Noobie Swimming Advice
I have counted on the Haus to get me ready for and through my races for the past 2 seasons. This season is not going to be any different. The difference this year is that I now need help with my swimming
I know the Coachs highly discourage any type of swimming during the OS. I have made an informed decision to ignore this for now since I really need to improve my basic swimming skills and endurance. I have a half-distance AquaBike on 5/1 and IMCDA on 6/26. Hence I am coming to the Haus for advice.
Over the next 13 weeks I have two primary goals:
- Learn and become comfortable with bilateral breathing, or any type of sustained breathing at all.
- Increase overall swimming endurance.
The current problem is that these are two conflicting goals. I struggle enough with the breathing that I either get frustrated (mentally) or so out-of-breath that I can't swim long enough to get tired. I know it is probably just a matter of getting in the pool as often as possible. That is why I have committed to hitting the pool twice a week for the rest of the OS. I know that this may have a negative impact on the bike/run, but I do need to be in a position to actually get through the swim.
So my question is how can I break these goals apart so that I can practice each individually? What type of drills, equipment, etc can I use? I have seen some folks in the pool with flippers, pull buoys and even snorkels. I don't want to look like a complete Fred, but at this point am willing to give anything a shot.
Thanks,
Pete
Comments
Cheat way to get swimming for longer without having to get frustrated at your breathing? Swim snorkel BUT I'd work on getting your breathing sorted first, then I think you'll find your endurance will come naturally through increased efficiency. I think the only toy you'll want is a pull buoy, and maybe some fins.
I got good at bilateral breathing through drills drills and drills. I hadn't swum for 6 months and managed it despite lesser endurance - I did pull sets. They made me work harder so I had to breathe more (I used to breathe on the left every 4). Breathing every 2 was horrific so I was kinda forced to go bilateral. Take it slowly, get comfy!
Hope that helps ?
I know what you're going through. Where swimming is concerned, if the breathing ain't happening, ain't nothing happening. Resolve that, and whatever underlying swim technique problems are causing it, and you may find you can take care of the swimming endurance fairly quickly. Based on my experience, you'll probably have a tough time figuring out for yourself what you're doing wrong and what you need to change. I highly recommend you get some one-on-one swim coaching, and make it frequent, like every 1-2 weeks. Ideally get a coach recommended by your local tri community, so you get someone who understands your race isn't over when you exit the water.
If you stick to low-intensity swim technique drills on your off-days during the outseason, and learn to minimize your kick, it's actually nice recovery therapy for your legs - not a negative impact at all, in my experience.
x3 on a coach. Find the best coach you can. Get a good swim asessment. I just got mine today. And that way you can learn which things to work on first. It may be bilateral breathing. There may be something else in the kinetic chain that gets attention first. Who knows? Lance Armstrong's non-sucky swim technique has him breathing to one side.
Second. And I can't stress this enough, if you want to swim faster, you have to swim faster -- and the best way for us noobs to learn how to do that is with a masters team. DIY doesn't work as well with swimming as it does for the other sports.
Learn from me. I swam a 2:10 (ugh!) at IMWI. I was told today that with my current technique (which needs work), there is no reason I shouldn't have done a 1:40. I was simply swimming more slowly than I was capable of. So, yeah, half hour on the course that I didn't need to leave there.
I will check with the staff at the gym tonight whether they, or someone they know, provides one-on-one lessons. In addition I will check with the local tri-club for recommendations.
In the meantime I will try to focus more on the breathing aspect and less on the endurance.
Former distance swimmer in college here. Couple thoughts...
First...to hell with this bilateral breathing crap. :-) I swam in college and never once did I bilateral breathe...and I swam the mile, 1000, 500, 200. NEVER I tell you. Bilateral breathing is the spawn of satan!!! Once upon a time I could swim a mile in just under 17min. My 500 was 4:50ish. BREATHING EVERY SINGLE STROKE.
Being a little more realistic about things...as long as you get a proper roll in your stroke you don't need to bilateral breath. Don't get so caught up in that specific aspect of your stroke. Let a coach tell you what to prioritize.
