Swimming... ohh dear.

 Well... I met with a personal trainer today for my first training in the pool.  Dear lord...  this is going to be interesting.  

I really would like to do my first sprint tri next summer.  I feel rock solid on the bike, good with the run, and a complete and total newb in the water.  I'm glad I had someone show me what I was doing wrong.  I was literally slapping the water into submission when I started.  By the end I at knew what I was "supposed" to be doing, though still failing nicely.   Basically what I learned: 

Keep your head down and turn to the side to breathe.  I was popping my head up and not really gliding through the water. 

Don't slap the water... slice through it with your arms. 

Use your hips to kick, not your knees.  

Body should rotate from side to side as you are moving through the water. 


Wow... overall a good, yet humbling experience at LA Fitness up here in MN.  I was flipp'n tired during and after wards.  Seriously, having to stop and catch my breath.  Haven't had to do that in a very long time. 


How did the rest of you "learn" to swim again?  Any decent websites out there that I should look into.  Are goggles a good idea?  What about ear plugs? 

Crazy... 

I never really "learned". What I call swimming (more like drowning with style) gets me through my races. I have gotten better over the past year after a friend clued me in on slicing and gliding. I have no interest in getting a swim coach and I feel I get a better "return on investment" when I spend more time cycling and running as opposed to swimming.

With that being said, I don't enjoy swimming, at all, I just get through swim workouts because I really LOVE triathlon. If you enjoy swimming, that's awesome and be sure to hit the pool as much as you can.

 Haha, that makes me feel MUCH better! :)

Yes, if I can build up to "drowning with style" i'll be very happy! I figure I'll train with this guy on and off over the winter to hopefully find some sort of survival skills in the water.  Definitely not to the 'enjoy' phase.  

i spent my childhood in a pool and swam competitively from ages 11-18.  I LOVED the water, and still do.  But OMG I can't swim anymore!  It was much easier when I was fat and didn't have to work so hard to float.

Swimming is damn hard, so congrats on getting a coach and getting the basics down.  I think I might still have form, but swim endurance would take me forever to get back. 

I think if you stick to it, you will be more than ready for a sprint tri in the spring!

Post WLS I thought swimming would be the # 1 exercise I would go back to...I sunk like a rock!!  You have to force your body through the water at all times.  Before the fat would help keep you afloat while you rested between strokes.  Not now...

Swimming for triathlon is far different than swimming for competition. In triathlon, you will learn to have a strong "Pull" which you will need to develop your tricepts for. I really don't kick when I swim, I just focus on long gliding strokes and maybe a little flutter of a kick here and there for bouyancy. As for technique, mine sucks. But I have become VERY efficient and effective at doing something not technically correct, really well. I will say that for the Ironman Triathlons I have competed in, I typically finish in the top 25%-30% of all participants in the swim.

I seriously love swimming and got better at it by swimming 7-10 miles a week. I will say that for triathlon training, it is beneficial to have three focused workouts for EACH discipline. STRENGTH, SPEED, and ENDURANCE. So, if you did three swim workouts a week, your speedwork would be intervals... Something like 250M Warm-up, 10 x 25 on 40 seconds, then maybe 5 x 50 on 1:30's, then cool down. Strength would be longer sets with pull boueys and paddles. Endurance would be a long straight swim.

Kuddos for taking the plunge, now have fun and resolve to get better...

 Thanks so much!  The guy I was working with was telling me I was using my legs instead of my hips to kick.  Glad to hear you can flutter and compete just fine!

 I used a lot of you tube to try and understand what I needed to do (I had never swam more than a lap in my life before last December).  After 5 months, I spent a couple hundred bucks for a few hours with a total immersion coach in an endless pool that was amazing.  

Couple things I wish I had started right in the beginning because its really hard to change:  1.  bilateral breathing on every 3rd stroke - I just naturally breathed every other stroke on my right side... bad mistake for me first of all for sighting in tri's (almost all of the races I have been in run counterclockwise, so the bouys are on the left) and my neck, which always is sore on one side after a long swim.  The other thing is to spend a lot of time using the "catch up drill" to teach that patient stroke.  For the first months before I got to a coach, I was just moving my arms as fast as possible - soon as I figured out the catch up drill and learned that piece it really helped.

You tube total immersion, and if you have the cash pay for at least 1 session.  Well worth it.

 Awesome, I'll definitely check that out on youtube.  I can't believe you only started last December!  Amazing!  So great to get some many tips while I'm just starting!  Thanks!

I have never had a lesson, and just swim instinctively, and I use a snorkel!  I have had lots of folks tell me I have a "good stroke/good form," but I still question why it takes so long to swim three miles when I can walk it in half the time!

I swim five days a week, and presently am working toward a goal of 500 miles before end of year - I just hit mile 426 today, so I am hopeful I can pull it off.  When I first starting swimming for my exercise - not just pleasure, I was able to do 500 meters - which was sad to me.  I have spent two years working on improving my distance & my speed, so it can happen.

I would swim 500 meters, rest & drink.  Swim 500 meters, rest & drin****il I got to the point I could swim 1000 meters without stopping.  Then it was 2500 meters without stopping, until I was finally able to do 6000 meters -- but truth be told, I usually stop at 5000 meters.

My use of a snorkel at first embarrassed me, but then when I started seeing other daily swimmers start using snorkels, I knew I was doing something right!  I do not get neck strain, and can concentrate on my "gun show" arms.  I have a long way to go, but not very many 300 pound women can do what I am doing - so I am very proud of my efforts.

Brenda : )~