SWIMMING – STARTING OUT & STROKE TECHNIQUE

Swam as a child and took a decade or two off? Or perhaps you’ve done a little swimming in the past and now want to take it a little more seriously…

If you’ve decided to start taking swimming seriously here are our tips to getting your stroke on track.

1.        Consult the professionals. Get a coach to check you out. If this is a little pricey for you don’t despair! Get hold of an underwater camera (beg, borrow, steal…don’t steal though!). Get lots of footage from different angles of your stroke including leg kick, arms (above and below the water), breathing/head position, body roll and your catch. Then go and find a slow-mo video (Youtube perhaps) and compare. Online videos are a great resource.

2.        Once you know what needs improving look up relevant videos of drills that you can then go out and practise. Even if you were top have the World’s best stroke you should still incorporate stroke technique drills into your swim session.

3.        Simplify your drills/practise. I read somewhere recently that it’s impossible to multi-task. The brain can switch froim one task to another very quickly but can’t process the two at the same time. With this in mind break up your drills into just kick (with or without kick float), rotation and breathing drills, arm and catch drills (using pull buoy) etc. Trying to swim drills focusing on your legs and arms at the same time is a waste of time.

4.        Use training aids. Pull buoys, kick boards, hand paddles are all good, during parts of the session. Don’t get carries away and constantly use them. If you’re a novice and struggle with keeping your legs nice nd high in the water, get more buoyancy for drills. Get yourself a buoyance belt. * We particularly like Finis products.

5.        Don’t underestimate core strength. If you drag your feet a little it could be because of a high head position but it can also be down to poor core stability or your inability to engage with your core whilst swimming. It’s incredibly difficult to coach a swimmer to use their core. Look up some good core stability exercises, both in the pool and on dry land.

6.        Attend a squad. You don’t necessarily have to join a big swimming club. If you have a look around you may find a swim fit group or social swimming squad or just regularly that swim at the same time each week. Swimming with friends is a lot more fun and challenging.

7.        Structure your session. Swimming 80 lengths in an hour once or twice  week gets really boring. Start : with a warm up. Put in stroke technique drills early and finish the warm up with some pace. Main Set : your main effort and should contain most the your distance. Legs/Stroke Tech : if you’re bad at legs don’t just ignore the problem…it won’t go away! Leg sessions or stroke tech also allows the body some recovery after the main set. Sprints : stick in some 25/50m sprints. Swim Down : easy couple of hundred to loosen up.

8.        Use the clock. It makes the swim more interesting, gives you instant feedback on your progress, makes you train harder… Get used to what times you should be swimming sets of 100, 200 etc in.

If you really want to see improvements in your swimming – Swim! At least 2 sessions per week, every week. Don’t get disheartened if you don’t instantly improve. Quite often you will hit plateaus and feel like you’re getting nowhere…just keep going and you will see improvements. Remember to use the clock. It’s the easiest way of tracking your progress.

Sea Swim Cornwall on goggles

As a competitive swimmer in my youth myself and one of my best mates used to swear by (until they discontinued the model) the Swedish Master style goggles Speedo used to make for £2.50 a go. You’d have to assemble them yourself, threading the elastic through a small eye on the outside of the goggles, pushing a piece of string and nose protector through a second eye on the inside and carefully tying the string, you’d also have to stick the foam on yourself…. Brings back great memories.

Personally I believe goggles have got worse over the last decade. The elastic that comes with modern day goggles has definitely deteriorated! Whether this is down to the manufacturers cutting costs and buying low grade elastic…I don’t know. It seems to be a similar story with the eye moulds and seal. How hard is it to produce a goggle that doesn’t fog? Goggles have been around for decades and it still seems near impossible to get hold of a pair that don’t fog after a few weeks!  In today’s market you can find goggles priced at £60+. Now personally I think you have more money than sense paying this kind of cash for goggles. So we’ve decided to put together a little article so that you can avoid some common pit falls.

Elastic : always seems to be the first casualty. I invest in goggle bungees. They last for years, are easy to adjust, cheap and never let you down. They do create a touch more drag than your usual elastic but are perfect for training and open water swimming.

Goggle Fit : this is a biggy. You don’t want to shell out loads of money on goggles to find that they don’t suit the shape of your face and leak. Here’s the trick – don’t put the elastic on and press the goggles onto your eye sockets (thumbs pushing on the underside, index finger on the top of the goggle), slowly tilt the bottom of the goggle up and forward. If they’re a good fit you’ll feel the suction and they’ll suck your eye balls slightly forward, if a bad fit they’ll come forward without any resistance. You obviously have to find a shop that don’t mind you taking the goggles out of the packet. Alternatively, carefully remove the stickers on the inside of the goggles, try them for a few lengths, dry them off, put the stickers back and take them back and exchange…if they don’t suit obviously.

