Triathlon swimming made easy (26 page)

Stretch the Muscles in Back of the Shoulder

Stretch #1. Place the back of your hand on your lower back with your elbow out to the side. Brace the inside of your elbow against the corner of a wall, while turning your opposite hip forward until you feel a
stretch across the back of your shoulder.

Stretch #2. Put one arm across your body so that the shoulder is under your chin and your hand, forearm, and upper arm parallel to the ground. Without turning your body, use your other hand to pull the arm as close to your chest as possible.

Strength Training the Total Immersion Way

Many swimmers are tempted to think they can overpower the water by bulking up. But water, being a fluid medium, just doesn't respond to sheer power. The water's resistance will always surpass any strength you can apply and, besides, it takes a special kind of strength, accurately applied, to overcome the water's resistance.

The strength you build with, say, intensive bench presses is best at helping you do more intensive bench presses. The world's best swimmers don't have bulky or highly defined muscles. The strength that produces world records, as well helping anyone to swim efficiently, fluently, and enjoyably is more like that exhibited by the slim, graceful cables that hold up the Brooklyn Bridge than by the brutes who heft enormous poundage in weightlifting competitions. (Which is not to say that conventional weightlifting has no value for swimmers; if you do go to a gym, ask a trainer to help
plan a program of compound/complex exercises for general strength development)

But what may be even more valuable is "functional strength," the kind that makes us more robust in everything from spading the garden to shoveling the walk to swimming 1500 meters. And that means training muscles and joints to work as they do when we move — multiple muscle groups, multiple joints, and complex planes of movement, all at once. This is because fast swimming isn't produced by muscling your way through the water, but by maintaining body positions that minimize drag and connect the propelling armstrokes to the power of the core-body's "kinetic chain." That kind of
strength is developed by practicing challenging movements that teach torso and arm/shoulder muscles to work together.

My yoga practice feels utterly functional for swimming because it teaches me to use my body as a system, working all muscle groups in unison, against the resistance of gravity and my own inflexibility to build strength and flexibility with each movement. Exercises such as pushups, pull-ups, dips, step-ups, and squats, done with just the weight of your own body, also develop muscle sense and joint stability, letting tendons and ligaments adapt rather than being overwhelmed as they sometimes are by machines or external weight.

Especially critical to functional strength is "core strength," which means strength in the abdominal muscles, spinal rotators and erectors, hip flexors, the glutes, and more. If your core isn't strong, then neither are you because your torso is the force coupler, which transmits power from legs to upper body. Abdominal exercises of all sorts, and particularly Pilates exercises develop core power. I take Pilates classes with a certified instructor and practice on my own with the aid of a book (see Resources for more information on yoga and Pilates.)

On the Ball

One of the best developers of functional and core strength is Swiss Ball exercise. Here's my favorite series

To Begin. Balance in a horizontal position with the ball below your hips, hands directly under your shoulders, and legs straight behind, parallel to the floor.

Action: Walk your hands out until the ball is at your knees. Pause for two slow breaths, then walk back. Repeat 10 times.

Key Point: Maintain a straight, horizontal line from your shoulders to your feet.

"Advanced Placement": Try any of the following:

1. While pausing with the ball under your knees, rock your chest down toward the floor - your legs and feet will rise and the line from hands to feet will get straighter.

2. Walk out until the ball is under your shins or ankles, then walk it back to your hips. Don't let your back sway or bend; keep your hips in line with your spine and feet.

3. With the ball under your knees, roll it under your left knee, then under your right.

In each of these exercises you'll feel yourself contracting a connected band of muscle from your hands to your hips - exactly the way you should feel your strength while swimming. The variations will each recruit different stabilizer muscles into the action. This training is as swimming-functional as anything you can do on land.

Dear Terry,

Success! On May 27, 2001, I completed the Keauhou-Kona Half Ironman. I was ecstatic, not just because it was my first Half Ironman but because I stayed in control during the 1.2-mile swim. Since I began doing triathlons, I routinely panic during the swim. It's easy doing lap after lap in a pool, but the same distance when measured out in X number of buoys in a lake or the ocean has always been an intimidating sight. I hyperventilate as soon as we're in the water, I'm afraid of being left behind. Everything falls apart when I try to chase the other swimmers and subsequently flail and struggl
e my way to shore. After repeated experiences like this, 1 doubted everything: my training, my body, and my mental state. Thoughts of not starting the race, thoughts of drowning; flailing, struggling, and, finally, the humiliation of an inevitable rescue crossed my mind countless times. But stubborn as I am, I refused to give up without a fight.

Prior to this race, I swam daily to get used to the water — the taste, sights, and swells. I repeatedly visualized the swim start and the entire swim itself, seeing myself going out with the rest of the athletes, one stroke at a time, breathe in, breathe out, sighting the big orange buoys, the King Kam Hotel, and finish Every night when I went to bed, I filled my head with encouraging thoughts of swimming smoothly.

When race morning finally arrived, I was calm and determined. I positioned myself at the back left of the crowd. When the air horn went off, I dived in with the others, focusing on one stroke at a time. I started slow, stayed calm, and found my "groove.
"
Five minutes into the swim, 1 realized I was completely comfortable and immediately became more relaxed; the rest of the swim was a breeze. I wore a big smile all the way from the turnaround buoy to the swim finish It felt so easy I even wished I could swim some more, but it was time to get on the bike. I knew I couldn't possibly
have a bad race because I'd just had the most magical swim in my entire life.

Thanks for this experience,
Jo Wang

The lesson: It's reasonable, even logical, to feel intimidated by open-water racing. But it's not inevitable. By rehearsing with a plan and then simply following your plan during the race, you'll learn to LOVE the swimming part of any triathlon, no matter the distance.

Part 5

Getting Ready to Race

We've come a long way together and I hope you've enjoyed the experience. You've learned how to turn frustration into fulfillment, how to teach yourself a new stroke, and how to systematically expand your mastery by practicing at a variety of speeds and SL/SR combinations. Now it's time to put those lessons to the test. Because I'm a swimming (not multisport) coach, I won't presume to advise you how to race once you leave the water. But having raced in open water since 1972, I'll share what I've learned about how to make every race satisfying and pleasurable. The first lesson
is to rehearse prior to the race and then to swim the race as you've rehearsed. We've already covered neoprene-free swimming in exhaustive detail, so now let's shift our focus to how to use your wetsuit in the smartest way possible.