Swimming

mamaclose

I am signed up for my first triathlon on August 4th (sprint distance). I feel confident that I can bike and run the required distances with no difficulty. However, I have some reservations about the swim portion. It is 300 yards in open water, a local lake. I am not afraid to swim in open water, my family spends a lot of time at this particular lake. However, I have always swam recreationally, and minimally at that. I usually do the breastroke.

This past week I have begun to swim freestyle/crawl, with very little success. I feel like I am flailing and run out of breath after like 6 strokes. I understand the technique of freestyle but applying it to myself seems daunting. I am afraid I won't be able to have a successful swim portion of my triathlon.

Any tips, words of advice? I really am freaking myself out and panicking about the swim portion. I feel out of my depth here so to speak! HELP!

monkeyboobum

I swim several times a week, 2-3 miles at a time, try as I might I cannot get the hang of the crawl so its breaststroke all the way! Why can't you just swim it breaststroke or is it the time that you will clock that you are worried about?

FitMama2013

Swimming is not something that most people are good at right when they jump in the pool You may feel like you are drowning now, but if you continue to go back to the pool a few times each week, it will eventually get easier.

What I might recommend is getting a pair of fins for now - my husband was never a swimmer, but he's been able to use the fins to help propel himself until he got the hang of it. Now he swims great without the fins! He just had to get in a bit better swimming shape first and then he stopped using fins.

We have a group here called "Swimmers!" if you are interested in joining Some people may have some more advice for you there!

mamaclose

No I'm not worried about my time for the swimming portion, at least not this time around! I could do the breaststroke I suppose, but would really like to learn how to do the crawl properly since I plan on continuing to do triathlons.

I will have to check if the pool has fins I can borrow for now until I get more confident in the water.

Do you think that I have enough time to learn how to swim better in time for the triathlon? I plan on swimming at least 3x/week. I know I should've started training for swim portion sooner but I was focused on running & biking due to having races for both in May & June.

FitMama2013

I think if you were to get a few private lessons on proper technique, you could be ready for the race in a month. It's kind of hard to say though since I can't see you swim But, you can always swim free as much as you can at the race and then switch back to breaststroke for a bit! Look at the race as a starting point where you can improve next summer!

mamaclose

Thanks emswanson, I have to remind myself that this is my first triathlon and there's always room for improvement!

sunshinedean

Are you a facebook person?

there is a group on there that is "ZeroTo1mile"