Swimming

crux

I'm a new and enthusiastic swimmer, but it is not coming easy....

Now I've joined the local Tri club for some coaching and open water swimming sessions in the summer, but before that I used the below site, recommended to me by a few people.

http://www.swimsmooth.com

Any tips or info for swimming please share!

ooOOooGravy

I believe the technique for Tri swimming it different to normal swimmers. In the fact that you put much more of your effort through your upper body, to keep your legs fresher for the Bike and Run sections of a Tri. Where as a normal swimmer will put a lot of effort through their legs too. Try Triathletes World, they do Swim based articals occutionally that might help.

rachel5576

that is so cool you have a tri club to join. I live in a very small town so that's not an option for me. I've used that site too. What do you struggle with? my biggest issue at first was the breathing. this video helped me with that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuksPFJGJpc

FrenchMob

that is so cool you have a tri club to join. I live in a very small town so that's not an option for me. I've used that site too. What do you struggle with? my biggest issue at first was the breathing. this video helped me with that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuksPFJGJpc

Actually, there's nothing further from the truth in that video. Turning your head? Not moving your shoulders?
You should be barely turning your head, your whole core/body should be rotating during the recovery and that's when you inhale, then exhale under water.

Swimming is not my forte either, hence why I'm going back to duathlons in 2012.

crux

Breathing is still my biggest issue, I can single side breathe for a good mile no problem, but when I bi-lateral breathe, I get into oxygen debt and my heart rate climbs and I have to stop after about 400 meters. It will come with technique and time, I'm patient :happy:

jacksonpt

that is so cool you have a tri club to join. I live in a very small town so that's not an option for me. I've used that site too. What do you struggle with? my biggest issue at first was the breathing. this video helped me with that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuksPFJGJpc

Actually, there's nothing further from the truth in that video. Turning your head? Not moving your shoulders?
You should be barely turning your head, your whole core/body should be rotating during the recovery and that's when you inhale, then exhale under water.

Swimming is not my forte either, hence why I'm going back to duathlons in 2012.

Odd... I've read just the opposite in more than a few articles in triathlete magazine. IIRC, they say the body shouldn't turn more than 30degrees.

FrenchMob

that is so cool you have a tri club to join. I live in a very small town so that's not an option for me. I've used that site too. What do you struggle with? my biggest issue at first was the breathing. this video helped me with that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuksPFJGJpc

Actually, there's nothing further from the truth in that video. Turning your head? Not moving your shoulders?
You should be barely turning your head, your whole core/body should be rotating during the recovery and that's when you inhale, then exhale under water.

Swimming is not my forte either, hence why I'm going back to duathlons in 2012.

Odd... I've read just the opposite in more than a few articles in triathlete magazine. IIRC, they say the body shouldn't turn more than 30degrees.

That's true, but it does turn and the head shouldn't be turning much if at all. But according to that video, he's saying you're not rotating your body and turning your head alot.

If you look at Total Immersion swimming, they say to rotate way more than 30 deg, and not turn your head at all.

rachel5576

ok im not saying i got the proper technique down or that this video is the proper technique for medaling or anything but this video made it possible for me to actually swim with my face in the water. before i watched this my head was always above water.

so if i understand right the rest of you are turning you whole body to the side to breathe? i havent swam since this summer so im not sure what i actually did when it comes to front crawl. I do know though when im in a lake it too freaky to put my face in so its side stroke all the way.

I guess the best thing would be some lessons.

drdenise

Go to TriSwimCoach.com. This guy trains triathletes, and he too recommends that you do not turn your head, but train yourself to rotate your body when you breathe. This actually helps with forward motion, use of upper body, and preservation of the lower body for the remainder of the tri. Body rotation is actually what Mark Spitz did during his Olympic gold freestyle swims.

copa2251

I'm a big fan of youtube videos for watching swimming technique but the problem is that you have to watch the right ones!!!
If you want to sprint 50 or 100m fast then you kick hard and swim flat. Obviously we need to swim much further and then get out and bike/run.
Triathletes need to learn from endurance swimmers not sprint swimmers.
Triswim Coach, Total Immersion and Swim Smooth are all great.
As I understand it your head should remain still, looking straight down at the bottom of the pool (with your nose like the keel of a boat) while your hips initiate a body roll as your leading arm reaches forwards. Every 3rd stroke (for bilateral breathing) you allow your head to rotate in line with your core and this brings your mouth and top goggle to the surface and you take a breath, exhaling underwater until you take the next breath on the other side.
Kicking should be relaxed and from the hips not knees and the main aim is keeping your legs and body streamlined to reduce drag.

