Hi.
I've never trained swimming before, and now I have to do a 750 meters swim (25 meters lane) in a triathlon competition. I can't crawl, so I will have to do with *** swimming. I'm not a good *** swimmer neither, so I expect to loose a ton of time to the other competitors.
I'm not looking for any miracles, but is there anything I can do to minimize my time loss? Any easy tips to a total amateur in the last second (considering that I won't have any time to train before the event, this monday in two days)?
Thanks!
Andreas
Andreas, you probably have pretty good leg strength from biking and running. My advice is to push off and streamline as much as possible, and then glide for at least three full seconds before you start to swim.
You get 30 pushoffs in a 750 m. swim in a 25 m. pool, and I would do everything you can to glide as far as possible off each one of these. This will reduce the amount you actually have to swim significantly without using up too much energy.
To streamline, overlap your hands above your head, squeeze your ears with your biceps, stretch your arms as far in front of you as you can. After the push off, keep your legs together, toes pointed.
Try, in other words, to make your body as thin and long as a missile--and stay in this position off each turn until you really start to slow down. Only then, begin to swim in whatever way you can to the next wall, then repeat.
Good luck. Relax and don't fight the water.
One of my favorite websites is a Swiss swimming websites: www.svl.ch
On the left you need to click on Tips in English.
There are many interesting and helpful articles on technique and training principles.
Thanks for the link. There are some good articles on there.
Great tips, thank you all! I'm off in two hours, and feel much more confident now.
Good luck--do tell us how it turned out!
I would agree that for your next tri, get some coaching... You'll get lots more out of the swim... but given your time constraint, for this one ya gotta do whatcha gotta do! At least in a pool, you're less likely to have major problems than in open water.
My key block to entering a tri is the bike part. I'm down with the run and the swim, but I'm allergic to bikes... I get road rash.... ;)
One of my favorite websites is a Swiss swimming websites: www.svl.ch
On the left you need to click on Tips in English.
There are many interesting and helpful articles on technique and training principles.
Good luck--do tell us how it turned out!
It...turned out. :)
Actually, it did feel better than I thought it would, at least in the water. I sometimes managed to streamline ok, and that really made a difference. Hardest part was that I unconsciously stressed myself up and swam bad at times. When I noticed that, and stressed down again, it went much better.
All in all, the swimming went much better than I thought it would, even though I probably swam too hard, which I had to suffer for on the bike and in the running shoes later on.
You should try a tri yourself! If you've got road rash, I would say I have water rash. ;-) I will most likely get some proper swim coaching before the next triathlon.
Thanks again for your help, everybody!
Well, I'm doing one next week, May 6th, and I cannot run. Arthritis in the spine forces me to walk the 5k which can take 45-50 minutes. I've been swimming well and probably can improve the swim time over last year by almost 2 minutes, but in a 2 hr event, that's peanuts. The swim portion of a triathlon of any length is almost inconsequential compared to the time spent on bike and the run. So the original poster may be good at bike and run and do quite well despite floundering in the water.
Many triathletes are poor swimmers. My last Tri was an indoor event in the winter. I finished last of the 27 entrants which is normal for 70. I was 26th of 27 in the bike, 24th of 27 in the run, but tied for 13th in the swim.
Why do you want to compete in a triathlon if you can't swim:confused:
I think I'll compete in a boxing match next week. Does anyone know how to box:D
Well, that's not very nice, Lui. Andreas didn't say they can't swim, just not very good at it...yet. Maybe with some encouragement, Andreas will be much more prepared for the next swim event.
