The First and Most Forgotten Discipline
Swim
Swimming is the sport we do the least, but should do the most. It’s a low impact exercise that can improve our endurance and aerobic capacity. All you have to do is jump in!
Tips for Getting Started Swimming
Getting in the water always seems to be difficult, whether it’s first time ever, first time of the season or the 50th time, it can be hard to motivate yourself. Here are some tips to start building the habit.
Go for time, not distance. Take the pressure off and go to the pool with the intention of just swimming for ‘x’ number of minutes. You may find yourself staying longer, but first get yourself there.
Ditch the watch. When we aim to hit goal times (us non-swimmers) get sloppy with form and forgo our best practices. In the beginning, go into your workouts without the watch and go off effort.
Record yourself. You will be shocked! Being able to have a short video of you swimming will quickly point out areas you need to improve and allow you to see how you progress.
Join a Master’s Program. Let others motivate you by joining a local Master’s Swim. For an inexpensive price you can have a coach assign your workouts and meet others in the sport!
Is one better than the other?
Open Water vs. Lap Swimming
Short answer, no.
Long answer, do whatever will get you in the water the most! Triathlon training is hard and time consuming, so you have to make it fun and enjoyable, it’s ok to ditch the training plan sometimes and pick what you prefer. If we have to skip a workout more often than not we choose swimming, the goal is not make that a habit and make sure we give swimming discipline the same amount of effort as the others.
There’s a time and place for both types anyway, I live in the Midwest so I can’t open water swim 70% of the year. I use the pool as my opportunity to work on my technique, to work on speed and to swim with a group at Master’s. I tend to prefer open water swimming, especially on hot summer days as it gets me outside enjoying the weather and allows me to practice in race conditions. I alternate wearing a wet suit and not to get used to the feeling and changes in my stroke, but to not depend on it. I have been part of plenty of races that have not been wetsuit legal and you can see athletes starting to sweat and get nervous because they’ve only prepared wearing it. It’s important to be versatile with your training and practice in lots of conditions because you never know what race morning will look like.
Get in the water as often as you can and you’ll be ahead of 70% of triathletes!