I've signed up for a triathlon in August and have started hitting the pool 2-3 days a week. But man I suck in the pool. Very frustrated with it. Years of floating around in the pool and drinking beers do not equate to being Michael Phelps in the water apparently.

I don't feel gassed as I initially did, but man I am really struggling with breathing technique in the water. I've tried a snorkel to get more swimming strokes in, flippers help some but I still struggle when I'm not using that stuff. Googled a ton but there's a lot out there and wanted to try Texags.

Any advice on the breathing aspect? How do I not feel like I'm dying 20 meters down the pool?

I'm in the same boat. Signed up for a sprint in July and the open water swim had me concerned... especially if I was getting gassed after a few laps and hanging on the wall. There is no wall in an open water swim.

A triathlete friend of mine reminded me to focus on keeping the heart rate down... and to start by swimming just fast enough that you don't drown. Right or wrong- that totally worked for me. I slowed waaay down and now I can easily do the distance... albeit slower than I'd like. But I figure once you can nail the distance without stopping (I usually tread water at the wall and turn... but don't hang on the wall or push off)... then you can focus on pace. You'll learn what your heart rate will react to over time and when to scale back to more of an endurance pace. My $.02 anyway. I'm interested in other feedback.

I'm a right side breather, can't go left, though being able to go either side is far better. Once resigned to right side only things got easier for me. Practice your strokes per breath ratio to find what works best for you. Learn to exhale with your face still in the water, and inhale on the head turn, if you try to do both on the head turn you'll be gassed pretty quickly. You can even do a controlled slow exhale the entire time your face is down. Good videos exist (Triathlon Taren on youtube is a good source for all things tri), but a coach and some lessons would be the best way to go.

I was in the same boat. I couldn't swim 50 yds without being gassed. I'm doing 6,000 yd workouts now, feel like I never get tired in the water.

If you can, do a couple sessions with a coach or a masters program. Just to get eyes on your stroke and they can give you drills to work on.

Reaffirming the above to make sure you're exhaling under water. Slightly disagreeing about being a right or left side breather. I used to do that but now breathe every three strokes. I think it's made me quicker and also the flexibility makes me more comfortable. If I'm doing a tri and waves are coming from my right I'm ok to breathe to the left, etc.

If you don't want to pay for a coach or masters program look up some YouTube videos. Some drills that helped me and that I still do are an elbow up finger drag drill, catch up drill, kick drill, pull buoy, and hand paddles.

And I'm far from an expert, so may be completely wrong, but I don't think you should be using a snorkel at this point. Your breathing is what's holding you back and what's most important right now.

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If you can, do a couple sessions with a coach or a masters program. Just to get eyes on your stroke and they can give you drills to work on.

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This. Biggest mistake I made in triathlon was trying to figure the swim out on my own.

Slow down your swimming. Keep swimming and practicing. It will get better in a month or 3.

DoubleOught-BMA said:

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I'm in the same boat. Signed up for a sprint in July and the open water swim had me concerned... especially if I was getting gassed after a few laps and hanging on the wall. There is no wall in an open water swim.

A triathlete friend of mine reminded me to focus on keeping the heart rate down... and to start by swimming just fast enough that you don't drown. Right or wrong- that totally worked for me. I slowed waaay down and now I can easily do the distance... albeit slower than I'd like. But I figure once you can nail the distance without stopping (I usually tread water at the wall and turn... but don't hang on the wall or push off)... then you can focus on pace. You'll learn what your heart rate will react to over time and when to scale back to more of an endurance pace. My $.02 anyway. I'm interested in other feedback.

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It is worth noting that there will be kayaks and paddle boards to grab onto. I had to grab onto the last one at captex a couple years ago so I could throw up. (Note to self: smaller breakfast on race morning).

Not training for a tri, but just want to chime in about how hard swimming is.

All of my swimming now is in the river. There's a point where I can swim across that's probably about 30yds or so... good grief, between the distance, and the slight current, it almost kills me! And I feel so... sloppy? I can't crawl all the way across, I have to switch to a breaststroke or side stroke at about halfway.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Great stuff.

I was amazed how helpful the fins were when I tried my buddy's. It allowed me to actually move through the water without flailing my arms.

