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Triathlon Swimming

Triathlon Swimming

I hope you all enjoyed the first of the Mudman series; it looked like great fun out there.

As this is the first article and swimming the first discipline in triathlon I thought it a good place to start.

The swim is usually the biggest barrier to entry and open water something a bit scary for some, but this need not be the case. In this article I will try give tips on training and how to manage that 750m Mudman swim, I have asked Ryan Redman (www.redmanracing.com/ryan ) 3 times series winner and usually first out the water for some tips too along the way.

Firstly swimming is not like running or riding, where the hours in training usually turn into improved performance, with swimming a massive amount of performance comes from mastering the correct swim technique. Here is what Ryan concentrates on during his swim sets:

 "There are a number of small adjustments that you can make immediately to improve your swimming. Firstly, if you have both shoulders in the water, you're subjecting both shoulders to water resistance. Make an effort to 'rock' your shoulders out of the water whilst you bring your arm back in front of you. This motion effectively allows you to cut through the water. Another simple adjustment is to keep your head down while you swim. When swimming with your head in a more upright position you take up a speedboat like position which increases your resistance. By keeping your head down, automatically your hips lift up closer to the surface of the water, allowing you to slip through the water with less effort. When you breathe, keep your cheek on the water and just turn to the side and breathe. Next, when pulling, keep your elbows up. This helps you use not only yours hands to propel you forward but also your forearms."

Once you are confident in your technique, time to up the training and increase sessions so that you're confident in being able to complete the 750m swim...and still have the energy to bike and run!

The next step is to remember triathlon swims are usually open water swims and The Mudman Series is no different as the swims are in dams. This leads to mass starts and what some people call the "washing machine effect" just stay calm and don't waste energy on worrying about other people, find some open water and get into your own rhythm.

The other difference with open water swimming is there are no lane ropes or black lines to make sure your swimming straight, that's your job! So a skill to learn is spotting, its lifting ones head during the stroke to either spot a buoy you swimming to or a predetermined landmark that your aiming at in line with a buoy. It's a good idea to practice both of these in training, get a couple of training partners in the same lane and swim together so get used to mass starts, and also include a couple laps of practising lifting your head so you can see where your heading.

Once you have mastered all of these it's a case of keep refining your technique and upping the distance and intensity in training.

Good luck and get the goggles on.

www.centreforsportsmedicine.co.za

Gareth Harrington
Physiotherapist
Holroyd & Goodenough Physio- Hillcrest
Tel: 031 7642918
Email: hillcrest@thephysio.co.za
          www.physiolink.co.za