In 2011, there was no magazine for people who swam outdoors. No shared home for the stories, the training, the destinations, the growing community of people quietly falling in love with open water. So Simon Griffiths made one. As the founder and publisher of Outdoor Swimmer, he helped give a movement a voice, and in doing so built one of the most quietly influential publications in UK sport. But the story behind the magazine is more personal, and more compelling, than the cover lines suggest. Simon started Outdoor Swimmer in the aftermath of the worst thing that had ever happened to him, driven by a need to keep moving, to build something and to stay afloat. More than a decade on, he is still doing exactly that, now turning 60 with a personal best 100m time, training across every stroke and distance, and launching the Renaissance Swimmer Project, a new venture that asks what swimming might unlock in the rest of your life.

Together, Salim and Simon explore:

• How a grief-driven idea became a landmark publication, and what it actually took to launch a magazine with no funding and a Google search.
• Why the open water swimming community felt different from the start, and the names and early believers who helped the magazine find its feet.
• What it means to get faster as you age, and how Simon broke a lifetime personal best in the pool on his 59th birthday.
• The training principles that actually matter as you get older, including why sprint work is more important for long-distance swimmers than they think.
• The case for swimming everything: why mixing strokes, distances, and environments makes you a better swimmer in all of them.
• The Renaissance Swimmer Project, what it is, what it is not, and why Simon believes swimming is just the beginning of a bigger conversation about how we live.
• Whether technology belongs in open water, from GPS goggles to coaching headsets, and where the line between useful and reductive sits.

Useful links

• Outdoor Swimmer Magazine: outdoorswimmer.com
• The Renaissance Swimmer Project: renaissanceswimmer.com
• Simon's book, Swim Wild and Free: Available from all good book resellers now
• Shepperton Open Water Swim: sheppertonopenwaterswim.co.uk

Swim with Salim

• SwimLab — Learn to swim with Salim

Be a part of the show: Here's how to get in touch...

• Email us: inatthedeependpod@gmail.com
• Use the get in touch form HERE - https://inatthedeepend.transistor.fm/be-a-part-of-the-show
• Send us a voice message HERE- https://www.speakpipe.com/InAtTheDeepEnd

Produced by The Good Studio - thegoodstudio.co.uk

Olympian. Marathon swimmer. History-maker.

In this episode of In At The Deep End, Salim sits down with Alice Dearing, the first black woman to represent Team GB in Olympic swimming.

But this conversation goes far beyond medals and Olympic qualification. Alice opens up about the emotional reality of elite sport: the burnout, the self-doubt, the pressure of representation and the strange tension between making history while simply wanting to perform well as an athlete.

Together, Salim and Alice explore:

• Alice’s journey from Birmingham swimming clubs to the Tokyo Olympics
• Why she nearly walked away from swimming several times
• The hidden mental toll of high-performance sport
• The myths and stereotypes surrounding black people and swimming
• The work of the Black Swimming Association
• The Soul Cap controversy before Tokyo 2020
• Identity, belonging and what it means to represent Britain today
• Life after retirement and Alice’s ambitions to shape the future of sport in the UK

It’s an honest, thoughtful and timely conversation about water, identity, resilience and breaking down barriers.

If you enjoy the episode, please follow In At The Deep End, leave a rating or review and share it with someone who’d love it too.

Useful Links

Alice Dearing

• Alice's website: http://www.alicedearing.com/
• Team GB Profile: https://www.teamgb.com/athlete/alice-dearing/53rk1dw8eJYpYKnylE5rvD
• The Black Swimming Association: https://thebsa.co.uk/
• LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-dearing-oly-5ab64517b/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alicedearingx/

Swim with Salim

• SwimLab — Learn to swim with Salim

Swimming & Open Water

• Shepperton Open Water Swim: sheppertonopenwaterswim.co.uk
• Outdoor Swimmer Magazine

Be a part of the show: Here's how to get in touch...

• Email us: inatthedeependpod@gmail.com
• Use the get in touch form HERE - https://inatthedeepend.transistor.fm/be-a-part-of-the-show
• Send us a voice message HERE- https://www.speakpipe.com/InAtTheDeepEnd

Produced by The Good Studio - thegoodstudio.co.uk

Lorraine Candy is one of Britain's most recognisable media voices. She is the former editor of Cosmopolitan, Elle and The Sunday Times Style, she's also a Sunday Times bestselling author and co-host of the hugely popular Postcards from Midlife podcast. But in this episode, it's not the magazine covers or the bestseller lists that take centre stage. It's the water.

Lorraine came to open water swimming at 47, after a panic attack during a sprint triathlon left her terrified and determined never to feel that way again. What followed was a decade-long journey that she describes, without exaggeration, as the single thing that has most improved her life. In this episode Salim and Lorraine talk about what cold water actually gave her during the hardest years of perimenopause, why community is the most underreported benefit of open water swimming, and how the two of them ended up working together on something many swimmers avoid facing: going faster.

It's a rich, honest conversation about bravery, belonging, and what it means to find a sport that will carry you through the rest of your life.

In this episode:

• How a panic attack in a triathlon lake became the start of Lorraine's real swimming journey
• Cold water swimming and perimenopause - the mental, physical, and community benefits
• Why the open water swimming community is one of the most inclusive and body-positive spaces Lorraine has ever found
• The moment she realised she'd been "plodding forever" and the mindful approach to speed that actually worked
• Favourite swims: Lake Geneva at sunrise, the Scilly Isles, swimming through a shoal of mackerel in Cornwall
• Fantasy swims on the horizon: the Strait of Gibraltar and Alcatraz
• Advice for midlife women and teenage girls - why getting in the water might be the best thing you can do for both of them

Useful Links

Lorraine Candy

• Postcards From Midlife podcast: https://www.postcardsfrommidlife.com/
• What's Wrong With Me? 101 Things Midlife Women Need to Know
• Lorraine's Substack newsletter, The Candy Club: https://substack.com/@lorrainecandy
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorrainecandy/

Swimming & Open Water

• Shepperton Open Water Swim: sheppertonopenwaterswim.co.uk
• Hampton Pool
• Outdoor Swimmer Magazine
• Watergate Bay Hotel - where Salim holds his swimming retreats

Swim with Salim

• SwimLab — Learn to swim with Salim

Be a part of the show: Here's how to get in touch...

• Email us: inatthedeependpod@gmail.com
• Use the get in touch form HERE - https://inatthedeepend.transistor.fm/be-a-part-of-the-show
• Send us a voice message HERE- https://www.speakpipe.com/InAtTheDeepEnd

Produced by The Good Studio - thegoodstudio.co.uk