Triathlon

What can triathletes do to become faster swimmers?

Unlocking Speed: Technique and Strength Tips for Triathletes' Swim Success

For most triathletes, I find that they've got the aerobic capacity to swim for long distances, but it's often the technique that's letting them down or making them slower than what they should necessarily be. So the first thing I will typically go to is make sure you've got decent technique and that comes down to a couple of things. But we normally look at body position, look at alignment and timing, and also having just a decent catch and pull. And then once you've got good technique, we want to build specific swim strength because most of the races are probably going to be in a wetsuit. And if they're not in a wetsuit, well, you're going to be in the open water more times than not and you require some decent strength to be able to maintain a good tempo and cadence across the distance. So building some specific swim strength can be done with pool buoy and paddles. It can just be done by making sure you're doing enough distance in the pool and building it up that way. But I would typically go to technique as the first way to swim faster.

To swim faster, triathletes should focus on technique and building specific swim strength. This can be done with pool buoy and paddles and by increasing the distance they swim in the pool.

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To become faster swimmers, triathletes should focus on improving their technique and building swim-specific strength. While many triathletes have the aerobic capacity for long-distance swimming, it's often their technique that holds them back.

Start by ensuring you have decent technique, which involves body position, alignment, timing, and a strong catch and pull. Once your technique is solid, work on building swim-specific strength. Since most races are likely to be in a wetsuit or open water, you need strength to maintain a good tempo and cadence throughout the distance.

You can build swim strength by using tools like pool buoys and paddles, or by gradually increasing your distance in the pool. However, technique should be the primary focus for improving swim speed.

When coaching non professional triathletes in the water, what are the top three things you look for?

Mastering Triathlon Swim: The Key to Head Position, Breathing, & Arm Technique

The top three things that I would normally look for in this order would be head position. And breathing is number one. Because if someone's breathing incorrectly or their heads in the wrong spot, it makes everything else much harder to get, right? So we often look at the breathing and head position first. Then I like to look at rotation and alignment see what they're doing there, perhaps they're over rotating so crossing over because maybe they're over rotating or under rotating. So looking at those two things. And then the third one that will often look at is the what the arms during recovery catch and Pull and you catch and pull for me is really one of the main things that we want to get right? For a triathlete, because if they've got a wet suit on, it's going to take care of the body position. And if they've got a half decent catch at the front, they're going to hold pretty good water and if they can do that with a reasonable Cadence then that's going to set them up pretty well for for their swim. So it's often that order because it can be hard to get a good catch if those Earlier things aren't in place. So that's the order that I'd typically follow.

The top three things I usually look for in order are head position, rotation and alignment, and the catch and pull of the arms during recovery. This order allows for good body position and a reasonable cadence to be set up for a triathlete's swim.

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When coaching non-professional triathletes in the water, the top three things I prioritize are head position and breathing, rotation and alignment, and the catch and pull of the arms during recovery.

First and foremost, I focus on head position and breathing. Correct breathing technique and proper head positioning are crucial as they impact the overall efficiency of the swim. If someone is breathing incorrectly or their head is in the wrong position, it becomes much harder to address other aspects of their swim.

Next, I assess rotation and alignment. I observe if the athlete is over-rotating or under-rotating, as both can affect their stroke efficiency. Finding the right balance in rotation and alignment is important for optimal performance.

Lastly, I pay attention to the catch and pull of the arms during recovery. This aspect is particularly significant for triathletes. A good catch and pull technique, combined with a reasonable cadence, can greatly contribute to maintaining a strong swim. It's important to establish a solid foundation in head position, breathing, and rotation before focusing on the catch and pull.

In summary, my typical order of assessment when coaching non-professional triathletes in the water is head position and breathing, followed by rotation and alignment, and finally the catch and pull technique.

How do I keep my hips from sinking during freestyle?

Improve Your Freestyle Body Position with These Tips!

