How I cracked the swim code

How I cracked the swim code

The hard way

I’ve been working over the last 6-7 months to re-engineer my swim.  This isn’t the first time. I’ve been working on my swim off and on every spring and summer for around 7-8 years.  I think I have finally made some progress.

Here are some points for you to shortcut the process.

1. Forget what you know.

This is by far the largest barrier I had to overcome.  I’ve been swimming since I was 5 years old.  When I signed up for that first sprint triathlon I knew I could do it and I knew it would be easy.  But using the rope-swing in the pond is different from swimming laps in a pool.

I won the underwater swimming contest in summer camp.  I was the first one to the island in the middle of the lake. I was a certified open water SCUBA diver at 16.  None of this was an advantage.  All of this was a disadvantage when it came to triathlon swimming.

I am just now unlearning the hand entry and breathing I burned in from 30 years of swimming. I am just now unlearning the head position I learned from SCUBA.

• Start at the beginning.

Because I thought I already knew how to swim I jumped right into working out, swimming hard and doing meters.  The result is a incremental improvement of your conditioning that allows you to do the distance but the inherent inefficiency relegates you to a purgatory of effort and speed.

Instead I should have started with instruction and drills.  No workouts or distance in the old form. No reinforcing bad habits. Put all that aside and start from scratch no matter how studly and experienced you think you are.

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• Find a real triathlon instructor.

The person who teaches your 5-year old how to swim is probably not the person you want giving you instruction in endurance swimming.  You need specific instruction in body position, head position, hand position, hand entry, breathing etc.  You won’t get this at the ‘learn to swim’ program at the local YMCA.

Since swimming has so many moving parts you need to incrementally learn them and master each before you move to the next.  The only way you can do this is with direct human feedback in the pool with the video.  I thought I was doing what it said in the book, but I was definitely not when I was shown it on video by an experienced Total Immersion instructor.

This is something you can’t learn from words on a page or videos on YouTube.  You can get tips and tricks and get closer but you need to have that feedback, from someone who knows.

• Do the Drills.

I know you want to swim.  I know you want to work out, to breathe heavy and get a sweat going, but you have to master the form before you can do the work.

From your instruction you will get a series of incremental form drills that will take up ½ if not all your work out time.  These will start with body position, head position and the basics.  They will work up to  hand entry, targeting, and breathing.  Learn to love the drills because like Mr. Miagi knew at some point a few weeks in you’ll have a great epiphany and all of a sudden be able to swim with power and grace.

“First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.”

• Have patience.  Have faith.

Even when you start to get things right your body will naturally start to revert back to old and bad form.  You’ll feel it when you start to get tired.  You’ll be swimming along and something will fall like a wheel falling off and then all will be chaos.

When this happens you stop and go back to the first drill and work through all the drills in sequence until you lock the form back in.  You cannot force good form, you can only learn it.

Human systems, both physical and mental are elastic and will always tend towards returning to an earlier state.  You need to be vigilant.

Summary:

Life is a journey.  Learning to endurance swim well is a journey.  I never had the goal of being fast or powerful.  My goal was to be able to swim continuously like I run.  With a relaxed and easy pace that lets me transcend the act.  I’m starting to get there but my journey will never end.

 

Chris Russelllives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy.  Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack.  Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com.  Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.

Email me at cyktrussell at Gmail dot com

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