Tower 26 Swim Lecture
I recently watched the Tower 26 lecture on YouTube after see numerous recommendations for it on EN and ST. I found it informative and felt that Gerry Rodrigues presented material I haven't seen elsewhere for triathlon swimming.
Here are my key take aways:
- Triathletes are open water swimmers and must practice this skill frequently
- Rotation is not important for triathletes. Only 30-45 degree is needed. Rotation in unstable water causes flailing and poor form.
- Hold the body taught and minimize movement.
- Breathe every two strokes to maximize oxygenation.
- The snorkel is the most important piece of training equipment because it teaches how to keep head still.
- Triathletes should have a high stroke rate, up to 100 per minute.
- Most triathletes don't swim enough or train hard enough. Workouts should always include hard intervals. Age groupers should swim 4-5 hours per week with at least one 90 minute session.
This isn't a comprehensive list. I've posted my detailed notes in the post below. I bolded the items above I found most provocative.
I've spent a bunch of time working on not swimming flat and am surprised by this recommendation. Have other folks experimented with different degrees of rotation?
I've never used a snorkel for training and rarely see anyone using one. Is it worth the scorn of the hard core fishies to wear a snorkel in training? 
I've heard the stroke rate thing but never as high as 100 strokes per minute. Not sure most age groupers could achieve that.
I'd like to here feedback from EN folks who had experience with the Tower 26 philosophy. What worked? And what didn't?
Comments
6 Keys to Open Water Swimming:
1. Education
2. Training
3. Open Water Technique
4. Strength
5. Mental Game
6. Nutrition
References / Resources:
* Mike Collins -- Triathlon Coach in Irvine
* Jim Vance -- Coach in SD
* Paul Newsome at SwimSmooth has good material
* Brett Sutton -- Crissie Wellington's coach
Breathing:
* Every two strokes to maximize oxygenation
* Do not have to swim bilaterally, although it is important for training
* Can switch sides every few strokes
Mechanics:
* Rotation is not important for triathletes -- only rotation 30-45 degrees
* Most important thing: hold body taught, minimize body movement
Equipment:
* Snorkel is the most important piece of equipment to learn how to keep head still
* Next is pull buoy
* Ankle straps with toes turned in touching each other. Triathletes have inflexible feet from running. Toes pointing down create a lot of drag.
* Fins. No zoomers. Something with reinforced sides. Recommends Speedo fins on Tower 26 website.
* Tempo trainer to increase stroke rate. Elite are at 100 strokes per minute. Strokes per pool length is a useless metric.
* No paddles unless swimming under 20min/mi. Use small paddles if you must use them. Slows down stroke rate.
* Wetsuit brands don't matter. They are very individual. Find a store that will let you test them.
Drills:
* Don't do them.
* Don't do many drills kicking on sides. Kick on stomach or back to learn to keep body taught.
Training:
* It will take 2 years swimming 3 times per week to become "okay." Triathletes don't swim enough and don't train hard enough.
* At least one 90 minute workout per week (4000-6000 yds):
*
* 20-25 minute warmup with easy swimming, kicking, etc
* main set 1: 4x1000 (if fast) to 4x600 (if slow) with snorkel, buoy, and ankle band progressing effort
* main set 2: 10x100 @ 80-85%
* main set 3: 2x500 pulling with with good form
* main set 4: 10x100 @ 90%
* Consistency is key since swimming is most triathletes' weakness. Pros spend 30-35% of time swimming. Age groupers should spend 4-5 hours per week. Swim 75% of time in offseason and go down to 30-35% in season. He argues the swim workouts will have carryover benefits to running and cycling.
* Every swim workout should include speed intervals. Train fast to swim fast.
* Minimize time with other strokes. Backstroke has the most transferability to free style.
Mechanics:
* Keep stroke simple. High elbow. Don't break wrist. Finger tips down.
* Pull hard with easy recover.
* Don't swim catch up stroke.
Strength Training:
* Gym strength training doesn't help with swimming.
* Swimming exercises:
*
* Strength bands to mimic stroke
* 20min twice per week
* Core exercises are helpful
Race Preparations:
* Triathletes are open water swimmer and must practice this skill
* Short run to warm up core if water is cold. Optional if water is warm.
