Bloody Swimming!

Swimming. The bane of my triathlon life. The thing that makes duathlon look inviting.

Some years I try very hard, some years I ignore it. It doesn’t seem to make much difference, I’m still crap at it. When I was training for the Double Ironman I was swimming 3-4 times a week with a very long swim on Saturday morning. That was when my swimming was at its most comfortable and quickest. I had my 500m down to about 8:50, so nothing really to scare the real swimmers out there. These days my 500m times around up around 9:30. In a word, shit.

I know what the problem is though, which I suppose is the first step to improvement. It’s my legs. Not only do they not propel me, they slow me down.

Yesterday morning I did a little experiment to prove this. I did 5 x 500m timed sets at around 85% effort:

Set 1: Pull Buoy :  9:38

Set 2: Fins : 9:45

Set 3: Pull Buoy and hand paddles: 9:30

Sets 4&5: Free swim 9:50, 9:55

My fastest sets were ones where my legs were raised using a pull buoy. Most swimmers’ fastest set by far would have been the one using the fins. At least I know the problem but fixing it is another matter.

When I use a kickboard, I don’t go anywhere. It’s like running on a treadmill, I can kick like hell and stay still. Mind you, this is progress ... I used to go backwards!

“Get a coach! “ I hear you cry. I’ve had Total Immersion coaching, triathlon club coaching, tips from mates, a coaching course from a member of the GB Olympic Swim team, coached sessions at the local pool most Wednesday mornings. I’m just not getting it and it’s really starting to vex me!

I still remember broaching the subject with the Olympian. He didn’t believe it was possible to go backwards when kicking with a kickboard. The look on his face was priceless when I showed him how annoyingly possible it was. So I had someone who has spent a very large proportion of his life in and around swimming pools telling me I was doing something he’d never seen done in a pool before ... niiiice!

Back to the drawing board then! I’m going to allocate a session per week to working on my kick as until I do this then it’s obvious I’ll be limited in my improvement and I need a LOT of improvement! My last IM swim split was 79 minutes, I need to get that down to 65 minute. So, all kick drill tips gratefully received!!

On a positive note, enthusiasm for training is very high considering the Tri season finished on Sunday. I re-introduced leg weights at the gym on Monday and still have the DOMS to prove it today! I also picked up the core work again, something I was religious about during pre-season but let slip a bit during the season. I still managed to plank for 5:16, so the slippage wasn’t disastrous. Add in a couple of 2.5k swims and a steady turbo trainer session and all is good. Planning on an easy run tonight to sort these DOMS out.

TTFN!

*      Thanks again to Sue Jarman for the photo!