A detailed look at the Swim for Athletes

A detailed look at the Swim for Athletes

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

Dear Athletes,

This week we are going to take a look at the swim.

You will recall from last week’s email, over the next few weeks, we are looking to develop your race IQ, so you can achieve easy time gains, just by racing better and smarter. We discussed that in order to make sure the information provided is relevant I have designed my emails not around a specific race, instead around as many scenarios as I can cover that you will find in races.

Last week it was also outlined that as no two athletes are the same, these emails when discussing a discipline will always consider three athlete scenarios:

 

  1. Athlete A will be a strong athlete in that discipline.
  2. Athlete B will be an athlete who has a weakness in that discipline.
  3. Athlete C will be an athlete who is young or inexperienced in that discipline.

 

It is important to note that when testing each discipline specifically, athlete A in the swim may not be Athlete A in the run or bike. We are not considering the same athlete in each discipline, rather we are considering the same advantages/disadvantages athletes may possess in each discipline.

Today we take a look in detail at the swim and the importance of breaking the swim down to manageable sections:

  1. the start,
  2. the process and
  3. finishing well.

Assuming the athlete has been tested (see last week’s email), and we have established Athlete A, B & C as the profiled athletes.

KEY MESSAGE - In every discipline there are key skills EVERY athlete must develop

In every discipline there are also equipment choices every athlete must consider. In the swim you have goggle lens type. Typically, a lake swim will require a lighter lens due to visibility. However when considering your goggles, you must consider the sun glare and sun position when navigating. The lower the sun generally means you will need a darker lens so you can still see the swim buoy in the glare. Another consideration in cold water is to wear a silicone swim cap under your race cap. If your race is a triathlon relay (so a short swim of 300m max) and you are looking for time gains, you may consider not wearing a wetsuit to speed up your transition. In all other wetsuit scenarios (750m or 1500m swim race distances) it is generally better and faster to wear a wetsuit.

After making appropriate equipment choices, next it is important is to look at what each athlete MUST do, regardless of their physiological profile. Every discipline has some race skills that are vital for all.

Every athlete must aim to swim fast over the first 200-300m

Every athlete, regardless of their ability MUST approach the swim with the aim to swim the first 200-300m (usually the distance to the first swim buoy) as fast as you can. This is a non-negotiable requirement of triathlon racing, and requires specific training. You need to test for your critical speed and develop your technique and fitness so this comes down. Everyone needs to work on their first 200-300m speed. This start efficiency can also be developed through better dive skills, better drafting skills and smarter decisions on start position.

If you are Athlete A - a strong swimmer you must continue to work on your strength. You need to make it as difficult as possible for athletes to get on your feet at the start. Continue what you are doing, but do as little swimming as possible to remain the best, so you can concentrate on those disciplines you are not ‘Athlete A’ in.

If you are Athlete B - a weaker swimmer you must work on improving your critical speed. Improve your training through improving your skills and technique. You can only increase your volume so much in the swim before it impacts on your other disciplines in training. There is nothing wrong with training hard, but you must train efficiently. Your swim training program needs to include some sessions at threshold and critical speed off short rest - just as a race scenario requires. There are also simple things like improving your skills in the pool such as streamlining (better body position in the water) and breathing beyond the flags out of turns (controlled breathing techniques) will improve your open water swimming, because you are training efficiently. You also need to develop your kick. The advice to ‘save your legs’ is generally useless advice. There is no point saving your legs in the swim by not kicking and then finding yourself so far behind out of the water you are out of race contention. An athlete who is not a natural swimmer will generally need to kick more than a strong swimmer, because the front end of their stroke is not as efficient. Do all you can to remain in or close to the front of the field. If you look at the front swimmers, they are generally kicking hard to remain in front. You also need to race smart – work out which athletes to start near, improve your navigational skills and learn to dive well, to gain valuable seconds off the start. There is so much you can do, just by training effectively to improve your swim.

In the final scenario – Athlete C - the young developing athlete, you need to consistently train, work on your critical speed, work on all your skills as Athlete B above and be realistic in your expectations. Your biological age and race age need time, consistency and patience. When you are a younger athlete you need to understand the progression over time will come, but volumes in training need to be carefully monitored. Technique and skill are key, not excessive volumes.

Types of Triathlon Swim Starts

For every athlete, to have a fast start, it is important to consider the type of start…and there are 3 types, which you need to learn to master. They are -

  • The pontoon dive,
  • The beach start and
  • The least common in WT racing now – the deep water start.

Each start needs specific skill/s so you can get away cleanly….