You just need to get comfortable in the water. I went from not swimming more than a lap to an ironman in less than a year.

Take lessons if you can. But just keep practicing. The learning curve is an odd shape for swimming. I think it's slow gowing at first then you make a very quick jump to the intermediate stage once you get comfortable breathing and then its slow going to go beyond that. Getting lessons now will shorten your learning curve later on.

I took a tri class about 15-18 years ago where we focused almost exclusively on swimming. We had a guy that was a Pan Am games participant teaching us and another guy who had swam in college. One thing they taught me is that what you (i.e. the novice swimmer) THINK you see when watching TV, and what you actually DO in the water, isn't really how competitive swimmers swim. You don't swim on top of the water but "cut" through the water at an angle. Go look at the sides of a recent model car and see how the sides are angled in for aerodynamics. THAT is what you're trying to imitate in the pool. You do that by reaching further in front of you than you think you would.

Don't swim like you're chasing a water polo ball and may have to look up to find it.

With all that said, I'm not anywhere near a top level swimmer. The only thing top level I can do as it relates to a pool is win a cannonball competition. (Actually mastered that at a young age; weight helps but, like it football or boxing, technique is important too!)

Boy have i been there. My wife signed me up for the Aggieland Tri back in 2015. I had never swam a lap in my life. I practiced for about 3 months beforehand and it was a disaster. I couldnt swim 50 m without dieing. Over the years, i worked my butt off to get comdortable. My 1st OWS wasnt great and i ended up breast stroking as my goggles fogged and i struggled to see where i was going. Swimming in a pool is hard, OWS is very, very hard.

My advice:
1. Decide which side you are comfortable breathing on, and just do that side. Learn to breathe the other side at a later date.

2. Breathe every stroke. You need the oxygen. Plus its simple.

3. I never knew this but exhale under water, inhale when your head is on the side. I had thought you hold your breathe under water....boy was i wrong. This was big to learn.

4. Learn how to relax and just move your body, but keep stress low. You wont win a triathlon in the swim, but you sure can lose one. Learning to just relax, move arms is critical.

5. Dont worry so much about kicking. Save your legs for biking and running.

6. Learn to be comfortable with waves, running into people, people swimming onto you, figuring out how to get around people, etc. Fighting traffic in a triathlon is half the battle.

7. Learn how to sight. Seeing in a swim is very, very hard. The water is usually dark, so you only see when breathing or sighting. It will help you swim straighter.

8. Did i mention relax?

I still dont like the swim very much, but after 4 OWS races i finally had my best one 2 weeks ago for the Galveston IM 70.3. My workouts are now 1600 to 2400 m swims without too many issues.

Much respect to the IM'ers on here. Damn. Still wrapping my brain around that feat.

All this.

Get a coach. Swimming is the hardest part to learn. Worth it to have coaching if you want to get faster quickly.

I did a sprint years ago and took the "I'm an athlete/cyclist/runner so all I have to do is use as much energy as possible for the swim and not drown".

It was a poor plan....I had the second slowest swim time for my age group. My monster bike time (1st in age group by a wide margin) and run (3rd in age group) still didn't make up for the horrible swim.

wcb said:

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Sweep4-2 said:

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Get a coach. Swimming is the hardest part to learn.

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It's probably the only physical endeavor I've ever attempted that "trying harder" resulted in worse performance.

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To me it is a lot like golf. Trying harder =/= better. Only spending time on proper form/technique will give you improvements. I can't tell you how many fat guys pass me in the pool due to great form.

Yeah, golf's a great example. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (my primary sport) is much the same. Trying harder just gets ya' choked out faster generally.

I couldnt help but laugh at this. So true.

I thought id add a few lessons i learned in my OWS races:

1. 1st one was 400 m, wave start in a lake. I decided to start at the back, which was good. I had someone to my left i was following. Water was dark, so that freaked me out a bit. Wasnt a problem till i had to turn and i couldnt tell where i was. Ended up breast stroking and side stroking the last half.

2. Next race was CapTex. I jumped in and went into immediate shock unprepared for the cold temp. Luckily i had on a wetsuit and forced myself to just move my arms. I swam to the outside of the pack and finally got in a groove.

