 5-time US National champion in distances ranging from 10K up to 25K. He was a 7-time National team member and has competed at a wide variety of races including Nationals, Olympic trials, Pan Ams, Pan Pacs, World Cups, and World Championships.
He has been competing at local open water races since 1990, attended his first Open Water Nationals in 1997, and most recently represented the USA in the 25K at World Championships in 2008. John Kenny is the most experienced open water swimmer in the United States, if not the world. Other coaches in the triathlon realm claiming to be “open water experts” do not come close.
Beginning in 2005, John began to race professionally as a triathlete. Although it took him awhile to develop his cycling skills, he has recently begun to experience more success in multisport events. Aside from winning many swim primes at major races such as 70.3 races and Lifetime Fitness races, John is almost always the first out of the water, even at the highest level of the sport. Now, we works as an open water trainer helping fellow athletes prepare for races and triathlons via the organization Fall Creek Racing.
Free Book Giveaway
Last week we announced our raffle to win a copy of Shawn Stevenson’s book, Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to A Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success. We still have three copies of the book to give away and all you have to do is leave us a review, take a screen shot, and email the screen shot with your US home address to rob@openskyfitness.com.
What You’ll Hear on This Episode
0:00 Open Sky Fitness Introduction
1:15 Opening Remarks by Rob and Devon
4:40 How to stop limiting thoughts and being your own worst enemy.
10:50 Don’t have limiting thoughts? You’re not being conscience enough to hear it and this is why.
13:50 Why curiosity can be a really good replacement for your negative thoughts.
15:50 You don’t have to feel like you must accomplish your goal, the moment you have that thought about it.
17:05 Recap: How to have a self evolution.
17:40 Introduction to John Kenny.
19:00 What sort of distances are common for competitive open water swimmers? How long does it take to swim a long distance race?
21:50 How to learn to swim with currents, high tides, and wind.
25:50 John’s open water experience as a lifeguard for the Atlantic City Beach Patrol.
26:55 What sets experienced swimmers apart from cyclists and runners in a triathlon?
30:50 What are you eating to be able to swim 5-8 hours at a time?
33:10 How do you get your food during an open water swim or a triathlon race?
36:10 Do you have to do a carbo-load before an open water swim? What about the rule of not eating 1-hour before a swim?
42:20 What types of food should you eat during a long distance swim?
43:50 What is the difference between the training of an average, recreational swimmer and a competitive swimmer for an event such as a triathlon or an Ironman competition?
50:00 For a first-time triathlon athlete or a recreational swimmer, how would they break-up their weekly program workouts?
53:40 How to stay engaged and focused during a swimming workout and why it’s so important to be able to see improvement.
57:58 How would you describe and apply the perfect freestyle stroke? What common mistakes do people make when they swim freestyle?
1:02:20 Is it beneficial to do underwater recording to show people how they can improve their swimming technique?
1:06:20 Closing Remarks by Rob and Devon
1:08:18 Open Sky Fitness Closings
LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Learn more about open water training with John Kenny and French Creek Racing: http://www.frenchcreekracing.com/
Contact John at john@frenchcreekracing.com
Find John on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jkenny5150
To learn more about Shawn Stevenson’s book that we: Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to A Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Succes
To Download Rob’s FREE workout templates click below**
Download Templates
Ask Rob a Question or tell him what is working for you: Email Rob@OpenSkyFitness.com
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Thanks for Listening!
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Thanks for listening/reading Episode 93: John Kenny-How to Become an Open Water Swimmer. We hope you have gained more knowledge on how to be a healthier you!
