Chop - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

In this article, we’ll look at how to deal mentally and physically with swimming in sloppy conditions. I feel I’m the Mr Miargy of this, being an ex marathon swimmer (who has had to deal with 40 foot plus waves in many of my swims,) (the older I get…)

The first thing we need to get straight is attitude. EVERYBODY gets thrown around and feels unco’ in rough conditions, so don’t think it’s just you. Be positive and aggressive (I’m sounding like Anthony Robbins) to the task at hand. Let’s look at some different scenarios…

CHOP HITTING YOU FRONT ON
Let me clear up my definition of chop. Chop is 'washing machine' conditions, not breaking waves at a surf beach. With chop, no matter who you are, facing it head on slows us down. What we have to work on is reducing the damage it does to our forward progress. This is achieved by bashing your arms higher and in a more round armed fashion .You want most of the chop to hit your bicep area instead of your hand/ forearm region . If you try to do a high elbow / low hand recovery the chop will hit this area more often than not, meaning more of your arm will have to go through the chop instead of over it. I know it sounds silly to change the stroke you’ve worked on in the pool for years, but think of it like climbing a hill on your bike. You either slide back on the seat to use different muscles or you get out of your seat and use different muscles. Running up a hill, you also change your technique, chop is merely the 'hills' of swimming.

CHOP HITTING YOU ON THE RIGHT
In this situation, keep your right arm recovery strong and forceful when you feel the water hitting it. You may also need to lean into the wave slightly with your right torso to balance your body. Keep your left arm relaxed, just like you would in the pool.

CHOP HITTING YOU ON THE LEFT
Just reverse everything. Batten down the hatches on the left side of your body, and relax the right side as much as possible.

CHOP JUST HITTING YOU FROM ALL DIRECTIONS
The best visual analogy of these circumstances I can make is this… You’re on a boat with Gilligan, ("the skipper too") and the boat falls apart in a storm. You find a piece of wooden debreis from the boat, jump on it and, through the sideways rain, you see an island only a matter of 500 metres away (or however far your adverse tri swim is). Do you …
(a) Try to do a pretty-looking paddling stroke.
or
(b) Batten down the hatches, become really close to your debris (Wilson) and just bulldoze your way to the island as quick as possible.
(c) Correct answer upside down on page 29.
(d) Back to reality.

CHOP HITTING YOU FROM BEHIND
Here we must try to milk it for what it’s worth by surging when you feel it pushing you. Surging is achieved by either bringing your kick into play / increasing your stroke rate / or both. How fast you surge will determine how far you get pushed. Unfortunately, it's usually only a matter of seconds (unless it's MASSIVE.) After you’ve milked the push, you’ll find a flat spot for a few seconds (where you feel like you’re swimming with a handbreak on.) At this stage, relax just a little and wait to surge on to the next chop. It will only be a matter of seconds, so enjoy your semi rest.

IN CLOSING
Chop slows a swimmer's forward progress, even the ones who think they are the best. I remember my sister, Tammy, trying to do a swim around Port Phillip Bay in '95, a distance of over 100 km. I was on the support boat watching her (in-between fishing) and, after 21 hours in the water, she hit the mud flapps near Portsea. This is a shallow part of the bay that you don’t want to hit going into a strong headwind, but we did. She had only five kilometres to go (which we’d told her via white board marker), it was very early in the morning, and she was VERY cold and fatigued (as you could imagine after 21 hours of solid swimming). She basically just wanted to get the damn swim over at this stage and was literally sprinting. Thirty or so minutes later, at her food stop, she was being a baby and cried out, "how far to go now?" "Five Kilometres," we, unfortunately, had to tell her, (you can’t lie to a marathon swimmer, as they store it all down and you’ll lose their trust later). We convinced her to keep going but, after an hour of very solid swimming, we hadn’t moved more than 100 metres and were getting concerned about her wellbeing, so pulled the pin on the swim. Tammy was most annoyed and went back 30 or so hours later to finish the last part that she couldn’t do that previous morning. It took around an hour to complete.

The moral of my story is that we all only swim slightly faster or slower than walking pace and thus are vulnerable to the elements. Triathlon swims are NEVER EVER (John Howard) as bad as that day, they are NOTHING, trust me race organisers are BIASED against hard swims, so don’t put yourself down and swim accordingly if conditions aren't 'perfect', ATTACK.

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Drafting - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

The swim leg in triathlon is biased against the swimmer. You are often allowed to wear N.A.S.A designed wetsuits (which help weaker swimmers more); it’s the first leg of the race, so everybody’s fresh (imagine if it was last?); it's short (time wise compared to the bike / run); and, last but not least, you are allowed to draft (no draft-busters).

