Well, just over a week 'till my first sprint triathlon. Been going to the pool every day and “swimming poorly, and doing it well.” which is the best I can hope for.
I’ve been trying to incorporate what I will call the ‘swimming points of performance’ that I’ve learned from this board, others, books, etc, but to try focus on all of them at once just overwhelms me.
Things I know I could work on:
Side to side rotation
High elbow recovery and high elbow during the pull
front quadrant swimming
‘downhill’ swimming (leading with crown of head, pressing torso down)
others?
So if you could pick one as the most important, to focus on above all others what would it be?
So if you could pick one as the most important, to focus on above all others what would it be?
You mean in the next week?
I wouldn’t worry about it. Just get to the pool and do some swimming. Maybe try to pay attention to what the water feels like as you’re swimming, but really, wouldn’t worry about it at this point.
You know one thing you might want to practice, though? Lifting your head and sighting ahead of you while swimming. You’re probably gonna want to do that during the race, and you probably haven’t tried it yet.
With a beginner just starting out and of the ones that you listed, ‘downhill’ swimming is the most important by far. Improving your body position as a new swimmer will provide you with your biggest gains.
If you want to start with one thing, start with that.
balance. In my opinion if you can nail the balance part of swimming, you are laughing.
Coming from a guy with sucky ass balance about 10 minutes into my sets. But when I am nicely balanced, it feels so easy.
M~
Proper breathing. Without it you won’t last, no matter how well your technique is otherwise. Concentrate on the exhalation phase under water. Breath out ALL the air prior to rotating to the side where you expose your mouth to the air for inhalation.
The key to swimming and most other physical activities is breathing.
Another smartass answer is what my canoe coach told me. “your stroke looks pretty good, but you spend too much time in one spot”. I think the most important thing is to get long smooth strokes, and RELAX. Most bad swimmers aren’t all that comfortable in the water. Play water polo, surf, windsurf, go to the beach. canoe, kayak, scuba dive. All of those sports help you understand the water and become more comfortable in the water.
Breathing! The bodily process of inhalation and exhalation; the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxide by exhalation.
By far the most important thing you will have to deal with is the unknown of swimming around other people, perhaps in a crowded start. Panicking, or going out too fast for yourself, is almost always the biggest problem a new person encounters with their first race. A week isn’t going to change much in your technique, but you can get absolutley screwed if you get your heart racing in the first 100 yds. and then have to breaststroke home with declining expectations and dissappointment to mark the rest of your day, your first half hour of your new sport.
Visualize the scene several times in your head. Think about the worst things, like folks crawling over you, a person next to you that keeps turning into you on every stroke on your breating side (hint, it is just as likely to you you turning into him), getting flayed by people who are in fact panicking…not paying attention to where the bouys are…
Plan your swim, how you start, watch the other waves if there are any, position yourself in your wave and on the course. Get there early and have plenty of time to check out the swim twice, including the transition route.
Figuring out a way to be at peace in the first half hour will be the key to “success” (which I assume is to do fine and have a good day.)
Wa’ll my swim coach stresses stroke mechanics above all else…so guess ya work on the mechanics. One exercise I found very helpful is trying to reduce the number of strokes you take say for 25 meters…one length of the pool I swim at. If I’m doing things correctly I get a ton of glide and only need 18 strokes for 25 meters…thats a great drill to help with the correct mechanics…good luck.
But when I am nicely balanced, it feels so easy.