Okay, so I really, REALLY am a bad swimmer. I’m pretty much the slowest swimmer in my swim group (all adults, I’m only 15), even slower than the old ladies who wear LYCRA swim caps. Gah! I’m like 11-minute-500yd-time-trial-slow! I don’t have a swim background like every other Junior triathlete outo there. So… how do I get better by summer?
- Stop being so hard on yourself.
- Read posts by the swimmers on this forum… lots of advice around here. Talk to tigerchick, she posts a lot.
Tri-love, meet pool.
Pool, this is Tri-love. Be ez on him/her.
Welcome to the next progression of humility!
I suck at swimming too, but am older than you are. I am going to buy private lessons at the YMCA for $80. If you have one near you, you might benefit from individual instrustion.
You. Can. Get. A. Lot. Better At. Swimming. If. You. Put. Your. Mind. To. It., Not. Just. Churn. Out. Mindless. Yards.
Technique. Technique. Technique.
I will answer this later - I need to get some homework done -
.
You are not swimming. You are fighting with the water, and the water is winning.
You are doing multiple things very wrong. Only someone who sees you in the water can tell you exactly what things you are doing wrong (some here can guess and get 90% of it right). Find someone competent who will watch you in the water and tell you both what you are doing wrong and the drills to employ to correct those errors. The right person will be able to improve your speed by 25% in a week, assuming you are able to change your “stroke”, because then you will be swimming and not battling.
The person you want is not a really good swimmer, nor a well-respected coach. You want an instructor. Ask the local Y coach for a recommendation for a stroke instructor.
If you are a swimmer, an 11 minute 500 yrd is slow.
If you are a beginner triathlete, an 11 minutes 500 yrd is OK.
I did my first triathlon last year and put in a 13 minute swim leg for ~650 yards. That was 22nd out of 200. Grant it this was not too competitive.
Now I am working on getting my HIM swim down to 30-35 minutes and I’m getting very close to cracking 35 minutes. Not bad considering what I did at my first triathlon in September.
If I could swim 11 minute 500 at 15, I would have been thrilled. Have you thought about joining your school swim team? If they don’t have one, how about a club team in the area? They have people ranging dramatically in talent level.
Also, swimming is only one leg and the shortest leg. How are your bike and run?
I agree with what’s been said - you need to be focusing on HOW you’re swimming before you can worry too much about speed. Getting good technique down makes it alot easier to ramp it up later.
That said, it’s hard to tell you what to change without seeing how you swim. Getting someone (who knows how what they’re doing) to look at your stroke would be helpful. You could join a club team, or your high school team, or just find a reputable coach in your area. If all else fails, go back to basic drills to focus on small parts of your stroke (you can Google and find some good ones - catchup stroke, fingertip drag, fist drill are a few that come to mind). If you’re comfortable with a snorkle, that can be helpful too - you’re not so focused on rotating to breathe, so you can concentrate on your stroke. But if you’re not comfortable with it already, don’t bother with it.
Biggest thing is: don’t be so hard on yourself. Even those of us who were swimmers in our past lives have things to improve on, that’s the whole fun of it. And at 15, you’ve got plenty of time. Good luck 
I said exactly the same the same thing to a man I respect greatly, the late Doug Stern.
For those of you who may not have known him, Doug Stern was a swim and triathlon coach from New York City who conducted (among other things) an annual Triathlon Trainng Camp on the island of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles. I attended Doug’s camp many times and got married there.
Anyway.
I once told Doug I sucked at swimming. He hit me in the head. When I said, “It’s true!” He threw a piece of chalk at me. He went on to explain that, if I said I sucked at swimming, I would be right. That it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He told me to say, “I am ready to improve at swimming.”
This sounds ridiculous I know, but I have faith in Doug’s methods and ideas so I re-calibrated my attitude toward swimming. I listened to what he and our coaches Sheila Toarmina and Boris Talon told us. I centered on the concept of being an “improving” swimmer. I looked for ways to move forward- small bits of progress, improvement and understandnig that helped my swimming improve.
I actually have improved.
Doug passed away from cancer some time back but his words and inspiration in the pool and the open water have always stayed with me. I’m an improving swimmer and I like that. I’m still improving too, a little at a time, always moving forward (as Doug would say, “Foe- wayd”). After over 200 triathlons Doug convinced me I’m an improving swimmer- still improving. He was right too.
