Triathlon swimming made easy (27 page)

Chapter 20

Dress Rehearsal

I have only 10 minutes of wetsuit experience, but after swimming with a group of triathletes — most of them novice swimmers — during a TI triathlon camp in late August of 2000,1 learned priceless lessons about how rehearsal and a wetsuit
strategy
can put any triathlete in the driver's seat. Although you will assuredly swim faster with a wetsuit, that will not be the most important factor. The ease and control you can gain will be far more critical to your overall race experience.

We began the camp, in Killington, Vermont, with several days devoted to mastering the drills presented in the Lessons section, and had done little whole-stroke swimming before we went to Chittenden Reservoir to test those pool lessons. At the reservoir, the coaches swam without wetsuits; the campers — several of whom had never swum outside the "friendly confines" of a pool before — were neoprene-clad. Our first reservoir session was limited to brief distances (60 to 100 strokes) simply to acclimate to swimming without lanes and walls — and to the disorientation and general unease t
hat often comes with that. For the first 30 minutes, we practiced a variety of SSPs, mainly to get everyone so focused on technique that they wouldn't pause to think: "Where's the wall?" Then we spent another 30 minutes learning basic navigation skills: how to sight without interrupting your rhythm and flow and how to closely follow other swimmers. We swam slowly so everyone could maintain comfortable proximity over the short distances we traversed.

Two days later, we returned for a final open-water rehearsal before the Vermont State Triathlon Championships, which would be the "final exam" for our 6-day camp. Our plan was to swim a triangular course of about 1200 meters. The first leg was roughly 300 meters to a well-marked rocky point on the reservoir's eastern shore. Then, after reconnoitering, 600 meters to a boathouse on the west shore, before returning the final 300 meters to the boat ramp from which we started.

On the first leg, two or three faster swimmers (those with competitive swimming experience) took off at a brisk pace. Immediately, most of the 20-odd other campers, anxious not to get left behind, took up the chase. And just as quickly, all the week's hard-won lessons in efficiency were forgotten, as most degenerated into churning. There were many discouraged looks and heaving chests at our first checkpoint. Before beginning the long east-west leg, I reminded everyone of our mantra: "Never practice struggle." My instructions were to swim as slowly as necessary to cultivate a sense of comfort
and control. "Just start at a leisurely pace — like a warmup — and find a rhythm that you can maintain indefinitely. Keep the group in sight,
but don't try to keep up.
Do whatever it takes to stay relaxed and in control. Focus on one SSP if it helps. If you feel yourself getting rough,
slow down,
until you 'find your groove' again."

Immediately, the difference in "group flow" was marked. From my vantage point bringing up the rear, it was evident that splashing and flailing had been transformed into smooth, controlled movement. And the group did a much better job of staying together, despite the increased swimming distance. When we gathered again, satisfied smiles had replaced long faces. "That actually felt good," someone said.

After a brief stop, we began the final 300-meter leg. When everyone had finished, there was palpable
elation
over what they had done and how they felt. Several stood on the boat ramp surveying the course and shaking their heads. "I can't believe we just swam that far. Not only that, I could go back out right now and do it again." Which is just what several did, wading back in to do another quarter mile, one saying, "That felt so good, I just want to keep swimming."

Back at the lodge that night, we reviewed the lessons learned:

1. No matter how much you may have practiced efficiency in the pool, once the horn sounds, it's easy to lose your wits. All your instincts — not just competitive, but
survival —
are warning you not to fall back, lest you find yourself
alone
out there. Chasing the leaders (or anyone in front of you) is your main thought.

2. Unless you have a
lot
of experience in swimming races (and I mean at a fairly high level), and particularly in open -water racing, chasing quickly degenerates into churning, which brings rapid exhaustion, anxiety, loss of any sense of control, and
no material gain in speed.

3. If you just stop chasing and find your own best, sustained, pace, you swim a lot better with a lot less effort.

Tortoises Swim Better than Hares

You wouldn't try to run with a world-class runner, or cycle with a world-class biker. This is even truer in the water, not just in how fast you may swim, but particularly in how
hard.
Your swimming experience dictates your race plan, and there are only a couple dozen athletes in the entire triathlon universe who have enough swimming experience to swim hard and not blow the whole race. Swimmers such as Joanna Zeiger and Sheila Taormina had
millions
of yards — in training and racing — to learn to tolerate high heart rates and stroke rates without blowing up before they ever raced a triat
hlon. But
every
triathlete can learn, right now, how to use a wetsuit intelligently to gain control and save critical energy. Toward that end, here's how you can turn a wetsuit to your advantage.

• First, a wetsuit takes away the feeling that you have to keep your arms turning over just to keep from sinking. Take advantage of that by relaxing, and enjoy the wonderful and rare security of feeling completely supported by the water.

• Once you feel supported, it becomes much easier to use your arms to lengthen your bodyline. Glide your hand forward — almost as if stretching for something just out of reach — before anchoring your hand for the pull. This will keep your stroke tempo feeling almost leisurely.

