The Effortless Swimming Podcast · Brenton Ford

#400 : How Much Can Your Swimming Improve In 2 Years? with Brian Hans

·32 min·2 clips

The next breakthrough was connection: kick while catching on the same side and let the water help you move.

Brian Harnes is the story at the center. He came in with the question every improving swimmer asks: how far can the same body go in two years? Brenton starts with the numbers, from two minutes per 100 yards down to under 1:30, capped by a ninth-place finish in a half Ironman swim against 171 athletes. That pace change is the point. The first big breakthrough is connection. That means kicking while the catch is happening on the same side, so the stroke and the body line stop working against each other. Brenton goes back to the skating image and uses it as a cue for gliding from one side to the other instead of forcing a scramble. Brian says that change alone brought another jump of five or six seconds. The rest stays practical. Brian talks about what it felt like to stop eating water and start keeping the basics together under pressure. He describes the messier side of group swimming, where elbows are near the face, heels are close to the goggles, and breathing has to change on the fly. Instead of chasing perfect pool form, he explains how he kept the stroke usable and worked around people without losing himself. Open-water awareness becomes the other major thread. Brian talks about sensing what is beside him, whether the thing on his left is a heel, a catch, or an arm, and using that information without breaking rhythm. Once he identifies the other swimmer's shoulder and elbow, he can slide over and move ahead. Brenton treats that as a skill, not a trick. He notes that awareness is one of the first things that matters when the water gets crowded. A recent Maldives camp with an Olympic 10K champion gives him another example of the same idea. The group works on drafting, turning feel into a navigational tool instead of a vague race-day hope. The episode lands on the same point it keeps circling: small technical adjustments, repeated long enough, can change both speed and confidence.

As heard by us

A practical swim story about small technical shifts that added up to a major pace jump.

Brian Harnes's arc is the draw here: a two-year drop from about 2:00 per 100 yards to under 1:30, capped by a ninth-place finish out of 171 in a recent half Ironman swim.

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Why you'd press play

If you want your swim pace to drop without forcing the stroke, start here.

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