In the last edition, we tried to cater for the gullible triathlete by introducing a five session per week swim guide. Today we’ll teach you slack / people with lives how to draft off these Turkeys by perhaps only practicing 1-3 times per week.

Think of drafting in the water in bike-pack terms. Most people could ride in a pack averaging 30 - 35 km\hr all day, providing there are no attacks. You could probably even do it on just a few rides per week. How long or how much harder would it be though, if you were driving off the front? The difference in fitness is huge, yet, if you position yourself correctly for the entire ride, you could finish with the drivers.

Swimming in a pack is comparable to cycling in one, if not easier. In cycling, you generally get hills at some stage to drop people, whereas we generally swim in flat conditions. When cycling in packs, there can be vicious attacks at any stage of the proceedings, whereas, in swimming, there are very rarely surges after the take-off show. So what are the factors which make pack cycling initially easier than pack swimming?

1. Cycling offers better vision.
2. Cyclists generally don’t hit or run over you.
3. We practice it more (some more than others).

VISION IN THE WATER
The best way to look up is at the start of your stroke (the catch), when you are pressing on the water. Only lift your head high enough to get your eyes clear, as you want to keep your body flat (not banana status). Just before your fingers start to point to the bottom, drop your head back to normal face-in-the-water position, then instantly turn to breathe on the side you are stroking. All this happens in one stroke and is very rhythmatic so you’ll know when you’ve got it right. A good way to practice is single arm with fins. If you prefer to breathe to your right, have your left arm in front, not doing anything. Press down on your right hand (the catch) and lift your eyes out of the water. Straight away, drop them back down to where you normally look (i.e. black line), then straight away breathe to the right, as per normal. There are no pauses; it becomes part of your stroke/rhythm.
P.S. No concrete necks.
For people who breathe to the left just reverse the above (apart from the no concrete neck.)

DRAFTING WITHOUT IMPEDING
If you are side drafting (between the hip and armpit), be careful not to lock arms. Make sure you are breathing towards them so you can stay close and synchronize arm ratings. For example, if you breathe to your right, get on the left side of your draft bunny. Synchronize your right underwater pull with their left. Your right stroke should be short and choppy, with a high elbow recovery, so you can get as close to them as possible (increasing your draft on their bow wave.) If you breathe on your left, just reverse the above (sorry south paws.)

PRACTICE
Get a group together and practice single file (on each other's feet), with the leader zigg zagging Stevie Wonder style. This will test the drafter’s vision. You’ll need a clear lane, obviously, if doing this in the pool. Practice also sprinting in one big pack (side and feet draft) for repeat 25 metres with long rest.

RACE DAY
Learn who the better swimmers are and mark them off at the start. Obviously you wouldn’t bother if it was Elka Graham or Ian Thorpe, but, realistically, you could stay with someone approximately 30 seconds faster over 500 metres if you nailed the drafting. Sit on a fast pack and you might get up to a minute due to the increased water movement.

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Preparation for Manhattan - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

Hello my triathlete friends, my name is John van Wisse. I’m the guy who leads out of the swim leg of the IronMan, takes half an hour in transition, then gets hammered on the bike and the run.

The reason I’m here is my friend & Multi-Sports editor, Rod Cedaro, has asked me to put pen to paper and write about preparation for my next challenge, swimming 48km around Manhattan Island, New York, USA.

This is an actual race, which has been running for 19 years, comprising 30 solo swimmers and 15 relay teams. The swim starts near the famous Statue of Liberty and is tide assisted, taking you and all the sewridge on a scenic tour around Manhattan Island. I’ve already been to the doctor to have all my shots up to date, including Hepatitis A & B and also tetanus, something that's recommended on the entry form!

Each swimmer has a support boat and kayaker next to them, to aid in direction, supply food to the swimmer and basically help keep your mind occupied for the 7 hours or so that it takes to complete the event. I’m very fortunate to have my sister, Tammy, as my coach on the support boat. Tammy won this race outright in 1997 (a fact she’ll keep reminding me of should I lose!), so, hopefully, she can steer me on the right path, especially when we go past the sewridge treatment plant. Her job criteria will also include feeding me every half an hour, offering encouragement, and giving me information, such as stroke count per minute, position and tactics. All this is done by way of a hand held white board – my communication to the outside world!

The weight of the world is on my shoulders, as no male has won this race for 5 years. In fact, no Australian man has ever won, let alone a bad IronMan athlete, so history is against me. Not to worry though, Lori Bowden hasn’t entered yet?

DIET
The food intake of a marathon swimmer is an absolute dream for triathletes. Gone are the high carb, low fat meals, or the structured 40-30-30 diets. They have only one law – calories, as in plural – and lots of them. Protection from the cold comes by way of body fat (not Orca or IronMan wetsuits, unfortunately). Fat also aids in buoyancy, as well as fuel for the journey.

