competing in a sprint Triathlon this weekend on Captiva! I've never had an official swim lesson, but have been working quite a bit with friends that are pros. Anyone here a competitive swimmer? got any last minute tips for a newbie?
Gee Andy, not much prep time! My kids are swimmers and I've timed a number of events, as well as enjoying swimming.
Keep your head down, body flat, and kick! Get into a pace where you can breath every other stroke.....Imagine yourself as a needle slicing through the water, make it as clean as possible.
Stick with the crawl (freestyle)...
And good luck!
Well, my daughter talked me into doing the swimming portion of a sprint triathalon earlier this summer. I'm 63 so I spent some time at the local pool to get in shape. It is considered poor form to have a heart attack during the race :-$
Good luck and have fun.
Oh, I've been training for a while... just tossing it out for any last minute help!! I think I'd really enjoy the swimming if I was better at it.
Magnum P.I. was!
:bored:
Not a swimmer here, could not save myself in the kiddie pool if I had too, but good luck.
I have always said when I see someone swimming "that poor guy can not afford a boat";-)
Swim hard and smart!!
Randy
ha! that's good stuff. This is a Sprint, not an Ironman. 1/4 mile swim in the gulf, 10 mile bike ride on Captiva and a 5K on the golf course at South Seas Plantation resort.
My daughter is a competitive swimmer. Like someone else said, a common mistake it to swim with your head up. You should look straight down at the bottom of the pool, and there are marks on the bottom to let you know when the wall is coming up. When in practice, there are other swimmers to run into, so your always looking up, but looking up makes you less stream lined and tends to make your feet sink. If this is going to be open water, you won't have much choice but to swim with your head up at least some of the time.
I also swim, but not very well. My mistake was always trying to breath like I would on dry land. You basically have to get used to the fact that your breathing is paced to your swimming, so get used to taking funny breaths, not normal breaths like when running.
Keep your fingers together, don't forget to kick. Thats all I got.
I just looked at your link to the course, the swimming is only 440 yards, that nothing. My daughter bet a classmate she could swim further than he could ride his unicycle. Well, he rode his unicycle 3 miles. She swam 3 miles, plus another 50 yards, it took her about an hour and 15 minutes. Thats a long swim.
I was a rescue swimmer in the USN and had plenty of open water miles. Having your noggin clean of hair will give you a little bit of an edge. Learn to enjoy the taste of saltwater and work out a rhythm with the motion of the ocean.
Andy - These days that sounds like an Ironman to me! Good luck to you.
"only 440 yards" hey!!! considering a month ago I didn't even like to swim with my face in the water, I think it's going to seem HUGE! 🙂
I am really excited for this, I wish it was on Saturday instead of Sunday.. going to be a long day waiting.
Thanks all, I'll keep ya posted!
Finished 4 seconds short of 1.5 hours! As I figured, the swim was toughest, but it feels great to have done it.
Good job Andy!
What was your time just for the swimming? I did the 500m in 0:13:05 in the triathalon I was in last Spring. It was a team effort so I only did the swim portion. I don't recall our overall time but that wouldn't be comparable to your time all done as an individual.
Congratulations Mr. J!
Looks like :53 took it. How 'bout that father and son? Not bad for a 13 year-old...just :08 behind Dad.
G
Be like the turtle and finish the race. If you get super tired, switch to a different stroke. While the freestyle is the fastest, it requires the most endurance. By comparison though, the backstroke requires some of the least endurance, and doesn't sacrifice speed as much as say the side or butterfly.
When I would swim long distances, I would swap to the backstroke to catch my breath before returning to the freestyle. Similar to switching from a sprint to a jog then back to a sprint.
Good luck dude.
