Recycling an old debate: Short fast strokes vs. Long gliding Part 2/2
continued from Part 1
So what do you do? Always use long, gliding strokes, and forget about having a fast turnover?
Since the open water, and especially the ocean, presents many new challenges to your stroke, I would not recommend going with a policy of “always” using long strokes in freestyle. Sometimes waves or competition can put you in a position where shortening your stroke will give you an advantage.
The point is to, for the most part, practice lengthening your strokes- do sets of free golf, work with the Freestyler hand paddles, and occasionally count your strokes per length. But do not be married to the idea that you must use long strokes at all times!
I recommend copying what the middle of the pack (MOP) swimmers are doing in general, rather than the leaders. This sounds like odd advice from a coach who is paid to get people to swim faster! But the problem is that many of the triathletes who are in the lead pack in the swim came from a swimming background- and this often means they did short, sprint or middle distance races in the pool, and can get away with a very fast turnover in the open water.
For the beginners, or intermediates, the goal should not be to win the swim, but to finish strong for the rest of the race. Therefore, practice long, and adjust where needed in the race.
I’m in the process of training for my first triathlon at the moment and getting different advice from different places. Certainly I’ve heard that long gliding strokes are best (specifically from Terry Laughlin’s material) but my swim is BY FAR my weakest link, so I’m willing to try anything and everything to improve. I think your idea of copying the MOP swimmers is great – I’m under no delusions about being able to swim fast at this point – just getting to T1 would be a great start! Cool site BTW – loads of good info!
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Sounds great Billy! If you’re looking for a way to get your stroke going in the right direction, check out our free online swim lessons: http://www.triswimcoach.com/newsletters.php
Thanks for the comment and good luck!
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I’m kind of in the same boat as billy. I am a runner and after working myself up I have been running marathons for the past 4 years now. I want to start getting into triathlons, but I my weakness is also swimming. I’m by no means a bad swimmer actually quiet good I just struggle with the endurance. It completely different than running. And since it’ll be in the Ocean I need to sharpen up on my technique as well. I saw you recommended the newsletter for the online lessons. I will subscribe and hopefully get some pointers as well. Thanks for the posts. There’s a lot of very helpful information.
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