Do you have any Triathlon Swimming Fetishes?

The other night, I was chatting with a good friend.  She says to me, “Secret time”, to which I of course say, “Go!”  She proceeds to tell me how she has a thing, a fetish, for sexy lingerie, so much so that she essentially owns enough to stock a Victoria’s Secret.  I laugh at her and immediately start to give her a hard time, saying that is one of the good things about me; I don’t have any sort of fetish like that.  She replies that I am a walking, talking, swimming equipment warehouse, and I probably cuddle with the stuff at night.  First of all, let me set the record straight.  I don’t cuddle with it, though I might caress some of it once in a while.  That said, she is correct that I am a fan of my “pool toys”, and it got me thinking.  A fetish for having the stuff is one thing, but if a swimmer is using them too much, developing a reliance on them, that is another issue entirely.  Frankly, that would be a real problem.

I want to state upfront that I am a big believer in using quality training devices to assist in learning proper stroke technique and building better muscular and cardiovascular conditioning.  I love my Zoomers swim fins, my centermount snorkel, and my Forearm Fulcrums, among a number of other items.  However, they must be utilized appropriately.  This means that they should be used to help the body learn the proper technique or create resistance to force the body to get stronger, but the bulk of your work in water should be done without these tools, so you learn how to be successful without these devices becoming crutches.

To provide a wonderful illustration: I am currently training a good friend, Dana, who has qualified for the 2010 Ironman World Championships in Kona.  He is a stellar cyclist and runner.  His swim is not bad, but far from on par with the other two disciplines.  When I first started to work with him, he explained to me that his kick was useless and without fins he never went anywhere.  In other words, to quote him, he was “Fin-dependant”.  While the term was cute, the situation was not.  This is a man who is going to put himself up against the very best in the world in one of the most grueling events in sport, and he felt reliant on two pieces of triangle shaped rubber being on his feet to be effective in the water.  Cut to two months later, present day, and Dana now prefers sets when I don’t put fins on his feet.  This is for two reasons.  First, and most importantly, because he now knows he can swim successfully without them (because he has, repeatedly), and secondly, because I no longer allow them to be a comfort.  When they go on, he knows I am about to give him a set that will make him hurt (I’m a bit evil that way).

By now, I’m sure you can see that ‘fetish’ is really not the right word for the topic.  I think ‘dependency’ is a much better one.  Hopefully though, the point is clear to you, and I think the title is more fun using ‘fetish’.  Regardless, when you practice your swimming for a triathlon, go ahead and use the tools available to help in your training.  Just stay aware of the difference between using them as training tools and becoming dependant on them.  Then, use them effectively and intelligently.  When race day comes, you will be faster, more efficient, and more confident because of it.

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming experience, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be found on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD or on the web at http://www.AquaticRhino.com.  Email David directly at David@TriSwimCoach.com

Rock n’ Roll? First Roll, then Rock! (your Triathlon Swim, that is)

Okay, I admit it, the title is really corny.  But it amused me and it got you to check to see what this post is about.  So then, what is it about?  Body roll.

Let me explain what I mean by body roll.  When you take a stroke in freestyle, as your hand recovers (the portion of your arm cycle conducted above the water, that returns the hand to the front of the stroke), the related shoulder should drop down, allowing a greater reach.  Meanwhile, the opposing shoulder should raise up as that arm completes the stroke and begins its recovery.  This will rotate, or roll, your body to face out toward the side, rather than straight down toward the bottom. Please note that while this only ‘forces’ the upper torso area to rotate, proper technique calls for you to maintain a generally straight body, so you should rotate through your hips and legs as well.

Many of us were taught freestyle or the front crawl as being performed with our body facing toward the bottom.  Today, a more apt perspective is the stroke being performed rotated toward your side, alternating back and forth to each side, in time with the arm cycle.  Notice that I haven’t brought up breathing.  In this specific area of the stroke technique, breathing is not material.  Your body should rotate to each side equally, regardless of breathing.  The correct amount of rotation is fairly common to our breathing side, as we utilize the rotation to make it easier to rotate our face out of the water for that breath.  The non-breathing side, however, does not provide such an incentive for proper rotation. Over the past several weeks, I have seen a very large number of people making the same error; a dramatic under-rotation to the non-breathing side.