Let’s look at each one:

The Beach Start

This requires a lot of skill and understanding of the ocean. If you are an athlete of type B or C, a beach start that is done well, provides a lot of opportunity to remain in contact with the calibre of an Athlete A. This is because of the advantages gained in getting out through the shore break quickly. When doing a beach start, you must run into the ocean using a wading technique. This requires you to lift your legs up and out of the water. To keep balanced and moving forward you swing your arms wide to maintain a forward momentum. Once the water depth reaches the point you can’t wade anymore, you can dive forward with arms outstretched. When you touch the bottom, grab the sand to ensure you are not pushed backward toward the shore as the waves come in.At the same time you push off with your legs and repeat. This is called ‘dolphining’ through the shore break. You need to tuck your head down when entering the water to ensure you are clearing the water surface and not entering too flat. Once you can’t easily touch the bottom anymore, you should start swimming. You will often still be in the shore break, so keep an eye on the waves rolling in. When you need to get through waves you should dive down again, grab the sand quickly with arms outstretched to avoid the pull back of the waves. Once cleanly through the break you swim and time your breathing to suit the swell and surface chop (ie – breathe away from the chop so you breathe air not water). These skills need practice, and practice is difficult if you live away from the ocean. It is for this reason, you should always swim on the course pre-race as often as possible. The waves on beaches often come in sets, so you can learn to predict when the waves are going to come and how many. Remember, racing well often just requires you to know more than those you are racing and act upon that knowledge, so nailing a swim start through simple surf skills is an excellent way to minimise the pure swim skills of an Athlete A.

The pontoon dive start

Learn to dive well and practice every week. The difference between a good and a poor dive can be a couple of seconds. If you do a poor dive, by the time you come up, you have already lost the feet of the leaders. If you do an efficient dive, you can out perform everyone and you give yourself an excellent chance of getting on the feet of the faster swimmers. Learn to streamline too so you can continue your dive into a good body position and swim stroke. Don’t forget in a multi lap swim there are two dives. The start requires a split stance from a stationary position with a sharp reaction time and the dive between laps requires an efficient running dive. Practice both.

The deep water start

Messy and awkward, this is a tough start. The best advice can be to ask good water polo players what skills they use and require. Learn to tread water and sprint (sculling with a strong kick off a sudden start). This can be practiced by not using the wall in the pool, and hitting your speed in some fast efforts (50’s or 100’s) as soon as you can.

How to select your position on the start line

With your start, the next decision is where to start on the start line.

Rule number 1 - you take the shortest line to the first turn.  

In considering this, you don’t just look at the distance of the turn from the pontoon, you must also consider any water current that could possibly assist you (or hamper you) in getting to the first turn. The top swimmers will always select either ends of the outside of the pontoon. Some are confident enough in their speed to choose to remain away from other swimmers, giving up the shortest line and they may take a longer route. Athlete B and C should always select the shortest line, because if you get your start right, the field will always come together at the first turn, and you should be in a better position to get amongst the front of the field. All athletes should be aware of who is where on the start line, so you can understand who is swimming where in the field as you enter the water. The middle of the pontoon tends to lead to the most interference in your stroke as the field closes in on the first turn, so try to avoid the middle. Sometimes you don’t have the luxury of choice – so this is where your skills in the dive, the start and your swim speed is again important. If you are an Athlete B or C your swim is about minimising the damage of the swim. Swim hard and fight to hold your position and know where particular swimmers are so you can work off them. You must learn to swim in congestion if you do not have swim speed to clear out of the main group. Stay focused on the task at hand and aim to swim aggressively not reactively.

In the swim

With the start behind you, the importance of your critical swim speed is now most apparent. Whatever speed you can hold will decide your position in the field. Your training should have a strong focus on ensuring you are able to hold a threshold pace for the remainder of the swim.

Once you have settled into this pace, your skills of navigating and drafting are vital. Athlete A needs to be efficient here to make advantage of their strengths over the rest of the field. Athlete B and C need to be efficient to minimise the damage. Like all things, navigating well takes practice. You need to develop a pattern of swimming, looking up and breathing that suits not only you, but also the environment you are racing in. You need to be adaptable – for example sometimes the surface chop will come in from the right, so you will need to breathe to the left more. Know the course so you don’t have to look up too often or there may be swimmers on you left that are interfering with your breathing, so you need to breathe to the right. With regard to navigating, there should be landmarks on the shore you can use to navigate that are often clearer and larger to see than the swim buoys. These you would have worked out pre-race during practice. Understand you need to kick when you look up, because your body position changes. Sometimes when drafting closely you can trust the swimmer in front and just concentrate on hanging on to their feet. Follow the broken water and bubbles, keep them close and look up less frequently. This allows you to chase and hold the pace more efficiently.

All these skills need to remain sharp throughout the swim. A loss in concentration can bring everything undone, so practice all your skills in the pool. Remain disciplined in training and your racing will come together.

FACT - The swim exit is as important as the swim start

At the end of the swim, the exit becomes just as important as the start. You need to be the most efficient line to the exit, which will always be the shortest line. If you are exiting onto a pontoon, check the exit – is it a ladder or ramp. A ramp you always swim until you touch the bottom. If it is a beach exit, check for waves as you approach the shore (look under your arm as you swim) and if you see a wave coming kick hard to get onto it. The skill of bodysurfing into shore is a great way to make up a time deficit in the swim. With a beach exit, you stand only when you can touch the bottom.

Is it worth mentioning, that for athletes B and C, any gaps can be somewhat recovered as they are no longer swimming and will be running, so staying focussed and choosing fastest routes can allow time to be gained compared to competitors for all types of athlete.

Exiting the swim well is very important, because you are starting the process of moving from the slowest discipline in triathlon to the fastest, and small gains in the swim can appear much bigger once on the bike, so really work on the process of doing this well. As with the start, the exit can become congested. The focus remains on getting out of the water as fast as possible

If you have any questions or comments to make on the swim please go to the forum here.

Emma


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