I noticed that there is very little talk about swimming technique as we approach the heavy triathlon season. Everyone seems to be consumed with bike components, race schedules and looking good.
One of the best ways of “looking good” is to look where you are going. Site often as you swim in the open water. Point at the marker buoy as you are swimming toward it. A while ago I talked about Your arm on the non-breathing side entering the water to trigger opposite hip to open and initiate your stroke and take a breath. That same arm can help you site. As your arm on the non-breathing side enters the water use your index finger to point in the direction you wish to go. You will look slightly forward and be able to see over that hand at the marker buoy or what ever you are siting. Next, start your hip rotation and take a breath. That extending arm will create lift and allow you to raise your head without sinking. Keep that arm out there until you have finished your breathe.
I gave a swim lesson this morning and set up a marker at the end of the pool. My client practiced siting for the end of the pool with every stroke on the non-breathing side. The more you site the straighter you will swim.
Good point. I am planning on hitting a local lake tomorrow for some open water training. I find that the single most important aspect of swimming straight is having a balanced stroke. I find that I swim pretty straight if I focus on balance.
The thing that drives me crazy is finding a straight swimmer to draft off of. I tend to just go solo since I prefer sighting my own route even though I know it is faster to draft.
Good hint about the non-breathing arm. I take a breath every storke, how often do you think is optimal to sight? Should I pop up my head to sight every 4 strokes, 6 strokes, 8 strokes, etc? When I pop my head up to sight should I turn to take a breath after the sighting or put my right head back in the water and breath on the next stroke? I’m trying figure out if there is an optimal pattern or rythem to doing this.
on one stroke, then 2, then 3, etc… Keep this up until you reach a count where you begin to veer off your line. That count is now your look count. so if it is 8, you can swim eight strokes and then sight, then repeat.
Balance means that both side of your body are doing the same thing alternately. Make sure your arms are entering the water in line with your shoulders and move forward from there. Any movement inside your shoulder will cause lateral movement. Any movement of your head past 90 degress to side will cause lateral motion. Most people swim in a straight line when they do not turn their heads at all. Learning when and how much to turn your head is crucial to straight line swimming.
Find a fast swimmer, get on his/hers toes and check periodically if they are going in a straight line. The best and fastest swim of my life was at Tuper Lake in 1985. I came out of the water in 7th place overall, just 5 sec. behind the first place person. My shoulder hit every marker buoy.
My biggest frustration with open watrer swimming is that it feels much different than pool swimming. You cannot simply put your head down and stroke. I usually revert to breaststroke just to get my bearings. I really appreciate any and all tips on practicing sighting, swimming straight, etc.
I raise my head just enough to see the markers. My eyes just clear the water then a drop my head slightly and turn to breathe.
Siting frequency depends on race conditions and your ability to swim in a straight line. Is there a current? Are you being pushed around by other swimmers? Do you normally swim in a straight line? I site often and I practice it frequently. It has become part of my openwater swim routine.
One trick that helps me is to pick out landmarks that are very easy to see before an open water swim. I try not to use the buoyes if possible because they are low in the water and tough to find sometimes in a glance (or if your in the wave with pink or orange caps!). Before the race I’ll look for large objects on the horizon in the direction i’m supposed to go (buildings, flag poles, etc.) that I can sight easily and quickly during the race.
Doug also showed me a technique for straight swimming in Curacao that helped a great deal. He mentioned that using your hand to “point” to the swim bouy that you sighted on the surface when you are in the submerged portion of the stroke, and then “following your arm” underwater helped you maintain a straight line. This also had the additional benefit of preventing me from “crossing over” my arms during the stroke, something Doug pointed out to me when he video taped our strokes at the pool in Curacao and then reviewed them with us back at the Lion’s Dive Hotel where the camp stays.
At the Curacao camp in '04 we did the RBTT/Fatum Bank Triathlonfest olympic distance Triathlon. The swim was rough, two laps of a triangular course crossing a shallow reef over which significant waves were breaking, maybe 3-4 feet breaking (significant for me at least…). Doug’s sighting technique was invaluable in these conditions since sighting on the surface was largely ineffective due to surf conditions.
Andrew Kennedy was at that camp in Curacao too, and was also one of the guys there who showed me this technique. Andrew is an Ironman veteran and an excellent swim specialist.
