Swimming for Tri Beginners

We'll begin the plan next week. For the moment, it would be useful to get an idea of people's abilities. If you can't swim at all, this plan won't be any use to you; you'll need to get one-on-one or group lessons. If you can swim at least a length or two, stick down the following details and post them. This way we can best try and tailor the "programme" as such.

User Name:
Swim Experience:
Can you breath bilaterally?:
Current 100m time:
Current 400m time:
Tri race experience:
Open Water experience:
Furthest distance swam:
Any Other Relevant details:

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Great thread Kurt, thanks

So what is the entry requirement to be a newbie/improver? Surely someone who learned to swim as a child could not call themselves a newbie to swimming Just asking innocently, before I'm lynched!

Just to add something of relevance. To get in tune with your swim development, instead of describing a session in terms of pace, or drills done, talk about how you felt in the water. Be descriptive about it. A beautifully technical swimmer & coach once said she sort of feels like she is swimming 'on top' of the water. It took me a long time to figure that out, but I learned plenty along the way!

No real entry requirement, beyond being able to swim a few lengths! "Newbie/improver" is just a term, it could just as well be "semi-moderate/sub-advanced";) The main aim is to help those who struggle with their Tri swim, get better and faster. Someone who swam as a kid has an advantage, a dormant ability that will come back quickly as an adult.

Absolutely agree with your second point. Having a "feel for the water", "swimming high", etc; we've all known those descriptions, when the swim is going well. Conversely, "swimming through treacle", "concrete socks"; when its not going so well. The difference is technique and swim form. When swim form starts to drop during a race, you get slower, its harder to breath, which makes you slower again, which drops your form, which gets you even slower... Getting out of the water slow and tired, feeds into a bad bike and run.

Distance isn't the goal, technique and form are. If you can swim two lengths with good form, you can quickly develop that into swimming 3.8k with good form- but good form comes first. Swimming "on top" of the water, when you are in control of every stroke and every breath, effortlessly gliding through the waves; thats the goal of this thread.

Oryx wrote: »

I feel rather stupid doing this, but I would make one small change to the above, as shown, because odd numbers of lengths puts you at the opposite end of the pool at the end of the section. a)I have ocd and that kind of thing gets to me, and b)if the pool has a deep end, weak swimmers may prefer the breaks between sections to be in the shallow end.

There will be sets later where a break at the wall means collapsing over while panting (so standing in the shallow end is more important), but this exercise set above is to be done at easy pace. Either wall will do to rest at. I said 5 just to finish on a "positive" breathing correctly, but 4 or 6 are fine too if you are OCD

Okay, its great to see the interest so far. I'm going to stop mentioning my lack of credentials from here; hopefully everyone knows what the thread is about- improvement. We're all in it together, so I've selected the bits from peoples backgrounds that stood out to me, with a comment. Hopefully the comment will be relevant to the group at large, but please don't think the part selected was your only interesting aspect; I just chose the bits I thought would help everybody!

Young family, demanding job, so limited time to train!! Swim with a group and a coach Wednesday morning, trying to fit another 2 sessions a week will be hard, but willing to give it a go.

In tri, 2 swim sessions weekly will leave you an unimproving swimmer (albeit its a lot more than a lot do, but we are above the masses on this thread;)). 3 sessions to maintain/improve your current level; 4 sessions are better to improve. The blocks will consist of 3 weekly sessions, which people can substitute with their current club sessions or whatever, or add a 4th or 5th as they see fit. But 3 weekly sessions are minimum for improvement.

Swimming mainly in a 20m pool, I found the transition to lengths in a 50m quite difficult and onwards to 1500m open water even more so. 1500m triathlon became a case of make it to the finish (without breaststroke) rather than trying to break speed records

Childhood swimmer; can do 20/25m pools no problem, but has difficulty in 50m pools and longer OW distances. Classic newbie triathlete- hopefully this thread will improve your OW fitness. There's a reason why shorter pools feel easier, and longer pools feel hard; once that is sorted out your times will come down.

I am aiming to do my first HIM in September 2015, the one I'm aiming for has a sea swim that was particularly rough this year so my swimming needs to be strong.

Excellent- the sea needs to be respected. You can feel suddenly very alone 1,000m out from shore, in waves, and a riptide stopping you from swimming to shore. Tri swims are invariably open water, and that has a load of its own issues. When you are confident of your own abilities in rough seas,you are confident of life- no better feeling. The goal is to introduce OW swimming into this thread in April/May. In fact I'm being selfish with this thread in that I would like people to become better OW swimmers when there is a bit of chop, so Tri races don't get cancelled/curtailed so often (with the obligatory cheer from those who entered but are afraid of the sea).

Always really slow, my top speed is very similar to my all-day speed

Again, a huge problem with many Triathletes. If this was running you wouldn't expect sprint pace to be the same as distance pace. Fixable, and it needs to be fixed.

Have been consistently at this pace for the best part of a year, but am showing no further improvements. I have been told that my main issues are lack of rotation and dropping the elbow on the catch. Swim with a tri club once a week but have not been getting private lessons. Aiming to improve technique over the winter, increasing my (really low) stroke rate while keeping form.

There's no silver bullet, but if you really want improvement its there. High elbow is something everyone can learn more.

Current 100m time: 1:25
Current 400m time: 6:30

Huge drop-off in times! Needs to be addressed! FWIW I have a similar drop-off- so I'm really interested in any cure for this!:D

and still ricky villa wrote: »

Likewise on keeping my eye on this thread especially if there are some open water drills/tips.