My last successful marathon swim was in 1994, when I crossed the English Channel, which is renowned for its icy waters. I learnt the hard way that to be a skinny marathon swimmer is a big disadvantage. The previous year, whilst trying to cross, I nearly died from the cold, being hauled out of the water unconscious, only 4 kilometres away from the coast of France. This swim was a nightmare, we had up to 3 metre swells and everyone on the support boat was seasick. I don’t remember much of what happened once the hypothermia set in; in fact, I was told afterwards that my coach, Australian Olympic swimming legend, Dawn Fraser, broke three ribs whilst trying to pull me out of the water and saved my life in the process.

Hypothermia is kind of like trying to read a book when you’re tired, or fighting to stay awake when you’re watching a television show late at night after a hard day’s training. You can’t help it, you just fall asleep.

Swimming alone in a vast body of water, challenging Mother Nature, as well as your own mind and body, makes you realise that we are nothing, which is part of the appeal. I’m out there with the oil tankers, free styling from one country to another, it’s crazy stuff.

After my hypothermia experience, I returned to the Channel the following year to fulfil the dream to swim from England to France. Surprisingly, the elements were more than obliging, with the water temperature being 5 degrees higher, weather a sunny 25 degrees, and barely a wave in sight. Nevertheless I went there prepared, weighing in at 103 kilograms, 21kg more than I weighed at Forster this year. The enviable diet of stout & lemonade had turned my stomach to blubber and it wobbled as I walked!

The water temperature that I face in the Hudson River in June could be anywhere in the vicinity of 15 to 20 degrees, which doesn’t sound cold, but, when you’re swimming hard for 7 to 8 hours without a wetsuit, it can catch up with you. I plan to weigh around 95 kilos, which would give me about a 10 percent body fat level. A lot of this weight can be lost during the race, in my 1993 Channel failure, I shivered off 9 kilos!

So now I’m the envy of every triathlete, lots of fried foods will be consumed between now and race day, 17 June.

TRAINING
These past few years, I’ve really neglected my swimming, probably averaging between 5 – 10km a week, as I felt that my time would be better spent building up my chicken legs on the bike. With this in mind, it was with great apprehension that I dived straight back into squad training with the Waterlions swim team and their sadistic coach, Wayne Lawes.

My first session with Wayne was only a week after Forster and my pulse got up to 208 during a heart rate set. It wasn’t a good sign when I discovered the next morning that my resting heart rate was 90! By the end of the week, I’d accumulated 30 swimming kilometres and I was a mess. Luckily, things got better, my pea heart improved and the feel of the water is getting sweeter and sweeter.

As I currently write, the training diary shows that I’ve made it up to 60 kilometres this week, with my best set being 30 x 200 leaving off the 2.20 holding around 2.12s to 2.15s. My pulse was 170 at the end of the set, so I probably should have eased back, but, hey, when you pump out good sets, it's such a rush. I only hope that I can hammer the whole way around Manhattan & deal with all the challenges. It’s on my mind a lot now as race day grows nearer. I think about different scenarios, both good & bad. The distance must be respected, it's such a long distance to push yourself, but I’m only going to respect it a little.

Providing my body can absorb it, my training goal is to average 100km a week by the beginning of June. To win this race, I’ll have to swim faster than I did at Forster, without a wetsuit, for seven hours. So…I don’t know if I can pull it off, but I’ll certainly be having a dip in the true IronMan spirit.

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Generating Height and Momentum - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

Hi folks, in the edition before last, where we had David Hansen’s godson, Dr Craig McKenzie, talk about the use of hand paddles and misfiring (a bit like his sex life), we discussed aerobic swimming. In this edition, I want to elaborate on this topic further, and talk about building some strength with it by knowing what to look for on your catch. This article is for the majority of you who, like me, sink like stones in the water and aren’t naturally super supple.

By now, you should all be swimming a MINIMUM of three times per week of at least two km duration, otherwise, as John McEnroe said…"You cannot be serious." Every time you swim freestyle, you should feel relaxed in the water due to dry land stretching, a combination of backstroke and butterfly incorporated into each session, and, most importantly, finding a relaxed/fluent/weightless arm recovery each time your arm comes out of the water during freestyle.