Recommendations : everyone has a different shape to their face so listening to recommendations from friends doesn’t always work.

Anti-fog : rarely works for long. Washing your goggles with soapy water, various sprays etc can stop your goggles from fogging (once the anti-fog coating stops working). Just be sure to give them a good rinse after using spray.

Openwater Events : if you have a big event coming up and you’re worried about fogging simply buy a new pair of goggles. Try them out for a few lengths prior to your event (make sure they work) and then let them dry naturally. I recently completed an Otillo that involved 10km of swimming and my new goggles were perfect the whole way round. Don’t leave it to chance.

Old faithful : if you find a pair of goggles that you get on with stick with them.

Photochromatic goggles : react to light and cost the Earth. Personally I’d just get a pair of goggles for indoor and outdoor use. They’ll last you twice as long too.

Value for money : chlorine breaks down the material on most goggles and some may only last 4-6 months. Personally I’m a massive fan of the Swedish Master goggles. If you combine these with bungee elastic they’ll last years and cost you under £15 (ignoring my previous point about avoiding personal recommendations!). They have no foam or rubber on the frame…don’t let that fall you. They’re much more comfortable than they look.

Common Sense : think about what you need. If you’re open water swimming get a tint to your lens…you don’t want to be blinded on sunny days. A blue tint works well in the pool and outdoors. If you buy a fancy pair of goggles with built in elastic, be aware that once the elastic brakes they’re useless to you. Don’t be swayed by terms like ‘panoramic lens design’ or ‘peripheral vision’ – you’re buying goggles, not a new car! Streamlining isn’t really a priority in open water… 

Although goggles may only cost a few quid and be a fairly cheap expense do your research. Goggles can be the difference between a stunning swim or a very annoying one. Make sure you also always have a spare. Good swimming!

General Race Advice for semi-serious entrants - Aquathlon

Now obviously the start of each race varies depending on which particular race we’re talking about. So I’ll do my best. 

For swim / or short run into a swim start to the race: I’ve watched a lot of ‘short run into a swim’ style  starts to races. One thing that has always amazed me is the large number of entrants that dilly-and-dally at the start of a race. They take a gentle stroll into the water, slowly wading out, fixing their goggles for the fourth time before slowly lurching forward into the water… For me, whether you’re looking to win the race, it’s your first race, you’re trying to beat last years time…it doesn’t matter, get into the water first. Be aggressive with your start. This is why : 

* You can bust a gut to make up or put 30-40-50 seconds between you and the next swimmer. So why let that swimmer get a 10-15 second head start on you into the water? 

* If you lead out you can avoid the carnage of the mid-pack start. You can then alter your swim a little later, getting into a comfortable rhythm and look to start drafting etc. Even if you’re a little slower you’ll have plenty of people passing you that you can then use to draft. 

* The earlier you leave the water the better. If you have competitors/rivals that are still swimming whilst you’re running brilliant. You can run a lot faster than you can swim and you’ll start to increase the distance between you and them. 

Starting in the water : have a ‘race-start plan’. Think about starting at the edge/side of the pack, start quickly to avoid the carnage in the middle, you may need to factor the conditions in…

Transitions : As boring as it is practising the old transitions it’s worth going over a couple of times. There’s nothing worse than putting in the swim of your life and then wasting 30 seconds in the transition area because you weren’t well rehearsed. 

The Course : make sure you know the course. If there is a bottle neck on a narrow path at the start, for example you’ll know to start out quickly and avoid getting stuck behind someone slow. How long is the race? Is it worth taking a few seconds in transition for a drink, are you going to take energy gels with you? 

Conditions : Factor in the conditions on the day. Have a think about where the wind will be blowing you during the swim, with a tail wind you may want to kick a little higher in the water and harder, if you’re swimming in the sea find out what the tide is doing, are you running off-road in muddy or wet conditions. Lots of things to consider.

Gear : fairly obvious but have tried-and -tested goggles, running shoes etc.Make sure you’ve trained using all the equipment you’ll wear during the race. It’s always worth having spare goggles on hand. Nothing worse than your goggles snapping just before the start of the race! 

Common Sense : try the race course (if this is possible) before the race. If you can’t try and get hold of someone who has or have a chat with the race organisers and get plenty of info from them. Our event (the Crantock Biathlon) for example, has soft sand at the start of the run. It’s much better to run this section bare foot and then put your trainers on. Simple little pieces of information like this can save you time. 

Best of luck with the coming season.