Yeah, next April on we'll do OW.

Current 100m time: approx 2:30 with break
Current 400m time: approx 10:00

Instant fix for your 100m time- divide 400 no break by 4 Seriously though, we'll get defined 100m times towards the end of Nov so we have a yardstick to work from.

Any Other Relevant details: I broke my nose a few years ago and my left nostril is completely occluded. I'm sure it's a handicap

Nose plugs if needed!

But taking a lateral leap on the subject of "handicap" for the sake of inspiration, there's a lad in our local club who was born with shortened limbs. The coach says he never saw anyone work harder in training. Here's a video of his 400m in 4:55- worth thinking of whenever anyone thinks they have limitations!

Open Water experience: Only during races never trained in OW. This quickly became apparent during KOG event, goggles were leaking and knocked off, sighting was all over the shop so swam everywhere but straight.

Its part and parcel of OW scrums- you need to learn how to deal with goggles knocked off, lads punching you in the ribs, people swimming on top of you... Get confident with these issues and it will make a huge difference to your race.

Swim Experience:Only started swimming at the start of the year. Stroke is not terrible but do have problem with breathing I think I am trying to go too fast. Any tips on how to slow down and keep a steady pace

Slow down to a pace where the breathing is controlled. If you learn good form your stroke won't be affected too much by slowing down, and your swim will be faster overall. Steady pace throughout, with good form; trumps fast pace from the start, losing form.

Week 1 Programme

Three days, spread over the week. The purpose here is to give direction to those who might not otherwise have a programme- obviously if you have a coach, stick with what your coach suggests. Times are not too important just now, the most important aspect is understanding swim form. When doing the drills, be aware of the purpose of each. If you find any of the drills slow you down to the extent your legs are sinking, try using the pb at the same time.
Report back on how you got on. Mistakes are to be expected at this stage, so make sure to mention them- now is the time to make mistakes and work on correcting them.

Day 1
200 easy
4*50 k with board (rest at each wall if needed)
4*50 fingertip
4*50 pb
4*50 armpit tap
4*50 sw
200 swim down
15 sec rest after each drill, all done at comfortable pace. More experienced swimmers do two sets (ie after 4*50 sw, start again on 4*50k and continue...)

Day 2
200 easy
4*50 k with board (rest at each wall if needed)
3*100 off 2:40
1 min rest
3*100 off 2:30
1 min rest
3*100 off 2:20
1 min rest
3*100 off 2:10
1 min rest
200 easy
Steady pace for each 100. With the variance in peoples abilities, these times are used for guidance until we have a better idea of paces. Be aware of hand entry when doing this set, think of your fingertip drill and how the hand enters, fingers pointed down. More experienced swimmers do 4*100 or 5*100 of each.

Day 3
200 easy
4*50 k with board (rest at each wall if needed)
4*400, alternate swim and pb, minute rest after each
200 easy
Keep an easy steady pace for these 400's- you should finish at a similar pace as you start. More experienced swimmers can try 6*400.

A couple of people have mentioned that fins might be useful for kick drills- if you are finding the kick drills tough, by all means wear a pair of training fins (example being the Finis fins). Ditto you can wear the fins for any of the drills if required- fins can help a swimmer who suffers from sinking legs to hold better form through the water, and these next couple of months will all be about holding good form.

(I don't use fins much myself, so if anyone with a bit of experience wants to chime in about them, please feel free)

Purpose: when your arm is underwater (this is called the "catch and pull" phase), it should be slightly bent at the elbow, as opposed to being rather straight. A lot of novice swimmers keep their arm too straight, and so lose a lot of power. Here's a great little example of the difference in power between doing things correctly and doing things incorrectly. It was the first low-hanging fruit plucked on my initial coached lesson, and is a powerful example of how to do it right.

You can do this anywhere today, but you'll need a second person. Standing upright, hold your arm out straight in front of your body. Have a partner push downwards on your hand, as you try to resist. Notice the ease in which they push down.
Now do the same, but this time with a slight bend (circa 30˚to 40˚) at the elbow. Notice how much more resistance you have as they push down.

This is because when your arm is straight, you are only using the small muscles of your shoulder. With a slight bend, you bring in all the muscles down your side, and so can generate a lot more power. And generating power efficiently is the difference between a good swimmer and a poor one.

Week 2 Programme

Three days, spread over the week. We're going to build on the drills and breathing from last week. Everything below should be swam at a comfortable pace (except where indicated), the goal is to focus on control and breathing in the water. Steady, steady, steady.

Day 1
200 easy
4*100 as (25m pb, 25m kick (use your pb as a board), 25m pb, 25m kick, 15 sec rest)
2*50 fingertip
2*50 pb
2*50 armpit tap
2*50 sw
8*25 (breath every 3 strokes first 25, breath every 5 next 25, and repeat. Full rest/recovery for as long as you want at each wall. Do these very slow, very controlled, focus on exhaling smoothly and constantly)
200 swim down

(15 sec rest after each drill, all done at comfortable pace)

Day 2
200 easy
4*50 k with board (rest at each wall if needed)
20*50m steady pace throughout, 5 sec rest after each 50m. Don't make the mistake of starting the first 50's too fast! (if you are struggling take 10 secs rest between each 50)
200m swim down

Day 3
200 easy
4*50 k with board (rest at each wall if needed)
100m
200m
300m
400m
300m
200m
100m
200 swim down

Steady pace throughout. They should feel controlled, but tough enough that you want the rest. 15 sec rest after each. Less confident swimmers can omit the 400m