* Do warm up swim in wetsuit for several minutes. If you can't get in the water, use strength bands.
* Start race swim easy
* Always wear a wetsuit where it is an option. You'll more than make up the time of taking it off.
Thanks for the post - I think this kind of stuff is great and thought-provocing.
I've seen/read a lot of Gerry's stuff, and a lot of it matches what other good swimmers and coaches advocate. As with all things swimming, just depends on where you are with your stroke and your years with swimming. Some may apply and work for you; some may be N/A. Being 2-legged animals, we weren't made to travel via arm, so it takes years for swimmers to develop strength and endurance. But one constant remains: just like running, swim speed is nothing more than stroke length x turnover. Technique, strength, muscle memory and lots of other things go into distance per stroke. Turnover is just turnover. I spent the last 20 years learning decent technique, and got to top 5-10% among tri swimmers. One of my big goals this year has been to increase my turnover. Started at 48 spm, which created tons of glide and dead spots (which can really lead you astray in a rough OWS). Now at 62, and would love to get into the 70s (most pros swim 75-95 spm). But you don't want to over-churn and get sloppy - the Swim Smooth Ramp Test is an easy/quick way to find your current "sweet spot" spm rate. Followed lots of SS and Sheila Taormina advice to get to 62. For me, goal is rotate until my lead hand is fully extended with high elbow, then immediately start the catch and pull without glide or hesitation. But I still rotate enough to get high elbows and chest/back muscle engagement without shoulder strain. And the speed increase from 48 spm to 62 has been pretty dramatic (about 7 seconds per 100 yds). A cheap metronome helps me swim exactly at my goal spm and slowly increase it. If I hadn't seen the speed improvement, I would have chalked it up to a silly "fad." But I'll follow the facts until they no longer produce results.
Swimming with taughtness, or tone, isn't really new. And I definitely move faster through the water when I have engaged core, no lazily wagging legs. I analogize it to a bottom bracket made of rubber vs carbon - it's just a matter of how you transfer power to the vehicle. Snorkel helps develop this and a still head, but I really don't like swimming with one (I have to wear a nose clip, and I despise those things). Band + buoy alone is a great way (for me) to engage core and prevent waggling legs, as my legs will flap around big-time when buoyed/banded if I don't engage core. Plus, it helps with toe pointing.
The rest of it (again, for me) is getting in the water, getting volume and frequency with quality intervals. The more I swim, the faster I swim. No magic to that. I probably could swim 30k per week for a couple of years, pull off a :53 IM swim, get divorced and fired, and watch my FTP drop by 30 and my vDot by 3. But as an AGer with real-world ROI considerations, I'd much rather swim 12-15k, swim a :60, and keep the wife, kids, half the stuff, job, FTP and vDot.
Just my $.02.
Mike
Gabe....(disclaimer).....I am a MOP swimmer, no formal swim training/racing as a youngster (thus, MOP now!). I've been swimming pretty consistently (time off in winter during OS/etc) and have read/watched Coach R's stuff (first exposure to "good form"), and then last winter got a coach who is a college/high school swim coach and also affiliated with Total immersion. I swam much faster at IMTX (after Total Immersion coaching/stroke use plus Coach R's IM workouts) than I would have predicted (1:07:xx), but have only seen about 1' improvement over the past 2 years in the same HIM race (0:38-0:39). I was enough faster at IMTX that I question the distance accuracy of either Austin HIM or IMTX (or perhaps the mass start at IMTX led to a lot more "pack drafting" than a smaller wave start swim like Austin HIM)? My x:xx/100y speed has not improved a whole heck of a lot (maybe 1-2"/100 in a 1K TT) that I can attribute to any particular "stroke" change or philosophy. But, I definitely swim faster when I've been swimming harder/longer/consistently (duh!) and that to me seems to be the most important factor. This, unfortunately, is NOT what I wanted to hear myself say! I want/wanted free speed! I think unless ones form is horrible, that it just takes a ton of time/yardage to get faster. I feel like I've hit a wall and going any faster is just going to take monumental effort (leading to the string of events described in MRs post with loss of family, job, spouse, vdot points, and FTP watts).