Hi David. Thanks for your question. There's a lot of things that can impact your body position and your hips. The first one is the obvious one which is head position and sometimes people actually look too far down and it can impact their body position negatively. So what I Look to do with head position is look anywhere from straight down to slightly forwards. And if you're doing Triathlon, I'd suggest look about a meter in front of you. In terms of like on the pool tiles on the floor, look a little bit in front of you and lengthen your neck. Like you're trying to get rid of the wrinkles on your neck. Then the next thing we sort of look to do is hold the right posture. So, if you think of being long and Tall through your spine and switching your core on a little bit like a kind of bracing your core and squeeze your butt cheeks together a bit. I know it sounds weird but when you've got the right sort of posture and tautness through the body, then you hold this straight a body line. Because if you let that go but say you kind of let you call go around your shoulders and you've got like a lot of a big hunch through your back, then you are not straight and haven't got that tautness. It's Of like, you're a wet noodle in the water. So, with the right head position and posture, that can make a big difference just in terms of body position. Now after that, make sure you're breathing correctly as well. So first of all, make sure you're getting a like, a decent enough breath. Where if you're doing these sort of short and shallow upper chest breaths, then you don't get as much air in and not going to float as well. So the buoyancy will come from your lungs and that's the thing, that'll keep you buoyant. So making sure you're getting the breath correctly. And then the other thing is like, just to make sure that you're kicking the right way. So if you're bending your knees too much to kick, well, it's always going to drop your legs. So just make sure that the kick should be still bending the knees but like overall it should feel fairly straight. So I feel like the legs are being kept long, and you keeping the kick relatively narrow, and, you know, relatively straight, it will feel with the kick. And that will also make sure that you're not dropping down to low. So if you do something like, just do a basic, Look like front kick drill with both arms in front of your head head down, lengthen through the spine, lengthen, the neck and name, to get your head hips and heels at the surface practice that so you can get good body position that way and you might do like 10 meters of that then roll into some swim and just see if you can maintain that body position when you go into the swim. So that's a couple things to start with.

Head position and posture are key for body position in swimming. Make sure you look slightly forward, keep your spine straight and core switched on, breathe deeply, and kick with a relatively straight leg to maintain good body position.

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To keep your hips from sinking during freestyle, there are several factors to consider. First, pay attention to your head position. Avoid looking too far down, as it can negatively impact your body position. Instead, aim to look straight down or slightly forward. For triathlon, focus on looking about a meter in front of you, such as at the pool tiles, while lengthening your neck.

Next, maintain the right posture. Imagine being long and tall through your spine, engaging your core, and squeezing your glutes together slightly. This helps maintain a straight body line and prevents a hunched back that can lead to poor body position.

Breathing correctly is also important. Take deep breaths instead of shallow, upper chest breaths to ensure you get enough air and maintain buoyancy. Proper breathing technique helps keep you afloat.

Additionally, pay attention to your kicking technique. Avoid excessive knee bending, as it can cause your legs to drop. Keep your kick relatively straight and narrow, with a slight bend in the knees. This will help maintain a long leg position and prevent sinking.

To practice these techniques, try a front kick drill with both arms extended in front of your head, keeping your head down, and focusing on lengthening your spine and neck. Aim to keep your head, hips, and heels at the surface of the water. Practice this drill for about 10 meters, then transition into swimming and see if you can maintain the improved body position.

These tips should help you keep your hips from sinking during freestyle and improve your overall body position in the water.

Lots of pros seem to be wearing sleeved trisuits under sleeveless swimskins: dont they restrict movement on the swim?

Pros Optimize Speed: Wearing sleeved trisuits under swimskins saves seconds in the water

Hi Thomas. This room skin is dark restricted, range of motion too much at all. They're pretty good. Like they do sit over your upper traps but they don't really restrict your overhead movement at all. And you're obviously so much quick out with a wet suit on. So it's worthwhile putting the wetsuit on over the swim skin because then they'll save sometimes up to about 5 seconds per 100 with the wetsuit on even though it takes a bit longer to get off rather than just going without a wetsuit. So that's why you'll see. See the pros doing that, like they're going to be so much better off with the wetsuit so it's yeah, it's not that restrictive at all.

The dark restricted swim skin is not overly restrictive and can help save time in the water due to the wetsuit.

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Hi Thomas. The sleeved trisuits worn under sleeveless swimskins by pros don't really restrict movement in the swim. They sit over the upper traps but don't hinder overhead movement. Additionally, wearing a wetsuit over the swim skin can actually make you faster. While it may take longer to take off, it can save up to 5 seconds per 100 meters compared to swimming without a wetsuit. That's why you often see pros opting for this combination. Overall, the swim skin and wetsuit combination is not restrictive and can provide performance benefits.

How important is bilateral breathing for triathlon swimming?

Unlocking the Benefits of Bilateral Breathing in Triathlon Swimming

I think it's a good skill to develop because it obviously helps you when you do swim open water and you've got the option to breathe to your opposite side. If you've got waves coming to one side, the thing is, it depends on where the person is though because if someone's brand new to swimming or so brand-new to swimming and Triathlon, I don't mind if they breathe to the one side and initially just to get their swimming up to a certain level then when they're comfortable swimming, certain amount of distance and they can hold you no lie. kind of like a two-minute pays per 100, then we might look to introduce bilateral breathing, so, and I'd normally say they can do 25 to 30 percent of their session breathing to the opposite side and it doesn't have to be All breathing every 2 to the opposite side. Mix it up within a within your lap. It might be like a 2323. Could be like a 24 24 and then swap sides, and way back mix up your breathing pattern. And just get used to breathe into the opposite side, but there's no hard and fast rules with it. So it is a good skill to develop something that I would want people to do, but it just depends on the level that they're at, because I know it's something that puts a lot of people off, especially those that are newer. So I don't mind if they do. Ooh, just breathe to the to the one side because, you know, and I have heard other coaches talk about, it's you don't actually need to be doing bilateral breathing because most of the time you can get away with Just Breathe Into the one side so I'm not fixated on it. I would prefer them to get a good catch and pool and there's other things rather than focusing on breathing to both sides as their as their primary focus.

