Triathlon Swimming Training
Getting ready to swim for a triathlon for the first time can be an overwhelming concept for the new triathlon athlete.
With a few simple steps you can eliminate this fear and conquer the swim portion turning it from a dreaded necessity to something you really look forward to on race day.
To get the basics of swimming for an open water swim down so you're comfortable come race day you need to focus first on your technique, and second on your endurance.
Speed shouldn't even be in your vocabulary just starting out.
Speed will come later, no point on going trying to go fast if your technique is garbage, you will not gain speed and burn a ton of energy.
Here are some suggestions you can try to implement to improve triathlon swimming training right away.
1.
Train with a masters swim team 2.
Take swimming lessons 3.
Focus on form, not fitness, in workouts 4.
Attend a swim camp 5.
Swim shorter workouts more frequently 6.
Videotape your swim stroke and analyze it 7.
Videotape a proficient swimmer and study his or her mechanics Get a program that will help in all of the above and give you some key workouts to improve your form and endurance Once you start improving by doing drills, your confidence will start to go up and you will get stronger in the water.
When this happens you will start to look forward to your swim sessions and then you will dramatically improve your times in the water to a point where you will level off.
There are only two ways to improve in the water and swim faster.
First is to decrease drag by streamlining body position.
The second is to increase propulsion by improving your aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
Of these two, studies have shown that reducing drag has the potential to produce the greatest gains.
So the more streamlined the body is the lower the resulting drag force.
To reduce drag is easiest done by using a drill called pressing the buoy, where you push your head and chest into the water getting your feet and butt come up causing less drag and increasing your speed in the water, also reducing effort.
You would want to do this drill possibly using fins to help you move and stay afloat.
Second drill for better triathlon swimming training is belly to the wall, once you have mastered the pressing buoy drill, it is similar but you will be on your side instead of chest, pressing the points of your torso that are in the water towards the pool bottom, roll to the side to get your breath quickly, try to get right back to the streamlined position as soon as you can.
With a few simple steps you can eliminate this fear and conquer the swim portion turning it from a dreaded necessity to something you really look forward to on race day.
To get the basics of swimming for an open water swim down so you're comfortable come race day you need to focus first on your technique, and second on your endurance.
Speed shouldn't even be in your vocabulary just starting out.
Speed will come later, no point on going trying to go fast if your technique is garbage, you will not gain speed and burn a ton of energy.
Here are some suggestions you can try to implement to improve triathlon swimming training right away.
1.
Train with a masters swim team 2.
Take swimming lessons 3.
Focus on form, not fitness, in workouts 4.
Attend a swim camp 5.
Swim shorter workouts more frequently 6.
Videotape your swim stroke and analyze it 7.
Videotape a proficient swimmer and study his or her mechanics Get a program that will help in all of the above and give you some key workouts to improve your form and endurance Once you start improving by doing drills, your confidence will start to go up and you will get stronger in the water.
When this happens you will start to look forward to your swim sessions and then you will dramatically improve your times in the water to a point where you will level off.
There are only two ways to improve in the water and swim faster.
First is to decrease drag by streamlining body position.
The second is to increase propulsion by improving your aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
Of these two, studies have shown that reducing drag has the potential to produce the greatest gains.
So the more streamlined the body is the lower the resulting drag force.
To reduce drag is easiest done by using a drill called pressing the buoy, where you push your head and chest into the water getting your feet and butt come up causing less drag and increasing your speed in the water, also reducing effort.
You would want to do this drill possibly using fins to help you move and stay afloat.
Second drill for better triathlon swimming training is belly to the wall, once you have mastered the pressing buoy drill, it is similar but you will be on your side instead of chest, pressing the points of your torso that are in the water towards the pool bottom, roll to the side to get your breath quickly, try to get right back to the streamlined position as soon as you can.
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