3. Next race was Kerrville. Water temp was great, no wetsuit. All was good till someone swam over me and i lost my composure. I had to roll to my back and backstroke till i could calm down and get back in groove.

Learn how to keep composure, avoid sprinting just because your in a race. Know your pace, better to start slow and pick up pace as you get into a groove. Know how to turn over and relax if you get into trouble. Despite what it feels like, you are moving.

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2. Next race was CapTex. I jumped in and went into immediate shock unprepared for the cold temp. Luckily i had on a wetsuit and forced myself to just move my arms. I swam to the outside of the pack and finally got in a groove.

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Second this. I did oilman 70.3 last October and it was cold. You could see the panic attack in my hr. It was higher when I entered the water than the rest of the race. It will now be part of my prerace procedure to pour some cold water over my head. I've noticed it helps a little even when getting in the water at the pool

agcivengineer said:

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Boy have i been there. My wife signed me up for the Aggieland Tri back in 2015. I had never swam a lap in my life. I practiced for about 3 months beforehand and it was a disaster. I couldnt swim 50 m without dieing. Over the years, i worked my butt off to get comdortable. My 1st OWS wasnt great and i ended up breast stroking as my goggles fogged and i struggled to see where i was going. Swimming in a pool is hard, OWS is very, very hard.

My advice:
1. Decide which side you are comfortable breathing on, and just do that side. Learn to breathe the other side at a later date.

2. Breathe every stroke. You need the oxygen. Plus its simple.

3. I never knew this but exhale under water, inhale when your head is on the side. I had thought you hold your breathe under water....boy was i wrong. This was big to learn.

4. Learn how to relax and just move your body, but keep stress low. You wont win a triathlon in the swim, but you sure can lose one. Learning to just relax, move arms is critical.

5. Dont worry so much about kicking. Save your legs for biking and running.

6. Learn to be comfortable with waves, running into people, people swimming onto you, figuring out how to get around people, etc. Fighting traffic in a triathlon is half the battle.

7. Learn how to sight. Seeing in a swim is very, very hard. The water is usually dark, so you only see when breathing or sighting. It will help you swim straighter.

8. Did i mention relax?

I still dont like the swim very much, but after 4 OWS races i finally had my best one 2 weeks ago for the Galveston IM 70.3. My workouts are now 1600 to 2400 m swims without too many issues.

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Great post. A couple of things I would say:

2. Absolutely. Once you start to build up lactic acid because you aren't breathing enough, you go down fast, your form gets worse, etc. Breathing other than with every stroke is for experienced people doing swim laps, etc. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. In open water swimming, if I only use one side, I tend to start to swim "off-line". Practice in a pool with your eyes closed and see how long it takes before you get off course. Also get a feel for which side you naturally "pull" yourself towards, as you will want to correct for that in the open water. Personally, in open water I like to breathe 20 times or so to one side, then site, maybe do a couple breast strokes to regroup, then breathe the same number of times to the opposite side. Zigzagging is stupid and wasteful.
5. I am pretty "leg heavy" and tend to sink my back end in the water if I don't kick enough. Give yourself just enough kick to maintain bouyancy, but definitely save the legs for the bike and run.
6. It's almost inevitable that if you have a wave start, you will be running into people. You'll get kicked in the face. You might even have your goggles knocked off. The first tri I did had 50 men my age going out at once, and the course went out 100 yards then made a right angle turn. Before we went out, some guy was joking and looked around and said, "OK, men I want a fair fight. No hitting below the belt, no...." I laughed. A minute later I realized he was only somewhat kidding.
8. On race day, you will tend to be nervous and "pumped up". That's great for the bike and the run, not so great for the swim.

Enjoy

How does one find a swim coach or is there a recommendation for Round Rock?

Mule_lx said:

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How does one find a swim coach or is there a recommendation for Round Rock?

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I met Casey Arendt with Go the Distance Coaching through the Waco Tri Club and she helped me a few times over the years on my way from Sprint to IM (she's based out of RR but travels between Austin and Waco regularly).