Under-rotation in your freestyle will cause or contribute to a number of problems in the effectiveness in your stroke.  First, it will significantly limit the forward reach of your stroke, thereby shortening by an equal amount the length of each arm pull.  Second, it makes a full extension and completion of your stroke on the other side of your body far more difficult.  Third, it prevents a high arm recovery, as our shoulders simply don’t (generally) move that far behind the plane of our body.  In open water, an excessively low arm recovery sets you up for catching your arm on an errant wave, which can disrupt a stroke pattern and cause rapid muscle fatigue.

Alternatively, if you do focus on getting a good rotation in your torso, particularly to your non-breathing side, you will find that it is far easier to avoid these errors.  A note about the third issue I mentioned above – by rotating your torso, you do not need to attempt to elevate your arm behind the plane of your back in order to clear the water on recovery, as the natural angle of your trunk will provide plenty of incline for your recovering arm.  This takes a substantial amount of pressure off of your shoulder, and will save you a significant amount of energy.  And with a bike and a run coming up, I suggest you use no more energy than required for your swim.

So, now that you’re really Rolling, go Rock that triathlon swim!  (Sorry, but… well, I just had to.)

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming experience, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD or on the web at http://www.AquaticRhino.com.  Email him at David@TriSwimCoach.com

Star in your very own Triathlon Swimming video!

No really. You should. Now, I guess I should clarify here, I am not trying to hire you to star in a DVD or anything. (Sorry!) I am saying that if you want to improve your swim, you should have someone record your swim. Then, watch it! If you are like most people, whether you have been a competitive swimmer for 20 years, or you are brand new to the sport, you will be surprised at what you see. In so many parts of life, we are told to do this or that, and we do the best we can. In the end, it is simply that it is easier to see the fish bowl from outside of it than from within. What I mean by this is that it is much easier to observe ourselves from a third party perspective. This is what video allows us to do.

To tell you how striking the results can be, I only need to go as far as myself. I was recorded about 6 months ago. It was the first time I had seen my stroke in about 15 years. Well, after I got over the shock, I started to address the fact that my head was too high, my hands were crossing the centerline on my pull-through, and I was dropping my elbow on my left arm. This coming after I’ve coached swimmer after swimmer to not do those specific things. However, it resulted in a much more knowledgeable workout for me. I have learned what I should feel like when I am performing each of those actions correctly, and I have seen an improvement in my own efficiency and speed.

Ideally, you would then have it analyzed by a qualified coach with the appropriate knowledge to work through it with you and discuss specific ways to improve your stroke for open water/triathlon swimming. Even if you don’t have someone locally available, there are a number of excellent options for uploading it to a website and having a coach provide feedback via email or marking up your video and replying with the new copy. If you are interested in a service like this, just drop me a line, and I can give you some guidance.

By the way, there are a number of excellent waterproof video cameras out there for very reasonable costs. The high def camera I use on a near daily basis cost less than $300, and it was not the cheapest option. So if you don’t have a friend with one, consider getting your own. I can assure you it is a fun gadget to have even when not being used to improve your triathlon swim.

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD or on the web at http://www.AquaticRhino.com

Breathing in a Triathlon Swim – the vanilla vs. chocolate argument, Part 2 of 2

(continued from Part 1)

Open water swimming is different that swimming in a pool in so many ways. The first way that comes to most peoples minds is the common inability to see the bottom, combined with the lack of the black line on the bottom to guide you where to go. There are two other differences I want to point out here. First, there is no separator between you and the other competitors. Open water swimming is a contact sport. Second, turns are not 180 degrees. You don’t swim to a point and simply reverse direction. Even if you are going to go back the way you came, you will first need to circle around a turn buoy. There are so many reasons I could give for being able to breathe to both sides, but I will focus on these three now.

Breathing to both sides can make you faster while sighting and maintaining the correct heading. By breathing to both sides, you have the opportunity to observe what is off to those sides. If your swim is bringing you down along a shoreline, you can verify you are in line with the shore as you breath to one side, and that you have not moved inside of the course buoys as you breath to the other. Now, you do not need to lift your head and look forward as often. This will reduce the times you slow or stop your swimming, and hence make you a faster swimmer.

Breathing to both sides can aid you in avoiding any unnecessary contact with other swimmers, which in turn reduces your risks of such things as being submerged, being struck, being impeded, having your goggles knocked off, and possibly even injuring yourself. When you breathe to the sides and see what is going on, you know if you need to take action to avoid any possible problems. You can’t know that if you don’t ever see it.

Finally, breathing to both sides will allow you to breathe toward a buoy as you approach it, and away from it as you round it, both of which will help you to take the shortest line possible, making your swim faster.

