Why We Celebrate the 100m: Lessons from This Week’s Squad PBs

Last night at our Swim Squads, something felt different.

Not dramatic. Not loud. Just… right.

A lot of our swimmers swam quicker 100s than they ever have before. Some of them knew it as soon as they touched the wall. Some of them needed the clock or their watch to confirm it. A few of them looked genuinely surprised.

Those are the moments I pay attention to. Because they usually mean something has shifted beyond the clock.

The 100m isn’t important because it’s short and fast.

It’s important because it’s short enough to swim fast, but long enough to test us.

And it’s enough to show swim potential.

There’s nowhere to hide in a 100. You can’t bluff your way through it. What you bring to the wall is a mix of technique, strength, timing, and belief – and when those things improve, the time follows.

When your best-ever 100 gets quicker, it quietly changes how everything else feels. Paces that once required focus and effort start to feel more natural … and easier. Less forced. You’re no longer fighting the water – you’re gliding through it.

A 100m swim won’t tell you how patient you’ll be over an Ironman swim. It won’t tell you how well you’ll sight, or how calm you’ll stay when the water gets busy. And it certainly won’t tell you how your day will unfold after the swim.

But that’s okay.

It doesn’t need to.

Its role is simpler than that. It gives you a reference point. A sense of what’s possible when things come together.

We spend a lot of time in this Squad swimming fast. Short reps. Tight intervals. Repeated efforts. Big sets. Not because races are short, but because speed has a way of revealing things.

Swimming fast asks questions of your technique. It shows you where you’re efficient and where you’re not. It builds strength and fitness, yes – but more than that, it builds familiarity with effort.

And familiarity breeds calm.

When you know what “hard” feels like, steady swimming takes on a different feeling. It becomes something you can sit inside rather than fight against.

Over the years, I’ve noticed something fairly consistent. You don’t often see swimmers from this Squad with a genuinely quick 100m and a slow long-distance swim.

The swimmers who move well at speed tend to move well for a long time. Not because they race hard – but because they don’t need to. They have options. They have space between easy and uncomfortable.

That space matters.

Last night wasn’t about PBs on Strava. It was about progress you could feel. About swimmers discovering that they have more control, more strength, more ease than they thought.

Those moments aren’t always obvious. But they were last night.

If there’s one thing to take from last night, it’s this: raise your 100m, and the rest of your swimming tends to follow. Not because you try harder over long distances, but because everything underneath gets stronger and calmer. Improve your speed, and steadiness becomes easier. Improve your 100m, and long swims start to look after themselves.