mrmcmasty

Ok... So I have started pool workouts and I have been humbled.

I have ordered the "total immersion" book... I understand it is very helpful to people new to swimming.

Any other tips on swim training ( I am thinking it may be worth my while to hire a coach for a couple sessions to get me in the right direction with form )

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Mark

C Law

seek out a local masters program. I am not 'fast' by any means but it helped me quite a bit

C Law

oh and seek out the sticky on the top of the page if you haven't seen it already

hanshun

+1 on looking into the local masters program. I am fortunate enough to work at a pool where the masters swim, so I can work out with them for free. I have learned so much from them, they are all very friendly and willing to give you pointers and even some drills to work on. Especially since most of the masters swimmers have been swimming all their life, sometimes pro, and include many triathletes, its just a really nice community to get involved in.

ModelT

Figuring out proper swimming is tough, but the oxygen deprived hallucinations along the way are usually nice.

mrmcmasty

Couple of more swim questions:

Can I wear water wings during the swim? just thought I'd ask.

Im swimming in a continuous pool. I have found that the form has come somewhat easy, until I need air. At which point my form goes all to sh_t. My trouble... every time I try to breath I lift my head, if I dont lift my head I take in water.

How do I not take in water when I get a breath?

Does anyone wear the nose clip thing, not only do I swallow a lot of water I seem to take a decent amount up my nose!

Anyone think it is better to learn proper swimming in a pool as opposed to the continuous pool? Just wondering (and trying to blame the pool for my lack of proper swimming ability)

Thanks for reading and any advise.

mark

ir0nfist

I haven't swam in a continuous pool but I imagine if your tri is in an ocean the continuous pool at least has current. If it is in the ocean or even a lake try to get out there and practice as well because waves, murky water and other factors can change things.

mrmcmasty

Ok, so I am starting to get it... which is nice.

The only bad part about now getting the form is that I have to actually swim continuously... which is hard! I can only maintain a freestyle swim for about 10 minutes with proper form... after that I begin to breakdown on the mechanics...

Oh well, practice practice practice - IM telling you guys water wings are the answer, forget total immersion!

hanshun

its sounds like you need to practice some drills, side kick drills, catch up drills, high elbows. Try searching online for freestyle drills, there's a lot of good ones out there, and all though they suck while doing them, they make a big difference in your stroke. I'll post some up later tonight, but right now I have to run, good luck.

Bill

I think mental imaging is helpful. I try to think of myself almost as a string, keeping the body straight and long. Keeping the face down with it looking at the bottom of the pool (if you are in one) is helpful. This tends to keep your butt and legs up a bit, which I think can be the hardest thing to do. Making sure that your elbows are relatively high as they come out of the water is helpful, too. And, of course, making sure that you have a suit that is not compromising your ability to be streamlined is important, too.

mrmcmasty

Thanks for all the feedback.

Bill, I swimming in compression shorts. Does that do it?

OK, so the problem I am having now is floating or staying on the surface, and this has gotten worse with better body positioning and stroke mechanics.

As I rotate my hips forward and stroke into the water I sink (rather evenly) under the water.

(so for the visual here... left lead hand is extended, head turned to shoulder to breather, right hand stretches out to meet the lead hand, hips turn (so now Im head slightly down, hands out front, body stretched, hips somewhat square to bottom of pool, but I am at minimum a foot under water [body even/balanced head to feet] so now I have to pull harder to get back to the surface. I have found that I can use my hand while stretched out to "plane" myself back up a bit before my next pull stroke.

Anyone have any ideas what I am doing to cause this?

I am in the process of reading total immersion and am doing drills with each workout.

Thanks again for the feedback!

Bill

Sure, that does it. Just avoid board shorts.

lbishop

+1 for keeping the face down. It clicked for me in the pool yesterday and i went from head-forward-lift-up to breathe (therefore slowly everything else down) to head-down-rotate-head to breathe. It works a treat. Mentally it's hard because you feel like you're getting further under the water (and how's that supposed to help my breathing!) but in reality the neck was relaxing and in that position i had a longer and cleaner (less splash entering my mouth) chance to take a decent breathe.

It certainly made me feel a lot more comfortable for a continuous stroke...

Lewis.