Swim is ruining my racing
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I just got back from the sprint AG race at ITU Edmonton. My race went terribly, but lots of fun nonetheless (four Canadians on the ITU elite podiums, whoo!!) In short:
- Swim: Lake temps too high, so non-wetsuit swim. The folks in my wave were much stronger than I, and I lost the draft pretty quickly. Figured I'd be slow without a wetsuit, but didn't think I'd end up splitting ~16 min for 750m. Ughhhh...
- Bike: Temps got up to the high 80s, and the heat really started to wear on me. I really really just couldn't get my watts up to where I wanted them to be. My IF=0.75
. Felt like the swim really took a lot out of me, but more on that in a bit... - Run: Again, pretty hot. I ended up tripping over a root or something on a trail and totally faceplanted in the first half mile
. Got pretty scraped up and knocked the wind out of me. That was the final nail in the coffin for me, and ended up just jogging it home from there. This was by far my slowest 5k split ever.
So I've noticed that in my previous few short course races, I had similar problems on the bike as well (i.e. IF nowhere close to 0.90). I think the swim is really kicking my ass and sapping the energy out of me for the bike and run. Though I should note:
- In training, I can bang out a say, ~2500 swim workout and feel okay. That is, I felt like I worked hard and pleasantly tired, but nowhere close to how trashed I feel after a race swim. After I start running into T1, my HR is through the roof, arms feel like lead, legs feel like jelly. That fatigue carries through to the bike and run it seems...
- I tend to be pretty conservative in my effort during my race swims I think, but it's quite apparent that I'm pretty trashed once I get out of the water. My pacing is pretty steady throughout, but I don't really understand why I'm getting so thrashed.
- Obviously, I need to work on my swim. I should confess that I've been shortchanging myself my relying on a pull buoy to replicate the effects of a wetsuit, and not paying attention to my kick. I tend to use a two beat kick, but for the most part, I just tend to let my legs drag.
- One thing I haven't tried yet is doing a swim-bike brick. Does anyone have any experience with this?
It's very clear that the results I see in training are not carrying through to race day, and that I'm nowhere close to racing to my actual level of fitness (esp. on the bike and run). I'm not the fastest swimmer (split a 1:25 for 2.4 miles in my latest swim RR), and I think this is causing me lots of problems. I'm guessing the obvious answer would be to swim more/harder?
Bleh, it's discouraging to see all the hard work and results in my training turn to crap on race day. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just not cut out for this whole multisport dealio? As a single sport athlete, I seem to handle myself pretty well (say, for running). Everything turns into a big SNAFU once I put all the pieces together though. I'm especially worried since I seem to fall apart so badly even for a sprint race, how am I supposed to handle myself after an IM swim 3 weeks from today? I'll definitely be able to finish the swim, but I wonder how crappy I'll feel once I'm on the bike... 
Comments
For me, when doing decending sets, once I get to a certain split, I try to go faster and am more tired after that interval, but sometimes I am even slower than the intervals when I was going easier.
Additionally, without a wetsuit, you need good/sound kicking form to get and maintain good body position and therefore form — also, kicking (properly) does provide forward thrust.
In terms of the bike and your IF of 0.75, what was your VI, and how did you feel while on the bike?
Funny, I just posted here in the forums being all nerved up on the swim for these SC races. It also wears on me. Over the weekend I was a full 1' 30" off my time on a 1/4 mile swim. I haven't an answer for you but I'll check back at your post and see if I find something I can steal for my tool box.
The only thing I can answer for myself is keep dropping into the SC races until ya get it right... practicing at the real deal. At the pool I'm good too amazing isn't it.
1) I realized just how sloshy and different it feels to start biking after swimming versus just biking. Good thing to learn! Yesterday, I also learned post-swimming biker me doesn't like HEED. Plain biker/runner does.
2) I am a getting better by the practice sort of swimmer. I've decided to learn how to do it and respect it because it will be the last sport I have left. Even if it takes a decade to become a good swimmer, it is worth doing!
You have got to get rid of the pull buoy. Unless you are specifically working on a few drills, it goes away. It does not act like a wetsuit. It may hiding other swimming technique flaws besides a kick -- it is really good at hiding poor body rotation (trust me. I know).
