Hi Scott,

I'm definitely no expert here but have swum and played sports since I was a kid, currently training for a half ironman. A friend of mine with a strong running background decided to do an Olympic tri a few years ago and really struggled with the swimming idea; in fact he was quite similar to yourself from the sounds of it. Anyway he swum 2-3 times a week on his own and I spent a few sessions with him just watching and making suggestions on his technique to improve his swimming efficiency (which I'd liked to think helped!). He felt quite comfortable doing breastroke, just not so much with freestyle. Anyway, before he went to the tri I suggested that if at any time he felt too tired or struggling from not enough oxygen/poor technique he should just revert back to some strokes of breaststroke until he got his breath back and he felt comfortable enough to continue freestyle. He did this, made it through the swim in a pleasing time and then kicked butt on the bike and run.

Anyway, from this experience I'd suggest at least a couple of swim sessions fork out for a private coaching session so someone can suggest techniques to make you more efficient in the water and maybe even recommend a couple of different swim program ideas (eg. pyramid intervals for endurance, drill sets, kick, pull etc).

Apart from that, have confidence in what you are doing; 2-3 times a week should be fine to get through the spri ntdistance swim. If you have a swim stroke you feel more comfortable doing - breaststroke, sidestroke, even backstroke - include those in some parts of your swim training (doing different stokes works a wider range of muscles anyway). Use them in the race as your "fallback stroke" if you want to as well - just as a person such as me (aka a swimmer not a runner) will use walking as my "fallback" for the run in my tri if I really have to, you can do the same in the swim. It's your first tri so don't put any pressure on yourself to finish in a time - making the distance any way you can is what counts, what does it matter how long it takes? Believe me there will be other people just like you in the race, hangin' out at the "social" end of the pack in the swim only to work their way back up through the pack in their more comfortable legs (and pass those swimmers)! I hope you enjoy it, I'm sure you'll do just fine!

Without seeing you, it's hard to tell what's going on. One thing I might suggest is slowing down. If you're having problems breathing, go slower. Go slow enough to not run out of breath. Keep going at that pace until you successfully swim without having to roll over.

My little brother did 2 sprints last summer, and I don't think he ever swam more than 100m without stopping (races included!). At the triathlon he would swim from one lifeguard to the next and stop to rest at their board. He wasn't the only one doing this, so you will not be alone.

I just gave him the Total Immersion book at Christmas, and he said it has a lot of good tips. One of his main problems that I noticed is that when his head is in the water, he exhales very little, nor not at all. He waits until his head is above water to exhale and inhale. I'm not sure if this is common for beginning swimmers, or unique to him.

Experience will bring you a long way by the time your triathlon arrives. Just stick with the training and you will begin to feel much more comfortable with the water, and you will learn how to breathe appropriately. Having a coach look at your stroke is always a good thing, but I think just spending time in the water will be enough since you are so inexperienced with it. Good luck! Swimming is a blast once you get it down

That's what I hear.......my buddy (a swimmer) told me that most of the competitive ones swim 6-7 days a week and that just being in the water a lot can help your form (to a certain degree) but with my level of horrible technique even time is a great coach

luckily, the pool I go to is a primarily deserted, heated, public pool......the last two saturdays Ive gone it has been me and 4 lifeguards for an hour and half.......they're all so bored they can't help coaching me :)

thanks for the encouragement

I apologize for the confusion, the reason I'm there so long is I have to rest a good while between repeats and becuase I swim pretty slow

I take turns really focusing on different aspects of my stroke and trying to keep all the others there as well.....

it's gotten a lot better and now leaning side to side is getting more natural as is my head position but i have a long way to go

Hi Scott,
I was in pretty much the same place as you this time last year, I totally understand where you are at!! I remember the sense of pride the first time I swam 4 lengths in a row without stopping... that's how bad of a swimmer I was!! My first season training in the pool I pretty much churned out lengths until I became 'comfortable' enough to complete 750m. I completed my swim at my race with a distinct 'I hate swimming' feeling; I finished but man it took a lot out of me!! I gave swimming a rest for a few weeks, only to discover I really wanted to do more triathlons, but decided I needed some serious work on the swim part. I went to a Total Immersion instructor for a 3 hour session, by far the best money I have ever spent. As a result over the last 3 months I've pretty much developed an entirely new stroke, and taken almost 2 minutes off my 750 m time. So... you can continue to churn out lengths until you are 'comfortable' or get some instruction, TI or not and really learn good technique. If you are serious about doing more than just one season of Tris it will be a good investment, I went from hating the swim to really enjoying it. I may not be super fast just yet, but I've got a good base now and I can see a future in triathlons for me!! Best of luck to you.