I am now beginning (completed lesson #4 tonight) the swim smooth plan. Still not sure about this either. I've also watched the Tower 26 video. I don't know this guy from Adam, but he comes across to me as incredibly arrogant (just my opinion based on watching the video alone...he may be a nice/humble guy in real life?). But.....every swim coach (except Coach R) I've been exposed to (blog, webinar, book, video series, etc.) seems to feel that their way is the right way and that everyone else is a moron (which often defines "arrogance"). Some love fins, or buoys, or paddles, or bands, or snorkels....while the next "expert" says that one or more of these "toys" is a total waste of time, stupid, makes no sense, blah blah blah. Very frustrating. Why can't it be as simple as turn the pedals harder/faster and you will go faster! Or run faster and you'll run faster?!!
That said, I can without question tell that although I may not be much faster (start to T1), I exit the swim much less "spent" using total immersion philosophy/stroke. It is very different than any of these other philosophies. My coach minimized body rotation tremendously....doesn't care about it...doesn't matter? Only rec is to make sure that the recovering arm shoulder is out of the water ("cold shoulder").... and that's it. No belly to the wall, no full torso rotation, no crazy fast turnover (unless your efficient there), etc. No high elbow focus. Lots of focus on "wide tracks" (hands/arms staying outside body line at all times), relaxed recovery led by upper arm with finger tips barely over the water, two beat small kick, smooth, don't fight the water, and lots of focus on strokes/length (completely poopoo'd by Gerry!).....and no toys!
Makes sense to me that, like running, speed is a function of strokes/distance and stroke rate (cadence + stride length = speed). TI philosophy is basically once you have good form, getting faster becomes a "simple" matter of maintaining turnover while decreasing spl or increasing turnover without decreasing spl. Makes sense to me. Unfortunately, this like running faster....easy to say, impossible to do quickly.
Full body rotation?....some coaches stress it hard....TI philosophy de-stresses it...Gerry de-stresses it. What do I do?!!!
When I watch videos of elite swimmers, I see different (minor) things....higher vs. lower elbows, minimal rotation vs. a ton of rotation. All have higher turnover than me (but this is their full time job and they are freaks of nature who have been swimming thousands of hours for years and years, so I don't expect this). The only thing I consistently see is streamlined body and forearm perpendicular to the floor/fingertips down (which I think is also what is meant by having a "feel" for the water or good "catch"). Beyond these two things, I think it's literally different strokes for different folks!
So, as I dabble with swim smooth, I'm trying to figure out for ME, if the body rotation is important? (today, I think it is not....but I'm going to continue the swim smooth stuff for now, just dabbling and keeping me interested in getting to the pool). Clearly, some people who swim very fast are professionals or former professionals (the TI founder was an elite distance swimmer) and don't rotate a ton (>30-45degrees). So, like most things, when there are many opinions about the importance of something (some strongly pro- and some con-), it can't be all that important. If these things were THAT important or critical, everyone would agree about their importance.
The problem that I have with Gerry's presentation, is that his philosophy of triathlon training in general is "swim-centric". If I swam as much as he recommends, there is no question I'd swim faster. There is also no question that several of the following would occur: lose FTP watts, lose vdot points, lose SAUs, forget my children's names, get fired, go crazy from staring at a black line (when you swim slow it takes a loooong time to do those long workouts!). Also, the strategy of heavy swimming hours in the winter is completely counter to the EN philosophy of focusing on bike/run in the winter/OS. I think the EN philosophy makes more sense for 99% of age groupers.
No question "his way" would result in a better swim. But at what cost? Not a good idea for ME right now. If I were a strong bike/run athlete, but MOP swimmer, then maaaaybe?
It's also interesting that his first recommend "toy" is a snorkel. That's the first coach I've ever heard mention that. I am not getting snorkel. Fred factor not included, I too would have to wear a nose clip. But maybe this is the one "toy" I need to find my free speed!
Work is speed entering the body.....unfortunately.
I have no idea why I wrote this. I'm sure it's not in the least bit helpful for anyone but me. This is just a glimpse into my swimming mind right now....total confusion and tail-chasing.