So, chocolate or vanilla? You choose, and I won’t be the one to say you’re wrong. Just make sure that either way, you CAN breathe to both sides – it will get you there sooner.

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD

Breathing in Swimming – the vanilla vs. chocolate argument, Part 1 of 2

by David Wendkos
david@triswimcoach.com

“You need to breathe bilaterally”

“Nuh-uh! I only breathe to my right, and I do fine.”

“If you don’t breathe to both sides, you’ll go slower”

“Then why are so many Olympic swimmers breathing every two strokes, even in races as short as 100 meters? Huh?”

The arguments for unilateral and bilateral breathing in swimming will continue. There will be multitudes of proponents for each view, many on each side with numerous swimming and triathlon successes to their names, and many on each side with a devotion to their view bordering on fanaticism. I admit I have my opinion as well. The one place I suppose I am a bit more ‘flexible’ is in my view that both can be effective, with a variety of contributing factors, such as the person, the distance, the body of water, the amount of training, the athlete’s swimming history, environmental factors, as well as others that I am not thinking of now.

For the record, generally, I do breathe on each stroke to my right. I have done this for most of my life, and my stroke has developed such that I can close my eyes and swim straight down the black line in a pool without a waver while breathing to my right. Ask me to do it while breathing bilaterally, and I will be in the left lane line in ten or fifteen yards. Could I fix that? Yes. Should I try to fix it? Probably. Will I ever actually work to fix it? Doubtful. I feel comfortable in the belief that, particularly in a distance event, any reduced speed or efficiency from breathing “too often” or only to one side, is more than made up for in my increased intake of oxygen.

Triathlon is NOT an event you want to start off by trying to hold your breath (IMHO). However, please notice that I did say “generally, breathe to my right”. As in ‘not always’. As in, it is, I believe, still critical that you know how to, and can be comfortable with, breathing to both sides.

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD

Try swimming in Jell-O at your next triathlon

By David Wendkos

I recently heard a great ‘word picture’ to help describe how to initiate your catch in the water and maintain a grip as you pull through your stroke. It is the common thought to view a freestyle stroke as placing your hand in front of you and then stroking backward toward your feet. Unfortunately, this places the focus on movement in the exact opposite direction we are looking to go. In very literal terms, we are not looking to move our arm backward when it is in the water. The goal is to use the arm to propel bodies forward.

Admittedly, it is hard, even for many seasoned swimmers, to actually picture ourselves being able to grip and pull on something as viscous as water. But that is what swimming is supposed to do, and sometimes, if we can give ourselves a picture that seems more “clear”, our bodies can actually do a better job of accomplishing the particular task.

With all of that said, next time you are in the water to train for your triathlon, whether it is a pool or an open body of water, try imagining that you are actually in a big body of Jell-O rather than water. As your hand recovers from its prior stroke, place it into the Jell-O and don’t just catch, but grab the Jell-O with your fingers, your hand, your wrist, and your forearm, and then pull your body forward, across that Jell-O.

Does it sound odd? Absolutely. A bit kinky? Then get your head out of the gutter! But based on the people I have shared it with, and their results, it seems to be a very effective way for many to help picture the catch and pull in the most ideal way possible – as the way we get our bodies to move closer to the end of the swim. And, yes, that is the goal.

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD

Triathlon Swimming: It’s all in your head

by David Wendkos
david@triswimcoach.com

So, I take my four-year-old son, Evan, ice skating for the first time. We aren’t on the ice for 20 seconds before he starts to get upset and states,

“I can’t do this!”

I lean over and tell him that, of course he doesn’t know how yet, but we will work on it and he will learn. That doesn’t satisfy him. He continues to get upset and complain that he can’t do it. I then tell Evan that I don’t want to hear him say he can’t do it anymore. He may only say he can’t do it yet. He accepts this (it’s part of our dynamic) and immediately says,

“Well, Daddy, I can’t do it yet!”

I reply by asking how he would change that, at which point he starts shuffling his feet, falling, getting back up, and repeating. Over and over. Fifteen minutes later, he pushes me and says

“Don’t stand near me anymore.” Off he goes meandering all around the rink by himself. Within half an hour, he declares he is a great ice skater and Santa should buy him his own skates.

