Top 7 Swimming Tips For Triathletes
Achieving success when swimming in open water largely relies on being comfortable in an unsettling atmosphere. Surrounded by hundreds of waving arms and water that is ever-changing, you likely won’t have a sense of com
There’s a lot of fear and apprehension associated with entering open water, the unknown, combating fear by learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Besides instructing pools, Rodrigues leads a very popular open water class each week near Santa Monica, California. This session has a huge number of swimmers, including members of the pro triathlete team that rotates regularly, helping them to perfect their skills in the sea.
It is important to possess knowledge of how to perform certain tasks in the pool and then to have the specific skills to execute them in open water. Once you have committed to being a triathlete, you are not a Master swimmer anymore; you are a swimmer in open water.
Swimming Tips for Triathletes
1. Swim Course
You must be aware of not just the design of the swim course, but also its layout of it. Taking a look at the race course map, either by viewing it from a dock or the day before the race, can give you a rough sense of what to expect. However, take the time to study it thoroughly to detect the more nuanced aspects.
For instance, what wind velocity is forecasted or is currently blowing, where generally does the sun appear in the east, and is it usual to have fog in the mornings when the race is going on? These factors could influence your choice of goggles.
You will certainly want to determine the course you will be swimming, the arrangement of buoys, and the middle point that you want to reach.
It is beneficial to check out the swimming course beforehand because it doesn’t take much of a swell for it to interfere with your sight during the open water race.
2. Lining Up for the Swim
Consider all the important factors before you take your place in the starting line of the race, such as whether it is a mass start or wave start, how well you swim compared to the others, how confident you feel, and what the weather conditions are like.
More and more races are using rolling swim begins, which help control the disorder of a normal mass swim start and let you place yourself with competitors running at a comparable pace. This will reduce the number of swimmers in the water, which means you don’t have to go around as many people while you are swimming.
Beginning the swim with a rolling start can help eliminate the typical error of triathletes of pushing themselves too hard out of the gate when the starting gun goes off, as having a rolling start takes away the initial pressure. You want to be in a position of dominance and management so you can become accustomed to your swimming without delay.
Unless you are a top-notch swimmer, do not position yourself in the centre. Line up to the outside. Don’t feel pushed to start swimming if you’re anxious or your skills are not as developed.
Stand at the end of the starting line, and when you hear the gun, stay there for a few seconds before you pick up speed so that you don’t become excessively exhausted.
If you can swim for 45 minutes for 70.3 or an hour and a half for an Ironman, you’ll be excited to start the race, so head out to the edge.
3. Executing the Swim
A key determinant of how successfully you will swim as expected is your capacity to keep on a direct path. Much has been said regarding taking a drafting approach during swims, but more regularly going from one buoy to the next is often a more favourable option for amateur triathletes.
If you try this and discover that you can swim in the same area of water as other people, the additional benefit of drafting is something you can take advantage of. Nevertheless, be aware that entrusting your racing to somebody else or tailing someone who overtakes you could leave you in the path of a misguided navigator meandering through the sea.
Athletes must plan their route through the swim course in an efficient manner. They should plan to sight after every sixth stroke, which can be adapted based on the environment and their pace. This is only a beginning point, but it’s possible to let your concentration wander off during an open-water swim, making it simple to neglect it.
When you begin, you might have to look up frequently, maybe every fourth time you swim, to get through the chaos and confusion caused by the many swimmers around you moving their arms around.
If the weather is tranquil and you are properly synchronised while swimming, you could potentially keep on going for up to 10 to 16 strokes. Be cognizant that enlarging it can be damaging to performance.
To steer a path correctly, it is essential to comprehend the basics of observing landmarks and directions. Try to refrain from staring at the sun whenever you can, either by changing the way you are viewing something or by incorporating a bit of bilateral breathing.
If the sun is in direct alignment with a buoys line, you might need to take a look further than what the buoys line is indicating. Examine the outside of the swimming route to detect land features, structures, telephone posts, or aerials that match up with the buoys.
Are you swimming towards a geographic feature like a peninsula, or are there any trees you can use as a reference point? You may examine the coastline or shoreline to estimate your progress in a direct line.
When it’s foggy or dark outside, you should occasionally turn around and check the line of buoys you went by to make sure you haven’t missed any. Do as much training as you can while swimming in natural water. Examine your surroundings and make adjustments to your plan before the start of your competition.
4. Takeout Effort
No matter how adept a swimmer you are, make sure to begin swimming with caution. With the 1.2-mile swim of a 70.3 or the much longer 2.4-mile swim of an Ironman, be wary of how hard you are pushing it on exiting the water since you will be in the water for a considerable amount of time.
You want to end your journey satisfactorily, but you shouldn’t overdo it and exhaust yourself right away. You won’t be going terribly quickly, and you may be able to stay pace with the frantic swimmers but don’t push yourself to the limit.
Many individuals err when they attempt to swim too hard at the beginning of the race due to either their eagerness to start or their ambition of achieving a favourable swim score.
Unless they are advanced swimmers, working hard usually does not result in them swimming faster than if they kept their cool.
Consider having good body form with extended, firm strokes; in other words, swim with proper technique. If you take your time and stay relaxed, you’ll be able to move through the water more quickly than if you tried to sprint and push yourself versus the other competitors.
If you exert yourself to the extent of 80%, it should help to maintain composure and steadiness. After swimming at a steady pace for a few minutes (around 100 strokes), you can relax and clear your mind once the strain of the race beginning is finished. You can prevent yourself from completely erupting and having to start all over again by doing it this way.
