I’ve been doing triathlons for less than 5 years and am in my mid-thirties. I learned to swim when I started doing triathlons. I can do the bike and run legs of an oly triathlon in nearly an hour and will under 40 mins respectively; but the fastest I have have ever completed a oly swim leg is 28 mins (and I think the course was short). What gives?
I know it’s not flying, but I can bust out 15 100 yard repeats in the pool on 1:35 or less. I swim 8000+ yards/week in a pool. I do every open water swim race I can. I am always working on my stroke. I have great workouts from a coach. But when I get in the open water I totally suck. I read everything I can about the matter . . . including a lot of lurking here. But I still sight poorly, almost freak-out for the first 10 mins until I get in a groove, swim way to the outside of everybody else and get passed by many athletes in later waves.
Although coming out of the water really pissed off and passing tons of people on the bike is somewhat gratifying, I would rather be racing with the leaders as I usually crawl up to a top 10-20 finish in most mid-sized triathlons.
I wouldn’t classify myself as a total puss, but it sure is defeating to give up 5 or more minutes on the leaders in the swim alone. Is this a sighting issue, a confidence issue or maybe something else. I would be happy to improve by two minutes if I can. Am I screwed and destined for a life of duathlon?
Any similar stories where someone has beat this? Any strategies to improve?
Don’t bring that hammer with you on the swim - it works like a boat anchor. grin
It sounds like a confidence thing. You are probably losing close to two minutes in that first 10 minutes of freak-out time. If you swim on the edge of the pack instead of right in the middle you won’t lose much, but you need to be calm and strong wherever you are. If you are WAY off to the side of the pack then you would probably gain some time at least swimming a little closer to the crowd just to reduce the extra distance you swim.
For me it just took a little time. The freak out could come from lack of cinfidence (buck up, you are fine in the pool!), pressure (relax, don’t be too hard on yourself), or a myriad of other things.
Each time I hit open water, as my face goes in, I remind myself I put in the work and the race is just for fun. It takes a bunch of pressue off and lets me relax. That gets my breathing going smooth. I also remind myself that I’ve done the work and that I’ll be good today, which gives me confidence.
It’s all mental for me, I suspect you as well. Once you get over the mental hurdle you’ll be flying. Just relax, and go out there and do your thing!
If you’re already doing every open water race you can and still aren’t getting past the mental block, time to push yourself into even more challenging water in non-race situations.
Don’t suppose you live somewhere where you can take up surfing or bodyboarding?
Because you need to get some confidence in your own abilities, and nothing like discovering that scarily wavey andchoppy water can actually be a lot of fun to get rid of the fear in moderately rough conditions.
swim 3500 yds a day, 6 days a week for the next two years and see what happens.
im not a swimmer and now can go under 1 hr for IM (not that thats anything special, believe me i know)…but the simple fact of the matter is while everyone else was whining about their stroke and hand position and where it enters the water, i was knocking out yardage to get to that level…yes. it is that simple.
Is your swim really slow, compared to your intervals? If you could do 15x100 yards, with no rest at 1:35, that would be 26 minutes for 1500 meters. Now you mentioned that you think your 28 minute time was on a short course, but how short, or what are other times in races you thought were accurate distance?
I just ask because if you are taking any significant rest on your 15x100 @ 1:35, then 28 sounds right and maybe even a little fast.
It could also be that you are doing to much speed work in the pool, and not enough threshold work. Maybe trade some of the 100’s for 500’s and 1000’s.
Hey there… I know exactly what you mean. My first tri last year was about 80% panic, 20% comfort. My first tri this year was about 30% panic, 70% comfort. It’s the mental game, totally the mental game.
I am looking for more pointers though… Like I said, in the same situation…
Want to hear my crazy get-over-your-fears swim story? No? Oh well:
So I was about 12-13 years old, out on the boat with my dad fishing, when the engine won’t start to take us back in. We were in a small lake, only about 2000 yards from our dock or so. What to do? He ties a rope around my waist, the other end to the bow hook, and I jump in and start swimming. I can’t remember how big the boat was, it was a deep-v hull, maybe something like 18 ft?
