Did my first Sprint last week. 1 St in a ge group (45-49) 17 th overall out of 180 or so. I was in about 140 th place after the swim ( I’m not a good swimmer) and chased down, swerved around people to the finish. Although I’m happy with my bike and run, my swimming is horrible. My wife was watching and I think she felt bad for me watching me struggle on the swim. She gave me info on swim lessons and I plan on taking them soon. The swim was about .3 miles and it took me 15 minutes.
Can I learn to swim over the winter? I’m not saying I’m going to be leading the pack out of the water next season, but can it be expected that I can be “ok” in the swim by next year? BTW I did the backstroke the entire swim. Can not breath during the freestyle
The only way you will get better is to put the time in at the pool. Find a swimming plan and stick to it over the winter. Once you have some muscle memory in your stroke get with a swim coach and have them help you improve.
My $.02
I’ve been in the pool a few times trying to work on my freestyle. I can’t seem to go more than a few strokes before popping up and stopping. I try to breath out under water and I do ok with that but when I try to rotate my body and face out of the water to get air I breath in water , sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Either way it stops me in my tracks. I’m hoping that a swim coach with be able to see what I’m doing wrong and correct it.
Me being in a pool now seems useless until I can at least learn this basic thing. I can’t go from A to C without learning B etc…
It wasn’t that long ago I was in your same shoes. My first tri was almost a 15 minute 400 meter pool swim. I did the side stroke because I was afraid to put my face in the water. I’m no speed demon now, but I have moved from back of the pack swim to the top half. I think the big thing is being relaxed in the water. If you’re having a hard time breathing, I imagine comfort and relaxation are a big part of it.
I remember I found some beginner swim workouts online that were 800 meters, and I thought they were really long. My advice is to take small steps and build comfort. I used to just go to the pool and backfloat around a bit, just relaxing in the water. For me, it was about spending time in the water and becoming one with it. I would then maybe do a few lengths, concentrating on just making the length of the pool. Some of my early swim workouts were maybe 150 meters over 30 minutes! I was also intimidated by all the swim mechanics stuff - there is so much to learn. It takes time.
The important thing was to get into the pool regularly and often. My swim workouts are still relatively short (usually at lunch and from 1000-1500 yards), but I have been going more often, and working on the little things each time. I continue to improve. In your case, I would think you can achieve your goal by getting a little help early and going regularly. I’ve had a few people help me with some basic things, and the gains have been big. Maybe find somebody that can give you a couple of basic lessons, maybe get yourself a pull buoy so you can concentrate on the upper body mechanics. Some others will probably disagree, but maybe a snorkel is worth thinking about so you can concentrate on breathing separately from propulsion.
Finally, I found a good resource is www.swimsmooth.com. It’s kind of hard sometimes to visualize, but their e-mails give me food for thought. Just some thoughts - good luck!
Check out either swimsmooth, or Finding Freestyle. I’m a fan (and very happy customer) of the latter.
My first tri, I did an Olympic distance, in a river with a current.
I may not have been DFL out of the water, but there weren’t more than a handful of bikes on the racks.
Did mostly sidestroke, with some other flailing mixed in.
(some would say, not much has changed these days… 
Being an adult-onset swimmer is tough, but it can be overcome.
Finding Freestyle and 5-6 days a week in the pool.
Even if you only start at 800 yds/m each day you’ll build up quickly allowing yourself to swim more after a few months.
Also take a day or two doing long sets, 800-1200. 50’s and 100’s ain’t going to cut it if you struggle with the long stuff.
Thanks for the info. I’ll give it a good effort and see how it goes
Join a masters swim club.
usms.org (us)
mymsc.ca (canada)
Stay away from long continuous swims, swim 25 / 50 repeats.
Join a masters swim club.
usms.org (us)
mymsc.ca (canada)
Stay away from long continuous swims, swim 25 / 50 repeats.
I’m the last person to disagree with you on swimming advise, and I do pay close attention to everything you post, but struggling with my swim like the OP I’ve come to see the value in swimming longer sets opposed to the shorter stuff.
The reason is I had no endurance at all and inything over 500 was a struggle. Also, now that I’m doing longer sets I am building my endurance, times are coming down and I am also building confidence in longer swims. I had no idea, and really am still learning how hard I can push.
If I asked you to give me what your times for a 3x1000 set, you could probably tell me within a few seconds for each 1000. For myself…I’d probably need a plus or minus 2min guess. And that’d be for the first 1000. Second, five min plus or minus and I have no idea if I could do a third.
I still do 50’s, 75’s 100’s, but the longer sets have been very helpfully. For me anyways and that’s why I suggested it.
Yes I am a split weenie and can do 3/4 x 1000 in 12:30 or better… but thats a 1:15/100 pace. I do 20 x 75 at 1:05/100 pace. I’ve got 27 years of swimming under my belt (i’m 35 btw) so I’m no stranger to high volume. Its probably more mental training for you … ie getting your head wrapped around the distances.
