I’ve never had any inclination to do a triathlon, but then I saw a video this weekend of some dude doing one that must be an extra “hard” one because he was running up hills and through trees and shit, and started his swimming by jumping into a lake (or whatever body of water it was).
Now I wanna do one. Not anytime soon, just got other stuff going on, but maybe in 2022 or something.
Anyway, what’s your swimming approach? I kinda know how to program running, and biking seems easy enough, but no clue how to get better at swimming. I’ve never gone further than the length of a pool before, haha.
I think the best way to increase your swimming overall - speed, breathing, muscular endurance, etc. is to hit it 3 ways - long swims, short interval swims, and technique days. So, maybe you do a slow 800-1000m after a 200m warmup on long days, maybe you do a 6-8x100-200m on interval days with a 1-2 minute rest between each sprint, and so up until that point it kind of looks like what you’d do with any other type of cardio, i.e. some anaerobic and some aerobic, but where swimming really differs is the technique is SO key, and that’s where technique days come in.
Doing 50 meters with your hands as fists forces you to really use a full stroke instead of pulling your arm out of the water, maybe you only stroke with one arm and work on really catching yourself, etc. There’s a LOT that goes into it, and every single stroke and breath is technically a repetition. When you first start swimming, you’ll be pulling your head out of the water to breathe instead of turning it so your mouth just barely comes up, your legs will be sinking every time you breathe, your body will be snaking and rotating, your hands will be splashing in the water and then pulling under you way far away from your body instead of close, etc. Let me know when you start swimming and i’ll hit you with some videos that helped my technique.
You probably want to start with 3 swims a week, hitting all those 3, and then by the end you’ll want to focus a bit more on the running and biking, ESPECIALLY the biking, because no matter what length of triathlon you do, the longest portion will be spent on the bike. Start looking for a road bike now on facebook marketplace - they get expensive but you can find a good one if you look long enough.
@jshaving there is a lot of great detail in that last post from @flappinit so it is worth reading it many times. Great reply.
Given you have said you have never gone further than the length of a pool you may want to consider a few swimming lessons early on to help you work on the technique side. I agree with Flap that working on the technique is really important. Swimming long distances most of the work is done with the arms with a flutter kick just used as a rudder, if you kick too hard you will burn yourself out in 100m, trust me I did this for a long time never understanding why I was too fried to swim more laps, a good swim coach will help you through it.
The other part that flap mentioned that will really help early on in the warm up, which for me was usually drills for 200m, 50m side kick only holding a board (float) (25m each side), 50m catch up drill (I think that’s what it was called), one hand on a board, stroke with the other hand to the bard and swap hands focused on long strokes, 100m with a pull buoy float between the thighs working on long stroke, breathing and good head position. After this I was always ready to then swim at a good pace and relaxed.
To add just a little to flap’s and simo’s advice, I would say start with single lap intervals - swim to one end of the pool, breathe for 20-30 seconds, swim back, breathe, etc. Do this for the entirety of your workout or until you’re comfortable with swimming two laps. At your next swim session, swim two laps, rest, etc. When you’re swimming four or so laps per interval, you’ll be ready to work on refining techniques. Unlike virtually every other cardio exercise, swimming restricts when breathing is possible. Building a swimming-cardio base will help you gain confidence and be able to focus on technique improvement.
Great points @TriednTrue and @simo74 - I appreciate you guys dropping in to give some extra advice. Simo’s point about it being mostly arms is super important in a triathlon, since everything after you get out of the water is pretty much 100% legs and you’d best not use up leg strength if you can help it, and tried’s point about building a swimming-cardio base before jumping into long swims is huge too, because you’ll be tempted to just jump in and see how long it takes you to swim the length of whatever race you’ve signed up for.
A lot of people show up and try to fake the swim, because they’re really strong bikers and runners - and while that can totally work, because there are pros that will come last out of the water in an ironman and win because of the 112 mile bike portion and the 26.2 marathon, it only works if you’re just an ‘okay’ swimmer. You can mash the pedals on a mediocre bike and you can keep putting one foot in front of the other for the run, but you can’t fake a lengthy swim. There’s a level of fatigue after a tough swim that I don’t think can be replicated with any other single form of cardio, probably because of TnT’s point about you only being able to breathe for a second or less at a time. @jshaving if you give yourself enough time, I’m sure the three of us, and a couple other folks on here, can help you get into decent swimming form.
Gotta love how a bunch of meat heads have so much other sport experience that can be shared. This is why I love this site and why it is worth more than a sum of its parts.
@flappinit, @simo74, @TriednTrue, thanks guys! I didn’t get the notification so I’m seeing these now. Like I said, I’m not planning on doing it anytime soon, but whenever I find something I can commit to and start training, I’ll definitely hit you all up.
Something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while is trying all the “strength sports” out at least one. Weightlifting, powerlifting, Strongman, Highland games…probably not bodybuilding, haha. I’ve also wanted to run a marathon some day (did an unofficial half marathon a while back) since high school. Now I’m adding triathlon to the list. Gonna have to get going on this all soon!
Pick one, and get started on it today! As much as I’d love to help you through a triathlon, if you truly want to compete in strongman or the highland games, you should go for that first. Getting into triathlon shape is doable at most sizes, but going from triathlon shape to strongman shape is a whole other story. However, if you’re not in a rush, let me know and I can find you a triathlon 6-9 months from now with a distance you’re comfortable with.
@flappinit
Hadn’t checked your log in a long time. Looks like you’re staying busy.
Still crushing classes? And what kind of entrance exam is that (won’t be offended if you don’t want to share).
Hope all’s well. Great to see other dads out there being an inspiration.
It’s the TEAS. Just a standardized test for nursing. Reading comprehension, vocab, math, science. The science is the only difficult one, and not because it’s particularly in depth, but just because it covers all of bio, Chem, and anatomy and physiology, so it’s just broad in scope and the last time I studied a lot of this stuff was ~14 years ago in high school. It doesn’t exactly come right back to you like something you’ve just forgotten after all that time, unfortunately.
Mile swim today. Then had to study for a test, take the test, then study for the other exam, then went to the playground and did 100 pullups there. Pretty standard. Still dying in the water, haha. Have to be more consistent - I feel super wobbly climbing out of the water and that’s not gonna do when I have to clip onto the pedals of a super skinny road bike.
Today was remote work followed by hours of studying all while dealing with a pair of children that decided to be particularly needy all day, but I got it done and made it to the gym for prowler sprints with battle ropes between every set, which might be the most miserable combination ever.
Such a disgusting amount of sweat - I don’t care when I’m doing it, but the drive home is just the worst - I have leather seats so I don’t wanna soak them, so I have to sit forward, with my seatbelt pulling my wet shirt into my chest, and it’s just overall miserable, but it’s a quick journey home to a cold shower.
Yes, bro. And it’s summer in Virginia, so it’s 97, 98 degrees nearly every day and I’ve got my kids with me so I have to blast the AC to cool down my van, haha.