How to Train in the Pool This Winter for the Great North Swim

By Rebecca Wetten, Co-Founder & Head Coach at Catch

If you’ve entered the Great North Swim, winter is the perfect time to start building your fitness & confidence. Even if you won’t touch open water until spring, the pool gives you everything you need to lay the foundations for a strong, stress-free swim in June.

Here’s how to make your winter pool sessions genuinely effective - & actually enjoyable.

Why winter can feel tricky

When all your training is indoors, it’s easy to wonder whether you’re doing enough for an outdoor event. Pool lanes can feel busy, & swims can feel repetitive - especially if you’re just cranking out lengths or swimming the same distance every time.

But if you train smart, winter is where most of your progress will happen. The pool gives you consistency, warmth, clear distances & the ideal environment to improve technique. By spring, you’ll be fitter, more efficient & ready to transition outdoors with confidence.

Make your pool sessions work harder for you

Pick your moments

Every pool has its quieter times. If you can, try different slots to see if early mornings, late evenings or snappy lunchtime swims make the pool feel less crowded. A calmer lane makes for a higher-quality session.

Move between lanes with confidence

“Fast”, “medium” & “slow” are guidelines, not fixed categories.

• Move into a steadier lane when you want space for drills, kick, or relaxed technique work.
• Shift into a faster lane when you’re working on speedier paces or interval sets.
• Choose the lane that matches what you need that day.

Go in with a plan

Turning up & doing a set distance every time isn’t the best prep for an open water race. A structured session with technique work & varied pacing builds skills that’ll transform your swimming faster.

If you want ready-made structure for the winter, the Catch app has personalised training plans tailored to every Great North Swim distance: https://www.catchswim.com

Build routines & rituals

Whether it’s a weekly swim with a friend or rewarding yourself with a post-swim coffee, routines make training feel easier & more sustainable through winter. Rewards make it feel like something you look forward to, rather than a chore.

Top tips for your best winter swimming season

1. Set a motivating goal

Your Great North Swim distance becomes the anchor for your winter training. Get excited about that goal, & how it’ll feel on event day knowing how consistently you’ve trained for it.

2. Follow a plan

Structure beats guesswork. A good training plan builds fitness gradually, mixes in technique, & helps you avoid over- or under-doing it. It also makes winter training more fun by offering variety.

3. Keep your training flexible

Winter brings colds, busy weeks & mornings where you’d prefer to stay cocooned in bed. Your plan should have wiggle room. Good training is consistent, not perfect.

4. Focus on technique

The pool is the best place to improve your front crawl. Clear visibility, predictable conditions & short reps make it ideal for working on:

• Breathing - smooth, quick & relaxed
• Body position - keeping your legs high to reduce drag
• Kick - narrow, efficient & flutter-based
• Rotation - helping you reach further & pull more water
• Open water skills - such as practising sighting

Better technique leads to easier, faster, calmer open water swimming.

You can learn all of these in our weekly technique lessons on Catch Gold

5. Build confidence with variety

Bring in flippers, hand paddles, a pull buoy, speedier intervals or easy technique days. Variety keeps motivation high.

6. Track your small wins

A new pace, a longer distance, smoother breathing, or feeling less tired at the end of a session - these are wins worth celebrating. Small gains stack up quickly by spring.

When spring arrives

Once the water warms up, you’ll be ready to start open water training with:

• solid fitness
• better technique
• confidence in your swimming
• a clearer sense of your pacing

Outdoor acclimatisation becomes the final piece of the puzzle, not the whole story.

Want support through winter?

Catch is the Official Training Provider for the Great North Swim. If you want guidance on what to actually do in the pool each week, the Catch app can help

The Catch app gives you:

• A personalised training plan for your Great North Swim distance
• Weekly video lessons to improve your open water front crawl technique
• Unlimited coach support from me
• A friendly community to keep you motivated

Use code GNS26 for:

• A 7-day free trial of Catch Gold (our premium membership with personalised plans, weekly video lessons & coach support)
• Plus £5 off your first 3 months

It’s the most effective & enjoyable way to train for the Great North Swim - especially through winter.

Sign up below. See you at the start line - we’ll be there to cheer you on.

Written by Rebecca Wetten, Co-Founder & Head Coach at Catch. Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash.