🏊 Getting comfortable in the water
Hey Athletes 🏋️,
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Hope you enjoy the first technical newsletter on swimming!
Remember when I said that you won’t be good at every discipline in triathlon? Well mine was swimming. Trust me, I get it - not everyone is born a Michael Phelps, myself included. This blog is going to walk (no pun intended) through:
🏊 Getting comfortable in the pool
🥽 Technical drills to improve
🌊 Mental side of the water
Let’s dive in (pun totally intended):
When I began triathlon, I’d never really swam before. Okay, that's dramatic. I’d swam and knew how, but I’d never swam competitively before. I didn’t have a base, like most kids I learned when I was little and got by from there.
Step 1: Lapping it Up
Knowing this, when I started all I did was laps. 5 by 50 meters, 10 by 50 meters etc. I truly was a horrible swimmer. I did this over and over so I could get myself to a point where I didn’t feel lost. An important note here is to be diligent to not create bad habits. During these short laps I focused on breathing, mental state, and being aware of my surroundings while submerged.
After an incredible amount of short rep repetition I move to the next step, improving my stroke.
Swimming is incredibly technical, and I knew nothing. For the first month I felt like I was drowning. Swimming isn’t as intuitive as biking or running for your body so you really have to start from scratch.
If I’m being completely open with my amazing newsletter community, I searched up “how to swim” and followed wikihow.com. This isn’t a joke. I felt like a 12 year old girl looking up “how to kiss” online. (not that I did that or anything)
Long story short the key to get comfortable in the pool is short lengths, over and over. I did this twice a week for a month.
Step 2: Stroke Perfection
First, envision a line down your center - keep those arms in check! Avoid crossing that imaginary line - this was a big mistake I was making early on.
Now that you’re comfortable you’re going to want to improve your stroke. More efficient stroke = more endurance = faster race.
I asked chatgpt to act like a professional olympic swim coach and describe what a good freestyle swim stroke should look like, and this is what they came back with:
A good freestyle swim stroke embodies a harmonious blend of power, efficiency, and rhythm. The swimmer's body remains aligned and streamlined, minimizing drag. The head is positioned neutrally, with eyes gazing downwards, ensuring efficient breathing with minimal head movement. Breathing is ideally bilateral (both sides), allowing for balance and reduced strain on one side.
The arm motion is a continuous, alternating windmill action. Upon entry, the hand slices the water fingertips-first, extending fully forward. The pull phase is robust, with the hand moving in an S-shaped path, maximizing propulsion. The arm then recovers above water, elbow leading, returning to the entry point in a relaxed manner.
Legs engage in a steady flutter kick, originating from the hips, with feet slightly pointed. The kick's amplitude is modest, maintaining the body's streamlined position.
Coordination between arms and legs is key, with a consistent, rhythmic stroke rate tailored to the swimmer's pace and endurance level.
So long story short, they ended up describing my swim stroke - so weird
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Pro Tip: Land Practice
Grab some resistance bands and mimic your stroke on dry land. It's weird but works wonders for your power and technique!
For more drills:
After you feel confident with your stroke, endurance training is the next step.
I did long swims, often longer distances than the Ironman race distance so I could get used to that endurance side. This wasn’t rare either. I did a lot of training sessions that were longer, because I knew I needed that for my body and my mind. It goes back to my first point, spend a lot of time in the pool.
Step 3: Time under tension
Swimming was my weakest of the three disciplines, so therefore I spent the most time on it. I know it sucks to do something you’re bad at, but the only way to get better it to practice - I recommend spending lots of time in the pool so you can build a strong fitness based for the summer season (and a strong bod) *wink wink*
This leads us to the final subject of the day:
How to mentally conquer the water better than I did.
The biggest thing I focused on to help my swimming anxiety was breathing. It’s crucial.
Technically speaking, breathe in when you bring your head above water, and breathe out underwater. This seems obvious, however, a lot of early swimmers breathe in and out when they’re above water,and hold their breath underwater. Trying to do both is difficult. It increases your heart rate and makes it so much more tiring to swim.
Not to mention the anxiety it can create.
📚Story time
During my first sprint race I got a panic attack in the water - forcing myself to backstroke the rest of the leg. What made it better is my dad and I were watching the race before where pointed out someone doing backstroke in the water… KARMA
Treat Yourself 🍭
In order to convince myself to get into the pool everyday I made sure I rewarded myself.
The rules I followed:
Always get a sweet treat after the pool
Highlights: croissants and scones
I always had a mini spa the day after. Took a long hot shower, did my hair and relaxed.
This allowed me to convince myself to get in that water. Frankly, I don’t like swimming. It sucks. But everyday we have to do hard things in order to get better.
To summarize:
Get comfortable in the pool
Practice your stroke in the water and on land
Spend a lot of time in the pool to make your endurance ironclad
Reward yourself for doing the discipline you hate
Not everything will be easy, but that’s why we do it.
Challenge yourself this week and I’ll see you soon,
Happy holidays everyone!
Q&A:
Question: What’s your favorite bathing suit?
Answer: I wear the brand funkita for swimsuits. Their prints are so fun - it’s an Aussie brand!
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