fitrunnermd

This is interesting. I didn't realize that training to swim in a tri is so different from just regular swimming. I just signed up at my local why for a few one-on-one swimming lessons. I haven't swam any meaningful distance since I was a child so I figured I should make sure I get technique down. Sounds like I should also get a tri-specific swim lesson. With the season being over here the local tri club won't have any swim clinics until spring. is the class at the Y a waste of time?

bstamps12

I'm a big fan of youtube videos for watching swimming technique but the problem is that you have to watch the right ones!!!
If you want to sprint 50 or 100m fast then you kick hard and swim flat. Obviously we need to swim much further and then get out and bike/run.
Triathletes need to learn from endurance swimmers not sprint swimmers.
Triswim Coach, Total Immersion and Swim Smooth are all great.
As I understand it your head should remain still, looking straight down at the bottom of the pool (with your nose like the keel of a boat) while your hips initiate a body roll as your leading arm reaches forwards. Every 3rd stroke (for bilateral breathing) you allow your head to rotate in line with your core and this brings your mouth and top goggle to the surface and you take a breath, exhaling underwater until you take the next breath on the other side.
Kicking should be relaxed and from the hips not knees and the main aim is keeping your legs and body streamlined to reduce drag.

THIS. I swam for 14 yrs competitively and cannot agree more. Only in a sprint in a pool would you ever swim flat, as that video recommends, which means never in open water/tri swimming. In the open water, you will conserve a lot of precious energy by rotating your body and breathing to the side. Practice sighting only to the point where your eyes come out of the water. You should NEVER breathe forward or while sighting, it causes your body angle to drop vertical instead of horizontal, slowing you down dramatically and wasting a ton of energy. Better yet, try to stay right on someone else's feet and just follow their bubbles from their kick (although you should also sight for yourself sometimes to make sure they aren't taking you to the middle of the lake, haha)

fitrunnermd--It's hard to say if a class at the Y would be a waste of time. It all depends on the specific coach but if you are really starting from a true beginner level, I would think it can't hurt.

queenchlorine

I will look at the swim smooth site. I read the Total Immersion swim technique book and have one of the DVDs and have found it helpful. There are also some Total Immersion lectures on youtube that maybe you would find helpful.

crux

I just came back from my first group swim session with our local tri club, boy do they go fast!

The session is coached and they split the group by speed/experience doing a lot of drills and stroke work.

Everyone there that I saw had a lot of body rotation gong on.

Apparently my problem is arm work and especially my right arm comming through to flat, Im not catching the water so I'm going to be drilling for a good while in technique.

If you have a local tri club I highly recommend joining them, it's a big push that being in a group gives you.

RaeN81

I absolutely abhor front crawl (freestyle) even though I was once a lifeguard. A swim training session each week with my local multisport club really helped and I totally recommend it (worth every penny). I also supplemented that weekly session with 2-3 of my own sessions. The more time in the water, the better. This motivates me to get back at it!

engineman312

i swam competitivly in college, and i was one of the endurance swimmers on the team. we swam turning our whole body, and kicking from the hips. the sprints swam nice and flat, kicking from the knees. who knew i'd already be prepared for open ocean tri-swimming?

skiing1313

Here is a great site to see some quality swim video and get drills that should help.

http://www.goswim.tv/

I have used this site with the group that I coach. It really helps to be able to see what you should be doing and have audio that explains what the technique is.

The one thing to remember as you work to get better is that it is not about speed or effort it is about balance and stroke efficiency. Take the time to regularly count your strokes and base your improvement on that. You can be incredibly fit but if you are not efficient it does little good

IronmanPanda

i swam competitivly in college, and i was one of the endurance swimmers on the team. we swam turning our whole body, and kicking from the hips. the sprints swam nice and flat, kicking from the knees. who knew i'd already be prepared for open ocean tri-swimming?

While you may be ready to go the distance also be mentally prepared for "The Blender"
A lot of people get into the heat of the moment and get kicked in the face, chest, swam over, pulled back... end up losing their concentration and start gasping for air and struggling. It can be unnerving at times. There are so many different things that can happen in a mass start or around the inside turns of the buoy.

I've been kicked in the chest, had people try to swim over me or just bump into me. When this happens just keep on swimming and learn to breath bilaterally. You don't necessarily have to breath to both sides but the ability to switch due to sun, or someone splashing you everytime you try to take a breath is invaluable.

Also your first few triathlons stay to the outside away from the pack. This will minimize the chances of this happening to you.