I started out watching YT and teaching myself to swim in the shallow end but it takes a lot of patience and self awareness.

The worst thing I see new swimmers do is focus more on getting to the other side of the pool and lose focus of their balance in the water. I think the pencil drill is fantastic in readjusting one's view from "my stroke is keeping me from sinking/drowning" to "I'm buoyant; my stroke is pulling me forward."

Learn your body's natural balance in the water and what it feel like to keep your heels up at the water line
Learn what an efficient stroke looks like; then how it feels to grab a palm and forearm full of water and press it behind you using your back muscles.
Once you get a good pull, you'll feel it help rotate your hips; connect it with the recovery of your other arm and find that little window to grab a breath with just a subtle over rotation of the head - NO lifting your chin further from your chest or your hips/feet will drop.

I'm not a fast swimmer but I swim a solid 1:50/100yrd in calm OW because I swim relaxed and choose to focus my energy on the bike.

Anyone have experience with a swim coach in Katy area?

I can swim all day with a snorkel and fins. Still suck at breathing without a snorkel though. I'm still looking for a coach as well.

AgFB said:

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I can swim all day with a snorkel and fins. Still suck at breathing without a snorkel though. I'm still looking for a coach as well.

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Fins are a huge advantage when swimming, in terms of providing propulsion and in terms of maintaining buoyancy. Your statement MIGHT suggest that your kick (without fins) is really inefficient and you are spending a lot of energy with your legs without much benefit, which makes you tired. It also won't help you with the second and third stages of your tri, as is stated many times above.

Maybe try something:
Start off your swim sessions with a short kick board. Go into Superman position, holding the kick board in front of you with both arms extended onto the board (snorkel or not, doesn't much matter). Swim 50 meters using only your legs. Start your kick with your core, not your calves. Rest a bit. Then put the kick board away and swim until you get tired. When you get tired, all of your form goes to hell, and then you start just reinforcing bad form. Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. Definitely find a coach.

Reading all this makes me realize triathlons are so heavily biased towards the bike/run. Do any tri races exist which have more of an equal time between each discipline?

Swimming is just different. I feel like I'm a pretty strong swimmer, or at least I was before my race was canceled and I became a lazy tub of lard. No way I could swim for 5 damn hours. I feel like even if you could, being horizontal for that long would have some pretty drastic effects

If you did not swim a lot when you where younger it is a long curve. My tri coach had me swimming 3 times a week almost year round. Getting comfortable in the water takes time. I am for doing shorter intervals and working your way up to longer swims. Also change it up, my Mondays were more drills and recovery swims (with every 4 weeks a timed 1000), Wednesday were longer intervals (normally 200s-400 repeats) and Fridays were speed intervals.

Look at getting a coach or joining a masters class.

Swimming builds a lot of fitness and doesn't tear down the body like running or biking so swim as often as you can. Yes you are extremely winded when you get out but if you have good fitness you recovery very quickly getting out of the water.

And yes if you are going to do an open water swim get some practice in. I remember a X50 where there was white caps with pretty high waves and I was doing horrible. Turns out I was second out of the water. After the race most people said they mostly practiced in the pool and any open water swims were in smooth water.

One thing I will say is maybe practice drafting but don't concentrate on it, out of the 50 or so races I did I may have drafted 5.

P.U.T.U said:

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And yes if you are going to do an open water swim get some practice in. I remember a X50 where there was white caps with pretty high waves and I was doing horrible. Turns out I was second out of the water. After the race most people said they mostly practiced in the pool and any open water swims were in smooth water.

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This. I've intentionally practiced in rough open water conditions before (within limits) in order to get your subconscious comfortable with the hysteria that wild waves can cause.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilateral_triathlon

I loved the X-50 distance since it was almost equal and if you were a good all-around triathlete you could compete. 1 mile swim, 40 mile bike, 9 mile run. Don't lose in the swim, rock and roll on the bike, stick with tempo speed on the run. To me it was the most painful distance but I loved doing it.

The ITU long distance is an odd one, 1.86 mile swim, 75 mile bike, 18.64 mile run so it is a little more balanced than Ironman and half. Took too much time for training after training for an IM, wanted a life. Always enjoyed local sprints