I picked up triathlon in 2005 with no athletic background at all. I learned to swim by trial and error and my PR my first year was 33 minutes for a 1.5k. The second year, I averaged about 30 minutes for a 1.5k. This year? The same dang 30 minutes for a 1.5k even though I’ve been taking large chunks of time off of my bike and run. However, I’ve never “pushed” my swim – I always exit the water feeling warmed up and not fatigued.
So, it’s time to get serious about swimming for next year. Given that I’m a student and I work, I have a limited amount of time to swim each week - I’m aiming for two 1.5 hour sessions during the week and a 1 hour session before my long bike ride on Saturdays.
Outside of lessons (I have class during the university’s intermediate swim class), I figured the best way to start improving my technique was through a bucket-load of drills. So: what drills have worked the best for you in improving swim technique? Let’s hear 'em!
(Also, what’s the deal with Total Immersion? Good? Bad?)
Total Immersion is awesome! Buy the book or check out their website. Then drill for the next 6 months.
what are you swim flaws. Doing drills just for the sake of doing drills would be nothing more then doing drills just to do drills. Doing drills to fix a specific flaw, now that would be brilliant (in fact so brilliant, I’m going to get another beer)
calling kevin in md. how was that?
I’d like to work on balance (I think my feet fall). For instance, I can’t use a regular pull buoy without kicking a little because my feet sink too much. I use a kickboard and that seems to work a lot better than a pull buoy.
I’d also like to try to get my stroke count down. When I fully concentrate on stroke length, I can manage about 12 strokes per length (25), but when I’m moderately swimming, I average about 16-18. However, my arms are pretty straight through my pull. I’m not sure how bad that is because I’ve been passed by some crazy-fast swimmers who use a straight arm, too. Any thoughts?
Other than that, though, I’m not sure why I can’t seem to build any real speed. I don’t create a crazy wake. I breathe on both sides. I’m a front-quadrant swimmer (almost a full catch-up when I swim, actually).
courtesty of Fishtwitch, this is The Swimming Drill Thread:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1300426;search_string=the%20swimming%20drill%20thread;#1300426
I figured the best way to start improving my technique was through a bucket-load of drills.
The best way to start improving your technique is to spend lots of time in the water. Get two swimsuits, then you’ve got one for the morning and a dry one for the afternoon. 
swim swim swim swim swim. You can do some drills… but seriously, swim. Get a feel for it, you’ll find your stroke.
So: what drills have worked the best for you in improving swim technique? Let’s hear 'em!
fist drill - swim with your hands in fists. Or, a 100 as both fists/one fist and one palm/switch the next length/both open palms. I can always really feel my stroke curve after that.
one arm swimming - one arm is out in front of you, stroke with the other. You’ll feel yourself tilting up on your hip (or you should). We do SLRS (swim, left arm, right arm, swim by 100)
I usually do drills as a 50 or a 100 where you’ve got both drill and swim - like drill for the first length and then swim the second. Focus on something (like if you’re doing fingertip drag, you’re focusing on keeping your elbow high on the recovery) and then make sure it’s right when you go back to your stroke.
Lots of thoughts. Check what you wrote, you can find some obvious flaws right there to work on with out me suggesting drills. Until one sees you swims suggesting drills is a bit of a shot in the dark.
Thanks - I didn’t see that thread! It looks like it has a good variety of drills to try to hold me over until I can get some proper swim training in the winter.