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WANT TO SWIM FASTER - COACH CLINT

Three days ago I was on deck while a group of triathletes were going through the meters I’d laid out for them.  One of the swimmers hit the wall, looked up at me and after a moment said, “I want to swim faster.”  This young woman is serious about the sport and wants very much to see how far she can go.  She’s twenty two now and has been swimming for about three years. 

I told her to lower her voice.  Everyone knows that if you don’t start swimming within a week or two of leaving the womb you’ll never be really fast.  It’s the same with learning to play the piano.  To suggest otherwise is sacrilege. 

But she refused to believe that she couldn’t do whatever it took to take her swimming to the next level.

It got me to thinking, what would happen if you truly believed you could overcome the disability of starting a swim career late?  I mean truly believed!

The way I saw it, you’d have the first ingredient necessary to do just that.

With that key element already in place what else could you do?

I’ve thought about it over the last three days and I came up with a list.

Everybody loves lists. I’ve already listed the first thing:

1) Believe that you can swim faster. 

Where the mind goes, the body follows.  This may actually be the toughest one for many.

2)Swim more. 

Back in the late 80s when I was running competitively I had reached a ceiling in my results I desperately wanted to break through.  I asked my coach the simple question, how can I run faster?  He answered, “Run a little more or run a little less. “

I’ve been coaching triathletes for a few years now and I’ve never met one who needed to swim less to get faster.  I’m sure they’re out there.  I just haven’t met them yet.

So increase your mileage.  Start small.  It can be as simple as getting to the workout early and leaving late to get in an extra 400.

I found that just by arriving on time, staying on track during and leaving when the next group was ready to get in, I was able to add 400 to my own numbers.

Or maybe add a fourth day to your current three days a week schedule.  Whatever you do, start small - with increases of no more than 10% a week.

3) Use new and existing technology.

Two basic things here I’m going to talk about – video assistance and the clock.

The clock is your friend.  It never lies to you.  I think too often we don’t use the clock enough to improve our swimming.  You can’t be a slave to it but why not treat swimming with the same obsessive zeal we treat our running?  How many of us have routes we are constantly trying to go faster on?  We’re jazzed if we knock a few seconds off our 10K time.  Why not treat swimming the same way.  To that end, have pace times etched in your mind – and not just PBs.  Everyone uses the clock when they’re doing a 100 or a 400 for time but what about when we’re just swimming moderate or easy?  That’s a key time to use the clock as well.  My personal goal is to swim 3800 in 59:59 – that’s a 100m pace time of 1:33.5 (or there abouts). 

1:33 - the time is burned in my consciousness.  If I want to swim 38 in a row I’ll start with one and work my way up.

Fight for every second and the seconds will fall.

Secondly let’s talk about video assist.  Obviously this isn’t available to everyone but if it is at all, possible jump on it.

Pat Kelly and Neil Harvey at the Canadian National Training Centre pull out the monitors once a week.  They’ve set up a system where the camera is placed under water and fed to a monitor on the side of the deck with a 7 second delay.  The swimmer comes to the wall, looks up and sees themselves arrive.  With the help of a good coach they’re able to find problems and deal with them instantly.

There are few swimmers who won’t benefit from that kind of work.

4) Coaching

This one, obviously, is huge.  Nothing beats a good coach designing your workouts and watching your progress.  If you don’t have a coach, get one.  

Maybe you’ve already got a coach you’ve been working with for a few years and the gains have stopped coming.  It could be time to consider a change or at the least get some fresh eyes to have a look.  Here in Victoria the triathlon/Masters community is pretty good about jumping in for a session even if you’re not a member of the team.  Steve Chater, an excellent technical coach from Team X, allows athletes to test the program for a week before committing.  Most programs allow that kind of attendance.  It’s worth a try.

When you have a coach, don’t be passive.  I was swimming with the Navy team here in town for months before I finally, in frustration, asked Keith, one of the extremely competent coaches with the club, if he wouldn’t mind bestowing a tip or two on me.  Up to the that point I don’t think he’d said more than a few words to me in regards to my stroke.  His response was “Sure.”  After that I couldn’t get him away from my lane.  Keith’s policy was to spend his time with the swimmers who wanted his time.  Works for me.

There is one important thing to remember about coaching though – and changes in general, things usually get worse before they get better.  When we alter our stroke we bring under used muscle groups into uncharted patterns.  Those kind of alterations take time to adapt to.  Accept the fact that like golfing, you’re going to knock a few balls into the pond before you start clearing it

6) Get in with faster swimmers

Find the fastest swimmers who will have you and swim with them.

When I started with my first club(at the age of 23) , a university triathlon group, the coaches were a pair of brothers with an Olympic background.  The lanes were assigned and you swam in your lane.  It was a big day when the coach would look down from above and say the magic words – “Move up a lane.” 
I always found it interesting that there were some who did not want to move up.  They were comfortable where they were.  They wanted to lead the slower lane rather than hurt to stay with the faster lane.  Don’t be that person.

I believe there is a place for swimming on your own, but most of your swims should be with others and preferably others who are faster than you

7) Swim faster

If you want to swim fast then you’ll have to swim fast. 

Push your limits.  Know your PBs and try to improve on them.  Be prepared to go to the dark place.  When the workout calls for a distance to be done “for time” then put yourself in the necessary mental state and go for it. If you’re swimming a lot of 400s, 800s or even 100s you’re doing the right thing, but maybe it’s time to throw in a few short sets.  Roch Frey told me once one of his favourite workouts was 50 50s on 50.  If I dreamed of doing this workout I’d wake up injured, but with some common sense modifications (ie: add 5 seconds, drop 5 repeats) I can get through it.

