You’ve done it. You’ve decided to do your first triathlon. You’re a good runner and the bike is no problem. But are you ready for the swim? That takes time, practice and self-analysis. The result is the ability to swim with less effort over long distances. Here’s how to get started.
How Many Months to Get Ready?
Getting ready for your first triathlon swim takes months. Since this is your first triathlon, let’s assume you are in generally good condition, but probably not great swimming condition. Let’s also assume your race is in mid-summer. So you do have several months to improve your technique.
Building Swimming Muscles
Swimming recruits a number of specific muscles that probably aren’t in swimming shape yet . Good freestyle uses the major muscle groups, including the deltoid, latissimus, trapezius and triceps muscles. When you start, these muscle groups may ask you*, “What the heck are you doing to me?” But after a few weeks you can take on more volume and speed. When you start, focus on technique, teaching your mind and body what swimming is all about. Over time both conditioning and technique will meld.
*Your muscles will talk to you. They always do. It’s good to listen.
Setting Repetition Times and Benchmarks
After about Week Six, you should set a benchmark. After a good, long warm-up, swim continuously for five hundred yards or meters.
Now you can calculate your repetition times per 100 or per 50. Give yourself some 20 seconds of rest per interval. Unlike cardio where you maintain a steady heart rate for a long period, doing intervals builds endurance by stressing your aerobic system and then recovering. As you train over the months, you will see your repeat times drop.
Example
- Week Six – 6 X 100 on 2:15 — [Repeat time at 1:55 per 100]
- Week Nine – 10 X 100 on 2:10 — [Repeat time at 1:50 per 100]
- Week Twelve – 15 X 100 on 2:00 — [Repeat time at 1:40]
- A 1:40 per 100 pace gives you a 8:20 500 pool time* for a 500 sprint swim
- A 1:40 per 100 pace gives you a 27:30 pool time for 1650 yards (1.5 km) Olympic swim
- A 1:40 per 100 pace gives you a 34:00 pool time for 1.2 miles (1.9 km) half Ironman swim
*Pool times are generally faster than open water times, as you will swim in a straighter line, don’t need to sight, and typically gain a little speed when you push off the wall (especially if you can do a flip turn).
After twelve weeks, increasing your per-100 time will flatten, as you should now be in good swimming shape. To test where you are at, perform another 500 swim against the clock.
How Do You Get Better Once You’re in Condition? Answer: Technique
As a lifelong swimmer who is getting older, I’ve made a point to continually sharpen my technique. I’m always looking for new resources to develop a better swim stroke for my students and for myself. In developing a technique program for a triathlon initiate, I tend to build a progression of skills starting with foundational skills. Here is that progression of skills.
Body Position
Because our body generally floats, and our lungs (like balloons) are air-filled, we stay at the water’s surface. But our legs typically sink and without some kicking, you will swim uphill. We want to stay at the surface from head, hips and heels. Kicking performs that job. More on this later.
Rotation, Alignment and Breathing
In a face-down body position, you need somehow to get air, and for that you need to rotate your whole body, mostly shoulders, but some hips and even legs. Learn to kick (fins are okay to use) on your side at first with your face turned out of the water (but not lifted!). Become comfortable on your side because you will be rocking from side-to-side in a good swim stroke as you progress. Next, look down with your face in the water, then turn your head on the axis of neck and spine (but not lifted!), keeping one ear in the water. Inhale when your face is turned, exhale face down.
Maintain all your rotation on the axis that divides your body (i.e., the neck, spine, pelvis and legs). This is foundational, as any deviation from this line from your hands and arms, or head, creates resistance. Good swimming means eliminating the resistance created by moving through water.
My most frequently-used drill for developing good rotation and alignment is the 6-1-6 drill. Swimmers from beginners to platform winners need this drill to refine their stroke.
Arms and Hand Entry
Better swimming requires arms that propel you forward by pushing backwards. (Newton’s Third Law of Motion). Once an arm stroke is finished, you need to return it from the back of the stroke to the front in an efficient manner. In my teaching practice, developing an efficient arm recovery is a major focus. Poor arm recovery introduces movements that disrupt your forward movement. Swinging your arm sideways places your shoulders out of position for an efficient stroke, and slides your hips out of alignment.
How your hands enter the water determines how your arms start the swim stroke. Recover your arms with your elbow pointing up (but not too close to the torso) and enter the water fingers first, then wrist, then elbow and arm extended from the shoulder.
Holding Water
The key to a strong freestyle stroke is setting up and maintaining the pull. A common flaw is the “dropped elbow,” where the swimmer drags the elbow into the pull. At your pool, watch an intermediate swimmer, either with goggles and looking at them underwater, or from the deck. You’ll surely see that “dropped elbow” in action.
Good swimmers have been trained to use a high elbow catch that holds water at the top of the stroke, giving the swimmer one third to one half more pull in the stroke. This does take practice. I like to use Long Dog Paddle drill (aka Doggie Paddle) to develop the catch. And to organize how the whole pull pattern works, I use something called the Y•M•C•A drill.
Here’s a great way to visualize the high elbow catch: Using a partner, stand face to face. Raise one arm straight out, palm down, then ask your partner to put their palm on yours (facing up). Keeping your hand still, bend your elbow outwards about an inch or two. Notice that your shoulder joint rounds slightly as you bend your elbow. This is the key to a good catch.
In the water, you point your finger downwards whilst keeping your elbow high (upper arm nearly parallel to the surface of the water.) The two drills above will help you achieve that all important high elbow catch.
Yes, Kicking
I’ve heard many times, “I’m going to be wearing a wetsuit in my race, so I don’t think I need to work on kicking.” This is a bad idea. Think of it this way: Your torso supports and engages your neck, shoulder and head–where all the action is. But the torso also contributes to body rotation that supports a strong pull and good breathing. Your legs, starting from the pelvis to your feet support the torso. Good kicking establishes a strong support system, keeping your body position, alignment and rotation in order.
I explain that, “You don’t need to kick hard. You just need to kick well.” A beginning swimmer must learn to kick properly to do all the other things you need to swim well. Take away the kick and the stroke and body position fall apart. Breathing and moving your arms becomes a struggle. While you can, and should, use fins occasionally as you develop a good stroke, if you take them away and the stroke falls apart, you’re in trouble.
By kicking in practices, you develop ankle flexibility and recruit the muscles in your upper legs such as the quadriceps. Keep your toes pointed and kick from the upper leg, not from the knees. You will develop a flow that creates a slight whip-like action in the kick, similar to kicking a ball forward. One method to develop a kick is vertical kicking, where you kick upright. This puts pressure on both sides of your legs and feet, and really helps to achieve the feeling of flowing in your kick.
Putting It Altogether
Developing a freestyle stroke that gets you through your first triathlon starts with becoming comfortable and confident in your swim stroke. Once you achieve a level body position with good kicking, you can rotate into a good breathing pattern and recover your arm stroke efficiency. Developing good hand entry, straight and along the line of the stroke, entering the water fingers first, you set up a good high elbow catch. Pulling isn’t so much pushing back against the water, as it is setting an anchor with your forearm and moving your body over that point.
This takes time and practice. As you develop over the weeks and months, the endurance to manage a distance swim, and good swim mechanics to finish the swim ready for the rest of the race, you are all set for your first triathlon.
This doesn’t mean you are done with getting better. Getting better is an iterative process, managing your technique and building cardiovascular endurance. Every time you go to the pool, you improve. Every time you go to the pool, you improve. Even the best swimmers in the world work on their technique through drills and analysis. I tell swimmers, there’s no such thing as perfect, only better.