Your IM swim is going to be your IM swim. Trust the work you've done and trust that you are not going to significantly change your swimming in three weeks. You can figure out what you *do* know how to do and be confident with that. Maybe you will need to back off on the bike a bit after the swim so you can have a stellar run.
How much of your swimming have you been doing in the open water?
That said, I can totally relate to the "feel trashed after a race swim" vs. "feel okay after a training session swim". While not very fast, I can swim pretty much as long as I want without getting too fatigued during training sessions. But when it comes to races, I have a tendency to get too amped up prior to the start (and during) the swim that I have had similar issues to what you are describing coming out of the water and heading to T1. For me it seems worse the shorter the race also. All that said to let you know I think I get where you are coming from.
Now - what to do?? For me, I felt my issue was, as mentioned, just getting too amped or too hyped up/excited prior to the start of the race. And that set me up for a higher than desired heart rate at the start. Which then led to me starting off swimming too hard at the beginning. And for short races (<1000m swim), there was no time to 'recover' after getting jacked up. Before you know it, you are done, and off to T1 with a high heart rate and very fatigued. So... I started taking Xanax about an hour before the swim start (hopefully there are no rules against that - it is a legal prescription drug, after all). But doing this has helped me calm down, keep my nerves and HR down and have allowed me to have a much more 'comfortable' swim. And this had led to feeling much better as I head into T1 and get on the bike. <br />
I am not saying you should do the same - you should consult your doctor before taking any prescription medication. But it has worked for me.
Agree with losing the buoy. It is probably hurting you in that you are teaching your body to swim with assistance that is not there during the race. I'd bet that as a result, during a race you are dragging your feet.
I have found that the best (functional) kick is one that initiates body rotation successfully and keeps your legs from dropping. 'Pro' swimmers may get propulsion from a kick, but they have often have freakishly flexible ankles that allow them to propel water behind them with the tops of their feet. Similar to the picture in this thread. A functional kick actually begins with body positioning - if your head is above water, your hips and legs will drop and no kick will be effective at keeping your legs from dropping. So first, make sure the rest of your body is streamlined. At that point, a kick just needs to be a minor flick at the right time (as your opposite hand enters the water) to get the body rotating and keep the leg up. If one can get actual propulsion from a kick, all the better.
I've also heard that swimming with a band around your ankles is a great way to see how much your feet move around and create drag without you even noticing it otherwise. I've never tried it, though - and I'd imagine it'd take some getting used to.
@ Peter: Likely that my form falls apart as I get tired, but I suspect that my lower body form (i.e. body positioning and kicking) suffers more than what my arms are doing just because I stop paying attention. On the bike, by VI was around 1.08 I think. I can ride very steady in training, but I think when I bike off the swim, I'm so obsessed with jacking up my watts to where I want to them to be that my VI goes all over the place. Also worth pointing out that I'm really feeling that I'm working "hard", even though the watts say otherwise. Probably partially way my runs suffers too...
@ David: Yeah, I think I need to stop being so afraid of racing and just throw myself in more SC races just for the experience. I've done 7 SC races in my 2 year long career as a triathlete, and there's plenty of racing in my area.
@ Beth: Agreed with dumping the pull buoy. I haven't done any open water swims outside of racing, but I seem to be pretty good at sighting and navigating though.
@ Paul: I get that impression too. Perhaps I tend to cheat myself by thinking that swiimming can be a relatively low ROI sport, but I never really considered how much my lack of swim competence was affecting my ability to bike and run well. I have easy access to a pool/gym, so I'll definitely try throwing in some extra swims and swim-bike bricks...
@ John: I'll have to try kicking while streamlined, thanks! I was never a big fan of kickboard kicking, mostly because I have a poor kick with not a lot of propulsion (likely due to stiff ankles).
@ Michael: Swimsmooth is great! I watched a few videos a while back, and that's a resource I'll have to revisit.
@ Greg: I used the Swim Clinic ebook when I started, and it's been a while since I've looked at it. Interesting point on the Xanax. I'll have to find a way to calm myself down before races.
@ Steve: Yup, planning on dropping the buoy from now and really focusing on my body positioning and kick.
