Triathletes

Originally posted by TomH A couple of reasons. The first is the one you were after. Triathletes as a whole are not great swimmers, particularly in the sprint distance races. As you might imagine, many have a background in just one sport, mostly runners who are picking up cycling and swimming. For most of them, a 500 to 800 yard swim is more than enough of a challenge. Well, Bingo! When they swim their 800 yards and then with TI book in hand act like it was some huge feat, and like they know all there is to know about swimming but yet complain about the basics that a good coach tries to teach them because it's different then what they may have read in some book and continue to swim against the grain, they tend to look a bit ridiculous who do 3000 and 4000 yard workouts 4-6 times a week. And they fall for and buy just about every swimming related gimmick out there in hopes to shortcut a way to good technique. They tend to spend hours and hours a week biking and running, and the least abmount of time on the sport that really takes the biggest time investment (of the threee) to get good at. Ever watch that movie The Tin Cup When the doctor chick comes to her fist lesson, and has all these golf related gimmicks and gadgets that she won't let go of, but doesn't know the very basics of golf. This seems so much more prevalent in tri-swimmer then any other swimming subgroup. Also, many of them have the attitude of not really wanting to learn to swim properly, but they act like the 800 Yard swim is cutting into their biking and running, as a necessary evil.. Many of them come to us saying, I have 8 weeks before the race, I need to learn how to swim and make good time, and they think a 6-pack of lessons and a 100 yard workout once a week will get them there, cause after biking and running that's all the time they have left. I'm sure if they whined about biking or running as much as they do about the swimming, bikers and runners would make fun of them as well.

Originally posted by TomH A couple of reasons. The first is the one you were after. Triathletes as a whole are not great swimmers, particularly in the sprint distance races. As you might imagine, many have a background in just one sport, mostly runners who are picking up cycling and swimming. For most of them, a 500 to 800 yard swim is more than enough of a challenge. Well, Bingo! When they swim their 800 yards and then with TI book in hand act like it was some huge feat, and like they know all there is to know about swimming but yet complain about the basics that a good coach tries to teach them because it's different then what they may have read in some book and continue to swim against the grain, they tend to look a bit ridiculous who do 3000 and 4000 yard workouts 4-6 times a week. And they fall for and buy just about every swimming related gimmick out there in hopes to shortcut a way to good technique. They tend to spend hours and hours a week biking and running, and the least abmount of time on the sport that really takes the biggest time investment (of the threee) to get good at. Ever watch that movie The Tin Cup When the doctor chick comes to her fist lesson, and has all these golf related gimmicks and gadgets that she won't let go of, but doesn't know the very basics of golf. This seems so much more prevalent in tri-swimmer then any other swimming subgroup. Also, many of them have the attitude of not really wanting to learn to swim properly, but they act like the 800 Yard swim is cutting into their biking and running, as a necessary evil.. Many of them come to us saying, I have 8 weeks before the race, I need to learn how to swim and make good time, and they think a 6-pack of lessons and a 100 yard workout once a week will get them there, cause after biking and running that's all the time they have left. I'm sure if they whined about biking or running as much as they do about the swimming, bikers and runners would make fun of them as well.