Anyway, it took a while, and was probably to this day my hardest swim workout. But, every year I make the swim out and back (sans boat now!) just to kind of flash back to that. TONS of confidence in deep water after that.
Looking back though, my dad isn’t the best swimmer on the planet…I wonder if he could have saved me if something had gone wrong… :-/
Swim more? 8,000 yards per week isn’t that much, and swimming 15 x 100 isn’t that long or hard a set either. Swimming more and swimming harder, longer, sets will improve your time and your confidence in the water. If you can’t do it during the summer, then maybe a weakness to work on over the winter.
If you get into a grove after ten minutes, then maybe you need a longer warmup before racing to get ready to race. As far as the sighting goes, learning to swim more or less straight helps a lot.
“8,000 yards per week isn’t that much, and swimming 15 x 100 isn’t that long or hard a set either.”
Yikes! That gives me the willies just thinking of having to do that much swimming.
I’m going home, riding my bike 3 1/2 miles to the pool, swimming 500 meters as fast as I can, riding home and having a couple beers on the back porch. If I took your swimming advice, the mosquitos would be out by the time I got home so I would have to beer myself indoors. Nope, less swimming is definitely more conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
You sight poorly, and you “swim way to the outside of everybody else” so swim longer than you have to.
Obvious answer is practice your sighting and go in a straight line buoy to buoy.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Suprisingly, the inside line is usually not crowded at all. Swim slower, sight more, make sure you swim past each bouy with it rubbing your shoulder and your times will improve.
As for the 10 minute freak out…warm up more for the swim and if you have some friends racing, get out there and do a few 30 - 50 yard mock starts to beat the crap out of each other.
No matter what the stroke, distance or race is…the more relaxed you are the faster you will go. If you are freaking out and tensing up you are slowing yourself down markedly. It gets better for me every race.
The fast people are always going to be in front, but a 1:30ish swimmer such as yourself can catch a draft and swim a straight course on 1:20 feet and feel rested, or lose a draft, swim off line and swim 1:35 - 1:40’s and feel toasted with a dissappointing time assuming the same fitness in each. I’ve caught good drafts and swam 1:22’s in shorter races and gone under 24:00 with a wetsuit in an olympic. I’ve also swam an accurate olympic in 3-5’ waves that sunk a support boat and finished top 10% coming in over 32 minutes, with a wetsuit and superior fitness over the sub 24:00! Too many variables affecting times. I have zero swimming background prior to taking up this sport four years ago so it is possible to improve significantly.
Get that weekly yardage up over 10K and preferably over 12K. I didn’t really start improving significantly until I started nailing successive 12K weeks since December of last year. Prior to that, middling improvement on 6K - 8K per week for over a year. I’m a solid 1:30/100 swimmer now up to 2000 yards with no wetsuit and I’ve dropped 7 seconds off my average 100 since January for a 30 minute test. Get a coach. Swim more. More is more.
I hope so. Except I don’t think he could have reached the rope tied to the bow hook…its under the bow and hard to get to. But let’s pretend he could so I can believe he didn’t send me out without a sefety harness!
Ah, yes the “I want it all. I want it now” syndrome. Swimming is by far the most technical of the three disciplines. It takes time. Good repition (not just repeating bad habits & slogging out the yards). Several years ago I attended a coaching conference where one of speakers said “10 years or 10,000 hours” is what it takes to become proficient in a sport. I suggest both masters swiimming AND private lessons. Learn technique (can you swim 25 yards in 13 or so strokes) & fitness will follow. 8K a week is not much. How does that compare to your cycle & run volume? Spend some more quality time in the water & then some more.
If you’re already doing every open water race you can and still aren’t getting past the mental block, time to push yourself into even more challenging water in non-race situations.
Don’t suppose you live somewhere where you can take up surfing or bodyboarding?
Because you need to get some confidence in your own abilities, and nothing like discovering that scarily wavey andchoppy water can actually be a lot of fun to get rid of the fear in moderately rough conditions.
I do live where I can surf and bodyboard. But it’s not the conditions that cause me concern, it’s the people climbing all over me . . . and my flippin’ sighting.