Just For The Swim Of It

It's something I hear all of the time form athletes. "Can you give me some swim tips?" Of course I will happily oblige. Except I ask them a few questions first.

"How consistently have you been swimming?"

"Well, I would swim more, but I am sure I am not doing it right, maybe if you gave me a few tips it would feel better." Then I tell them I will see them in 3-4 weeks, with 2-3 swims consistently under their belt.

I know that sounds shocking. Sounds kind of mean even! But in all honesty if you are not a strong swimmer…. how you will swim for me without some kind of swim base…. will be very different from how you will swim for me with a swimming base.

We often joke that swimming sometimes feels like it has it's own cardiovascular system. You can be a 3:30 marathoner and hop in the pool and feel completey destroyed by a 100 yard freestyle.

"How can I feel so out of shape!" You will wonder "It must be my stroke!"

When I do see you swim I will only give you one thing to focus on. The more I give you to focus on… the more scattered your stroke will become.

For one swimmer it might just be head position. For another it might be the entry to their stroke. For a third it might be rotation.

The worst thing to happen is for these 3 swimmers to get together. They will compare one another's drills sets , and wonder if they should have the others' !

Just like any sport, swimming takes time. It takes consistent training. Pools aren't as easy to come by as a pair of running shoes or a bike on a trainer. Getting to the pool or lake or ocean takes some time. As with anything else if you make the commitment, the improvement will come.

In time.

I always recommend joining a Masters Team. If you are in Rochetser I recommend you join my Masters Team, the RAMS. Hands down Lorie Rick is the very best Masters Coach on earth. Ever. And I am biased.

If you are on your own there are a few things to do when structuring your swims:


Just as V Dot is for running, FTP is for cycling, in swimming we have a T Time. Essentially it is an average pace per 100.

The very best place to get that actual number is to swim for an hour and have someone count your lengths.

The second best way to do this is to swim a timed 3,000 yard swim.

Third best way is a 30 minute swim.

Fourth best way is a timed 1,000 yards. This is what I use and most people use.

Why? Quite frankly people are not typically in shape enough in their swim to swim 1 hour straight. Or they find the test intimidating.

Each year Masters Teams all over the country hold one hour Postal Swims. That's a great option if you are looking for one. Check out www.usms.org for the schedule.

However you arrive at the number, you attain your T Time. Then begin to create a set of workouts. I like to group my workouts according to a 2-3 week theme. A block of swims might be on that T Time, which becomes very grueling. Another block of swims might be on t time + 15-20 seconds. It all depends.

I write my swimmers workouts, and I also pull them from various sites. A lot of good coaches out there have great workouts. Again www.usms.org is one terrific resource.

Each of my workouts has three sections:

warm up: typically 400-1000 yards

Main Set: a Set of about 1000-1500 yards in total, with focus.
This could be broken any way you want it to be. Maybe 5 X 100
500 pull and 5 X 100. I like to keep the # of repitions lower. I won't
give 16 X 200's. That's for high school.

Cool down; 150-200 yards nice and easy.

Giving each set and workout a distinct purpose is important. Then you are not swimming brainless yards.

If you are training for an Ironman I like to give sets of 200, 300, 400, 500 yard repeats.

Shorter distances we will stick to some 100's, and play with speed.

Depending on the focus of the workouts I might time each repeat to be on the t time or t time + 5,10,15 seconds.

The athlete is always instructed to go slower if form falls apart. Sloppy form is like sending an invitation to the universe for a shoulder injury.

Remember in swimming that changing one aspect of the stroke will affect another aspect of the stroke;

A high wrist recovery typically will drop the hips.

A head that is looking forward to the end of the pool will typically drop the hips.

Breathing with the head out of the water often causes a person to sissor kick.

Push water behind you to move forward. Don't flick the wrist to the ceiling. If you throw water up you are sinking yourself. Throw it to the wall behind you. I have an athlete who throws it across his back. He swims crooked.

Most importantly, swim.

Turn off the switch in your head that controls the technical non believing voice. Learn to be comfortable just… swimming. If you truly turn it all of you can hear nothing but the sound of water surrounding you.

Learn to love that sound.