bowling ball in the water

Paula Nystrom

I am a trail EN member. 

How do the swim workouts and virtual coaching help?  Do I need to also have another coaching option for someone to observe and provide feedback ? 

I know I have opportunity for improvement in all areas, but especially swimming. 

 

 

 

Brenda Ross

Hi Paula, I swim with a master club because if I did not, I would not swim at all, but I have heard from many a member that the swim workouts that are in the wiki are fabulous, especially if you start with the drills. If you are not a great swimmer, then hiring a swim coach for just a couple of sessions to give you feedback would be a good idea. I am sure others will chime in. Swimming is a hard one to virutal train. Not sure if the coaches would consider viewing a vid that you get taken by a friend that has a under water camera. They could take a vid of you above the water and under the water and maybe the coaches could give you feedback on that? Something worth asking.

John Withrow

a few people in the past have posted videos in a thread and got really good feedback. But the chances are good that if you already know you are a poor swimmer, then you will likely benefit from good 1-on-1 in person coaching. Swimming is ALL technique. Biking and running are "mostly" fitness. Once your swim technique is at least "competent" then the drills and workouts inside da Haus are really good, but you must at least have a reasonable baseline.

rmiller

3rd the idea of finding a swim coach for a few 1-on-1 sessions to focus on form. Many people think that if they are bad swimmers, they have to plow through the water for thousands of yards to improve - and while their times will get better, the energy expenditure isn't viable long term. Refine the technique, then learn how to apply more. Personally, what worked for me was the book and DVD's for Total Immersion, but there are plenty of other form teaching styles out there.

Just make sure that whoever you find for a coach understands that you goal isn't to beat Michael Phelps in a 50 yd sprint, but rather distance swimming, where energy conservation is key.

Paul Hough

Head to Islamorada on your next vacation and get some 1-1 coaching from the Race Club. If my shoulder is OK next spring I'm going to do that. Can't hurt to have an Olympic medalist comment on your swim stroke!

Paula Nystrom

ok, thanks for the feedback everyone!

jtorhan

I would agree that Total Immersion is a great resource if you need help learning how to swim efficiently. After 1 year I went from being unable to swim 100 yards to completing a Half IM swim...great stuff!

Dino Sarti

Start with the swim e-book from coach Rich to get your head right and then find a good masters program in your area. You could get lucky and find an awesome resource at your local pool....

run2far

Thanks all , I'm probably worse though. I call it my floatilla pace, back, breast or side, its 70 seconds for 25 meters, then rest and get courage. did 1200 meters on 12-12-12 in 74 minutes (lots of resting and watching high school swim team in adjacent lane). I have joined 2 Sprint tris, but clinging to boat halfway after next wave swam over me (and panic attack took the balance of my confidence) Maybe if I knew then to stay inside the box, I might have been able to continue at floatilla pace at least. I got a copy of TI, and will look for 1 on 1 lessons, because i NEVER learned freestyle (but i did 10 minute tread and 300 yards snorkel last year to qualify for my Open Water Diver PADI certification. Any suggestions to learn freestyle by Sunday, or should I just go ahead and join, confident that I will learn soon ? I quit smoking 3 years ago, after 40+ years, and have completed more than a dozen marathons or ultras since , including a 50 miler in October-so my head is hard enough, if nothing else. Thanks again to all.
Joe Newbie Trialer