Triathlon Swim Tips

Swim Tips - Pull. In freestyle, your hands should pull all the way back past your hips. The last part of the stroke before recovery (arms coming out of the water) should be an acceleration behind you, and not up out of the water.

Swim Tips - Practice alternate breathing at different speeds.

Swim Tips - Upper body strength will help your swim. As you develop your weight training program, don't forget to work on upper body and core strength. This will definitely help your swim.

Swim Tips - Use all the gear available. Wear a bright swim cap. The cap for added warmth and bright to make you more visable to boaters, other swimmers and to the lifeguard. Ear plugs help to prevent feeling dizzy once on land. If you wear ear plugs and you still feel light-headed once back on land, you might not be exhaling completely. Any cheap wax or rubber plugs work. Wear goggles and use anti-fog drops. Wear a wetsuit. With a wetsuit on you can't sink and you'll stay much warmer. If the water is really cold, wear two swim caps or one thermal cap. Apply Body Glide to your neck area to prevent chaffing from your wetsuit.

Swim Tips - Training Intensity. The best way to measure your training intensity is to count your heart rate immediately after each swim. You can estimate your heart rate by counting your pulse rate for six seconds immediately after each swim. Add a zero to this count, and you will have your approximate exercise heart rate per minute.

Swim Tips - Swim near a lifeguard. Not only should you swim near a lifeguard, but you should also ask the lifeguard for advice of where best to swim if you're new to the location. They are always full of good info about the local conditions of the body of water they guard.

Swim Tips - Habit: Keep your arm from crossing over.  One of the most common bad habits I see in swimmers is the arm crossing over to the opposite side on the pull. Breathing on your left side results in your right arm crossing over, breathing on your left side results in your right arm crossing. Often times this happens when one goes to breath, but sometimes it's caused just from over-rotating. To avoid this, make sure your head isn't moving with the rest of your body, and try to pull more in a straight line (still bending the elbow) and ending the pull on the same side you started (i.e. right hand slices into the water, pulls back and hand ends up near right hip).

Swim Tips - Include 200 to 400 yards of flutter, dolphin and back flutter every swim workout to enhance body position.

Swim Tips - Hand Entry. Slice your hand into the water right about at your goggle line, and drive it forward. Many swimmers attempt to get as much “air time” as possible by reaching the hand out before entering into the water, but it is actually more efficient to go through the water with your hand as you rotate from one side to the other.

Swim Tips - Practice sculling with hands out in front in prone position.

Swim Tips - Work Those Lungs. Mix in some hypoxic training sets into your workouts. For example, do a set of 4x100's breathing every 3-5-7-9 strokes by 25, with 15 seconds rest in between each 100. Your lungs will thank you for it towards the end of the swim part of your race!

Swim Tips - Stretch your ankles with a partner. Leg extended, partner presses down on the top of the foot (push on big toes). This will enhance flutter kick and ultimately body position.

Swim Tips - Repetition is the key to becoming a strong swimmer. The only way to improve your swim is to keep doing it. If you are doing a race with an open water swim you should definitely add some practice open water swims to your training plan - you especially need to practice "sighting" in the water (swim straight to a location). The good news is that swim is a low-impact way to build your cardiovascular system.

Swim Tips - Learn to do double arm backstroke with flutter kick to stretch shoulders. Tip your head back and push hips up.

Swim Tips - Work Your Weakness. In the sport of triathlon, most coaches agree that you should spend the most time working on your weakest of the three sports. For many of you this will be swim! Within swim, the same concept applies. Spend the most time working on the weakest part of your stroke. If balancing on your side is an issue, do some kicking drills on your side. If moving your head is a problem, focus on head position most of the time.  Whatever it is, you will gain the most by spending your pool time improving on that weakness.

Swim Tips - Include 30 percent of total workout time doing other strokes (fly, backstroke, and breast-stroke).

Swim Tips - What to wear during triathlon swim. A snug fitting swimsuit - some people wear bike shorts - is best. This makes sure it doesn't catch water during the swim. For lake swims, if the water temperature is 78 degrees or below you can wear a wetsuit. Most people will wear one if they have the option because a wetsuit helps add to your buoyancy in the water and keeps you warm. If you don't have a wetsuit you need to get used to swim in cold water.

