Supercharge your swimming training by putting it all together

You probably already learned in your swimming training about performing a good and effective swimming stroke. Now we get to the breathing part, your leg work (the kick) and your orientation and we'll see how it all ties together.

Swimming and Breathing

Maybe you already noticed that it is fairly easy to build up an oxygen debt when doing your swimming workouts and you either forget to breathe properly or even worse - you never learned it. It is not as when you cycle or run where you just open your mouth and that's it. There is much more to it and I'm going to explain you how to do it right in a second.

When you perform your stroke you typically accompany it with a accentuated kick. Think of a percussion which gives you the basic rhythm for your swimming song. Don't overdo it. Most triathletes I know don't make much use of their legs on longer distances. They just use them to keep the balance (remember: high position of your body in the water) and save their leg muscles for the cycling and running portion.

Now we come to an important part: As you push your hand past your thigh and roll your body to the side at the end of the push phase, take a deep breath through your mouth. The exhale is done forcefully and completely under the water as you complete your arm pull. Finally roll your body and draw in a deep breath of fresh air for the next cycle.

As I already suggested before I would strongly consider to venture into open water for your training. This is one of the most important workouts you can do to improve your open water skills and reduce potential anxieties. Personally I love it because it's a nice way to escape the chlorine and the crowds of your local pool. Make it an integral part of your swimming training.

Orientation

While it is said that the shortest distance between two points is supposed to be a straight line you might be inclined to think that triathletes have no orientation intelligence at all when it comes to swimming. I remember a speaker commenting a race of a female national league a couple of years ago (no bad jokes about female orientation at this point please - this holds absolutely true for each of us male triathletes as well) when the first swimmer was swimming in a big bow and everyone was following her in a lemming-like manner.

To shorten possible discussions: Yes! It can be difficult to find orientation in open water - even for professionals as you can see. There are no black lines that will guide you. There are no side limits. Instead there is wind. There is dark water. There is the crowd. There is the high pulse rate. There even might not be any tree around to home on. And to make it absolutely fatal there is this tiny bit of stress (or even panic?) in every competition that we triathletes actually seek for but are also a bit fearful of. Not the best circumstances to learn or practice orientation in the water while your head is two thirds of the time under the waterline, right?

Yes, there is something to it when people say that you shall practice to "navigate" in your swimming training. Instead of relying on the "black line", you will need to learn how to sight on a distant stationary object such as a building or dock, and really zero in on that object. Because doing this can place very different demands on your body, it's vital that you practice it intensely during your swimming training. Once you master that skill, you'll feel much more confident in the open water. Guaranteed.


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