• Particularly in the first 100 to 200 meters, stay
well
within yourself. Go even slower than you think necessary until nervousness dissipates and you feel calm and in control. Use that control to focus on one or two of your favorite SSPs.

• Once you "find your groove," don't be tempted to go faster if you think it feels too easy. Just float along behind someone moving at what feels like a pace you could sustain indefinitely. At the end of the day, you'll gain far more time if you just keep your heart rate down, than if you try to catch or stay with faster swimmers. I promise you'll find yourself passing dozens of competitors on
the bike or run if you swim more economically than they do. In fact, you'll probably pass quite a few of them during the latter stages of the swim — without even trying — simply because as you just keep moving at your relaxed, steady pace, the hares will come back to you.

Focal Points for Wetsuit Wearers

1. Because balance will become a "no-brainer," you won't have to focus on
swimming downhill.
Your hips and legs should be light and riding high.

2. Even though you won't pay as heavy a penalty for it, you should still avoid a high head position. Your movements will be smoother and more fluent because your body likes head-spine alignment and is designed to work best that way. So keep looking down as you swim — except when getting your bearings.

3. Keep focused on lengthening your body with each stroke. Let the pull part of the stroke happen on its own, while you attentively slide each hand into the water and extend it, like putting your arm into a sleeve. Once your stroking hand passes your head, shift your attention to the one extending forward.

4. Set and change your stroke tempo in the core. Maintain a comfortable pace with a relaxed body-rolling tempo. If you want to go a little faster, do it by moving your belly-button faster, not your arms and legs.

5. Avoid over-swimming and loss of control by making sure you feel your hands are moving at the same speed as your body. Swim with your whole body as a unit, not with your arms and legs.

Chapter 21

Open-Water Practice

Each summer, I divide my swimming between an outdoor 50meter pool in New Paltz, and several lakes in the nearby Shawangunk Mountains. At the pool, I swim at slack times, with no lane lines so I sometimes have to weave through other bathers, providing "open-water practice" of a sort. I further simulate open-water in the pool by doing of the following:

Swimming "blind." Swimming 50-meters without lane lines tests how straight I swim when not following a line. As I take 30 to 40 strokes per length, I may swim 20-plus strokes with my eyes closed and see how far I've wandered from the line where I started. This will help me pick a frequency for sighting when I race.

Sighting. Once or twice each length, I can breathe and sight to the front, specifically practicing my ability to maintain balance and rhythm as I do. I can combine this with blind swimming — opening my eyes only when I lift my head — for an even more accurate simulation of the open water experience. (More guidance below.)

Drafting. I sometimes "draft" a few friends to swim with me and we practice close-order drafting, swimming in tight single file down the pool, with the leader dropping to the end at each wall. (More detail to follow.)

Porpoise. At the shallower end of the pool, I (or we) can begin the length with 3 or 4 porpoises before we begin stroking. We work on
efficient, low-angle porpoising — channeling energy forward as we dive toward the bottom and back toward the surface, and on grabbing the bottom and pushing off quickly.

At one lake, I swim with a dozen or so triathletes (most wearing wetsuits), which offers the opportunity to rehearse situations I might encounter in a race. Each lake crossing is nearly 400 meters; we cross 6 to 8 times each session. I choose a specific focus for each crossing, which gives my lake practice far more value than if I just swam for time or distance. Here are the important ones:

Look This Way

Without a line to follow, any swimmer will eventually travel in a circle; the best swimmers in a 10-mile
circle, others within the turning radius of a VW. In open water, you stay the course by occasionally sighting on landmarks, buoys, or swim caps. Practice can help you do that without losing your balance and flow. Here's what I practice:

Look less often. When your technique improves, you'll swim straighter. I often swim considerable distances without looking. It usually takes me about 320 strokes to cross the lake (yes, I count even there), so I'll often begin by taking 100 "blind" strokes (without checking my bearings) to see how straight I swim. If I've gone considerably off, I'll take fewer strokes before looking again. This gives me a sense of how
often to sight in a race.

Sight smart. As we swim westward, our target is a dead tree angled into the water. Coming east, we swim toward a dock. Complicating the westward trip is sun glare that obscures the dead tree until we move into shadow, about 50 meters from the shore. How do I sight for the first 350 meters? On the bluff above the shore the treeline dips slightly just right of the spot we're aiming for. So I sight on the dip in the treeline until we reach the shadows. Heading east, the dock isn't clearly visible until the last 100 meters, so I use two buildings behind it, one a bit to its rig
ht and one to its left, to "triangulate." While warming up for a race, check for landmarks and other features that can help guide you when visibility is compromised.

Sight seamlessly. Sometimes the lake is almost as calm as pool water. When it is, I practice "surfing" my goggles barely over the surface, using my extending arm for support as I lift my head up and forward. Staying that low is far less tiring than holding my head aloft for several strokes in a row, but I may not get a completely clear picture. This sighting style is so easy to fit into my normal stroke rhythm that if I didn't get a complete picture, I assemble one by taking a series of "snapshots." And when windchop kicks up on the lake, I adjust by lifting just a bit higher or by
taking more snapshots. These techniques help me maintain seaml
ess balance and flow.