And that’s why I read your posts.
Btw, I’m 49 and last November I failed at finishing 300yds. Now I’m swimming 6 days a week and every sat I do 1500 nonstop (and building)
You’re right, it’s more mental for me at this point.
Wish I picked swimming instead of diving in middle/high school.
Heh heh, I wish I’d picked swimming, biking, running, tiddly winks, or anything besides the beer drinking and pot I did instead!
Finding Freestyle and 5-6 days a week in the pool.
This. Working the FF and doing a swim focus. The minutes have been melting away.
You can definitely be ok by next season.
A “good” coach would be a great investment. By good, I mean a coach that understands triathlon swimming. In triathlon, we race in open water (current, waves, etc), race in a pack (contact, drafting, etc), generally wear a wetsuit and we have to bike and run when we’re done the swim.
Gerry Rodrigues would be an example of a good (under statement to say the least) coach. Read this interview of his and then seek out a local coach who has a similar philosophy: http://flocycling.blogspot.ca/2012/02/flo-cycilng-triathlon-swimmings-golden.html
Congratulations on your age group win and good luck over the winter and next season.
If your financially challenged like me and cannot afford a coach, try “Total Immersion Swimming” video lessons. It cost me $20 bucks and completely taught me how to swim and gave me much needed confidence with open water swimming! There are also many youtube videos for free. A few dedicated weeks with the video will make dramatic differences in your swim.
Goodluck!
Ken, you are obviously in great shape.
I was in terrible shape and couldn’t swim a lick. I can now swim 2:00 100s all day long until I’m bored or hungry. I’m going to do my first half in October, and the swim is the least of my worries. I went from a non swimmer to a competent (I won’t drown or fail to finish) swimmer in 2 years. You can probably be a lot faster than I am with your fitness.
Get lessons and coaching. I did TI, finding freestyle, and a few clinics. Getting a coach will be faster and easier in the end. Heck find a triathlon club and ask some of the better swimmers what you are doing wrong and they will help too. Start swimming with and watching good swimmers.
Swimming is more skill oriented than biking or running. You need to learn a new skill. Approach it like a totally different skill with an open mind and you will improve rapidly.
I too can relate when I started to 5 years ago. Learn to breath out under water and get your rhythm. Join a masters swim. It will be huge for you. If you go 3x a week in the winter you will be shocked on how far you will come!
I was talking about this subject today with another casual but “non-club” swimmer. I swam all my life, never in a pool or club. I could breaststroke etc. but my freestyle was horrible for any sort of distance. Long legs that totally sink. The single biggest key is** posture or body position** in the water. And it starts floating. You need to get the hands up (on the surface) chest down, back arched & taught with the sole purpose of floating the feet and getting the body into a hull or boat like profile. There is that youtube video about legs up floating and center of mass vs center of buoyancy is a must view. Also I did this drawing to illustrate the floating position before starting. http://twitpic.com/aoqf4z
From there slowly start rolling side to side and moving forward. I call this “flying angels”. You can use a wetsuit and an ankle band at first. Without a wetsuit ups the ante and exposes any breakdown in body posture or position quicker.
I love to swim without a suit now, in fact ordered the A/S swim skin because I think it’s better to practice most of the time without the suit at least for posture and stroke development. This morning I swam about 350M open water w/suit in sub 5 minutes. When I started in June that swim took me 8 or 9 minutes depending on how much I had to stop due to being gassed! In July I was 5 1/2 minutes using fins!
Here’s all you need to know right now.
Get your ass in the water. 5-6 days a week. Don’t think. Put your damn face in the water and swim.
Dive under. Blow bubbles. Play Marco Polo. Get in the water!
Once you are comfortable in the water start working on your stroke.
You remind me of my old man! That’s what he would say but he’d throw me in the water while he said it. Thanks to all for the info.
Yesterday after I started this post I went to the pool. Did drills with my face in the water breathing out and turning my head to breath. Went well. I’m ok with it. I move my arm back to simulate a stroke. I’ll keep doing this. I think I’ll use a snorkel just for a while so I can focus on form at the same time. When I’m ready I’ll ditch the snorkel and start going slow attempting to successfully breath. I’ve got lessons that I’ll be taking and I hope to be able to at least swim 50 yards without sucking in water. This way the coach can tell me all the things I’m doing wrong. You see it’s hard for me to listen to constructive criticism while water is going in my lungs. I tend not to retain much under those circumstances. I wish I could get in the pool 6 days a week but that’s not possible. 3 I can do
Thanks again for all your help
Here’s all you need to know right now.
Get your ass in the water. 5-6 days a week. Don’t think. Put your damn face in the water and swim.
Dive under. Blow bubbles. Play Marco Polo. Get in the water!
Once you are comfortable in the water start working on your stroke.