TRIATHLON SWIM TRAININGHere are some cool insights into triathlon swim training as I see it that may help you in accomplishing your Ironman dream.
If you are IRONSTRUCK and determined to do this, but a bit nervous about the swim, this may make you feel better.Historically, more first time starters are experienced runners and/or bikers as opposed to swimmers. You are not alone! Swimming is usually a big stumbling block for many a novice Ironman who would like to do this race. Just the thought of being out in the open water scares some people off and so does the thought of triathlon swim training. If I survived my first Ironman swim so will you. When I watched those crazy people back in 1982 and they were swimming 2.4 miles in the ocean, my first thought was---"well I guess that rules me out". Considering I couldn't swim a stroke at the time and had a healthy fear of the water, my chances looked pretty slim. At that particular moment, the thought of triathlon swim training for me seemed pretty distant. Two years later I was in Kona at the Ironman Hawaii swim start when the starting cannon went off and I was on my way. THIS WAS MY FIRST OPEN WATER SWIM! And what a swim it was! I had a really crappy stoke. I know that now, but I didn't care at the time. I was swimming in Kona--I had really made it to Hawaii! Maybe my preparation and my triathlon swim training was not the best, but it saw me through the day. I will never forget that transition tent. It was electric! It was like everyone was talking at once. You could "feel" the sense of accomplishment---the relief in the air. Today I realize it was because the swim had a lot of people worried. As it turned out in later years I would see this same scenario played out over and over again. I'm pretty certain that the Ironman swim was a big accomplishment for many of my fellow novice Ironman competitors that day, and they struggled through their triathlon swim training as much as I did. SOME SWIMMING TIPS Swim clubs are great for learning to swim in close quarters with others. However, I found there were several drawbacks to this method of triathlon swim training. First of all you're normally assigned lanes according to ability. More often than not you end up trying to swim faster than the person beside you and stroke technique soon becomes non-existent. The coach will have you do sets of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly. You get the picture. Hey! You're going to swim in the Ironman! LEARN THE FRONT CRAWL! And look! Coach is passing out kick-boards! RUN! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Oh Boy, I really, really, don't like those things but most of the early triathlon swim coaches I had seemed to think it was a necessary evil. Anyway, I was determined one year that I would swim faster then ever before and spent one Fall, Winter and Spring in a club working on swim-training. I had to park 5 blocks away from the pool and in the winter its like 30 below here and I froze 4 nights a week. But I stuck it out! For 8 months! Ironman day came. I was 2 minutes SLOWER than the year before! Oh man. From then on I swam alone. I read books. I swam thousands of lengths, Reinforcing all my bad habits. I swam miles and miles with pull buoys, because my feet sank. I blasted my way through the water. It took me 10 years of swim-training to take 15 minutes off my original Hawaii swim. The gun would go off and I would move my arms as fast I could for 2.4 miles. Then I discovered the TOTAL IMMERSION method and realized I had to SLOW DOWN in order to swim faster. I learned that swimming relaxed and using the natural buoyancy that we all have was the answer. It wasn't really how FAST I got to the other end of the pool, it was HOW! I finally learned that 16 relaxed strokes is a ton better then 25 "move your arms as fast as you can strokes."If you are just beginning your triathlon career, TOTAL IMMERSION is the perfect system to incorporate into your swim training as your career develops. If you are completely new to swimming, then you have the advantage of developing a great stroke from the very beginning without having to break bad swimming habits. TOTAL IMMERSION....Simply one of the best swimming techniques in the world today for triathletes of any level. TOTAL IMMERSION is offering all ironstruck visitors a 10% discount on Books, DVD's, and all other TI teaching tools. Simply click on this linktotalimmersion.net/store/go to the store page and type ironstruck(all small case)into the shopping cart coupon box and you receive your 10% discount automatically. I worked on developing my new swim stroke using the TOTAL IMMERSION simple to follow drills and tips all through the next training season and found myself back at the Ironman swim start. What I learned through total immersion was a whole new concept in triathlon swim training for me. I had discovered how to swim efficiently and also how to stay calm and relaxed. I used my new loooooong, smoooooth, stroke. I kept a nice even balance on top of the water and my sinking feet no longer held me back. There was no need to move my arms as fast as I could to avoid sinking because my body-positioning was so much better. I had never felt so relaxed and fresh after finishing an Ironman swim. I thought, "well, I don't feel like I worked very hard or swam very fast, but if my time's slower that's ok, at least I feel great!" Little did I know just how effective my new-found method of triathlon swim training actually was. MY TIME WAS A PERSONAL BEST SWIM BY JUST OVER FIVE MINUTES! In one training season, by learning to relax, and swim with proper technique and use loooong, smooooth strokes and proper body balance I made a huge improvement in my swimming. I found the total immersion method worked best for me. It kept my heart rate down and meant I was expending far less energy and could save it for later on in the day.
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