A major fault almost every pedestrian triathlete swimmer has is over reaching. Trying to get 'side on' or 'cut through the water' are the trendy terminologies, which really just means a lower stroke count with higher times. Hip and shoulder rotation is not some mystical secret, it's overrated. If it were so important, how come elite swimmers can do butterfly so fast? Fly has zero side-on movements, yet Michael Klim can do 100 metres in 51 seconds and Susie O’Neal 200m fly in 2 minutes 05 seconds. I mean Michael would lead to the first can of the Accenture series doing fly. Yes, eventually, he would get beat up, but my point is that: trying to get 'side on' is risky business for triathlete swimmers. It comes at the expense of a powerful catch, because it puts you off balance and in a biomechanically weaker position for your catch. Height or buoyancy in the water is what’s most important. Pure swimmers naturally float like they’re in the dead sea or with 10 mil' wetsuits on. We have to do it through pressing down on the water during the catch and increasing the stroke rate.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR ON THE CATCH…
Don’t have your arm locked straight at the elbow, have a slight bend. Your shoulder (deltoid) on the arm you’re catching should be hunched in slightly with your body flat (not side on). Enter your hand thumb down, as it’s more relaxing, then press bloody hard on your hand with the aim of pulling yourself up and over your hand (trying to get your upper back out of the water.) Your hip and shoulder rotation will work itself out, so forget about it. It takes a lot of strength to get your catch right, but comes with laps of doing it properly within your breathing threshold. Note : ALWAYS KEEP THE WATER TENSION ON YOUR HAND RIGHT BACK TO YOUR HIP.

The hardest time to do the catch properly is when you are breathing. It’s easy to fall into the habit of leaning on your elbow or forearm while breathing (instead of your hand), making you lose height and momentum. The other thing to remember to learn is a constant rating. Once your hand is in position to press, DO IT, don’t wait to glide, because you’ll sink slightly. Get your rating up with this technique and you’ll be flying. The more aerobic work you do with it, the thicker the water will feel to press on, and the physically stronger you get to use the water. It only gets better. Good luck with it.

SAMPLE PROGRAMME
10-15 minutes dry land stretching of upper body and ankles

-FINS 400m swimming with clenched fists working on press
-FINS 100m backstroke
-FINS 8 x 25 FLY (30-60 seconds rest)
-FINS 100m backstroke
-NO FINS… 1 to 4 km main aerobic set concentrating on technique and breathing to both sides if possible. If you find it hard initially with the press, keep it closer to 1 km and break it down into 50s or 100s with 10-20 seconds rest. As you get stronger, make your sets longer with less rest.
- 200m worth of kick (small flicks of the feet, not running strides). Make sure your heels break the surface of the water, but not your whole foot. Ankle stretching is the key here; it may take time, but persist. You still need some kicking fitness and it comes in handy if you wish to surge whilst freestyling.
- 4 x 25m MAX EFFORTS (freestyle) (45-60 seconds rest)
- 200m cooldown, last 50 backstroke (wear fins, if you find backstroke elevates your heartrate too much).

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Interview with Craig McKenzie, Josh Rix and Rob Harris - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

Hi Folks, in this edition I’ve sought swimming opinions from three local (Victoria, the home of Joanna , Chris , Emma, Bryce &, occasionally, Rod Cedaro) up & coming sprint triathletes. I chose the following three because they are arch enemies with totally different strengths.

Vic Pro star No 1, Rob Harris, is the swimmer. Racemaster Rob (the name given to him by Melbourne Tri series organizers Matt & Ben Bisset) says he’s the best in Victoria & has led out every local swim to back it up (the swims are generally 500 metres). Vic Pro star No 2, Joshua Rix, is the cyclist. Tyranisaurus Rix (Matt & Ben again), would make the best Postman in Victoria- he’s usually about 10 seconds down on Robbie after the swim, but makes him pay on the bike, generally putting a minute thirty into Rob & species 3 over 20km non-drafting.

Vic Pro star No 3, Craig McKenzie, is our runner. Mad Dog McKenzie (M&B) speaks fluent Kenyan. He's normally about 20 seconds behind Rob in the swim and rides about the same as Rob, but makes up over a minute generally over the two in the run (the run is of 5km duration.)

All three are tall for elite triathletes (a supposed advantage for swimming). Rob’s 183 cm, Josh & Craig are a couple of cm taller. Rob has the slightest build at 68 kg, Craig’s two kilo heavier (which works out to be about the same when you take into account his height), while Josh is more solid (a supposed advantage for swimming again) at 75 kg. Eeach has very minimal body fat. Rob’s been swimming for 14 years with a surf lifesaving background. Josh started swimming lessons at age 7, whereas Craig has had to play catch up in recent years. His background is running and he only started swimming seriously this year, but has been swimming for six years off and on.

Question 1.
WHAT DO YOU FEEL ARE YOUR SWIM STRENGTHS?

ROB: Definitely my surf background, as this has given me open water skills, such as wading, drafting and just general nonuse.
JOSH: I’ve got fast take-off speed, which is important, and I feel my technique is quite sound, as I’ve always sought good coaches.
CRAIG: I think I have a good constant speed once I’ve warmed up.

Question 2
SWIM WEAKNESSES?