Add short hard stuff with some regularity.

8) Consistency

Consistency makes a champion. 

This was the mantra of my first coach and I’ve never found any evidence to suggest this wasn’t the case.  He would tell us that having good genetics is great, having a good work ethic was better but being consistent was the most important characteristic of all.

Anyone who knocks long enough at the door to their desires will in some way find success.

9) Make the most of your hours

Every time you get in the pool you have the opportunity to make yourself better.  Use it.

When I first started swimming there were a few things I did not like doing – kick sets, drills and alternative strokes.  Whenever any of these were called for I would just shut off.  I’d go through the motions – hating every minute of the drills, floating along on the kick sets and subbing in freestyle for most of the IM sets.

That mindset didn’t help me one bit.  By embracing every aspect of your time in the pool you can only improve.  One of the most important aspects of swimming better is modifying your stoke when corrections are in order – and they’re always in order.  If all you do is go through endless meters of freestyle without thought or purpose then your ability to alter your stroke becomes nearly impossible.  By breaking things apart with drills and alternative strokes you learn better control in the water and with control comes the ability to alter.

Not only do you have to be willing to go outside your comfort zones but you must stay present when you’re within your comfort zone. 

Rick Seay, one of Canada’s strongest free stylers told a mutual friend that when he swims he thinks about every stroke.  And the boy does a lot of strokes.

Now I’m sure his mind wonders from time to time but the point is well made.  He’s not making To Do lists while he’s putting in his meters.  He getting the most out of every minute he spends in the pool.

Now when I get in the pool I embrace whatever the coach throws at me.  It’s all an opportunity to improve.

10) Flexibility

This is almost free time. 

A swimmer can improve his flexibility easily and a more flexible swimmer is a better swimmer.

A ten minute daily routine will create the desired affect and you can do it while watching the latest episode of American Idol.

I’m not going to lay out a routine in this article but needless to say, any coach worth his salt can give you three or four stretches that will increase your range of motion.

I like door-jam stretches, overhead reaching and towel stretches.

11) Visualize

More free time.

This ties in with “swim with faster swimmers.”  Don’t just swim with them – watch what they do.  Observe their strokes and imagine yourself doing the same.  If you live in Dry Gulch, Indiana and are the fastest swimmer down at the community pool, with your 1:45s, you can still regularly watch better swimmers by simply going to Youtube and searching for the likes of Thorpe, Phelps, Hacket, Popov etc.

Make visualizing a part of your daily routine.  Sit down for 5-10 minutes, close your eyes and swim 1:20s!!

It’ll help the next time you get in the pool.

12) Feeling badly in the water isn’t so bad.

There’s an interesting phenomena that occurs when a triathlete has a bad swim – they seem to actually believe that somehow, between then and the last time they felt good in the water, their swim skills deteriorated.  They can have a lousy ride or feel like ass running and they’ll be completely logical about the affair.  They’ll recognize nutritional short comings, big mileage weeks or foul weather conditions.  They won’t feel like they’ve lost skills and beat themselves up.  Yet time and time again I’ll look at an athlete’s log and I’ll read “I don’t know what’s wrong with me!!  I suck!!!!”
Now, I don’t know how much this tip is going to help but I sure as hell know it won’t hurt –  Don’t beat yourself up if you’re not feeling good in the water.

Treat swimming as you would running or cycling.  Are you coming near the end of a big build?  Did you miss breakfast?  Did your wife leave you the night before?

Slow your sets down and focus on form.  Put on some flippers and/or paddles.  Do some drill sets.  The time you’re putting in is valuable even if you’re not setting records.

My college run coach used to say, if you’re training well, you’re not training well.

Much of what we’re talking about here is semantics. 

What are they really implying when they say “If you start the game late you’ve missed the game.”

Maybe you’ll never swim a 1,500 in 14:34 but who’s to say you can’t swim under 20? Or under 58 for an IM?

Young Stephen Kilshaw started swimming when he was twenty one.  After a year he was  swimming twenty five minutes for a fifteen hundred, not bad at all but Stephen dreamed of making the Canadian National Triathlon team and twenty five minutes for a 1,500 wasn’t going to do it.  He could bike and run with the best of them but his swimming kept him out of the game.  He talked with NTC coach Pat Kelly who told him he was welcome to train at the Centre but he must hold no illusions – if he wanted any hope of ever making the National Team he would have to knock monstrous amounts of time off his swim. 

Stephen accepted the offer and in essence did all of the above things.  He went from swimming 10k a week to 25-40k.  He swam with faster swimmers and used constant video feedback.  He was watched by proven coaches.  He didn’t miss work outs.  He stuck to it.

He’s twenty three now and earlier this year he swam low twenty minutes and change for a 1,500.  Last night I was talking with his coach.  He’s convinced Stephen will be swimming high eighteens before the season is over.

He swam himself into the game. 
If one person can do it, another can.

If you took up the piano after the kids left for college you’ll probably never play like Horowitz but with the right attitude, work ethic and game plan you’ll be able to bluff your way through Sweet Home Alabama and impress your friends.

And while you may never come out of the water with Faris you don’t have to accept the adage that you’ll never be really good.

 


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