I know this is a pretty typical “my kid” story, but it got me thinking. Some of the most common phrases I hear, particularly from casual triathletes, are “I’m a really bad swimmer”, “I hate the swim”, “I am such a slow swimmer”, and “I hate the swim” (oh, you noticed I said that twice?). This is the same as Evan and his ice skating. Success at any activity in life does not begin in a pool or a lake, on a bike or a road, in an office or a home, or anywhere else. It begins in your head. There are a limitless number of quotes from any number of people that say essentially the same thing – If you think can or if you think you can’t, you are right.

Biking and running have something in common that swimming does not. As we grow up, they are both activities we take part in socially, and often as a part of other activities. Biking to the park with friends. Running around in a field playing tag. They are activities that, at a basic level, we grow up with and naturally become comfortable with. And so, we know we can. Swimming isn’t that way. Oh sure, we go to community pools, or lakes, or the beach, to play with friends, but we aren’t usually putting our heads in the water and swimming from one place to another for social or recreational reasons. Swimming is far more often performed for the purpose of health, fitness, and/or competition. So it is far less common that people grow up with a natural comfort level with it. Leading to a more common sense of inability, or that “I can’t.” However, that simply isn’t correct. If we allow ourselves the opportunity, we can usually learn whatever we set our minds to. Including swimming, and more specifically, the swim leg of a triathlon.

This is triathlon’s off-season. It’s the perfect time to make a dramatic improvement in your swimming. Decide to stop talking yourself down. Instead, tell yourself you are a good swimmer that just needs to develop the skills to become who you are. Then use this winter to focus on your technique, your endurance, and your comfort in the water, and when next spring rolls around, you will be “a really good swimmer” who “enjoys the swim”, “swims fast” and “enjoys the swim” (Oh, I put that in there twice again, huh?).

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD

Swimming Advice: If at First, You Don’t Understand, Try, Try Again

by David Wendkos

My last post focused on the differences between the ideal kick for a triathlon swim as opposed to others. It was introduced by pointing out the challenge of human communication and how often, different people will try to communicate the same idea in (sometimes dramatically) different ways. As I proof-read the post, I found myself thinking of an experience while swimming in college that provided two valuable lessons for me; one in swimming, one in life.

Throughout my freshman year, my college coaches kept trying to get me to change my arm recovery, explaining that it looked “mechanical”. I honestly tried to change it or at least to understand what about it they didn’t like, but never seemed to get it right. It got to the point that to start my sophomore year, at my head coach’s request, I actually took (no laughing please) a ballet class, as he hoped that would teach me to move more fluidly. For a college jock with a big ego, it was rough. For a perfectionist who still didn’t get it, it was really frustrating. Then, one day at practice, a girl who had been a senior my freshman year stopped by to visit with the team. While there, she looked at my stroke and passed a brief comment, suggesting I try to lead my recovery with my elbow.

“POP!” That was it. For how I visualized my stroke, this made sense to me, and the small adjustment I made in my recovery instantly changed my stroke in the manner my coaches had been trying to get to for over a year. That was the first lesson – how to swim more effectively and efficiently. The second lesson was much more important, and applies to all people in all situations. If you aren’t “getting” what someone is trying to teach you, or tell you, or explain to you, do not simply decide you cannot do it, or it is your fault, or their fault, or that something is wrong. We all have our own way of explaining things, and our own way of understanding things. Take the time to ask questions. If you aren’t getting there with one person, talk to another. But if you keep looking to understand, there’s a good chance you ultimately will. If you don’t, there isn’t.

I know this seems to be more of a “big picture” topic, but when it comes to learning swimming, I really believe it is a critical item to remember. The differences between a good stroke and a great one are comprised of fine details. Additionally, swimming is an activity where instruction can occur before and after, but generally not while in process. It can be challenging at times to apply a lesson, particularly if the instructions aren’t clear to you. Don’t let it go. One day, someone will address a problem area in a way that clicks for you, and next thing you know, you will be swimming that much faster, that much more efficiently, and that much more confidently.

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD

A Little Kick Goes a Looong Way in Triathlon Swimming

by David Wendkos

Yet again, my topic comes from a conversation with a fellow athlete. Nancy has completed more than one Ironman distance event, as well as a variety of other triathlons. Her swim is clearly her weakest leg, and so she has been trying to focus on improving it. She has spoken with more than a couple people about her swimming, and has gained a lot of good information from those interactions. Here is one problem that has arisen. Different people try to say the same thing in different manners.

As she and I got into a conversation about the differences between swimming as its own sport, and swimming as a part of triathlon, I brought up the difference in kicking. Nancy very quickly replied that another coach she has spoken with had been adamant that the kick was VERY important in all swimming, including triathlon, and so she put a large focus on developing a strong six-beat kick. At first, I believed this was specifically what she had been instructed to do. Sensing a learning opportunity for myself, I continued to ask questions about what he had told her What I ended up finding out was that he and I do not have differing beliefs, but rather,differing ways of verbalizing it.