ROB: I have a tendency to shorten my stroke on the left side when I’m tired, purely because I always breathe to the right. It also means that I lack vision of where my competitors are on the left side. It’s something I’m working on that shouldn’t have got to this stage.
JOSH: I prefer wetsuit swims still and don’t perform as well if there’s a chop.
CRAIG: I’m really slow on the starts as my top speed’s not there yet. I'm working hard at it and need to get my 100 metre time to 60 seconds or under in the next year and beyond. At the moment, I’m about a 65 second 100 metre swimmer, which just puts me behind a wall of triathlete swimmers at the start. Once you’re behind, it’s hard to get around. The swimmers I get stuck behind often get dropped by the front group at the highest level.

Question 3
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE SWIM LEG TO YOU?

ROB: In drafting races, along with a quick transition, it's everything. Non drafting, I feel the bike's more important, as you have more time to do damage in percentage terms.
JOSH: I agree.
CRAIG: Me too, at the top level in draft races, everyone swims so fast that the start of the swims are very nerve-racking. In the non drafting races, like Van Wisse does, they’re not so important.

Question 4
GENERAL MILEAGE FOR THE WEEK RACE SEASON?

ROB: Last season, I was slack and was only doing 8-10 km, this season I’ve picked it up to 17-19 km, with a mix of speed sessions and long aerobic sets.
JOSH: It depends on what races are coming up and what races I’ve just done, usually around 20 km per week.
CRAIG: 25 km this season, 15 last season.

Question 5
GENERAL MILEAGE OFF SEASON?

ROB: 20-25 km per week of aerobic sessions.
JOSH: 25km
CRAIG: 15km last off season, this year maybe 30-40km.

Question 6
DO YOU HAVE A SWIM COACH? WHY/WHY NOT?
ROB: No, because swim squads start too early and I feel I know what I’m doing anyhow.
JOSH: Yes, Buddy Portier, he’s brilliant. I’ve been with him since 1997. He has a great squad and sets great sessions.
CRAIG: I started swimming with John this year as I know that, once I can beat him, I’ll be able to smash Rob.

Question 7
DO YOU INCORPORATE OPEN WATER SESSIONS INTO YOUR PROGRAM? WHY/WHY NOT? WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN THESE SESSIONS?

ROB: Yeah, open water sessions are essential. I like to practice in my wetsuit as it’s different to normal pool swimming. I also like to keep my wade starts happening, as I feel I have an advantage over most triathletes in this area.
JOSH: I only do them when I feel I need to, things like ins and outs, navigating, and I like to practice turning around cans as I feel this is a skill too. I just use the no boating sticks as my turning cans in training.
CRAIG: Once a week, we’ll do our session in the pool, then head straight down to the beach and do 3 x 100 metre starts flat out.

Question 8
WHAT ARE YOUR SHORT TERM? LONG TERM GOALS FOR SWIMMING?
ROB: Short term, I want to be swimming sub 17 minutes for 1500m in the pool. I’m just about there now. Long term, I want to break 4 minutes for the 400m freestyle in some pool race after my triathlon days are over.
JOSH: Just to maintain my technique and, long term, to improve my endurance. I need to able to hold my current 400m speed for 1500 metres. I feel as I get older and stronger, this is quite feasible.
CRAIG: Starting speed & starting speed.

Question 9
DO YOU BELIEVE IN DRILLS? IF YES WHICH ONES AND WHY?
ROB: Drills are essential for beginners, such as one-arm freestyle, high elbow drills and polo freestyle are great. For experienced swimmers, drills are a waste of time.
JOSH: Drills, yes, of course. I like a variety of drills that promote body rotation, such as single arm and catch up. Fingertip drag’s great for recovery technique.
CRAIG: I haven’t really done much in the way of drills, maybe I need to!

Question 10
WHAT ARE YOUR THEORIES ON USING PULLBUOYS AND KICK SETS?
ROB: Triathletes do enough leg work, so let’s forget the kick. I like to use the pullbuoy when I’m tired as I feel it’s better for my stroke on those days.
JOSH: If it's a wetsuit swim coming up, pullbuoys are fine. I believe you need to learn to swim without them though, like pure swimmers. Kicking is so important, in my opinion, as it promotes good body position. The best swimmers kick, just look at Thorpe.
CRAIG: I don’t use a pullbuoy AT ALL now. I used to use one all the time, it was permanently attached to my leg. In non-wetsuit swims, I suffered badly because my body just wasn’t kicking fit and, even though I thought I wouldn’t kick much with the suit on, I obviously did. I now think kicking is very important for starts and acceleration and have been doing more this season.

