big swimming problems!

[redgrifter]

hi folks,
iv recently entered my 1st triathlon in liverpool in june and run and bike trainings going ok but my swim
leaves me knackered and having to stop after 2 lenghts due to my crap technique!
Will my breathing and stroke technique improve through regular practice alone or will i need to
join a club for lessons? Iv entered the olympic distance but right now a mile swim in the albert dock
seems impossible!
any tips would be appreciated
john

[KidStardust]

get some lessons, whether this be in coached tri club session, one-on-one or masters. at the very least start doing swim drills. look at www.swimsmooth.com or total immersion for starters. ploughing up and down a pool with bad bad technique will just get you better at swimming lengths with bad technique. good luck.

[Whizzer]

Lessons would definitely help but even without you will get much better with practice. I started training for a sprint tri last feb and at first struggled to breathe at all underwater and had to do a length front crawl then a length breaststroke, and after about 30 lengths (of a 25m pool) i was exhausted and had to give up. 400m took me at least 15 mins to swim.

By the end of may I was swimming 400m in just under 8 minutes and 1500 in about 35 minutes. I didnt have any lessons but just kept at it even though at first it felt quite demoralising.
My advice would be to set yourself incremental challenging but realistic targets. Use the info in tri magazines and on the web to focus on one part of your technique at a time. Read some advice try it and work on it, a small change can make a huge difference. When you think you've prefected that bit, look up technique tips and try and work on something else.

[richstuch]

hopefully you've moved on since your initial post but in case (and for others). I had exactly the same problem. 2 lengths was my limit.
Slow the swim down as much as you can so that you can concentrate on technique (body position especially). You'll find that you will be able to go further because you're expending less energy. Speed is something you can work on later once you've found a stroke and breathing rythym that suits you

[stevster]

Check out the front crawl technique on many websites, then try concentrating on one aspect of the technique each time you go training.
You may also want to use a pull boy to help to concentrate on your arms.

Ive always been a pretty good swimmer but by finding different tips from the web, such as point of entering arm into water, making sure I follow the stroke through to the thigh I have managed to increase my 400 m from about 7 mins to 5.50.

You may also find swim programs help rather than just doing a swim as this helps to strengthen and improve stroke but not leaving you out of breath quite as much.

[triathlontrev]

Nothing is impossible I learnt to swim in 2003 from scratch and completed a sprint distance. Since then I have also completed an Ironman.

Find a dedicated swim coach, ideally a triathlon based one as swimming in a wetsuit is different to swimming in pool.

Train as much as you can in open water. One thing that will really help is the fact you are in a wetsuit as you are more buoyant and it gives you that added confidence.

There are loads of people out there just like you and they all get through there first triathlon to then get addicted and do many more.

Good Luck!

Train Hard, Race Hard
http://www.triathlon trev.com

[Burpalicious]

I'm in a similar situation as redgrifter was, only I can't even get 2 lengths. As of a couple of weeks ago I hadn't done any swimming for about 10 years and that was only breast stroke. I was getting prety demoralised in my local swimming pool so I decided to book a private lesson in a quiet private gym. After about 20 mins he had me swimming front crawl for about half a length and I thought I'd cracked it. I went back to my local public swimming pool today , full of confidence, but I could only do half a length if that before it all went to rat poo. I even swallowed a bit of water and coughed my guts up. I persisted but to be honest I felt as though I was being watched and my confidence was at rock bottom again. I've just joined a local fitness centre in the hope it will be quieter during the day as I work funny shifts and can go when it's quieter. I suppose I just want some encouragement to do this.

[dillonw]

i'm just going through the same process and the best thing i did was buy the total immersion book

the first 7 chapters drag on but make the point about the philosophy of it all

but then you get onto the drills and as previous posters have said.. it's about practising the technique rather than just hammering up and down. at least in the book the drills are small and manageable

and frankly, fcuk what anyone else in the pool thinks

[Burpalicious]

I'm actually starting to not give a shiite what people think tbh. I'm determined to do this and I won't let anything stop me. Saying that a fat lady doing a water aerobics class told me to sod off for swimming near her today, and not wanting to draw more attention to my rubbish swimming I went in the gym and waited for the class to end lol. I was thinking of getting that book but wasn't sure how easy to follow it would be, hopefully it has lots of pictures.

[wayfarer]

Was in the same situation at the beginning of the year. Went to the local pool and managed a couple of laps only.

I joined the local swim club, that has an excellent coach. The first thing he said when I rang up was that it would take 12 months before a would start to swim probably, at first I thought this was bunkum but 7 months later is was dead on. He took me right back to basics, and focussing on technique, technique, technique - skulling / body position / high elbows etc.

I've done a couple of sprints, but have never really gone "long" prefering to get the technique right first. Will be amending my training specifically for distance (Olympic plus) in the new year.

Would certainly recommend finding a local swim / tri club to help with technique, in addition though the total immersion videos on youtube are excellent. You'll get some funny looks while watching it in the office, but who cares you're a triathlete in training.