Sighting (not siting;^)) in conditions with a swell or chop is much more difficult. If the marker bouy is three feet high, and there is a one foot swell or wave height, you will physically not be able to see the bouy most of the time without (1) Doing the “Tarzan” stroke, (2) Doing the breaststroke for one or two strokes, or (3) Timing your “peek” at the bouy to occur when you are at the crest of the swell or wave. Of the above, No. 2 slows you down the most, No. 1 is faster, but can still result in non-sighting of the bouy if you are in a trough, and No. 3 is problematic if the swells/waves are not regularly spaced, but are confused and choppy. IOW, if it is rough out there, it is going to be more difficult to swim in a straight line and your times will suffer.
I have a few comments about what Doug is proposing to help you all swim straighter. First of all, only the lead swimmer, and those unlucky enough not to get into a draft pack have to really sight. For most, the most important thing to do is to stay on the feet in front of you. I figure about 90% of the field can draft, but probably only 50% or less do. Now you might say, what if the guy/girl in front is swimming crooked. Doesn’t really matter. I’ve found over the years, having done about a 1000 plus open water races, that it is almost always best to stay on the feet of the person pulling you, even if they go off course a bit. Here’s why. I’m assuming that you are drafting off someone that is pushing you to your limit, and thus you are swimming about 10% or so faster than you would, pulling your own water. IF you leave those feet for what you believe to be a straighter course, almost always you will come in behind that swimmer you left, and worked a lot harder than you would have, had you just stayed put. I know this because I’ve tried many times to out wit faster swimmers than me by picking better courses, and I always lose. What really happens is that you loose your 10% advantage, get dropped, and sooner or later that swimmer in front will correct their course, and kick your butt all the way to the finish. It’s good to know how to swim straight, because you will need it ocasionally. Tactically, you should almost never need it, but on rare ocassions it good to have that talent in your arsenal . Go ahead and learn to swim straight, but way more important to learn, is to pack swim with the group that will pull you faster than you could otherwise go on your own…
My 3-4 times in a pool each year include a few lengths of the pool with my eyes closed. I do basically what you have stated earlier. I close my eyes for 1 stroke, then 2, then 3 and see how many stokes I can take before I’m in danger of wrapping my arm around the lane line! : )
I’m not a good swimmer…30-50% in my age group…but given that I only swim when I race, its not too bad. I really hate swimming. I needed to be saved from the bottom of a pool when I was 8 years old. Couldn’t swim a lick back then but decided I would dive the length of a pool and glide to the other end…NOT…didn’t even come close!!
I know, I know… I am a poor communicator. I guess this just shows what happens when the magic in a relationship starts to go. But back to the shoulder… It was really bad about a week ago, feels like its in the rotator cuff (I partially tore the rotator cuff in the other shoulder a few years ago). I got back in last night and it felt ok for the most part. Towards the end of the workout I started to notice it again. I feel like the back end of my stroke is ok. The only thing I have really changed was trying to elongate the front half of my stroke, basically reaching farther.
BUT… I think I figured out the problem. I think that when I sight, the angle at which I pull my head up relative to my shoulder puts a lot of stress on the joint. I just did the Disney half, my first half, so I imagine I irritated something during that race and subsequently in the time off from swimming afterwards, didn’t realize it. As long as I keep my head down my shoulder is ok, but when I try to sight I can really feel it. I am gonna do a sprint this weekend, Buster Britton, so its only a 500. I won’t have any problems swimming 500 being that the bouys are supposed to be on the left, and I can sight much better when having to look left.
I figure after the race I’ll take a little more time off and let it heal. Once that’s done I’ll work on sighting without putting so much stress on the joint.
In previous seasons I did all my breathing to the right, breathed on every stroke, and would sight every fifth or sixth stroke. Pretty simple.
Over the winter, at the advice of a masters coach, I began alternate breathing. I’ve become comfortable doing it, and I believe its balanced my stroke and made me faster.
Problem is, in the open water, how to incorporate sighting in the alternate breathing pattern? I haven’t had much chance to practice in the open water yet (I’m in Ohio), but the first couple OW swims this year it all felt very clumsy. I tried a few different patterns of stroking/breathing/sighting, but nothing felt “right.”