Nancy took his statement, “Kicking is really important”, as “it is important to have a big, strong kick.” The intent, however, was not to instruct on the nature of the kick, but rather its involvement and impact on the overall stroke. There are two primary purposes for a kick in swimming: propulsion, and balance. In a “normal” swimming race, swimmers will generally try to maximize the kick for both of these purposes. In triathlon swimming, the issue of balance keeps the kick as a critical component of a successful swim technique. The propulsion aspect, however, takes a dramatic downgrade in focus. Remembering that the remainder of a triathlon after the swim is almost wholly lower-body driven, the less you can fatigue those muscles in the swim the better.

The physics of the human body in swimming dictate that if the legs do not contribute at all, they will sink. The center of gravity in a horizontal swimming position falls somewhere near the hips. Most of the floatation in the body will come from the air contained in the lungs. Picture the body as a see-saw, with the center point at the hips. As the chest rises, the legs will descend. It is key to maintain as horizontal a position in the water as possible, as the more vertical the body is, the more resistance you will create for yourself. Your kick, then, becomes critical to keeping your legs elevated and your body horizontal.

So what does all of this mean? The kick in triathlon swimming IS very important. How you kick in triathlon swimming is just as important. A smooth, relaxed, and relatively small kick will help with good balance without using energy inefficiently. And in triathlon swimming, efficiency is king. ‘Cause after the swim, we’ve still got a long way to go.

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD

Are You Coachable? Lessons from Dara Torres

by David Wendkos
david@triswimcoach.com

I once took a course in which the seminar leader, Larry, asked each person present to make a commitment to be coachable. Most of us immediately responded that we would do so. Larry then asked, “Before agreeing, don’t you think you should understand what I mean by ‘coachable’?” That seemed silly to me. Being coachable is listening to a ‘coach’, thinking about what he or she says, and then incorporating it into what we already know. At least,that was how I would have described being coachable. Larry didn’t.

Dara Torres had only swum two laps on her first day of training after a seven-year layoff when Stanford coach Richard Quick lowered a kickboard into the water to stop her. “We don’t swim like that any more,” he said. Since then, Dara Torres has made herself into a household name, or certainly more so than she ever was before her layoff. But when you go to the Olympics and bring home multiple medals in swimming, at the stereotypically “over the hill age” of41, people do tend to notice. Remember though, we aren’t talking about someone without success prior to the layoff. She had won multiple Olympic medals before her time away from swimming. It wouldn’t have been stunning for her to think, or even say, “I know how to swim, and have the resume to prove it. Just give me the sets and intervals.” But that is not what she said, and likely not what she thought. She had a coach she believed in, and she allowed herself to be coachable. So let’s get back to how Larry defines being coachable.

Being coachable is agreeing to follow the guidance of another, without questioning it, without needing to first understand why, without needing to analyze it, and without trying to adapt it. It is putting full faith in the person teaching you to show you a new way of doing something, and being open to learning it exactly that way. Trying their way, without question, for long enough to properly determine its merit. That does not mean you don’t use your brain. It simply means that for an appropriate period of time, you allow yourself to be fully guided to experience a new way of doing something. By the way, this can be really, really difficult. As people, we naturally want to understand. We want to ‘get it’. But sometimes, the best way to reach our goals is by finding a teacher we can believe in, and then following their instructions without an explanation. Understanding will come . . .later. Now, what does all of this have to do with your triathlon swim?
Swimming correctly is a surprisingly intricate process, with critical fine details.

Most of the swimming lessons that we all grew up with did not teach us these details in the proper manner, as they are understood and known today. What’s more, open water and multi-sport bring in various other complexities and details to address. At first, it may be hard for you to understand some of the things recommended to you. Drills may seem counter-intuitive. Distances and intensities may seem illogical. But in the end, you will either be open to new ways of doing things, or you will be limited to the degree your training allows you to perform given your existing technique.. . or lack thereof. Dara Torres was coachable. Dara Torres was on the podium at the Olympics when she was 41 years old. Give yourself an opportunity to be coachable this winter, and see what happens next spring.

David Wendkos lives in Annapolis, MD and has over 30 years of competitive swimming, coaching swimmers for the pool, open water, and triathlons. He can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/SwimMD