Question 11
DO YOU BELIEVE IN SPEED WORK OR OVERDISTANCE? (during season/off season) (example of sets)
ROB: The off season should be used more for endurance to build a base. Once you have an adequate base (which you can never get enough of), you can do speed work. With no base, your body won’t tolerate the speed work as well.
Off season, I do sets like 3 x 1500m or 4 x 1km, all aerobic. My favourite speed set race season is 2 x 25m off 60 second cycle, 1 x 50m, 1 x 100m, 1 x 200m, all flat out. In between each of these efforts I swim 500 metres very easy recovery.
JOSH: I agree with the above, however I believe speed work should only be 8 % of your total session. For example, if I were doing a 5 km session 300-400 metres of it would be speed. Sets such as 12 x 25m Max off the 60 second cycle. An overdistance set would be 30 x 100 off the 1 .20 cycle.
CRAIG: You need a variety of both I feel. I’m probably doing 50/50 at the moment. Our sprint sessions, I’d like to keep up over the winter though.

Question 12
DO YOU GUYS STRETCH YOUR UPPERBODY? BE HONEST.
ROB: I don’t stretch enough, stretching is very important for speed and muscle recovery. I’m very lazy when it comes to stretching, which is unprofessional.
JOSH: I stretch a lot, as I feel it’s a weakness of mine, the best swimmers are flexible.
CRAIG: I stretch a little bit, about 5 minutes before and after each session. My upper body is very flexible though.

Question 13
WHAT FOODS/DRINKS DO YOU PREFER PRE RACE, AFTER RACE?
ROB: I eat something light 45 min - 1 hour 15 min before each race. Something like fruit. It’s the night before that’s more important - a big pasta meal. 15 minutes before every race, I have half a banana because it has natural sugars and sits well in my stomach.
JOSH: I like muesli bars, power bars or nutella sandwiches before training swims. Before and during racing, however, I just drink lots of water, so my blood sugar levels aren’t up and down. After racing, a training sports drinks and fruit are great, as the sugar aids in fast recovery.
CRAIG: Bread and honey, 3-4 slices pre race and pre swim training. It’s easy to stomach. I also drink water with it, but just a glass or two. After racing, I have lollies to replace depleted glycogen stores and water to re-hydrate. Later in the day after a race, I’ll have McDonalds, donuts, chocolate, whatever, as a treat.

Question 14
WHAT TRAINING ADVICE CAN YOU GIVE TO OUR AGE GROUP READERS WHO DON’T HAVE MUCH SPARE TIME DUE TO WORK / FAMILY COMMITMENTS? (Off season/on season.)
ROB: Plenty of aerobic swimming, with good technique mixed with drills. Find a good coach who will know how much of a base you need for your time, the same applies to speed work - you must get the ratio right for each individual.
JOSH: If time is of the essence, stick to distance training and maybe throw in some speed work at the end of every second session. A set like 4 x 25m Max with 45 seconds to a minute's rest.
CRAIG: First and foremost, get a technique that is efficient for your biomechanics and then do a mix of over distance work and speed work, holding your technique at all times. Do more over distance work in the off season, but don’t neglect your speed work totally.

Question 15
WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SET AND WHAT’S THE BEST SET YOU’VE EVER SEEN DONE OR HEARD ABOUT?
ROB: Mine is 10 x 400 leaving off the 5 minute cycle which I like to do once a week. The best ever set was by my old coach in Queensland, Brad Cooper, before winning the 400 metres at the Moscow Olympics. He had to do 10 x 400m off the 5 minute cycle, with each one having to be sub 4 minutes 30 seconds. The tenth one he did 4 minutes 35 seconds, so his coach made him start the set again.
JOSH: I have a few… aerobic 30 x100m leaving off the 1 minute 20 seconds in a 50 metre pool.
12 x 400m, leaving off the 5 minutes 15 seconds and 10 x 200m, leaving off the 2 minutes 30 seconds in a 25 metre pool. Anaerobic, 4 x 100m hard, leaving off the 1 minute 15 cycle, have a few minutes rest, then repeat the 4 x 100m. I'll do this set 7 times , so it’s nearly 3 km of hell.
CRAIG: 10 x 400m on the 4 minutes 50 trying to drag off the big fella, it ended up into a 4 km time trial for me, though, a bit tough at this stage, next year will be different however. The best set I’ve ever heard of was Kieran Perkin’s 30 x 100m, holding 57-58s, leaving on 65s.

Question 16
WHAT’S YOUR IDEAL SWIM SCENARIO?
ROB: Rough, choppy 3 foot plus waves with no wetsuits.
JOSH: Sitting on the fastest swimmers' toes, conserving my energy for the bike, then blowing them away before the run.
CRAIG: MacKenzie gets a great start, he’s out to the turning buoy first with Van Wisse. Harris seams to be getting angry about his start and tries to pass Van Wisse (yeah right Craig ,jvw). MacKenzie settles on the feet of Van Wisse and Harris, getting an easy ride. Gee whiz folks, this MacKenzie sure races smart…while Van Wisse and Harris battle for first place out of the water, Maddog MacKenzie continues to be dragged along. It’s Van Wisse, then Harris, then MacKenzie out of the water. Oh look at the speed on MacKenzie into transition. He leaves the rest of the field for dead. WHAT AN ATHLETE!! (what a dream more likely Craig, jvw.)

