I can barely swim 200m without blowing up, my form is terrible
Going through some hard life changes right now, and I am thinking of picking back up running to blow off steam, get into tri, and some comraderie. I am a fairly solid TT racer (when in shape), CAT 3 USCF, and was running 15-20 miles a week at 7:30m pace for cross training back in 2002, when I last ran and did a couple of du’s. I don’t have the motivation to ride hard now, so I am doing longer sessions to kept sane and healthy/fit.
So for swimming, where should I start? I now have plenty of time in the evenings for coached sessions, what if the fastest/best way to approach this?
First of all, get yourself a set of Powercranks. No question they will help your swimming as well.
Secondly, find a master’s program in your area. Check out this website: http://www.usms.org/
I would think that a master’s group would provide some additional motivation. I find going to a pool solo and cranking out yards is tough to do solo on a regular basis.
Good luck!
I wouldn’t suggest jumping head first into a Masters group without getting some one-on-one assistance first. Look for a coach in your area who can give you a few 1 hour lessons individually. I have been working with a guy (completely non-swimmer when we started working - could barely float) and we’ve now gotten to the point where he can swim comfortably.
My suggestion for where to look for a coach is your local college, high school, or club swim team. Just ask the folks if they know anyone who would be interested in giving you some private lessons. You could get some great instruction from a good college swimmer. It will probably cost you anywhere from $30-70 for a 1 hour private lesson. I charge $40.
The sessions are geared towards Ironman, so you might find the volume to be too much at first, but I recommend you keep the integrity of the workout and cut back both the warm up and the main set.
Coming from a non-swimming background myself, I put together a few ideas that helped me along the way. This article might help you too.
Gary, three years ago, I was in your shoes. Now, I’m a slightly above average swimmer, and working hard to get better. My personal experiences and advice…
DO NOT swim with a masters team yet, unless you want to get frustrated and quit. Many masters are SWIMMERS, they are fast, and maybe they’ll help you. But right now is not the time for Masters. It will be soon. Some will disagree with me on this, and that’s fine.
GET A COACH. If I’m right, you are somewhere in the San Diego area, right? If you are, contact Mike Plumb. He was my coach, and I think he or some of his TriPower team could get with you to help you.
BE PATIENT. It will take a lot of time and energy. Imagine how long it took you to become a Cat3. This will be more challenging. I am a runner, so getting good at that is easy. Swimming ain’t.
You will probably hear or read about Total Immersion. That will help you to learn good body position, but MAKE SURE you coach gives you information on the pull part (arm underwater) of the stroke. Using TI, my catch and pull was in bad shape. It took a few months to try and correct that. TI doesn’t address this in their books. But TI did help in some ways.
Personal, hands on instruction will be your most important and valuable aid. These sessions really helped me. I’d be hesitant to ask a college swimmer, maybe a college coach, but not a college swimmer. Those kids have been swimming their whole lives. Their form might not be that great, and it doesn’t have to be…they have been doing it longer and the skill comes natually to them. Find a swimming coach, seek his/her advice, and work your ass off.
I was and still am in the same boat. In previous sprint or oly tris I just muddled thru w/ a combo of free and breast. I finally decided to get serious.
Take a weekend TI course, practice some on your own and join a Master’s program. I just started masters. After 8 sessions in 2 weeks I can honestly say I see an improvement every day. From barely doing 25’s & 50’s to 5 x 50’s with 10 seconds rest. Also all of the drills have greatly helped my balance, which I see as one key to reducing fatigue. I have also had to learn not to go fast and really glide to conserve energy. I think the gliding keeps me from going anerobic, otherwise I too flame out, but at 50 or 100, not 200. So you’re ahead of me there on endurance
Good Luck. You can do it, it just takes time and persistance as I am learning.
You are new to swimming. No matter how competent you are in your other sports you do not know swimming. You will have to put your ego away for a long time. You are now a toddler learning how to walk. Be willing to fall on your face. Stop often and take small steps in the learning process. Masters programs are not geared to new swimmers. Find a low key program where the focus is on technique and some conditioning. This is a long process and will be very rewarding if you give it time to lern.
If you have any specific questions on how to just contact me.
Part of the learning process is learning how to kick. Get a kickboard and see if you cankick a length of the pool. If you can that is one less thing to worry about. If you cannot, get a pair of fins, point your toes and gently kick a few lengths of the pool.
