SWIMMING IS ACTUALLY PART OF TRIATHLON
I have commented that most triathletes can’t swim. At the very least, they don’t swim well or have a limited knowledge of the basic fundamentals of swimming. Regardless of a person's swimming background or knowledge of proper stroke technique, anyone wiling to spend time in the water will become faster because they eventually are more proficient (or fit) at doing what ever they are doing. However, once they gain their maximum swim fitness level, they will no longer improve their speed. In fact they may actually regress, because their higher volume of yardage has decreased.
A real issue of swimming compared to cycling or running is that as people get tired, their form deteriorates and the repetitive nature of the swimming reinforces poor habits. Most new triathlete’s workouts should be geared toward a quality 1500-2000 meters with the main set performed after a short warm-up so that you are fresh when you start your swimming. After that everything else is to help the stroke and endurance. Occasionally it is worth doing longer workouts to build endurance and get used to swimming closer to Ironman distance if that is in your future. Regardless it is still 3800 meters at the most for any race and the distance is nothing compared to the biking and running distances.
Over the next few weeks, I will introduce suggestions to consider doing to incorporate in your training program to improve or maintain your swim performance. Although your stroke may need a complete overhaul, it is not possible to work on move than a few changes at a time.
Below you will find two of the more important items to consider while swimming:
CROSS OVER THE CENTER LINE- (correctly by entering about shoulder width or wider). This allows the arm to enter, drop and then start pulling while your body is rotating. It should almost feel like you are pulling on your side. The wide entry allows you to not cross over as your body begins to roll from side to side. If you enter too close to center and then roll, you will end up zigzagging from one side to the other and not swim in a straight line. This is even more evident in the open water with no black line on the bottom of the pool.
HAND ENTRANCE- The hand should enter relatively flat with fingers, then palm, wrist, forearm and elbow following. It is consider and sometimes encouraged to have your fingers somewhat spread apart to allow for a bigger surface to pull the water with. It also relieves stress on your hand if you have it in a very tight manner. The angle should be downward immediately so that your actual pull starts about 18 inches or so below/and in front of your shoulder. With a slight tilt of the wrist and a loose hand, you start the pull to a point where your hand and fore arm are below the chest area. Eventually your arm is in a 90 degree position at the elbow below your chest.
More to follow… |
