Entries tagged with “swimming” from TRI-ing harder

I have many half-baked theories on what motivates me and might motivate other people.  Here are some of my recent ones:

1. Train with others
This is something that everyone who's ever trained in a group knows - training with others works you harder than training on your own.  Obviously, this assumes you're all of a similar level, and all training as opposed to just out for a gentle bike ride to the pub... On your own, it's easy to back off, tell yourself you've done enough, or get lost in the moment and forget you're meant to be training (my mind wanders terribly when I'm swimming, for instance). 

But if there are others around you will be able to challenge each other. One of you lifts off but the other will keep pushing, if your buddy sprints up the hill you have to follow them.  And these little races make all the difference in turning a mediocre session into one that will have you vomiting at the end.

I often wonder how I'm going to fit in all of the training that I want to do. A few runs each week is easy, as are a couple of hundred kilometres on the bike. And a few thousand metres swimming is a doddle to do before or after work. But all three? In just seven days (or 8 in a leap year)? How does a humble, work-a-day triathlete like me fit it all in? Oh to be a mere runner.

Bert woke me at 7am this morning with the usual 'flap,flap, flap' on the letterbox which tells me that he and Ernie are still waiting for their breakfast. Normally this is a bit of a rude awakening, but with only a half bottle of wine last night, I felt surprisingly chipper, and the clear, bright blue sky made me feel good about the day.  I decided to do something useful. 

Sophie had helpfully reminded me yesterday that I need to work some more on my swim if I'm going to survive Windsor, and as I brewed my cup of tea I realised I only have 8 weeks before my first swim (at Blenheim), and only 9 weeks before Windsor!  I had found my something useful.

There's no white line on the bottom of the lake, and you don't often get a rope to guide you, so I always have trouble swimming in a straight line in open water.  Bearing that in mind here are my top tips for how to swim in a straight line:

1. Bi-lateral breathing
   When I learnt to swim at school, I was taught to swim every 4th stroke, and always breathe to the right hand side.  This makes for an inherently uneven swim stroke, and can tend to drag you to one side.   Learning to breathe every 3 strokes, and breathe on the right and the left can help you go straighter.
   
2. Look where you're going
   If you're swimming breastroke, you'll tend to go in a straight line, but because your head is underwater 90% of the time with front crawl, you'll find yourself swimming in circles unless you learn a technique known as sighting.  Before you start off in the direction of the next buoy, work out where it is in relation to something large and obvious in the landscape - a large tree or electricity pylon is good. Then  aim to look up every 10-15 strokes, either as part of your breathing motion, or by just slightly bringing your eyes to the surface, and see where your point of reference is.  Make small adjustments if you go off track rather than large movements which can be the start of a wild zig-zagging motion which can significantly increase the distance you end up swimming!