Triathlon training?

Question

I want to prepare for a triathlon. If you have any advice on preparing for the swimming portion would be helpful (or any of the events).Swimming is my weakest of the three events. I checked and it sounds like they usually swim anywhere between 500-1500 meters.

Answer 1

I've been a swimming instructor for a while and have worked with triathletes before. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to lengthen your stroke out. A lot of people will swim trying to pull the water from in front of them to behind them as fast as they can. When I watch swimmers, I've noticed that the untrained swimmer will take about 20 strokes with each arm to get across the pool, regardless of speed. This is bad for you for many reasons:
1) it is inefficient
2) it isn't faster
3) it burns more energy that you will want for the bicycle and running portions
I typically take 11 strokes with each arm to get across the pool and do it faster than any of those other people. I also was a competitive swimmer and my specialty was distance freestyle (200 yd and 500 yd). A long stroke will be the best skill you can learn for swimming distances like that.
A good way to practice a long stroke is to be in a pool. Push off the wall with both arms forward and clasped (streamlined). First just go as far as you can without kicking or pulling with your arms, go as far as you can without breathing. This will get your body used to slowing down in the water. After doing that about 3-5 times, change it up a bit. Try using your arms, but only one half stroke every 5 seconds (push off with arms above your head, count to five, pull one arm all the way to your thigh, count to five, pull the other to your thigh while recovering the other above the water to straight above your head again, count to five, repeat until you have to breathe). The important thing will be to have your hands go from all the way in front to your thigh, most people learning to swim have a shorter stroke that goes from the top of their head to their waist. The next progression will be breathing, so pick one side and breathe when the arm on that side is pulling through the water to your waist, remembering to breathe to the side and not the front. (In open water, you do breathe a little bit to the front because the water isn't still, but don't practice that in a pool). That's the essentials for a long stroke, so good luck.

Answer 2

Welcome to the addicting world of triathlon! Since you are a multi-sport athlete your focus is slightly different than a single-event athlete. You want ot be able to swim and still have energy left for the bike and the run. The keys to open water distance are pacing and technique.

First thing is first: choose your race so you know your distance! Sign up for it so you have a goal to shoot for. That's the biggest step in prep, making the committment.

Next, enlist a coach or trainer or fellow swimmer or lifeguard to evaluate your technique and make suggestions for improvement. They may see things you don't and be able to suggest drills and technique tweaks. Once you have the best technique possible, work on your pacing. Do intervals and distances and pay attention to your times and paces. Make sure you get into a rythm that makes you comfortable and doesn't deplete all of your energy. Technique is crucial, once you have it your pace will set itself and you'll go from there. Not everyone's strongest leg is the swim, trust me!

Another thing to think about is swimming in a group. If you get the chance, train in open water with your tri team or any group of open water swimmers. This way you can practive your sighting and experience the crowds and navigating them. you will also learn self-control as you force yourself to slwo down and not hang on the heels of the Michael Phelps in front of you, you'll watse yourself!

Train by doing bricks (mutli-sport workouts) with transitions. This will give you a feel for the swim-bike transition and your legs will get used to it and you'll be ready when you have to do it. Practice making your transitions smooth and quick and try different things in training until you find the transition that works best for you. You will also see how your body reacts to different workouts and paces on the swim and you can choose the right pace for your race. Also, bike-run bricks are a great training tool that you really can't do without!

Just relax, enjoy it and pace yourself. If you are swimming as efficiently as possible, you'll have a great race. Always think of your first race as a learning experience too. You won't know how it will feel until yu do it and trust me, it's unlike anything else you'll ever do!!!

A fantastic, amazing, useful and easy to use resource for ALL apsects of the tri is Joe Friel's "The Triathlete's Training Bible: A Complete Training Guide for the Competitive Multisport Athlete". You can get it at B&N or online at Amazon. It's the best rescoure for everything tri, no matter how depe you want to get into it, whether you're a beginner or IM World Championship multi-qualifier. Check it out, it will help with everything and it is very easy to use!

Good luck!!!