Question 17
WHO IS THE WORST PERSON YOU WANT ON YOUR SLIPSTREAM IN THE SWIM?
ROB: Craig MacKenzie, but that’ll never happen.
JOSH: Anyone who can run fast.
CRAIG: Anyone who can run quicker than I can.

Last, but not least, who are the sponsors that keep you Turkeys happy?
ROB: Euro Optics, Ironman Wetsuits , Leppin Sports and Melbourne Elite Cycling.
JOSH: Freedom Machine Cycles, Rudy Project sunglasses, Met helmets, Skinfit, Deacons Law Firm and Pracom Communications.
CRAIG: Jones Cycles, Brooks, Green Turtle wetsuits, Skinfit and Powerbar.

Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge with the Triathlon and Multi Sport readers, boys, and best of luck for future races.
John

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Interview with Tammy Van Wisse - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

Achievements:
• Tammy has successfully undertaken over 900km of championship swims.
• The total distance she has swum so far is 60 000km (1.5 times round the world).
• Represented Australia in over 16 international marathons.
• Has won 16 Royal Lifesaving Ironwoman titles (without a hint of rust!).
• As part of her objectives to promote Port Phillip Bay as an environmentally friendly recreational asset, Tammy has swum:
Across the bay - Portarlington to Frankston, 1993 (40km)
Length - Rosebud to Sth Melbourne, 1994 (58.5km)
Circumference - Portsea to Sorrento, 1995 (144km)
• Fastest person across the English Channel in 1993 (8hrs 38mins).
• First ever brother/sister combination to swim the English Channel together, 1994.
• Guinness Book of Records for being the first person to swim Bass Strait, 1996 (97.4km in 17hrs 46min and 84 000 freestyle strokes!).
• Winner of Olympic Games Centenary Marathon Swim Race in Greece, 1996 (7hrs 13mins).
• Winner of Manhattan Island 48km Marathon Swim Race, 1997 (7hrs 15mins).
• Winner of inaugural 30km Melbourne Big Swim Race, 1998 (7hrs 18mins).
• Australian record for the fastest person to swim 50 laps of Bondi, 1998 (40km in 9hrs 7mins).
• World record (fastest person) across Cook Strait, New Zealand, March 1999 (6hrs 49mins).
• World record (fastest person) to swim the length of Loch Ness, August 1999 (9hrs 6mins).
• World record (fastest person) to swim the length of the Murray River – 106 days – 2438kms (over 2 million freestyle strokes!).

Over the years, you’ve had many coaches, each with varying philosophies. What do you feel were the core ingredients that got you swimming well with each?
GLORIA HARDY ROBINSON. My first coach was a wonderful lady by the name of Gloria Hardy robinson. She was very much a stroke technician and it was the best possible way to begin my life in swimming. Not only was she pedantic that we have perfect technique, but she also worked us really hard, not in terms of distance, but through actually performing under race conditions time and time again in training. Her motto was "if you can’t do it in training, then don’t expect to do it elsewhere." I think that work ethic enabled me to progress quickly through the swimming ranks and gave me a very good grounding. She also made us do gym work, lots of flexibility exercises and was a big believer in cross training which, back in the early eighties, was virtually unheard of, so, to some degree, I think she was way ahead of her time.
JIM O’ DOHERTY. The late Jim O’Doherty was my second coach and he was known on pool deck as "Boss". He was a gentle soul with a heart of gold, and very dedicated to his swimmers. When I first joined his squad, it was a culture shock for me, because I instantly became part of a big team environment. This was something totally new to me, because I had come from a squad consisting of only 8 swimmers. A big team meant lots of competition and always a good environment in training. Boss was also big on drills, especially otter and lots of kicking work, something which I loathed and still do today! Boss was also known as the "gadget man", and I think we were the very first swimmers to use an old fashioned style of pulley bench. This was total torture, but really gave us specific upper body strength.
TED TULLBERG. At the time when I joined Ted Tullberg’s squad at Syndal Swim Centre, he was known as the guru of marathon swimming and he lived up to his reputation. Ted and I experimented a lot with different forms of training and he was always willing to learn and adapt his techniques for the benefit of his swimmers. With Ted, I worked a lot on dry land, as well as doing plenty of distance in the pool. This was a great combination and I found a great deal of improvement working with stretch cords. Ted devised little circuits, where we would jump out of the pool in between swim sets and then have to do a combination of sit ups, push ups & stretch cords. I really enjoyed the break from the monotony of distance swimming and the change kept me fresh. With Ted, I really made the transition from pool swimmer to open water, and many of our sessions were done training in Port Phillip Bay, in particular the Brighton Sea Baths. This again was great for both mind and body, which I think was the key to prolonging my career in swimming when so many of my peers were hanging up their togs.
WAYNE LAWSES. Wayne Lawes is a very tough coach, who really knows how to work you hard. When you think you’ve reached the end of your limit, Wayne always pushes you a bit further.
We work a lot with heart rate monitors and this is a fantastic way to train, but, more importantly, gives you a good indication of when your body is overtired. Being a smart athlete means listening to your body, something that we sometimes find hard to accept.
Wayne also introduced me to "the bucket", which literally is a bucket with a few holes drilled in the bottom attached to a rope and belt around the waist. This is pure strength work in the water and I found that doing sets of bucket were very beneficial in my lead-up to training for the race around Manhattan, which I won in 1997.
PAUL WHITE. I worked with Paul White, a strength and conditioning coach at Harpers Gym in Brighton for 6 years. I’d never really been a gym junkie, so this was a big step for me.
Attending gym for 2-3 x one hour sessions, it's just incredible how much stronger I’ve become in the water. I have found this to be a real benefit in my overall training and I credit Paul for being prepared to dissect the swimming stroke and work out weight specific exercises for a lot of my success.

