A few thoughts on swimming...

I am a swimmer. Anyone that knows me knows that well before I ever rode a road bike I was chasing the black line everyday. It is probably that background that provides me with what I think is a solid knowledge of swimming, training for swimming, as well as swim training for triathlon. After a set this morning at the pool it got me thinking about some of the common problems I see with triathletes of all levels in the water, and what causes them.

The biggest misconception among triathletes about swimming is that you have to go farther to go faster. Wrong, not even close. I train an average of 20-25K a week in 6 sessions, 2 of which are less than 3k and one just over which is our Wednesday morning sprint work. Swimming is a technique driven activity and the better your technique the more efficient, and faster you are.

This morning we swam 3500 yds in 90 mins. There was a warm up that was nice and slow with a lot of drill work to get the strokes going correctly and some build stuff to get the hr up. After that we did 2 short sprint sets, the second of which is what got me thinking.

The set was 1x100, 75 all out/25 ez. Followed by 8x25 and then a 50 all out. We did it twice, the first time through the fast stuff was swim and the 25's were pulling your partner behind you working strictly on efficiency and power. The second round the fast stuff was with fins and the 25's were with fins and paddles, 90% effort working on power.

Not a long set right. But if you did it correctly it was tough. We didn't go far, and I am pretty sure that no triathlete in the world right now is doing body pulls to work on power and speed.

I guess what I am trying to say is think outside the box. One of the most important things for triathletes in the water is to be able to change speeds. Be able to get out fast, finish hard, and make a break or catch a break. If you only go back and forth the same speed all the time, you don't know how to do that, and no matter how many yds you do it won't matter if you get dropped in the first 200 of the swim.

My two cents, just some thoughts, might start making some observations from time to time. Nuggets looked good last night even in the loss, and Daiskuke is back this week so the Sox will keep rolling.

Too long, my bad, Peace.