@ Ryan: Great points, thanks! I think my shoulder rotation is good, but the rest of my body probably isn't following through since my buoy is a crutch. I've also heard good things about band swimming, and I've always been curious to try. I'm pretty close to my A race though, so I'm not sure if that's something I want to try now, but I'll definitely consider in the future.
Anson,
Beyond all the suggestions. Do you get out for many open water swims? I just did my first this past weekend and it felt very different than my pool swims which are decent just not fast. As other have said swimming more and for me getting out in open water a few more times helps as well. My sighting is decent but it's just a different rythym especially in a race especially if you are getting hit, bumped and punched (hopefully not).
Perhaps the race had you going out too hard especially to keep the draft at the start. I know that I had one 1/2 several years ago that I wanted to quit part way through the HR was through the roof and I was dizzy when I got out after the swim. These were signs that I went to hard plus I was very pumped for the start and probalby was not breathing right for the first 500-750M.
Gordon
I seem to remember you are from SoCal. Do you attend Gerry Rodrigues's Tower 26 workouts or one of the Zuma/Manhattan Beach swims? If you want to get better at open water swimming, you have to practice open water swimming, especially if you don't have years of experience.
You say that your HR is skyrocketing in T1. Are you sprinting from the edge of the water to your bike to try to make up time? I would guess you are better served just jogging/lightly running in transition -- I find that if I lose control of my HR, it's gone and I don't recover.
Despite your suggestion that you are pacing evenly, I suspect that you are going out too fast. Like on the bike and run, 90% of racers bugger the swim by going out way, way too hard. Do you keep track of your pace at each 100 wall for longer swims?
Lastly, opinions vary on kicking. I think that so long as your kick isn't (a) actually increasing drag (like scissor kicking); or (b) causing a loss of balance in the water, then it's not all that important.
@ Gordon: I don't really have much of a chance of practice OWS around here, but perhaps I might try to replicate the effect of swimming continously without a wall by tethering myself in a pool or something like that. I seem to be pretty good at keeping my cool about getting bumped around and sighting, so I think this is more of a swim fitness and form issue.
@ Michael: I don't get much of an opportunity to swim at the beach because I live in Pasadena, but I'm moving to Westwood this fall and I'll definitely be taking advantage of being closer to the water! I actually jog my way to T1 because I feel totally shelled as soon as I step out of the water. I've had similar experiences in letting my HR get out of control after T1, and not letting it come back down. Not fun!
@ Pete: Yes, that's *exactly* how I feel with/without a pull buoy. More confirmation that I'm kind of limiting my swim fitness by relying on a buoy so much.
So this led me to believe in races something else is going on and that is Clearly anxiety !
As I swim, I'm in my box and others bump into me I get nerved up ( anxiety ) I push a tad harder this changes my breathing just a little tiny bit. What is happening at that point, even though the accidental bump is over, I have an O2 deficient. Mind you I'm still breathing but the C02 is building up in my blood stream after repeated nerved up situations/ anxiety. The thing I learned about this is that it can occur in cold water, fight or flight situations or expectations of racing. It doesn't matter. The build up of C02 will wear you/me out , end of story.
So as I suggested for you and myself was keep entering races for the practice of it all. The far better approach is,
1. Recognize it for what it is Anxiety
2. Since we know what it is , it's identified so we fix it by breathing. That is exhale as a conscious effort, the body will inhale without thinking about it.
3. Knowing what it is , is half the battle the other half is fixing ourselves.
In the military I recall anxious situations and the leadership around me , they having been there so to speak, said recognize it ( the effect ) embrace it cause you own it, move on cause you got a job to do. That being broken down for me was key to handling all kinds of situations. But sometimes I just forget or let the situation get to me. It just didn't make sense because I've already competed a few IM with no issues.... go figure.
Hope this helps, it did for me...
