Triathlon Swim Testing
I finally made some purchases towards my triathlon goal. I purchased goggles and a swimming cap to use on my vacation. When I was in the store and looking at all of the selections to choose from, I messaged a few of my friends to find out what to select from. The advice I got was to try them on before you buy to see what fits comfortably. I had a limited time to shop for these items, so I didn’t try anything on. I selected Speedo because I was familiar with that brand.
My intention was to hopefully get in a few laps at the quiet pool in the mornings before everyone gets up. That didn’t happen, but I did get a chance to try out my new gear at one of the pools at night while it wasn’t crowded.
To be honest, I didn’t feel stupid when I put them on and got into the pool. The goggles fit very comfortably. The cap was ok as well. Maybe I will get a black one for when I swim in public so I don’t look as dorky! I did a few practice swims across the pool and back and felt good. Then I kept doing a few more and realized how tiring swimming is! I felt a little concerned that I will need to step up my game over the summer to figure out this whole swimming thing. I had no idea how far we had to swim for the Sprint Tri in September and in my mind I was wondering how long it took the longest swimmer to finish the swim portion of the race. That is the time I am going to have to beat at least so I won’t be the last one out of the water.
I like swimming with my face under water most of the time, but I am going to have to learn to take breaths at every other stroke or else I will get behind in my breathing and will be more tired.
I also have to figure out the kicking. Do you kick a little or a lot? How far is a lap? How far do we have to swim for the race? We have a circular 24 foot pool in our yard, I will spend as much time in it as I can this summer going back and forth, but I think I’ll need to research into the YMCA or the North Haven Rec Center to learn about their lap pool and to invest in a cheap Timex watch to help keep track of my laps.
I had my husband video me while I did a lap so I could review it and see how bad I looked and so I could put it out there for critiquing. So please any feedback would be great!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANchiMys2Kw&w=560&h=315]
Let me preface this by saying I am a terrible swimmer! That being said my 8 year old has been swimming since 2 1/2 & board diving since 5 with a nationally ranked former Olympian coach. I have sat poolside quite a bit.
And this is just IMO but 1st looks like your head is pulling up out of the water too much. It looks like instead of your a and head being linear that you are actually lifting your head up to breath causing your L shoulder to come out of the water 0:04 secs. Can you see? Are you using the breath for a full breath? Are you expelling under the water and then just inhaling when out? Don’t lift your shoulder, just turn your head.
I can’t really tell about your arms from the video if you are pushing with your elbow or staying flexed and pulling through with your hand? The latter is preferred. Now the other thing might not make sense but it looks like you have too much lower body drag in the water. I think that during swim she is supposed to maintain a line at the water and as her R arm extends her L hip should be turning up. It doesn’t make alot of sense to me because I don’t swim but the pivot or rotation motion in the water of the hips has alot to do with your line and how you move through the water with less drag and kick?
Again I am a bystander but I really think you can get a swim coach or even a local group that might train together to help you tighten your pose? Ugh sorry. I would be happy to swim half as elegantly as you but I swim like a cow that fell off a ferry in an icy river:). Good luck!!!
I’m glad the goggles and swim cap worked out for you!
This site has some good info as far as converting laps/lengths to distances, etc. – http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_swim/tno_swimdistance_chart.asp
I think looking into a short term membership at a Y would be a good idea, swimming back and forth in a 24 foot pool may get tedious! From looking at your stroke I’d say your body needs to “roll” more, you look like you’re swimming pretty flat and as far as kicking you only want a small flutter kick, you don’t want to waste a lot of energy or tire out your legs kicking, swimming is mostly arms.
You’re doing awesome! I did swim team for 2 years in high school and I loved it. The worst was always coming back from summer and finding your groove again, with kicking and breathing. The best advice I was ever given was to keep my head down. Your head weighs like 10lbs! Let your chin fall towards your chest as you stroke. It’s awkward at first but I swear it helps. From there, you can more easily tilt your com to the side for air. You will notice professional swimmers almost smirk when they take a breath 😉 and one last thing, practice all 4 strokes! Freestyle, back, breast and fly. It’s like cross training for runners- you’ll get nice strong shoulder muscles! You rock!!