My background is that I am an adult onset swimmer, starting last year. Swimming is hands down my worst phase of the triathlon. The good news is that I get better with each phase.
I took Coach Rich's swim clinic last year, which is how I got introduced to EN. That was very helpful in preparing me to survive my first HIM. I tried the TI videos and books, but things didn't click until I got the instruction from Coach Rich. I've also used the material from Sheila T and SwimSmooth. I did a bunch of the SwimSmooth workouts this year for SuperFrog HIM and IMAZ.
My biggest challenge is translating pool speed to the open water. In the pool I am a MOP swimmer. But in open water I am back of the MOP, especially if the water is rough or there is a lot of contact. It sucks passing people on the bike and going "that guy was ahead of me?"
What I liked about Gerry's lecture is the focus on open water swimming. I am going to try out the snorkel and ankle band that Gerry recommends. I think I also need to work in more open water swimming. When I lived in the Pasadena area, it was actually a hassle to get to open water swims. The ocean is a good 30-45 minutes away and all the lakes are tightly regulated for swimming. With the move to Salt Lake City, it looks like there will be easier access to open water swimming (when it isn't freezing).
I will also start monitoring my strokes per minute. I haven't been paying attention to it. Looking at historical data, I am in the 50-60 range. Definitely need to crank it up.
I have been swimming with EN vet, Tom Glynn, for a few years now. He SUCKED! And I am being nice in that comment. A flailing fish. He would agree. Slow, couldn't straighten his feet (typical runner issue), no pull, etc.
However, after using Tower 26 protocol and swimming consistently for awhile now he is slowly catching me in the pool. Swimming faster takes time. A lot of time.
If you an age grouper with no real shot at Kona, what we do here in EN works great IMHO. However, if you have a shot at Kona and your swim is your weakness (i.e. you miss a Kona slot because you swim slow like Tom) then I highly suggest Tower 26. I am seeing it work for my friend first-hand. Even with that dorky snorkel.
My .02.
Stark
I am still capable of making modest improvements in my swim probably, but for me to swim my best, it would take (a) significant coaching to find all the little things I do wrong and fix them; and (b) do something like Tower 26 recommendations, i.e., swim harder and more.
Two or three years ago, I was making a big effort to qualify for 70.3 worlds. I knew that 5 minutes would make a big difference for me, and I hooked up with a fledgeling masters group that swam with the local youth team. And, while we didn't do exactly what Tower 26 recommends (e.g., it was a pool swim only, and we didn't go nuts with snorkels), it was a lot of hard swimming and one two-hour set per week. I definitely improved as a swimmer. The irony of my race was that there was an incident (details unimportant here) that screwed up my swim, so my swim time was bad...but I did manage to qualify for Las Vegas anyway with a decent bike and strong run. The program I was in lasted until about 6 weeks before the LV race when it abruptly had to get cancelled (over a dispute with the city). So I was on my own after that, and I swam less.
What I took from that year was that the swimming WAS great and it DID help my swim. I got out of the water less tired, etc. HOWEVER, as a couple other people mentioned, I am also pretty sure that there was a cost in my other disciplines....more on the bike for me, but that may have had to do with my particular order of workouts. The bottom line is that I don't regret what I did, and it made me a better swimmer in the long run, but I'm not sure that it really would have changed the net of my time as much as I had hoped, because the quality of bike training may have dropped enough for me to give back a few of those 5 minutes. I might do it again if the opportunity presented itself, but only for a HIM season, not a full IM season. Swim recovery isn't "free" if you're working hard enough. If you're swimming really hard, there's a recovery cost as well as the time spent.
Ultimately, the whole sleep/work/stay-married thing means that we have to find a compromise for how hard we train in all the disciplines, and if you're already upper MOP, the ROI on swimming enough (and hard enough) to improve a lot may or may not be there.
I've been swimming competitively for 55 years now, and when I was younger, swam on teams with Olympic and NCAA Div 1 champions. I was/am a very poor swimmer in relation to them, and also have had the "privilege' of watching my swimming suddenly deteriorate with first a spinal cord injury, and then with age. So I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what makes for effective swimming. "Feel" for the water is indeed IMO the most critical part of swimming fast - what your hands and forearms are doing under the water is really what makes you go forward. Second most important is the impact of hydro resistance presented by body position. Jeff nails those two essential points.
