Tri Class #3: Ocean swimming

Yesterday we met on the sands of the beach to do our first swim/run day. They had us put on color-coded swim caps, I took the one for "beginner" as my mechanics are pretty bad and I've never really done ocean swimming before.

It started off with drills on land. Long elastic cords were wrapped around a pole. You put your hands through the handles and back up to get tension on the bands. Bend at the waist, make your back flat, and stretch your arms out, as if you are trying to cover your ears with your upper arms. Your hands should be flat, fingers spread slightly. Flex at the wrists so the handles don't slide off.

Next, you bring you arms down, bending and lifting your elbows. You want to touch your knees with your hands and then return to the starting position. Make sure to always keep your elbows above your hands. Repeat 25x2.

The next drill starts in the place where the other ended. Assume the same position, but instead of reaching your arms in front of you, place them so your hands are next to your knees, elbows bent. Then extend your arms back so your arms extend out behind you. Repeat 25x2.

The final land drill puts it all together. Start as you would for the first drill with arms out in front, then move arms back until the hands are near your knees (elbows bent, I kept forgetting that), and then finish the stroke out behind you. It should start slow, then accelerate through the stoke.

The goal here is grab, hold, push. You want to grab the water and hold on to it as you push through your stroke. This as all new to me, but the idea of the fingers being slightly spread apart was the most surprising. Water has a tension factor, it sticks together, so if you hold your fingers slightly apart (instead of tightly together and cupped like I was doing), it results in a larger surface area for your hand. Due to the tension, the water doesn't run through your fingers. I'm sure this doesn't apply if you spread your fingers out wide, but it's something interesting that I'll definitely be playing with.

Finally, we all got to go in the water (cold!). To warm up, they had us swim out to some rocks and back. This is my first time putting on goggles and swimming in the ocean. I've played in the ocean, and swam laps in a pool, but this is totally different. It's disconcerting to look down and not be able to see the bottom. We've had a lot of rain lately and the water is cloudy.

My out and back consisted of trying to not get in anyone's way, not getting kicked, and trying to stay on course. This last part was the hardest. Without the little line on the bottom of the pool, how do you know where you are going? So I have to learn how to time lifting my head to look around with my stroke. As it was, I almost came grinding to a stop each time I had to look, and inevitably, I was off course.

Back to the drills. Next up was legs. They had us extend our arms out in front of us with hands flat and flexed slightly downwards. When you need to breathe, you can move your hands a little to help lift you up, but don't stroke. Kick from the hips. Your legs should be relaxed. Your knees move some and you feet should be pointed, but also relaxed. Don't force the feet, or you're going to cramp. I was shocked at how hard I was breathing after this. My cardio fitness is actually pretty good, but this was a whole new ball game. Maybe it's because I don't have the whole breathing thing down. In biking or swimming, I can time my breathing with the motions, but I don't have the timing down on this yet. I'm mostly flailing.

The last drill was swimming with your hands in a fist. Everything is as if you are swimming normal freestyle, but your hands are balled up. I actually found this one very useful in making me focus on my arms and how they are positioned. I always swam with my arm straight through the water, but you are supposed to bend your elbows. This helps me concentrate on that.

After all this, we got out of the water and got ready to run. I learned that tight running shorts don't go on a wet body very well. I'll either have to get some loose shorts, or buy tri shorts that I can just swim in.

The run was much easier for me than the swim. We did a ten minute warm up run at an easy pace, and then did intervals. 6 minutes at a hard effort pace, 2 minutes at easy effort (not walking). Repeat 4 times. I might have put a little too much energy in the first one, but overall, I was pleased with my pacing. I maintained a decent pace for all, and was fairly tired by the end, so I think I gauged the effort about right.

What was interesting to me, was watching others from the group. Some people who were at ease in the water, were not as happy on the run. I was feeling a little salty about my swimming, thinking about how much I have to learn, but I guess everyone has that in one sport or another. Well, at least the beginners to this sport, like myself. Perhaps that's why people start doing tris, it's a challenge where you learn something new while still having something else to boost you up when the other sport has you down.

Summary for myself:
Things I need to work on:

• Spreading my fingers


• Relaxing everything (I've been told I swim like a soldier, very rigid)


• Kicking from the hips


• Lifting my head to look around


• Exhale under water


• Reaching/Stretching at the top of the stroke


• Gliding

Drills:

• Stroke only: concentrate on relaxing hands and arms


• Legs only: keep hands extended in front, bent slightly down, kick from hips, keep feet under water


• Fists: Keep hands balled up and focus on arm position


• Glide/Catch up: Stretch arm out in front of me, really reaching at the top of the stroke. Keep it there for a moment while the other arm catches up.