Learning to swim

Just recently I went through my notes from my beginning days of triathlon and figured it might be useful to share with the world what worked for ME when it came to learning how to swim. I had a few breakthrough moments that changed my swim experience dramatically- for the better. It's almost embarrassing to admit what I was doing wrong, but there's a chance that someone else out there is doing it too. Also- I'm not coming to you as a swim coach, I'm coming to you as a graduated guppy.



When I first signed up for a series of triathlons, my coach asked me what my weakness was.

-"Running, I don't know how to run"

-Do you know how to swim?

-"Yeah, I had a pool growing up."

-But...do you know how to swim? What strokes do you know.

-"Huh?"

Breakthrough moment #1: Realizing I don't know how to swim. I can honestly say that I didn't think about how I was going to get from point A from point B once I got in the water. I just knew that I didn't have a fear of swimming, therefore, I knew how to swim. I was wrong. I googled search "triathlon swimming" and realized I would have to learn "freestyle" which in my past experience had been defined as "do whatever you want". I watched a few videos and realized that there was no use in me trying to teach myself, I would just show up to the pool and learn from the best.

The first time I swam was breakthrough moment #2: It doesn't matter how fit you are, swimming for the first time is hard. I was able to get from one end of the pool to the other but didn't realize that we were expected to turn around and do it again, and again, and again. This was going to take work. As I struggled in the water week after week, I worked on perfecting my stroke. I took all the tips I could get. Just when I thought I was getting good, I was told by a teammate that I was kicking too much.

Breakthrough moment #3. Kicking too much takes energy. The purpose of your kick is mostly to just keep your body at the surface of the water. It was easier to pull with my arms to move myself forward instead of wasting energy on my kick.

During a swim later that month I had breakthrough moment #4: Breathing can be controlled. This was a big one. I'm afraid to admit it, but I swam for several months focusing on blowing bubbles out of my nose as soon as I put my face back in the water after taking a breath. Here's where I went wrong- I would blow the bubbles out as fast I could and would be dying for my next breath just seconds later. I listened to a podcast by David Warden where he mentioned that holding your breath for a few seconds before slowly exhaling the air would allow you to 1-Stay buoyant for longer with air in your body and 2-Give you more time to lengthen your stroke before taking another breath. The first time I realized that I had the power to hold my breath and control my exhale was one of my greatest moments in the pool.

Breakthrough moment #5: Catch means catch. I was told that I wasn't "catching". I had learned that the part of the stroke when you bend your arm and bring it back towards your toes was your catch. Not gonna lie, I just figured that was what they called it. I hadn't really thought about why it was called a catch. In order to move forward you need to GRAB that water and push yourself forward. Catch it. Feel it. The big moment came when Andrea, my swim coach took my hand, and moved it exactly in the way that I was supposed to be executing the beginning of my catch. "This is how you enter the water... (this is where she did something magical, just turned my cupped hand ever so slightly and said...) this is how you catch". I tried it in the water and man, oh man, it was a different experience in the water. Instead of complaining about how exhausted I was, I was complaining that my muscles were sore. This was a good thing! I was finally working muscles that hadn't been used prior to learning the catch.

Breakthrough moment #6: Aerodynamic swimming. Before you criticize, I know this doesn't make sense. In swim world, they call it streamlining, in bike world it's all about aerodynamics. (I like biking more than I like swimming. So I prefer to talk in bike terms.) What's your goal? You want to go faster and you don't want to work harder for it. This is where what I like to call Aero Swimming comes into play. When you push off the wall- are you streamlined? In my little imagination I always think that I will keep on moving forward. If I stop in the water, something I did stopped me. So, what is it? Did my hips sink? Did my left arm resurface when it entered the water? (picture the "talk to the hand" motion people did in the 90's). Did I stick my head up? There's always something I am doing that prevents me from getting the most distance out of each stroke. If I stay "aero" in the water, I'll glide more.

Breakthrough moment #7: Flipturns aren't a waste of time. I always knew that flipturns were the fancy schmancy trick of the real swimmers. Most triathletes (usually the ones that didn't know how to to flip turns) would say, "there aren't walls in open water, you don't need to learn them". Here's the thing- we swim in a pool several times a week. We care about our times. There are a hundred reasons why life is easier with flip turns but the big question is- is it worth the time to learn them? Yes. Flip turns help improve your lung capacity. You have to take that last breath, approach the wall, flip, streamline off the wall and resurface before your next breath. This goes with breakthrough moment #4.

Breakthrough moment #8: You can teach an old dog new tricks. I've been swimming for 2 years now and I often worry that I'm not capable of fixing the bad habits I have started. However, during my swim test 2 days ago I realized that my left arm, my lame arm, my weak arm was failing me (like usual). I glanced at my hand during my stroke and realized that I had my fingers spread apart. I brought them closer together and discovered that I was actually getting a good catch on my left side. It hurt because I was working harder than I was used to but I was moving faster!

These moments are just a few of many. Every workout is a learning experience. Maybe this is common knowledge to swimmers, but like I said, I was queen of the guppies!