Very small changes in hand position make big differences. EG, imagine what might happen if your hand slid thru the water with the little finger was leading the way instead of palm facing the wall behind you! Now think of what might happen if the little finger is just a *little* bit ahead of the thumb as the hand moves backwards. This is what is meant by "feel" - making sure your hand is in the strongest possible position. Paying attention to how the water "feels" against your hand and forearm is the best way to work on proper positioning.
All the stuff that is talked about should be filtered through the questions, "How does this maximize the effect of my hands/forearms moving through the water at the best possible angle?", and, "How does this minimize the resistance my body presents to the water?" (being more "hydro"/aero.) Every single point any coach makes about technique ultimately comes back to those two concepts.
@William, agreed on the ROI of swimming. I laughed when Gerry said in the video that triathletes should spend 70-80% of their time in the outseason swimming. I guess he is a swim coach.
@Al, you've distilled a complex topic into the key points, as usual! Like Jeff said above, swimming has so much contradictory advice from experts. Folks seem to generally agree on how to get faster at cycling and running. Your two points will really help me focus.
SLC seems to have a very active triathlon community. I joined the SLC Tri Club. When I posted a question about swim resources in the area on the club's FB page, I got 20+ responses in less than an hour. I'm going get into some classes. The most improvements came (1) right after Coach Rich's swim clinic and (2) over this summer when I had a swim coach once per week. Once things thaw out, I'll make sure to include regular open water swims too.
Gabe, thanks for starting / posting this thread.
I am one of the slower swimmers within EN. I learned to swim at age 33, having to convert from racing mountain bikes competitively to competing in triathlon due to aging and injury avoidance.
I can be hard headed and stubborn but I realize that if you keep doing the same thing, the same results will continue.
Reading and learning from all of the good points/feedback below. My plan is to employ SwimSmooth development sessions this year.
By 2050 I hope to catch MR.........
SS
Great discussion going on here! I'll share my perspective as i have been really focusing on my swim for the past several months.
I started seriously swimming about 3 and half years ago as i started participating in triathlon. I took some initial lessons with a coach who was from the TI school of thought and it really helped me get started and be able to complete the distances comfortably, although very slowly. Since then i have been swimming 2-3 times per week and averaging about 6-8K per week. Looking back i can honestly say i have only been doing the minimum, but this was a conscious choice to focus more on building bike and run fitness.
Closing on 2014 and moving into 2015 i feel I need to address my swim in order to be truly competitive and more well rounded across all 3 disciplines. I began working with a coach at the end of October and shortly thereafter i began incorporating the swim smooth approach as well. My coach has helped me clean up some fundamental flaws that i was not aware i was doing, such as bending my knees too much on my kick and dropping my elbow before starting my pull. When i started focusing on cleaning up these areas, i immediately saw improvement. Swim smooth has been good for me in that the workouts are quite varied and i look forward to opening up the book and seeing my next workout. Perhaps the biggest change has been the volume and frequency. I'm now swimming 4-5 times per week and averaging about 10-12K over that same time period and i am clearly getting faster. I'm seeing 100 times i have never seen before and it feels great. The proof will be how this translate to race performance in 2015.
As others have stated, I agree there is so much conflicting information and everyone seems to have an opinion of what it takes to get faster. Based on my own experience, it now seems to me that as long as you are technically sound, meaning you don't have any glaring drag creating characteristics in your stroke, that it really comes down to time in the pool and hard work. If this wasn't the case then you would see all fast swimmers with nearly identical strokes, which is clearly not the case. Also, as we like to say about running, if you want to run faster, then you need to run fast. I think the same thing applies to swimming. I have really challenged myself to be uncomfortable in the pool and push the pace vs. taking an extra 10-15 seconds rest between intervals. This echos what's mentioned in the Tower26 lecture. As the race season approaches i know i will need to cut back on my time in the pool and that i why i'm focusing on my swim now, when my bike and run volume is lower. So far i have been able to manage this with the rest of the OS and as a bonus i'm still married and employed
@Gabe: thank you for the summary. How is the swimming coming along?