I will give the same advice others have given and that is get a GOOD one-on-one coach. Your very best bets are actual coaches at the highschool/college level. I assume college coaches are too busy for this. But if you can get a HS coach to let you swim with the team or in the mornings or whatever, they will be able to give you real solid advice. Random trainers at the gym are hit-or-miss. Just because they swam in school does not mean they will be a good coach. I am a decent example of that. I can help to a point...but then I'm not any good as a coach.
The key is swim FREQUENCY. It take a while to build a proper habit. So if you really want to work on swimming and get better faster you'll want to swim 5-6 times per week. Of those times you'll want to start seeing the coach 2-4 times each week and then practice what they give you the other days. That is critical. The constant feedback is what will get you better faster. practice practice practice. You don't need to be doing hard sets up front. So it won't waste your OS if you do it right...but it will take time. You may be in the water for 5-6 hours per week doing this. Maybe more. But very few of those workouts will be hard enough to cause fatigue. They just take a lot of time. (ROI)
That is how all us fishies got good. I had a coach standing over me 5-6 days per week for MONTHS. Every one of those b*stards had a kickboard ready to throw at me at the first sign of a screw-up. Nothing like a little motivation to do it right.
The key thing people need to remember is this...the endurance is already there. If you're doing the OS, your lungs are there. The reason you get so tired is because your stroke is bad enough to actually slow you down and stop you in the water. You have to get the arm strength for swimming...and to really get that you need to be doing it right.
Ok...that is all. :-)
Get a GOOD coach.
X5-6?? On getting a good coach
All good advice. My notes:
The only "benefit" for me in knowing how to breathe bi-laterally is if the water conditions make breathing to your good side difficult. I breathe to my right side and will do that exclusively if the conditions warrant. I have swam in choppy conditions that made breathing to the right side extremely difficult because it meant eating a wave every breath. I had to breathe to my left side.
Moral of the story is to know how to breathe to both sides but go with what makes sense and works best for you. I'd also rather breath every stroke cycle than every other one.
Like many of you said, this is going to take lots of practice. I am willing to put in the time. I just need to know how to best utilize that time. A coach is a good idea. I have just struggled with finding one, but will continue to look.
(1) warm-up
(2) drill/technique set
(3) Main Set
(4) cool down
You can work on bilateral breathing during the technique set.
C) Do you do any breath drills now? One set I do is 10x50 in a 3/5/7/9 pattern (breathing every 3 strokes for the 1st, 5th and 9th 50's, every 5 for 2nd, 6th and 10th 50, etc.). You could do 3/5/7 or 3/5 if 9 strokes is too long. Once you do a 50 where you breath only every 7 strokes, breathing every 3 becomes easy.
@Pete, I think Eric and Coach Rich are spot on with the advice. I will add a little. I am USA Swimming and ASCA Level 2 coach, coaching on the swim team.
1. Most breathing issues originate from holding breath, not exhaling in a measured manner, trying to exhale and inhale during that single stroke cycle when exchanging air. Several problems compound, piling CO2 in your lungs by holding breath triggers more urge for taking breath, vicious cycle. There is not enough time to exhale and inhale in one cycle.
Remedy for that is a simple breathing/blowing bubbles into the water at the wall, no swimming. First you, rest your ear on your shoulder when head/body rotated to inhale, head goes straight back down into the water looking at the bottom, exhaling air slow, steady and measured that your lungs come up near empty just prior to taking next inhale, timing it with your body rotation. This is at first a simple wall excersize. You have to be very comfortable with this. I also suspect that you raise your head up to breath instead of rotating......typical of folks struggling with blowing air into the water.
Snorkel will not solve your problem. Neither will pulling or fins. No toys.
2. Bilateral breathing is only a tool to help develop side to side balanced swimmer. It does deprive you of O2. Yes, it is used in correlation with many drills as they have the same goal. Executing threshold and VO2 max sets will require one to breath every other stroke. It is however critical that you learn proper head and body position. Proper head position and body rotation teaches you to hide your breathing. Hiding your breathing in the bow wave is what elite swimmers do. If you pull up the videos from Beijing and Rome, 200-1500m free swimmers all breath every other stroke, none are using bilateral. Folks that race 50m take no breath and 100m swimmers are 2-3 breaths for the whole race. We are not sprinters, we should be researching 400-1500m swimmers.
