Hey thanks chris and taj, I'll try one of those buoys tomorrow! I know I'm doing something wrong to force me to work a lot harder. I'm a college linebacker so I'm in fine shape as is now, but I'll be darned if I'm not gaspin for my life after 50m!!

Yuo can't be worse than I was yesteday: first OW sea swim sprint, and I just plain *forgot how to swim*. It totally went. 28 minutes for 500m in wretched breast stroke tailed by a rescue kayak. Think I gotta do more training ;)

haha, well the voices you battled in your head must have been relentless; give yourself a pat on the back for not giving in to them

Yuo can't be worse than I was yesteday: first OW sea swim sprint, and I just plain *forgot how to swim*. It totally went. 28 minutes for 500m in wretched breast stroke tailed by a rescue kayak. Think I gotta do more training ;)


wow...that sounds like a whippin'...congrat's for completing that...it can only get better from here though...good luck

I did my first open water on the weekend too, luckily it was in a wet suit. I was very comfortable in the pool, but OW is a different beast! I still beat my pb by a minute and did the 750m in 12:05! And I had to stop a couple times to help people!

Back to the general discussion, my instructor told us that it takes 8 times the effort to go twice as fast. The best improvement comes from technique. I started in January and I worked 2 drills: The pull (pool?) buoy for developing balance and the flutter board to develop a smooth kick. Highly recommended.

Friends, they're PULL buoys, not pool buoys. :) And yes, they can be a very useful tool when you're learning technique. However, I'd caution you against using them for more than just drills. I have known a number of folks who are much faster when pulling than when swimming, which is an indication that something is wrong with their stroke.

The thing with swimming is that it's 75% technique, 10% strength and 15% fitness. (Okay, I made those up, but you get the picture.) When you have good technique, you are very efficient and you require less energy. I can swim forever (thousands of yards) without stopping and keep my heart rate at the low end of my aerobic zone (Not that I'd ever want to do that, but I could). Why? Efficiency. You've got to get a feel for the water and figure out how to be efficient. Once you're efficient, then you can work on getting faster.

You don't live in Seattle do you? I'd be happy to give you a lesson!

ha I wish.....you don't happen to be visiting the chicagoland area any time soon do you?! ha o well

I'll try to use the buoys for warming up and then get to my laps, hopefully there's some carry over in body position

RNS...thought I'd chime in with my opinion after a year of learning to swim. Agree with everything said here prior.

...A year ago I was 245 lbs., mid 40's, very muscular, bulky and really not aerobicaly fit. Felt exactly as you did about the swim....then I really tried to swim...what an awakening. If you want....link to this image...It's a short article I wrote for our local paper (a year ago and 30 lbs ago) to describe a Sprint Tri to the general public, from a beginners perspective.

http://img68.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dadtriathlonarticle8052yd.jpg

At the start I couldn't swim over 25 meters and was gasping. 2 months later I was swimming 75 meters and gasping. At 6 months I was swimming 100 meters and gasping....now at 10 months I'm closing in on 200 meters and gasping. Now I'm not comparing you and I here...just want you to see a "realistic timeline" for a guy who started where you did and how long it's really taking to "get it" and where I'm at today. I learn slow...and I've decided what everyone here has said is true....get the stroke right and the rest will follow....my greatest gains have been in the last month and at my one year aniversary of my first Tri...I stand a real chance of completing the 440 yds in 10 minutes without holding.

Some prior comments that have really struck me as true
....get a coach...anyone with any knowledge...just to get some feedback as to your form. Heck, get someone to video you topside...take it home and compare it with the TI stuff.
....How you "feel" about your sroke is most likely nothing close to the reality of your stroke.
....It's true...it's all technique...you'll never get there by ramming up your endurance alone...the goal is very reachable with technique...and "good technique" often feels quite foriegn to a newbie.
....TI and those who have mentioned it are correct...the power is in the rotation...not the arms or the kick.


At one year into this IMO..this is not a race...it's just a benchmark for your fittness level. The next Tri is nothing more than a means of measuring your improvement since the last one. I'm racing no one else on the course....just myself. I suppose if I ever got to finishing near the top 20 % I'd be tempted to make a race out of it.

My best swim training comes at 30 minutes into it...I'm too tired to blast through the water anymore...so I gotta slow down....know what?....when you slow down, you can actually feel the water...how it slides by or pushes back on you...this feeling may take months...but once you get it...you can begin to experiment with things like stroke length, rotation, kicking etc. and actually feel what the water does to you in return.

You got the drive dude...just slow down and give yourself a realistic amount of time to get it.

I don't mean to be the rock in your spokes, but maybe you should A) give yourself more time to train properly, or B) shoot for a shorter length triathlon; like a sprint distance. I am in a similar boat you are and one thing I can tell you is that muscle size does not equal endurance. I did judo for 15 years and while my body was well tuned to go all out for 6 minutes against an opponent it is not yet trained for the kind of endurance that is required just to complete a triathlon. You have to keep in mind that the swimming you are having a hard time with now is just the first leg. You are still going to have to get on your Felt and ride, then dismount and run to the finish line. It isn't as easy when you are doing these back to back to back as opposed to just one sport a day.

Of course the tri-specific problem with the swim is that you don't just have to finish it, you really have to finish it *fresh*. After my whuppin' I was a wreck for the first couple of miles on the bike, until I found my legs.

Lots of sessions, that seems to be the answer, or so I'm told. Must... join... club...

well I had a solid swim session tonight. I used a pull bouy to warm up a bit and then went without the bouy for a while. At first I was all mixed up but the last 4-6 laps I did I hit a bit of a rhythm. I realized I wasn't turning my hips as far as need be, and I was getting as long as I could and had really snappy rotations. Hopefully I'll start pilin up the laps in the next few weeks :D:D:D

damn it, haven't even rode my bike 30 miles and the chain just fell off and got jammed

Lots of great swimming advice here so far! Only one thing to add that seems to have been neglected... stretch A LOT, particularly through the shoulders. As was said before, being relaxed and smooth is the #1 priority right now. In general, proper swimming technique requires a lot of flexibility, and if you're well built with tight joints (which I'm sure you are), you'll tire yourself out fighting your ligaments just trying to put your body where you want it. Be careful how you do it, certainly don't tear anything, but in the long run, it'll help more than you'd think.

p.s. The previous comments on body position/floating by kmkurdone were great. You want to use your body to keep you afloat (only!) and your arms and legs to propel you forward (only!).

How is your training coming by the way? Need anymore help? Hope all is well...

damn it, haven't even rode my bike 30 miles and the chain just fell off and got jammed

How did it fall off? And, how is it jammed?

I do most of my posting in the road cycling forum, so I may be able to help???

mscycler

Oh dear, do you think he drowned? :O

I was getting to like to his daily updates. I do hope he is alright.

I think he's off to Football camp... Wonder if he did his tri or not?? :o

RNS - did you do the tri?

Perhaps we will hear something by Labor Day... (surely they give some time off of practice.)