Swimming in the pool is not the same as open water swimming. Learning to sight correctly, practicing that technique, and wearing the wetsuit in the open water are all very important that doesn't get much focus in the pool. My first HIM at Vineman in 2013, I got out of the water in 42 min. As an adult onset swimmer, knowing that the swim is a weakness, and that water is way more resistant than air, I knew I had to first focus on my technique if I was going to improve. I did a mini-camp in Jan 2014 taught by Karlyn Pipes of AqauticEdge where she did a video analysis. Big help and worth the money. She had me widen my hands at entry, kick more compact, adjust my hand-wrist angle at the start of the catch, a 3/4 stroke (not a catch-up stroke but close since my legs were dragging and she wanted my arms to be in the front quadrant to help lift my legs), pull harder at the front, and end the pull early to start the recovery swing earlier. She said that many triathletes make their pull long to engage the triceps but leave their hand in the water too long increasing drag. She also said my ankles were way to stiff. I worked on these issues all season. I also took swim lessons taught by the local master's coach twice a month. He didn't agree with everything that Karlyn had said but was willing to listen to her suggestions. It was obvious that he teaches "pool swimming" as he had me focus on lowering my stroke count and a very narrow hand entry. When I went out to the open water using the narrow hand entry, my Garmin revealed that I zig-zagged all over the place. After explaining that too him, he came around to the idea of a wide hand entry that works better at staying straight.
In the pool, I use the snorkel A LOT. Who cares what I look like because it works for my helping my technique. I feel it allows me to focus on one area of my technique without having to stop focusing in order to breathe. Like Al asked, "How does this maximize the effect of my hands/forearm moving through the water at the best possible angle?" The snorkel allows me to watch my hand/forearm through the entry, catch, and pull without worrying about oxygen.
During the 2014 season, I spent the whole year working on technique (using the snorkel, buoy, and sometimes paddles). My times have been gradually improving: Oceanside (37min), IMCDA (Swim Smart start--1:10), and IMAZ (mass deep water start--1:08). I'm now starting to add power to my pull as well as continuing to work on technique. The recent 1000yd challenge was 14:58.
The other BIG thing I have been doing for the last 4-5 months is my "3 second" stretch. Nearly every day, I have been sitting on my ankles. When I started sitting on them, my wife and I laughed that it was my "3 second" stretch since I was hoping to improve my 100yd time by 3 seconds. The truth is that after 4-5 months of 3-4 minutes a day of stretching, my times have improved by way more than 3 seconds--due to many factors besides ankle flexibility I'm sure. But I can feel less drag in the water from my feet and can push off the wall further just because my feet are no longer rudders. I now place my knees on a foam roller while sitting on my ankles. I haven't used the tempo trainer yet but did recently buy one. I think that will be a good training tool.
So all that being said, the Tower 26 stuff is interesting, but I'd highly recommend a coach, swim clinic or video analysis to find the areas in your technique that are not efficient. If you have areas of drag, increasing your stroke count or adjusting your body rotation is not going to be as beneficial as they could be. Just my 2 cents. Thanks again for the summary of the lecture. See you at Oceanside.
I haven't swam much since starting this thread. I figured something had to give, so I was willing to drop swim workouts from my schedule. I focused on running, since it seems to give me the best ROI. However, Oceanside is rolling up and I am getting serious about swimming again.
The key thing I noticed from Tower 26 and SwimSmooth that made a difference was breathing every two strokes. I used to breath every 3-4 in the pool, which led to gliding. If I breath every two strokes I can keep the stroke rate up, resulting in increased speed. Since I get more oxygen, it actually feels easier.
I did buy a snorkel but haven't had the guts to use in at the pool yet. I'll work up the courage to face social ridicule from the fishies.
I'll probably get the most benefit from a swim coach. That's where I saw the greatest improvement in the past. I have a line on a couple in SLC.
But in all seriousness, I didn't think about it until reading this forum, but since using the snorkel, my head is a lot more stable while swimming even when not using it. The snorkel has allowed me to work on my technique without being concerned about oxygen.
See you at Oceanside.