Bilateral breathing is a good skill to develop for open-water swimming and triathlons, where you can breathe to your opposite side. It depends on the level of skill that someone has, but it's recommended to do 25-30% of your laps breathing to the opposite side. People who are new to swimming may want to focus on getting a good catch and pull in the pool before focusing on bilateral breathing.

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Bilateral breathing is a valuable skill to develop for triathlon swimming, especially for open water swims where you have the option to breathe to your opposite side. However, its importance depends on the individual's swimming experience and level of comfort.

For beginners or those new to swimming and triathlon, it's not necessary to focus on bilateral breathing right away. It's more important to build swimming skills and endurance first. Once a certain level of comfort and distance swimming is achieved, introducing bilateral breathing can be beneficial.

A recommended approach is to incorporate 25 to 30 percent of the session breathing to the opposite side, mixing it up within each lap. It doesn't have to be a strict pattern of breathing every two strokes to the opposite side. The goal is to get used to breathing on both sides.

There are no strict rules regarding bilateral breathing, and it ultimately depends on the individual's level. Some coaches argue that breathing to one side is sufficient in most cases. Therefore, the focus should be on developing a good catch and other important aspects of swimming technique.

While bilateral breathing is a skill worth developing, it's not the primary focus for everyone, especially beginners. The emphasis should be on overall swimming proficiency and technique.

I grew up swimming in the pool; I can swim 25’ for 1900m in the pool but never swam under 29’ in an open water 70.3. How can I speed up my cadence?

Unlocking Open Water Speed: Scrappy Strokes & Straight Lines

It's a really common thing to struggle to take your pool speed into the Open Water. There's a couple of things that I've seen to work quite well for people to be able to make that transition from the pool to the open water. So the first thing is you've got to allow yourself to get a little bit Scrappy with your stroke, the perfect entry and reach and catch doesn't really exist in the open water. If there's any kind of turbulence or chop in the water so you've got to change a stroke a bit. So we've got to lay yourself. Little bit Scrappy that might involve a faster and a wider and higher recovery over the water. So just get the arm over a bit quicker and you might need to come over slightly straighter arm or slightly wider. You might also need to reach out a little bit further as well. So particularly on one side, you see it with a lot of good Open Water swimmers is that they'll Reach Out. Extend a bit further, at least on one side over the top of the water, so they're not necessarily interested. During fingers first elbow up there like they're kind of throwing it out and everything's Landing together, so they're swimming somewhat asymmetrical. Whether longer on one side a little bit shorter on the other. So they get this sort of loping or Galloping kind of stroke that seems to work really well in the open water that can allow you to get your speed up, where your Cadence up as well, whereas, if you are trying to be very even and balanced when it's choppy, it just doesn't work quite as well. So you often just need to Allow that asymmetry to to come in. The other thing is also, just making sure that you're swimming straight. So if you swim say 10% further than what you need to do, to be nearly 200 meters more, which would, which could be something like an extra, three minutes of swimming. So you want to make sure that you're citing well, following the buoys and making sure you're taking the straightest line possible. So there's a number of factors there, but there are some straight changes that you need to make when it comes to open water. Moon.

When making the transition from pool to open water, it's important to allow yourself to get a bit scrappy with your stroke. You may need to reach out further on one side and have a faster and wider recovery. Additionally, you should ensure that you are swimming straight and taking the shortest route possible.

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Transitioning from pool swimming to open water can be challenging when it comes to maintaining speed. However, there are a few adjustments you can make to improve your cadence in open water.

First, allow yourself to be a bit scrappier with your stroke. In open water, the perfect entry, reach, and catch may not be possible due to turbulence or chop. Consider a faster, wider, and higher recovery over the water. Get your arm over quicker and experiment with a slightly straighter or wider arm entry. You may also need to reach out further, especially on one side, to create a loping or galloping stroke that works well in open water. This asymmetrical technique can help increase your speed and cadence.

Additionally, focus on swimming straight. In open water, swimming even slightly off course can result in swimming a longer distance than necessary. This can significantly impact your overall time. Practice sighting and follow the buoys to ensure you're taking the straightest line possible.

By embracing these adjustments and allowing for some asymmetry in your stroke, you can improve your cadence and adapt to the unique challenges of open water swimming.

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Effortless Swimming head coach, 6,000+ swimmers analysed, swim technique coach to pro triathletes, 47-min IM swim time

Brenton Ford