I was in a similar situation. I would swim 50 with poor form and too much effort. After 100, I was hanging on the wall to catch my breath.
Take a TI workshop. It’s like night and day. I am not fast, but now I can swim 1,500 yards and still feel like I can go another 500. I took the workshop in January so that should give you an indication of how helpful it was. I am sure that there are some things that TI doesn’t teach, but if you need to “learn how to swim” and be able to swim even half a mile and then bike and run, IMO it’s the only way to go and money well spent. It’s the best value out there.
I’m new to swimming, too, just starting up about 3 weeks ago. When I first started, I honestly couldn’t swim a lap. It’s was truly humbling, as I figured swimming would be easy and that I was fit enough from cycling and running to breeze through it…
I got a few pointers from a coach and spent a couple of weeks in the pool praticing. I was able to swim 1200 metersw non stop last week and could have went longer if I’d wanted to. I’m not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m a heck of a lot better than I was just a couple of weeks ago. The 2 things that helped me the most:
Breath every stroke : Probably not the most efficent thing from a form standpoint, but it beats the hell out of drowning. When I first started, I was trying to go two complete strokes (r-l-r-l-breath) between breathing. That didn’t work. I switch to a breathing every stroke (r-l-breath-r-l-breath) and it helped loads. There were less things to think about and less struggling to gasp for air.
Kick less : Try the kick board out and see how little impact kicking has on your forward motion, but how big of an impact it has on your cardi system. Instead of trashing away with my legs to try and eak out a tiny bit more speed, I slowed my kick down quite a bit. All of the sudden, swimming wasn’t taking my breath away.
Take my advice for what it’s worth - not very much! - but these changes helped me a bunch. I’m going to continue to work with the coach to gain speed, but I’m no longer in fear of drowning during my 1/2 IM swim.
Kick less : Try the kick board out and see how little impact kicking has on your forward motion,
I would just add that kickboard kicking isn’t swim kicking, so the speed may not translate. Go without a kickboard, get on your side, point one arm forward, the other back (as if you were mid-stroke). Now kick a length and check the speed. Even cranking, it takes me over 1:30 to do 50y that way, but with the aid of a kickboard, I’d be tricked into thinking the kick adds more speed.
Check out your masters group before you decide to join. The coach of my local masters swims the entiore workout and thus does not actually spend anytime “coaching.”
I started with your same dufficulties. His advice was to put in the yards and i was bound to improve.
I eventually ended up getting a personal coach who has helped me tremendously. I would also suggest working with videotape. Tape yourself now and tape yourself working with a coach.
I found that taping helps me to visualize what i am doing in the water.
Check out some of the Total Immersion products. Just bought the freestyle DVD and the book about triathlon swimming. The exercises will definately improve your stroke.
Gary - Find someone to tear apart your stroke and fix it. At Ralph’s and the infamous Tempe town lake swim I witnessed the lotsa of people practicing swimming- poorly. Don’t be one of those. Most people are either not willing or for some reason don’t invest some time and money into a good technique coach. It’s a third of the price of a disc and three times as fast!
When your in the PHX area let me know. I coached swimmers for a few years and am pretty good at picking apart stroke flaws.
I’ll add that desert dude is pretty good… I had the chance to work with him last week and was very impressed. He could pick up stroke faults and the corresponding correction drills really quick, like I said, I was impressed, which is not easy!
I was in the same boat as you and now about 20 masters swim evenings later, I am finally at the point where I can swim a 500, or do 5 x 200’s w/ 15 seconds rest in beteween. All it takes is time, persistance and a strong tolerance to swallowing lots of pool water.
But enough about me. Have you been persistant and stuck with it? If I can do it, anyone can. Ditto for anyone else reading this.
Not swimming, plans changed as far as cross training goes. Riding lots, building a base, monster miles. By Oct I will be ready for my 20-25+ hour weeks, on track for vally of the sun, uscf nationals and moriarty. Rode 7 hours yesterday.
Kick less : Try the kick board out and see how little impact kicking has on your forward motion,
I would just add that kickboard kicking isn’t swim kicking, so the speed may not translate. Go without a kickboard, get on your side, point one arm forward, the other back (as if you were mid-stroke). Now kick a length and check the speed. Even cranking, it takes me over 1:30 to do 50y that way, but with the aid of a kickboard, I’d be tricked into thinking the kick adds more speed.
