I think my situation is kind of like yours...
until I was 30 I could never swim more than 100 yards or so at a time...
then i got to the point where i could swim for a long time but very, very slowly...
now, yeah, i work at it and 5 years or so later i do suck a lot less, but there's just no natural ease. it's a lot of thinking about specific technique issues, etc.

people talk about a "feel for the water" and i just don't get it. i mean, yes, ok, i feel the water. it's wet. and sometimes it's cold. bfd.

so i keep plugging away... i'm sticking with the incremental advances in the (vain?) hope that one day soon it's just all gonna click.

First, a caveat: I have been swimming since I was a kid and always feel comfortable in the water. For what it's worth, however, here's what I've seen work with other people. Spend some time completely under the water, rather than only swimming on top. Put on your goggle and hang out in the deep end of the pool. Try diving down to the bottom, or just floating around completely submerged. Second, try swimming as far as you can completely underwater. Like I said, I have seen this work for others. When you are swimming on top, you really don't feel like you're completely in the water, but when you're submerged, it's easier to get used to the sensation.

I don't think you're destined to feel uneasy in the water. A few years ago I disliked swimming because I could not do more than one lap without stopping to hyperventilate, and now, though I may not be a champion swimmer, I love to swim. I would say the key is just to have patience, and one-step-at-a-time goals. When I started swimming regularly because of a running injury, my goals were really modest -- first, be able to do two laps without stopping. then, be able to do 10 laps without stopping... eventually, be able to swim continuously without the hyperventillation breaks. It helped that at the time I was not focued on tri at all, so those things were really all I wanted to do! Building up to that point was all on my own, so all I was doing was probably getting my lungs used to water -- I had no clue about technique. Then when I started swimming with a group and learning proper form (thanks Doug Stern!), the improvement really started and I actually started to enjoy swimming. Again, I think the key to enjoying the water is a glass half full mentality -- focus on how much you are improving and not how much slower you are than your kids, the guy in the next lane, etc.

I've been at it off an on for nearly four years and I still don't swim well. I think pool access is the great limiter for those of us who did not swim as children. You can ride and run from home/work, but to swim you have to go somewhere, often have to pay and don't receive any good coaching. So you have a great deal of inconsistency for many people and that prevents you from ever developing any kind of feel for how to swim correctly. A couple of times I've managed to put together three solid months of consistent swimming and on both occasions I almost felt like I had figured it out. Then the pool heater broke, work was more busy, lost a little motivation and by the time I started up again I was back to being a land animal in water.

I suspect the only way I will ever change that is to buy an endless pool. :) No more excuses after that.

Chad

Thanks for the feedback - I'll remain optimistic (have always enjoyed fiction, so am pretty good at suspending disbelief!) that this will get better with time. As a 50+ guy, not sure that time is on my side, but I can always hope!

Interestingly, am pretty comfortable underwater, with or without a snorkel - it's just when I'm actually trying to swim that I manage to tense up. And I always feel great at the beginning of the workout - am usually one of the first into the pool when it opens at 5:30, so can have a lane to myself and focus on form in my drills - then the masters swim team comes in and (a) lane crowds up, so have pressure on my heels, and (b) I realize just how @$% slow I'm really going.

Some of my friends have suggested joining a masters swim club/team. Have done a couple of swim workouts with my triathlon club, where I've clearly been the oldest in the pool (by a margin of at least 10 years) and among the worst of the swimmers. With seven or eight people in the lane, doing intervals by the clock, I manage to get totally psyched out - can hold on through the workout but inhale prodigious amounts of water and end up with heart rates that define new zones. When do you guys think it makes sense to try to connect with a masters swim group? My sense is that there's a base level of capability below which the marginal utility is minimal; right now, I'm swimming about a 45 or 50 sec 50, and a 1:45 or 1:50 100, so I think I have to get faster before I take on that particular delight.

OSDoc... I started up about 15 months ago. Couldn't go more than 25y. Felt very uncomfy for those first few months. Swimming in the deep end really bothered me. I still have a phobia about deep water (DEEP water), especially if I can't see the bottom.

I became comfy in Hawaii last June. Swimming in that nice bouyant salt water, warm and clear, with scenery below, made it all comfortable. That and much longer swims. When I swam the Ironman course in Kona a few times in October, I did it once pretty much all alone out there without so much as a hint of worry. No one was within hundreds of yards. Well, other than the dolphins. I would suggest going someplace like that, make a vacation out of it, to really spend a lot of time in the water where it's clear and swimmer-friendly.