And there is no debate on the breathing subject in coaching community. There is only on internet boards. Coaches know what has been proven effective. Swimming literature covers this in depth.
Total Immersion will get you going in the wright direction, it is an excellent start. It does an awesome job teaching front to back balance as well as side to side alignment. Those are your basics.
Lastly, you need a coach who is a stroke specialist. You will usually find them coaching 8 year olds and under. Yes, you read it correctly, 8 and under. That is where adult beginners fall under, same group as the kidos. If you can find one, he or she will be your best bang for the buck as that is all they do, teaching beginner competitive swimmers, they have methodology to progress you through drills until you can put your stroke properly together.
@Aleksandar: Where do you live? Do you want to be my swim coach
. Seriously, thank you for the feedback. I realize that swimming is more about technique and less about endurance. So the major emphasize for the next few weeks will be to become comfortable being in the water and simply practicing some breathing drills.
Good news is that I have a lead on a swim coach that might just fit the profile you described. She is the Director of the swim program at the gym I am a member of. She was recommended by the gym, obviously, but also by a member of my local tri-club. Her primary job is developing swim programs for the kiddos
. I just learned that she also developed a tri-specific swim course, hence the recommendation by the tri-club member.
I have an appointment with her tomorrow to discuss my needs. Hopefully she will be willing to provide some one-on-one coaching for the next few months, just to get me going. I will then consider joining the tri swim course, and maybe even masters, if all goes well.
(sheepishly raises hand as well).
I've been really focused on my rotation the last few weeks....In fact I really feel like I'm over rotating because it is so awkward...but it has made a huge difference in how my shoulders feel.
@Pete, it would be my pleasure, but I live pretty far away, Olathe, KS, suburb of Kansas City. I do travel for living as my real job. I am frequently in and out of Teterboro, Morristown, Trenton, Delmar. I don't know if you are close to any of these. I do chase pools around on the road to swim, so if you are close, there is a chance to meet up at some point.
I think you will be in good hands with that lady. Let us know how it goes. You can always email me or send a message, post here and we will follow up to make sure you heading in the right direction.
Pete,
If you were interested in a total immersion swimming workshop on a weekend in philadelphia or hoboken let me know, I see its cheaper the more people that are in your group. I have no idea if my swim stroke needs work on not, the most swim training I have ever done was 13 years ago when I made in on the Atlantic City beach patrol. I have neglected my swim so much that I only swam for 15 minutes the thursday prior to last years eagleman. The two dates are sat. 2.26 - sun 2.27 for philly, and sat 3.12 - sun. 3.13. Let me know if your interested, I live on the same island as Atlantic City so obviously Philly is much closer to me but whatever works.
When I first started with EN, I too couldn't just sit out the OS because of my lack of swimming history. So I kept swimming , pretty much as much as I could, to get my endurance up. I ended up surviving IMCDA. Since then, I've been concentrating on both form and just swimming faster. The two big things that have helped me are swimming faster shorter sets. I find my bad habits creep up after about 150y if I am trying to adjust things. Another resource I enjoy is swimsmooth.com. They have a really cool animation that I visualize a lot when I swim.
Hope this helps and best of luck!
Like others have said: get with somebody who can watch you swim and prioritize what you need to work on. If they are good they will fix one thing at a time and eventually you will become quite proficient.
@Aleksander: Thanks. Meeting up when you are in town would be great, even if it is just for a drink or something. I am in central NJ so am not to far from any of those places. Just let me know when you are in town next and we will see what we can do. There are some other local peeps that I can probably convince to meet us as well.
@Greg:I am in the same boat as you were. I have started trying to swim almost everyday for at least half-an-hour. Like you I am just looking to survive IMCDA. I just found swimsmooth.com myself.
I think the clarification needs to made as to whether we're talking about a) being ABLE to breathe every two strokes on which ever side you want, or b) breathing every three strokes all the time.
A) gets you lots of oxygen, and lets you choose to not stare into the sun
For super fun, try breathing right-right-left-left (ie., two times breathing every two strokes, one breathing every three, two every two strokes). I wouldn't race like that, but it's good practice for me to not get stuck on one side.