Doc,

I'm a lot more qualified to ask for swimming advice than attempt to give it, but Total Immersion has just come out with a new book about triathlon swimming. I've just ordered a copy. Might be a good investment.

Here's the url:

http://www.totalimmersion.net/tsme.html

She should continue to mix it up. IM works all of the swimming muscles (not just the freestyle ones) and improves both swimming and overall fitness--good for Triathlon.

about 80-20 IM

And yes, she should work on de-emphasizing her kick, but that will be natural in a wetsuit. If she comes from a college swimming background, she shouldn't need to do buoy sets so much as just 'turn off' the legs with a stead 2-beat kick.

eee

All the outstanding college swimmers turned outstanding triathletes I know who swim or who swam with our masters group do a little mixing it up, but mostly just with backstroke. That includes a couple who were predominantly IM swimmers in college. I would doubt your wife would get any benefit of looking at the TI stuff, it's likely significantly different from how she swims. All those swimmer/triathletes I know have not consciously de-emphasized their kick from their old kicking style, it's just that they swim longer distances so they don't kick as hard as they would for like a 100 or 200 sprint. I agree with the previous poster who said it shouldn't be too hard for her to just to a good solid two-beat kick and still get a lot of added power from that.

Be sure to mix in some dog paddle. I'm not kidding, speed dog paddling is one hell of a work out. We have the doggie paddle challenge (100 yds. of dog paddle) among friends and at the end you are feelin it!

On a more serious note, we regularly mix in butterfly into our freestyle sets like 4X100 @ 30 Sec. (first 25 of each is butterfly), also some butterfly kick drills. They let you know if your stomach is working that's for sure.

Keep it fun!

Karma

---

Dave Stark
dreamcatcher@astound.net
USAC & USAT level 2 certified coach

Swimming all four strokes adds variety to your workout. Your wife is probably very proficient in all four.

In the off season, I subjected my swimmers to butterfly, back and breaststroke. Initially there was a rebellion. After mastering the odd strokes they demanded them in workouts. In season we do mostly distance freestyle with 25s in IM order.

Let her decide for herself and be supportive of her desire to do triathlons. It is wonderful form of togetherness.

DougStern

If she swam in college, even if it was not a very good college program, she knows more about swimming than 99% of all triathletes so why are you asking us? ;-)

Seriously, for an accomplished swimmer, there is a night and day difference in how they train if they switch to triathlon. She will in all likelyhood be training less per week in the pool than she did when she was 9 or 10. The emphasis should be on making efficient use of your time in the pool and trying to avoid diminishing returns. Good swimmers get what amounts to a free pass on the swim. She should use the talent she has and her years of training to get by with the minimum amount of time in the pool so she can work on the bike and the run.

Since pool time is so limited, I personally don't do anything but freestyle but you can mix it up if you are prone to boredom. The biggest mistake an ex swimmer can make is to put in an extra hour or 2 a week in the pool just so they can be 2 or 3 minutes faster on the swim. Ride your bike or run instead.

Agreeing with STP. A couple of light workouts a week done at aerobic threshold pace gets the typical recovering fish to the front of the pack in most tri races. And for the most part, tri freestyle is the same as pool freestyle, no need to make changes to your stroke unless you were a drop dead sprint type- one of those guys capable of going a 21 second 50y free who could barely break 6:00 for a 500. (Yes, those people are out there. I've swum with them) My tri freestyle is essentially the same thing as what used to be my freestyle in the middle of a 6000K practice or 12K day. I'll just shorten the stroke up a bit in rough water, but if you're a recovering fish, you're used to adapting your stroke on the fly.

As for strokes, mix it up a little here and there to prevent boredom and muscle imbalance. However, I do avoid breaststroke as much as possible because I always loathed it, my legs didn't bend That Way on the kick ... and I just can't make myself do something I hate so much.

I'm no top level triathlete or swimmer, but I do very well for my age and body mass index. ;-)

I credit a lot of my talent to my awesome swim coach. He's an ex world class swimmer in his own right and until recently, held the fastest IM swim split on record (43:30! ouch). Beyond his swimming credentials, he is a world class guy as well.

Haydn gives us a different workout every time, to keep it interesting, except when some idiot (me!) requests 40x100m on decreasing intervals (it's my favourite) from time to time. Haydn has us do a lot of off stroke work and while I am crap at the off strokes, I have made huge improvements. It also appears to have had a positive effect on my freestyle speed. If nothing else, it makes freestyle seem easier and more enjoyable by comparison!

Keep up the medley stuff I say, and be a happy swimmer.

---

TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

Most of this information is what I suggested to her but I'm just her husband... Information from complete strangers on an internet board will carry more weight. Ironic, isnt' it.

I'll pass on the information. May even be able to bait Mrs. Lehmkuhler to come by and read a bit.

Thanks,

Lehmkuhler

A word of caution when swimming backstroke, be careful if attempting backstroke flipturns. I busted open a heel last month that required 4 stitches (ok, it's not that many), but it did keep me from working out for 5 weeks.