Change Your Swim: Change Your Triathlon

I have a love/hate relationship with swimming. OK I lied. Swimming and I have had a troubled relationship from the beginning. Partially because I am an adult onset swimmer. I learned to swim in college and then went back for lessons in the mid 1990s when I decided to try my luck at triathlons. As you know being a poor swimmer with a dread of open water is a problem in this sport. Until recently I was convinced that there wasn’t much I could do.

I have been known to pick triathlons based on the length of the swim leg, the shorter the better. So what if the bike course is vertical and the run takes you through the city dump. Performance was also an issue. Years ago, when I signed up for my first pool swim sprint, I had to submit my projected swim time for 100 yards. I received an e-mail back from the organizers asking me to check my math. The time I supplied was so slow that they wanted to make sure it was not an error. Their attention to detail was commendable but it stung a bit.

Over time, I have made many halfhearted attempts to improve my swim. I have bought several swimming and triathlon swimming books and a couple DVDs. I’m guessing you may have a few on your bookshelf as well. I have read plenty of magazine articles looking for tips to improve. After each reading or viewing I would head to the pool to make changes. Then after a week or two I would check my lap times or stroke count. Significant improvement eluded me and my times and stroke counts didn’t really change. If anything I seemed to be going backward and my dread of the water increased.

I was too intimidated to join a masters swim group, and never found a local instructor that taught swimming for triathlon or open water. A few months ago a friend from the nearby Rocky Top Multisport Club looked at some videos of my technique and gave me some drills. I began to make some progress. Thanks Iron John! So when the Tri-Cities Triathlon Club Facebook page mentioned a weekend swim clinic, I RSVP’d immediately.

I drove to the clinic early Saturday morning with a mixture of hope and unease. Maybe I could crack the code on this whole swimming thing. On the other hand, could I really handle a multi-hour swim clinic? What if I embarrassed myself? One way to find out.

Let the Improvement Begin

Day One: When I get to the clinic, the first thing the coach asks is does anyone feel like they can’t get enough air when they swim. I raise my hand, and I’m not the only one. If so, he says then you are not exhaling enough under the water. When the time comes to warm up in the pool I concentrate on exhaling more and exhaling more forcefully into the water. It helps. So 15 minutes into the clinic and things are already improving. This might actually go well.

Now it’s time to shoot the “before” video. Each of us swims a lap freestyle while being taped by the coach walking beside the pool and by his wife standing on one of the starting blocks. It’s a little nerve racking. You know they can’t fix your stroke if they don’t know what’s broken. At the same time, you feel like you are confessing on video, in two views, to swimming like an addled otter.

Next we break into groups, pick a lane and get to work learning to swim like triathletes. We swim, do drills, hear explanations, get corrections. Looking back the scope of the material covered in just five hours on the first day is immense. Concepts, techniques and mnemonics included: center of buoyancy, pull the string, paint the bottom of the pool, climb the ladder, accelerate through the stroke, hinge the wrist, put your hand through the mail slot. I could go on for paragraphs.

Drills: I think we did every swim drill I have ever heard mentioned. This is where being at a clinic with an experienced coach really makes a difference. The coach can see how you perform the drill and make adjustments and corrections. You can see others doing the drill. You can ask questions. You benefit when someone else ask a question that wouldn’t have occurred to you. It’s something that even the best book or DVD just cannot deliver. We wrap up, eat lunch and view our before videos on a widescreen TV. End day one.

Day 2: Drafting, Sighting, Melee

Day Two: Sunday morning, I’m up before the dawn and driving to the swim clinic. Today we shoot the “after” video, and I’m worried about how I’ll do. So I turn off my iPod and start thinking about how I’ll use what I learned yesterday. I really want to see improvement in the after video. I decide to concentrate on exhaling into the water, not picking up my head when I rotate to breathe and breathing when the string is pulled, that is, breathing when I’m in the best position to breathe. A couple miles pass and I decide to add accelerating through the stroke, climbing the ladder and pointing my toes. A couple more miles pass and then I remember who I’m dealing with here. I could overcomplicate tying my shoes. I drop back to the original list.

I arrive, warmup and have my after lap taped. Day one was mostly about swimming fundamentals and improving our strokes. Day two is mostly about triathlon swimming. The lane lines have been removed to better simulate open water. We discuss and practice drafting, pack swimming, sighting (gater eyes), and swimming around buoys.

The session winds down, and we are about to go round the buoys in a race simulation for the last time. I find myself doing something that would have been unthinkable before the clinic. I position myself so that I will be in the center of the pack.

The coach whistles, and we are off. As we near the buoy I am no longer swimming in water: I’m swimming in people. I get kicked in the head, veer to the side and bounce off a man larger than myself. I have to say this is a novel experience. I’m a big guy. A heartbeat later someone collides with me and the big guy. I know not who. Rounding the buoy we are kicking, thrashing and splashing like a school of tuna evading a shark attack.

We clear the buoy and manage to disentangle. I’m winded and cannot catch my breath. I sight the second buoy and swim toward it. My arms are rubber. My form is out the window. My legs are barely kicking. As I weakly pull for the side of the pool, time slows and it hits me like that first rain drop from a summer cloudburst. During that entire manic lap round the buoys, I was not afraid or agitated or nervous or rattled. Not even the least little bit. How did that happen?

If poor swimming is holding you back, you can benefit immensely from attending a swim clinic. After seeing the benefits firsthand, I suggest you find one even if you have to travel overnight. If your triathlon club is thinking about doing a clinic, why not make it a swim clinic. If you are looking for a coach to teach a swim clinic or want to hire a coach to improve your triathlon training overall, I know a really good one. His name is John Hanna. He is an USAT certified coach, US Swimming coach and triathlete. You can reach him at www.e3tri.com or jhannatriathlete@gmail.com. He is based in Birmingham, AL. I attended his clinic in Eastern TN. Until next time, stumble on.