I just returned from the Total Immersion Clinic in Chicago last weekend. To begin, I need to explain that the bike is by far my most favorite part of the triathlon, followed by the run and lastly the swim. In other words I have found no joy in swimming or training for the swim.
After this weekend I can honestly say that my eyes have been opened. The method they use to teach people how to swim is fantastic, I have told many of my friends whom I train with (who were looking to me as a guinny pig) that they should not spend one more dime on high zoot bicycle parts until they have gone through a TI clinic, it was the best $395 I have spent on speed and efficiency, period. I am looking forward to getting into the pool much more often, and I especially look forward to my next race.
The two main instructors in Chicago were Derrek Q. Milligan, and Gary Fahey. Derrek is a triathlon coach and personal trainer, while Gary is swim coach in the Cleveland area. These two gentlemen were fantastic teachers.
A brief synopsis of what occurred over the course of the weekend. We first began with an underwater video taping of ourselves swimming a lap (after a brief warmup), followed by what I thought of as a very unusual instruction (lots of kicking on your back, no board, basically looking for a balance point). We then went into the classroom and reviewed the video tapes and watched tapings from other people who were doing it correctly. After adding small bits and pieces to the drill sets over the course of the weekend, the last 1/2 hour we actually began to swim what I would call real Freestyle. We were re-video taped at this point. We then went back to the classroom and reviewed the second video taping, WOW! what a difference. They counted our strokes across the pool for both video tapings, but did not tell us about the result until the end. My first video, it took me 23 strokes to cross a 25 meter pool, my second video, I had dropped it to 16 strokes and it felt much more relaxed and comfortable.
My parting thoughts are, if you have been looking for inspiration, motivation, enlightenment, etc., with regards to your swim, seriously consider TI. I do not believe there is a bad time to go through it, there was a fellow student there who was in full taper for Lake Placid, and he walked away feeling much more confident in his swim.