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

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I should add that I still have some apprehension before getting into the water. It's mostly a legacy of my prior worries, as well as my anxiety over whether I'll have a good or crappy swim. But once I'm 3 strokes in, I forget all about that and am comfortable.

Of course, I'm still slow compared to any 'good' swimmer. But that's another matter.

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

I would say the sooner the better for joining a group -- the first few times can be intimidating but you will get used to the logistics and the challenge is sure to accelerate your improvement. And you don't have to do the whole workout, if you start feeling like you're drowning just sit out for a set or be the first one in the shower.

My kids were all good to great swimmers and also laugh at how slow their old man is. I don't think I will ever feel comfortable or glide in the water as good swimmers seem to be/do.

BTW, although I don't consider myself to be a good swimmer, I was surprised that I was in the top 16 percentile in the swim in last year's Chicago Accenture sprint tri (1454 finishers) despite taking 15 minutes flat to swim 750 meters. My point is there are a hell of a lot of bad swimmers doing tris, so don't be so hard on yourself.

Yeah - but all my tris so far have been short (oly or sprint) and in the north (so wetsuit legal). Now am planning to do Florida 70.3 and IMFL, so not sure if I'll make it thru the swim without a wetsuit. Have relied mightily on the generous buoyancy provided by the neoprene wonder - hence my overweening anxiety. And, if I do manage to survive the swim, am seriously concerned about how much will be left for the bike + run.

Any other terrible swimmers out there who have success stories (e.g., avoiding the morgue) for long-course triathlon?!?!?!?!

Honu half-IM was my first open water swim, ever. Short 500y practice out there on Thursday, then race on Saturday. Longest straight pool swim had been 1000y. I wasn't even sure I could complete the swim. Turned out to be easy. Yeah, took 44 mins, and I was damn glad to have made it given my worries, but it really was no big deal. Just start toward the back, and you'll find feet that can pull you along.

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

Hi, I started swimming at the age of 41. It took me 12 months to feel comfortable in the water. Once I got there, it made a huge difference. It is a big difference between feeling as if you are about to drown and being able to swim at an easy pace for an hour or so, speed up, slow down, whatever. I think it is a combination of getting to both a fitness and technique level where you can swim at a pace where you are not out of breath. I joined a masters swimming group and would swim a 1'50" 100. I am down to a 1:37, still not fast, but alright. The masters group helps: most are very friendly and the program mixes things up so you don't get so bored. I think you just have to keep on swimming, get some good coaching and things sort themselves out.

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Those who know do not speak, those who speak, do not know.

I'm a new swimmer and first lesson, at the age of 41, was 14 months before last years IMFL. I was pretty humbled (terrified) after that first lesson...wasn't as easy as I thought;O).

I battled my way through lessons for about 6 months and was barely able to feel OK for my first tri that following June. That swim happened to be Eagleman in the Choptank River. My first open water swim, first tri...it was so bad it was funny. That swim took me an hour. I stood up on that boat launch and thought, no way could I get in and do another lap for Florida...I thought for sure I was screwed. I really had to battle getting to the boat launch and out of the water. Oddly enough..once on the bike, I didn't feel the swim had bothered me...or on the run for that matter. And I was a whipped puppy when I got out of the water.

I did come home pretty intimidated about Florida but I stuck to my time in the pool, I make an effort of no less than 3 sessions a week, I did manage a better time at Timberman 1/2 and felt a tiny bit better for Florida....which is wetsuit legal. You may see people talk about how warm the water is as the race gets closer...but I think they just like to mess with the racers;O)...more than likely, you'll have a wetsuit for IM.

Honestly, from a new swimmer/bad swimmer (my IM swim was just under 2 hours)...stick to your time in the pool....get some long swims in to build confidence for the distance and just F'n swim. Get the race done and just continue to work on technique for furture races. Apparently if you do this there's some kind of magical feeling a swimmer eventually "gets"...not sure what that is but I'm still aiming for it.

You'll be fine in Florida! And one benefit of being a slow fish...you can pass people on the road...and I'm not even a strong cyclist or runner. Just keep moving forward.

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Nancy
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