Begin your swim with a steady, smooth motion, eventually building up your effort to a steady and strong level. This is called metronome swimming – a rhythm based on your personal swimming capability and strength. Pay attention to swimming efficiently and staying on course in a direct path.
5. Train the Way you Race
Making sure you are capable of covering the race distance in training is the initial action in gaining self-assurance. Nevertheless, you don’t have to do the whole course in one go; just ensure that you can support the overall length of time it will take you to finish the swim.
If you anticipate taking around 25 minutes to swim 1,500 meters (1,640 yards) in an Olympic-distance race, you should practice doing three 400s with intervals of 10 to 30 seconds in between, each of which should take you about eight minutes to complete.
Ensure that you incorporate programs tailored to particular racial groups into your group sequences. Rodrigues states that the biggest misstep triathletes take is dedicating a full 30 minutes to swimming rather than incorporating variety in their exercise. “That’s the worst thing you can do.
Once you have completed the task five or six times, there is no point in doing it anymore since you have already gained the maximum training benefit. It is important to add breaks in between and to employ distinct approaches.
The same is true for Masters swimming where you keep the same speed throughout. It’s worth emphasising that recreational swimming will not efficiently enhance a swimmer’s performance during a competition. “Race efforts, practised regularly, will help you with that.”
Put in the effort necessary to do well in a race, since you won’t get anywhere if you haven’t practised beforehand. If your plan includes exerting maximum effort at the start, work on it in preparation.
Instead of swimming 10 repetitions of 200 meters at 80 per cent intensity, give it you’re all for the first 50 meters to 75 meters of each 200 meters, then ease into a comfortable pace. If you prefer a gradual approach, try doing 4x400s with each one getting progressively faster, so that your last interval is the quickest.
Ideally, you should be training in open water once a week for several months during the time that you are competing. Even if you are not able to access open water, you can still imitate it in the swimming pool by performing exercises like the Tarzan Drill (keeping your head above the surface of the water), swimming continuously with no lane dividers, or swimming towards a fixed point on land.
Vance proposes putting on your wetsuit while doing a swimming session and doing quick beginnings with other swimmers to imitate race-day efforts. Vance recommends that if you are investing in a swim program, make sure to communicate your needs and desires to the instructors so they can adjust accordingly. I am hoping that you will find a team who will do a few practice exercises in the swimming pool, removing the lines separating the lanes and placing buoys in the water. But there are also programs to take care of this necessity in terms of instruction, such as a cycling or foundation instruction camp.
6. Plot your Course
Again its worth highlighting navigation as the most critical expertise in open-water racing, more so than drafting, which tends to be highly esteemed.
If you swim at a rate of 1 minute and 40 seconds per 100 yards, or take more than 36 minutes to complete a half-Ironman, drafting will not be of much help. He states that the person in front of them is not very proficient if they keep going at that rate. Rather than relying on someone else to lead the way, take control of your own journey.
Integrate sighting into your stroke. Most athletes don’t tend to perform frequent sightings because it is awkward and interrupts their swimming technique too much. If you can incorporate it into your technique, you can do it more frequently and therefore save both energy and time.
It was observed that Jonathan Brownlee never misses a sighting opportunity, looking up every two strokes as he neared the finish line and every six strokes during regular swimming.
In the majority of cases, swimmers see six as the ideal number, apart from when the water is turbulent. Rodrigues advises to never go more than 10 strokes. He expressed that it makes no difference to him how right he believes he is behaving. If your swim times per 100 meters are not 1 minute and 10 seconds, you are not swimming in a direct line.
Recon the course. Sara McLarty does not typically follow others in the pool, as she is usually the one in the front directing the route. She states that she must be aware of the route due to her first swimmer status. The key to successful navigation lies in her ability to anticipate beforehand the exact number of buoys and their locations, along with the necessary turns. Preparing for the race before setting off is absolutely essential.
Pick out your sighting points. If you aim for the end of the swim, you should reach the end of the swim. If there are current and visibility issues to take into account, it is important to have more than one view position.
It’s worth recommending constructing a triangle when considering the sighting strategy, with three points in focus: the end destination, the starting point, and the side distance from the shore. Instead of relying on small buoys, opt for choosing recognizable and taller items on land, since they won’t disappear in rough waters.
7. Focus on the Warm-Up
When you come on the morning of the race, don’t let sorting out your racing gear and talking to your teammates take precedence over preparing for the swim properly. Be careful not to confuse the anxiousness of pre-race jitters with a sense of being prepared.
Stick to your pre-workout routine. If you arrive at the starting point of 10K five minutes before the event begins. “Hopefully not. If you don’t take the time to warm up, your body will not be able to make use of all the work you have put into training.
Its worth emphasizing that running as a warm-up will not produce any advantages for a swimmer, as it only makes the upper body inflexible. It is beneficial to warm up your core before your swim, however, it would be a mistake to only focus on your legs during the warm-up and neglect the rest of your body.
McLarty remarks that athletes are always certain to be warmed up before the competition begins, by cycling and running, and they pull on their wetsuits right before the start signal. I feel that swimming should be used as a means of warming up. Swimming at the start of a race serves as preparation for the rest of the competition.
It cannot be determined if the correct warm-up could have prevented any triathlon swim fatalities that have recently occurred, but it is thought that it could reduce the chance. The cold temperature of the water makes it hard to breathe, your chest is tense as you race alongside other swimmers, and the pressure is causing you to be highly anxious. Rodrigues states that if someone with a predisposition does not warm up or become acquainted with a situation, that could raise a flag for them. Make sure the chances are in your favour and remove as many provoking elements as possible.
