rubbish swimmer questions - Triathlon

gedgino

13/05/2011 at 17:28

Hi everyone...hope someone can give me some advice, not sure where the right place is but tried here!!!

i am the worst swimmer since eric the eel, and need some help.

i can run at a nice pace (1hr 45m hm) but want to move my training around a bit, so on a recent holiday started swimming. i couldnt even do front crawl so would do around half an hour of pretty slow breast stroke swimming.

is it worth bothering with the breast-stroke? any tips on how to improve it?

thanks

gingergav

13/05/2011 at 17:58

I only ever do breaststroke, even in Tri events. I hate doing crawl - I get out of breath and I make the pool look like a food mixer. I has a crawl lesson which took me from not being able to do a length to being able to do 4 lengths, but I still find breaststroke soooo much easier.

I just get in the pool and crack on - head under between breaths, about 8 lengths gently to warm up, then 16 lengths as fast as I can (still only about 9 minutes) then a few gentle, then another set of 16. Sometimes I just get in and do 40, 50, 60 lengths, even pace.

No doubt there will be lots of people out there who will recommend drills, etc but from a crap swimmer, just get in and have a go!

Doozer.

pirate

13/05/2011 at 19:14

get lessons and perservere with learning crawl, if you plan to do anything more than a sprint tri wise, doing breaststroke will be no good for your knees and running biking. You will get there in the end, and by the way, its not meant to be easy, thats why we do it!

Dustboy

pirate

14/05/2011 at 00:31

Doozer is an orsum swimmer. Listen to him.

kittenkat

pirate

14/05/2011 at 08:22

Another vote for persevering with crawl.

Bionic Ironwolf pirate

pirate

14/05/2011 at 14:44

and another.

Get thee over to the "Crap Swimmers R Us" thread for lots of encouragement and helpful tips. But primary help just has to be going to a coach for lessons, swimming by yourself is the quickest way to learn bad habits and a poor stroke.

gingergav

14/05/2011 at 17:13

They're right you know - told you I was a crap swimmer!

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