Our swimming sessions in detail

Coached swimming sessions of one hour are held at Sobell Leisure Centre (Aberdare) on Sundays at 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm and at Abercynon Leisure Centre on Wednesdays at 8:30 pm.  Please contact the membership secretary for current availability/waiting lists of these sessions.

Our coached swimming sessions include quite a bit of technique during the off-season (late-September-December), some open-water skills and technique, building on endurance (January-March) and then as the race season starts from April (after Easter) we will include more endurance work. However, we will always build in drills and coaching feedback which may include video analysis (for adults) where time permits. We do not currently hold coached sessions during the period of mid-July until late September.

In terms of open water we do occasionally put on coached open water sessions. However this is rare as we are limited by our ability to provide the safety cover necessary. Please note, members of the club do get together to swim at various venues around South Wales and beyond, including Porthcawl (usually meeting at The High Tide Car Park), Langland Bay or Llanelli North Dock. However, it must be stressed that these are not coached sessions and Taff Ely Triathlon Club takes no responsibility for your swim unless a coach organizes the session and calls it a coached session.  You will need a neoprene swimming wetsuit and goggles and other optional aids such as earplugs or neoprene swim cap.  For extra visibility when swimming in open water, a brightly coloured swim cap and swim buoy should be used. There are many other safety considerations, covered briefly below.

Safety considerations
Safety is our priority in coached sessions and each session will generally have more than one coach. You will be allocated to a lane and told which direction  – clockwise or anticlockwise, to swim in to minimize clashes of arms or worse.

For the open water if you do go, as a general rule you should always swim in the sea on a rising tide or at the latest at slack water at high tide, and always in a group with minimum of two. There are few lakes and rivers you can swim in around South Wales. Whilst the dangers of getting swept out to sea on an out-going tide, sharks, jellyfish etc. are reduced in fresh water, there are other dangers of cold and leptospirosis to watch out for.