In my case I always underclubbed the swim and it was annoying me because I had such crap swim split relative to the guys finishing around me in my AG. I was kicking ass on the bike and run but MOP in the swim (about top third in an HIM swim, but finishing top 5-10% in AG for the whole race). This year I was excited because I took a few lessons and my swim workouts have been really much better. In 70.3 Kansas I came out of the water with a swim PB AND a nice low HR that set me up for a great bike and run. HOWEVER that led me to believe I underclubbed it AGAIN. So in the forums I got some advice as to what % of my t-pace I should be achieving on a race swim. And in an olympic-distance a few weeks later I targeted a much harder swim. The result was a marginally better split but getting out of the water with such a jacked HR that I could barely walk straight. I was unable to output even close to my targeted watts. By the run I had "recovered" from the swim and managed to salvage a halfway decent race, but it was a disappointing experience overall.
Lesson learned for me. To swim faster, I need to get lessons and improve my form. Overdoing it on the effort will kill you on the bike and run. And in a sprint you have no time to recover.
@ David: Yeah, I do agree that anxiety plays a big role here. I find that I'm not terribly nervous at the swim start, but perhaps some of my excitement shows itself through messy, uncontrolled kicking when I'm in the water. Now that I think of it, that will definitely burn a few matches. I think it would help me tremendously if I can get to a level of swim competency where I know I can have a strong swim (not necessarily fast, but well-paced and efficient) and be confident in myself.
@ Matt: Interesting point! Never really considered that a sprint/oly is too short for any substantial HR recovery, since you're basically pushing hard the entire time. Knowing that gives me a little more hope for long course races. I'll likely be using the first hour on the IM bike to recover as necessary and get my HR back down.
Everyone, thank you so much for your input. I was seriously feeling discouraged and bummed out by this whole matter, and I have a lot more hope now that you've helped me pinpoint the issues and given me tips to follow. I'll certainly have to place more emphasis on my swim in the near future, and even if that comes at the expense of biking and running, I think it'll make me a much better triathlete overall. It really really sucks not biking or running up to my potential, and I think my solution in the past was to spend more time biking and running and not so much on my swim - the exact opposite of what I should have been doing!
If I'm training for a wetsuit swim - mostly pull buoy. I find it mimics the wetsuit swim very well.
I'm about to start a Get Faster plan for a few weeks and then transition into IMAZ training. I will be doing the Houston Triathlon on Sept 30th which will obviously be a non-wetsuit 1500m swim. I won't do any pull buoy workouts until October 1.
Here's where your report struck a cord with me. In the last 3 weeks I did a couple of Oly races (IM Muncie was supposed to be HIM but shortened to near an Oly). In the first race (not Muncie), I was rested from a couple of days off work, swam in a wet suit, could see the bottom the whole course, and had few incursions with other swimmers. In Muncie, needles to say, there were more swimmers in the water, more contact, cloudy water, water temp about 88 degrees, and I was fatigued from spending the previous week camping with the boy scouts. I added 20 seconds to my 100m pace. I got out of the water and started to ride and could only maintain my watts at about 90% of my ride in the previous race. Every time I tried to get my watts up my body would respond poorly, and I felt like I couldn't sustain the pace. I suspect that I was suffering from fatigue (-), anxiety (-) and heat (-). Having said that, I still feel, like you, that my swim is killing my performance. Like others in this forum, if I could swim at a level a little closer to my other splits, I might be smiling down from the podium instead of looking up at it. It's got to be a technique issue. When you figure it out, please let us all know.
Okay, so today was my first session in the pool since starting up this thread. Ditched the pull buoy completely, and swam about 45 min easy just to get an idea of where my technique is. My observations:
Wow, didn't realized I'd learn so much from one swim. Awareness is key here and I think I have a good start in knowing specifically what to fix, which gives me a lot of confidence. Fortunately, I only live a few minutes away from a pool, so practicing this stuff through frequency won't be much of a problem for me.
Hmm, time for an update!
In a nutshell, I think I've improved drastically since I started this topic. While I wasn't really swimming much over the OS (aside from a little technique work now and then), I've been really hitting the pool recently and I feel much more confident in the water. A few noteworthy points:
Really looking forward to seeing how this season is going to turn out! I'm certainly not a strong swimmer yet in any sense of the word, but my goal is to get out of the water around the middle of the pack (vs. the WAAAYY back), and be fresh enough to have a good bike split (which as I mentioned, has never really happened in a short course race!) In the meantime, I'm still going to enjoy swimming as much as I can.