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!
