How much do triathlete need to learn about swimming?
Former Member
I do not mean this as a heartless criticism of triathletes. I actually enjoy the sport. But many of them start doing triathlons with almost no knowledge or experience in swimming. Here are a couple of choice comments to the thread I linked below. Thank goodness I knew how to ride a bike and run before I started doing tris - but not well. Give them credit for taking it on, but I do think they should learn to swim before entering one.
"The swim is short ( 150 yards ), and I can make it..not without stopping a couple of times at the end of the pool."
"A lot of pool sprints are so newbie friendly that they let you get through the water any way you can. I have seen people water walk the 300 meters in a pool swim in my area."
"My wife did an indoor tri a few months ago and I think 1/4 of the people walked the swim."
I recommended that the person do breaststroke.
www.beginnertriathlete.com/.../thread-view.asp
I train with a few very accomplished triathletes. I only call them triathletes because it fits this topic. But, they are all really swimmers, bikers, and runners. They train like swimmers. The answer to the question of "how much do triathletes need to know about swimming" is really dependent on how competitive they want to be. If they are part of the 98% of triathletes who simply want to finish a race so they can put a sticker on their car and call themselves triathletes, the answer is "not much." If they are part of the 2% that really want to take their competition to the next level, the answer is "quite a lot."
I train with a few very accomplished triathletes. I only call them triathletes because it fits this topic. But, they are all really swimmers, bikers, and runners. They train like swimmers. The answer to the question of "how much do triathletes need to know about swimming" is really dependent on how competitive they want to be. If they are part of the 98% of triathletes who simply want to finish a race so they can put a sticker on their car and call themselves triathletes, the answer is "not much." If they are part of the 2% that really want to take their competition to the next level, the answer is "quite a lot."