Try that. It really does help.
You’re 15. You have a few years where you can dedicate time that us geezers
don’t have. You can become a very good swimmer.
You need:
- Coaching
- TITW (time in the water)
You do both of those and you’ll be very successful later on doing triathlons because
of those of us who didn’t have that idea when we were young.
-Jot
join the swim team. You’re just starting high school… maybe a sophmore or whatever- I only swam my senior year- stupid.
School swim team is free, its good coaching, good competition, and the season ends before tri season begins.
High school boys swim the 500 in 5ish minutes. When you log 4000yds a day 5 days a week, even if your technique sucks, you still get faster.
My coach never taught me technique, but the endurance, muscles, breathing you build still are Huge.
sooo… find the capitain of your team, join up
When you log 4000yds a day 5 days a week, even if your technique sucks, you still get faster.
Only to a certain point, and that is minimal. To advocate getting even marginally faster just by churning out yards is pretty poor advice.
To the OP - Echo what the others have said. Find a competent stroke instructor and/or join the swim team.
John
Dude-
You can improve. I started out as a garbage swimmer at the age of 24, and through a steady steady progression I’ve improved my swims to be a FOP AG swimmer at the age of 27. It takes time, and at 15, you’ve got more time than you know what to do with.
You will be great, you just have to work at it.
Plus you have the benefit of hanging out with the girls on the swimteam, and they’re always very nice ;), but a bit goofy.
I agree. You need yardage, but the Best thing is to find a coach/instructor that can communicate effectively with you how to improve you technique.
I swam year-round from 8 through the end of my college career (sprint/mid-dist free), and was/am by no means a “natural” swimmer. It takes years to learn the proper stroke technique, and lots of practice.
A good coach can get you straightened out in the water (literally) in a fairly short time, but you have to invest into what they are teaching i.e. going to lots of practice.
FWIW, I gained the most technique improvement when I got video taped underwater (and above) in college. Actually seeing what you’re doing wrong (not rotating, elbows, entry, hips dragging, whatever) can help it click when a coach is turning blue in the face repeating the same instruction to you over and over (put your head down).
Good Luck, and if you can find someone to tape you doing some laps, i’m sure people here would be eager to help you out.
i am good at swimming…I can do 500m in 9min 45 sec and 750 in 15 min and 1000m in 21 min. After that, i am done!
If you are a swimmer, an 11 minute 500 yrd is slow.
If you are a beginner triathlete, an 11 minutes 500 yrd is OK.
I did my first triathlon last year and put in a 13 minute swim leg for ~650 yards. That was 22nd out of 200. Grant it this was not too competitive.
Now I am working on getting my HIM swim down to 30-35 minutes and I’m getting very close to cracking 35 minutes. Not bad considering what I did at my first triathlon in September.
If I could swim 11 minute 500 at 15, I would have been thrilled. Have you thought about joining your school swim team? If they don’t have one, how about a club team in the area? They have people ranging dramatically in talent level.
Also, swimming is only one leg and the shortest leg. How are your bike and run?
My run is great, bike is decent, it’s just the swimming I’m having trouble with.
swimmer here, and the best way to improve is too work on technique, as others have said. Once you get the feel of the water, then work on speed and endurance. Focus on high elbows during the catch and pull. When i watch people who are just starting, that is the one piece of advice everyone can use.
Get the “Total Immersion” swimming DVD, watch it a few times, and do the drills in it. Some may not completely agree with the Total Immersion school of swimming, but just watching it, getting some idea of the components are of a good stroke, and then the balance/feeling the water drills can really help.
As has been said a few times, try to find a team to join (one with a good coach). I can’t think of anything else that will push you harder to become the best you can. And spend lots of time in the pool.
As a swim instructor, I have to say, don’t worry. At 15 years old, it’s a good idea to focus on your swim. You will learn much better and quicker now than you would if you waited until later in life. People who start to learn in their 30s and later on take much longer to learn proper technique. But 15 is also old enough to start understanding the concepts of proper stroke technique. Some of the younger kids don’t grasp the ideas quite as well as someone your age.
So don’t worry, you’re at the perfect age to focus on improving your swimming. I started at about 13 or 14, and am typically a FOP triathlon swimmer (but still looking to improve, as Tom said). Just make sure you get someone to watch your stroke and teach you proper form, and you’re good to go.