Swim Smarter

Swim Smarter

by Emma Carney (AUS) -
Number of replies: 0

Dear Athletes,

This week and next we are going to look at the swim section of the triathlon, and the importance of racing it well, especially if your swim is your ‘weaker’ discipline.

Triathlon racing is complex to an untrained eye, yet simple when you know your own strengths and weaknesses. At every point in a triathlon, there are athletes who are currently racing their natural ‘strength’ discipline while other athletes are racing their ‘weaker’ discipline.

When racing your ‘weaker’ discipline, your focus should be to minimise the damage of that portion of the race, and when in a ‘strength’ discipline, you should seek advantages over your competitors. When you are able to use the course to your advantage in any section of the race, you can outperform your competitors in that period by breaking away or breaking a field up, remain in contact with stronger athletes, and/or move forward through the field, just by simply racing that section of the course in a more efficient way.

Developed triathlon nations overwhelmingly maintain that the swim is where the race is won and lost. Due to the fact that developed triathlon nations have written most of the training information, this view is widely accepted by triathlon coaches worldwide.

It is absolutely true a strong swim is important, but it is even more important to remember that if you are not capable of swimming in the front pack of a triathlon event, you must race the swim smarter and also develop your bike and run ability to overcome this deficit. In earlier emails I discussed some ideas on bike and run race and training approaches. We will revisit this in later emails too.

Portion of the race we are considering

Below is a chart showing the general percentages of race time required completing each discipline in a triathlon. Displayed in this way, it is obvious the race is far from over when the swim is completed.

  • Sprint triathlon – 750m swim = 3% total distance of race = approximately 12% race time
  • Standard Distance – 1500m swim = 3% total distance of race = approximately 12-15% race time

If you are an athlete who constantly finds themselves chasing after the swim, there are a lot of things you can do to make some gains on the swim specialists out the front.

Firstly we need to pull apart a typical triathlon swim -

How the Triathlon SWIM is swum

Every triathlete, regardless of their swim ability must swim the first 200-300m as fast as they can, keeping in mind they need to also be able to complete the swim course at threshold pace. This initial required effort is usually the distance to the first swim marker/buoy. The importance of the start in the swim is illustrated by the fact that it is in this stage of the swim where the majority of lead positions are set. The lead swimmer will aim to drop as many swimmers as she/he can. If you are a weaker swimmer, this is the section of the race you are most vulnerable.

The field will show signs of splitting at this point, forming the lead pack, chase pack 1 and chase pack 2 will be forming behind. Each pack will need to do the following –

Lead Swim Pack

The swimmers within the lead pack are performing in their strength discipline. They will navigate well, have well practiced breathing patterns, apply technique changes to change pace (like moving from 2-beat to 6 beat kick) and will know the course and environment they are swimming in. The lead pack, led by the lead swimmer, will work as hard as they can to develop a break on the entire chasing field (65sec pace per 100m in the female and 60sec pace per 100m in the male WTS events). It is extremely rare that a swimmer will ever chase down the lead swim pack, once a break has been formed.

Swim Chase Pack 1

There will generally be more athletes in this group than the lead pack. Chase pack 1 will need to minimise the damage caused by losing the draft of the faster moving lead pack. Depending on how they react as a group, they will need to swim as fast as they can, as the lead pack is also doing. Swimmers in this pack will be slightly less skilled in a pool, but could gain valuable seconds by navigating well and swimming according to the environment. It is usual that without the draft of the lead swimmers, this group will generally lose time, but this can be minimised if they work efficiently. Athletes in this pack must try to remain out of high congestion points, such as swim turns where collisions with other swimmers only causes the pace to slow. Areas to make up time are exits and re-entries on multi loop swim courses, runs between exits and re-entries and the dive back into the water. It is important these swimming skills are practiced in training. It is very possible to win the race from this pack - a strong bike group will vastly increase the changes of this.

Swim Chase Pack 2-back of field

The chase pack 2 and remainder of the field have one option once in this position. Swim as fast as they can – as the field in front is also doing. Athletes in this group are racing their ‘weaker’ discipline. Athletes in this position must be very skilled at swim entries and exits and running between these points and also into T1. It is possible to win if athletes in this pack are able to form a compact and aggressive, attacking group on the bike.

How do you minimise the distance between yourself and the lead packs?

  • Sharpen your dive – A sloppy dive off a pontoon, poor streamlining and poor underwater skills can lose you quite a few seconds, without a stroke even being swum. Just because a triathlon swim is done in open water, it doesn’t mean the specific skills of fast pool swimming are not relevant. Work on your block reaction times, dive position, water entry and remaining efficient as you surface for your first stroke. By doing this well, you will put yourself in an excellent initial position in the swim.
  • Practice drafting – You don’t need to be the fastest swimmer, you need to remain as close to them as you possibly can. If realistically, you cannot swim as fast as the fastest swimmers, you must learn to sit in the draft of leading swimmers. This is not only possible by sitting behind a faster swimmer, but by also swimming alongside a faster swimmer.
  • Know the course and navigate well – This is a no brainer. If you nail the navigation, you will swim the shortest distance possible. If you know the course, you will know where to sit in a pack to avoid currents, open chop and maintain the best draft advantage. When learning the course, swim it as often as you can prior to the race so you are more familiar with the finer details.
  • Related to the point above, be aware of any currents if there are any. Remembering to avoid a current which will slow you and also use any currents that will assist you.
  • Learn to swim in the surf, including entry and exit specific skills.
  • Don’t be afraid to kick – If you are a weaker swimmer, kick more, and keep kick sets in your training program so you become more efficient at the skill of kicking. You will find you are in a better body position. Saving your legs for the rest of the race is pointless if you haven’t swum as fast as you can.
  • Perfect your land warm up for pre-race – Often athletes struggle in the swim, purely because they have not perfected their warm up. If you think this may be you, there are 2 main ways of working through this. Do your typical pre-race warm up prior to main swim sessions in the pool at training or practice using a limited warm up in swim training prior to your main set workout. By doing either of these (or a combination of both) you can work out what routine may work for you.
  • Make up time as soon as you hit land – The swim section often has an exit and entry in the middle of the swim and is also always followed by a run to transition. If you teach yourself to run hard in these sections, along with adding quality re-entry dives, knowing the water exits and having a very efficient T1 technique you can find a lot of ‘lost’ time.
  • The middle of the swim exit and entry along with the run between can be used to check where you are in the feld. When doing this it is important to make sure you are still running hard between the brief exit from the water and re-entry into the water
  • Bike like you mean it – refer to earlier email https://education.triathlon.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1301
  • Run like you really mean it – refer to emails https://education.triathlon.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1305 https://education.triathlon.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1314

I hope the above helps to make things clearer on what you can do in the swim if you believe it is your weakest discipline. As always in triathlon racing, it is important to focus on what you can do rather than what you cannot.

Next week we will look at some swim training and what equipment you may find useful in training.

Swim wise!

Emma