Swim Tips - Use one paddle on one hand to correct catch and finish - for example, 3x50 with paddle on right and 3x50 with paddle on left; then 3x50 both hands.

Swim Tips - Do the right thing. Learn how to duck under the waves as you go through the surf. Duck under, take a few strokes, duck under, take a few stokes. Get those stokes in between waves so you can finally make it past the surf line. You should be able to swim twice the distance in the pool what you intend to swim in open water. Get your pool time in so you have the conditioning to handle the unexpected in open water. Remain calm at all times. Don't freak out if you run into some seaweed. It's just a plant! If you do feel a panic coming on, stop, raise your goggles, take some deep exhales and think about baseball. OK, maybe not baseball, but think about whatever you need to think about to make things better. The main thing is to stop and breath easy.

Swim Tips - Paint your fingernails a fluorescent color and get your stroke videotaped (you can see your fingers under water).

Swim Tips - Kick. Try minimizing your kick as you train for swim. Most people will kick extra hard to make up for lack of balance in the water. Minimizing your kick will allow you to improve your balance, as well as conserve energy.

Swim Tips - Keep the Feel. If swim is your toughest sport, it is important to "keep the feel" for the water, and get in the water at least every other day (no, showers and baths don't count!) This way, your body maintains its kinesthetic awareness of being balanced in water.

Swim Tips - Get a streamlined swimsuit.

Swim Tips - Practice open water swim. Please don't make your first triathlon's open water swim your first time in open water. Start small. First time out, just swim out a few yards and see how you feel. If you feel good, go out a little farther and then return to the beach. Do this a few times and build your confidence up. Its all very different than the pool; less visability, different taste than pool water, no line on the bottom to follow and you can't stand on the bottom or grab the lane line to relax. The more you practice, the more comfortable and better you'll get.

Swim Tips - Swim technique. The more time you work on your technique, the more efficient your stroke and the less energy you will use during your swim. You can find 5 key techniques on the triathlon swim tips page on my site. You can also seek out help from a masters swim program. Sometimes even places that teach kids how to swim will also help adults who want to swim competitively. One of the best self-taught programs I've seen is from the "Tri Swim Coach" Kevin Koskella.

Swim Tips - How far do I have to swim to do my first triathlon? This is probably the number one question I get from beginners. It's obviously a good idea to be able to swim at least the race distance (usually 500 meters in a sprint race) before you do your first triathlon. However, if your race has a pool swim don't be worried if you're not sure you'll be able to swim without stopping - most pool swims allow you to hold onto the wall at the end of the pool to rest (just remember to keep your feet off the bottom of the pool - check with the race director before your race).

Swim Tips - Keep your mouth open under water. Start to exhale as hand finishes underwater extension.

Swim Tips - Stay safe. Stay out of the boat lanes, avoid rocky areas, don't swim in a surf zone, wear a bright colored cap, if the surf is too big don't go out, if the water is cold wear a wetsuit!

Swim Tips - Count your stroke number when you're fresh and when you're tired, try to reduce it throughout the year by lengthening your stroke.

Swim Tips - Head Position. Keep looking straight down when swim freestyle. It’s important to keep your head down with only a small part of the back of your head out of the water. Also, as you rotate through the water, try not to move your head with the rest of your body rotation.

Swim Tips - Master’s swim. Move to a slower lane to work on stroke improvement. If you belong to a masters team, don’t feel that you always need to keep up with your lane-mates at every workout. Masters teams typically have many people with many different swim goals. It’s important to do your own thing! Remember that technique comes before all else and if this means swallowing a little pride to make improvements, just think of how much faster you will be for this in the long run.

Swim Tips - Swim with a buddy or group. There is safety in numbers. You just don't know what will happen when you swim in a lake or the deep blue sea. Keep an eye on your buddy and your buddy will keep an eye on you.

Swim Tips - Swim with a group can keep you motivated. A group can keep you challenged to improve. A coached group is also a good place to start. A coach can give you feedback about your form or technique.