[Talewinds]

Sure, I can plow through the water for 400 meters and come out on the other side under my own power and not gasping for life on the floor of the rescue boat. Sure, I can do it with "some" semblence of form the entire time without having to breaststoke or some other variation. But here's the deal, I'm so spent when I come out of the water that it translates into a crappy bike split (where I'm supposed to really shine), and an even worse run.
Why do I care? Because if I'm ever to graduate to longer distance events, say, something that incorporates a 1500m swim, I'm gonna need to learn to swim.
The YMCA offers courses, but they're all oriented towards kids. And the university doesn't offer crap.
I'm not too interested in the online books/ instruction that's out there, I'd like some hands-on.
Any ideas?

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[Eatadonut]

university? Maybe they don't have classes, but have you talked to the swim club?

[chrisesposito]

You sound like me, 16 months ago. What it took was a few coaches that knew how to look at what I was doing and helping me fix it, lots of drills, and lots of time swimming.

Take a look at http://www.totalimmersion.net/find-coach.html and look under `Missouri'. I started with a series from a total Immersion coach in the spring of 2005 (lots of drills on body position), 2x week for 6 weeks plus swimming on my own. The coach shot some underwater video of us swimming in week 1, without any instruction yet on what to do. We looked at it in week 2 and it was shockingly bad. We were all flailing randomly, expending huge quantities of energy for the 50-100 meters we could last. At the end of 6 weeks we were much smoother and far less tired, although quite slow.

You might also check with any triathlon clubs or teams in your area.
Early this spring one of the coaches in our (Seattle) tri club put together a twice-weekly swim session that was tri-specific, which meant it focused on front crawl, efficient technique, and longer distances - this wasn't the usual masters swim group around here with all 4 competition strokes, flip turns, and an emphasis on short distance speed. We met for 4 months under his watchful eye and it was an enormous help.

I've been swimming 3-4 days a week since March, working up to 2500-3000 yards per session, with technique drills every time. I'm not fast yet by real swimmer standards (i.e., H2OChick) but at least now I can swim a half-iron distance in 40 minutes or so and still have plenty left for a 3 hr bike and a hard 10K run (last Saturday's workout). It has taken far more time than I thought it would, and I'm still looking at a whole winter of technique work to get faster.

[H2OChick]

Does the University have a swim team? You could hire a college swimmer to give you some lessons. They should all know what they're doing, and many of them may have taught lessons already at some point. Lifeguarding and swim lessons are two typical jobs for swimmers...

[cjbruin]

What an awesome idea!!! I think I'll head over to UCI to see if I can find a coed to teach me to swim. Woohoo!!!

[bps]

Hello --

Two words: Total Immersion.

This program teaches you how to swim efficiently so you leave the water feeling fresh. This will translate into huge improvements in your bike and run. I once read in this forum: "Your swim will not win a triathalon, but it can definitely lose it." You've already found this out for yourself; moving through the water with wasted motion is energy and strength down the tubes.

I am a beginner and am coaching myself with TI's (Total Immersion) book, DVD, and drill cards. Since it sounds like this may not be your cup of tea, you may want to attend their training camps for hands-on instruction. In my very limited experience (12 weeks of tri-training), I've found swimming to be one of the most challenging things I have ever done. Be sure to have plenty of patience while you "re-learn" how to swim all over again. The results are definitely worth it.

Keep us posted on your progress!

Bryan

[rknj]

High school swim teams are worth checking too, their assistant coaches are usually college aged and among the best instructors because they spend a lot more time doing it than the average lifeguard teaching 3-5 year olds how to not drown.

[derath]

I don't know about your YMCA but mine has masters classes geared for adults.

-D

[voltman]

What an awesome idea!!! I think I'll head over to UCI to see if I can find a coed to teach me to swim. Woohoo!!!

I thought about that, but I don't know if I could stand the laughing.

[chrisesposito]

I thought about that, but I don't know if I could stand the laughing.
Tell me about it; I was telling a coworker how pleased I was to get my 500 yd free time down to just over 9 minutes and he tells me that his 7 year old daughter swims a 500 free in 7 minutes...

[H2OChick]

Tell me about it; I was telling a coworker how pleased I was to get my 500 yd free time down to just over 9 minutes and he tells me that his 7 year old daughter swims a 500 free in 7 minutes...

Yeah, but at that rate, she'll be burned out by the time she's 12... :)

[rknj]

I used to be able to swim a 500 is 5:30.. going to take a lot of pool time to get back to that. :(

[Talewinds]

The best I did this year was at the beginning of the season, in a sprint tri, open water 400m in 8:51. I just did one this past weekend and was out of the water in 9:38, and I was dead tired....

[johnnygofaster]

My university's master's swim is definitely for people who can swim. There's just not time for individual instruction. It's mostly drills and workouts. They have their place, but if you can't swim (neither could I 2 years ago).