What would be your advice for a triathlete with limited time preparing for a 3.8km swim?

How about an egg and spoon triathlete training for 500 – 1500 metres swim?

What’s your warm up advice swim wise for an IronMan athlete, bearing in mind they’ve only got about ten minutes?
This is a tough one for me because you are asking a person who takes at least 10 kilometres to get warmed up! I guess it really comes down to a bit of trial and error. I know this sounds pretty lame, but everyone is different – some people don’t need a big warm up, whilst others do. It comes down to a personal choice based on your own experimentation. I would suggest some dryland windmills and, from a personal experience, I would swim out at least 100 metres and get myself orientated with the buoy positioning and land marks on the shore. It’s easy to go off course and even easier to be a sheep and follow the rest of the pack, but that doesn’t help you do a good swim time!

How about a sprint triathlete?
Same deal as above, but, for a short swim, I would also check out the depth of the water and see which path is best to take in terms of wading. Quite often, these swims are all run and, if swimming is not your forte, then I would definitely take advantage of knowing where to position myself for the best "run" out to the buoy and make the most of it.

Racing morning diet?

Is there one element or parts of your stroke you’ve found deteriorated gradually or slightly to produce a form slump? If yes how did you detect and correct it or them?

Kicking - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

Hi Folks, how’s things? In previous editions, this column has harped on about getting as much aerobic laps in as possible, with a relaxed stroke that suits your biomechanical strengths. It has harped on about stretching as much as possible, both dry land and ballistically, by incorporating backstroke and butterfly into each swim session. It has also harped on about getting your elbows high underwater by pressing on your catch (hand) and accelerating your hand back to your hip as fast as possible (with your elbow higher than your hand underwater at all times.) Finally, the last harp…your kick.

Personally, I feel kicking is overrated for most of us triathletes, due to time management and leg energy required to do long and/or intense structured kick sets. We generally have less ankle mobility (due to running and riding) than a swimmer, (as well as smaller feet), and we often race, but not consistently train, in wetsuits that put us off-balance with foreign (and appreciated) buoyancy. With all this in mind, I feel most of us need an economical two beat kick (flicking the opposite foot once to each arm stroke) to keep us balanced and leave as much petrol in the arms as possible. The only time this would change for triatletes with reasonable kicking ability would be sprinting at the start for positioning, or to surge during the swim at some stage. If, however, you are still struggling on the kick board in training, come race season, stick with the two beat kicks at all times on race day.

HOW TO KICK
Kicking is basically just shallow flicking of your feet. The power starts from your hip and whiplashes down a relaxed slightly knee bended leg to eventually drive the front of your upper foot / toes to press on the water behind you, thus moving you forward. Ankle flexibility is of paramount importance. Another big help is having large feet. Flippers do all this for us. They flex and they are large. We have to try to simulate how the fin works but on a smaller scale. A few other points to remember are: make sure your heal breaks the surface of the water on each kick, and kick off the one line (i.e. have your big toes brush or almost touch on each cross.) Practice with this technique. If you can’t sustain this technique on the board then stop, have a rest and do your quad stretch (pulling your toes towards your backside). You eventaully need to build up to at least 200 metres of continuous technically sound kicking each session.

WHY KICK IF IT’S OVERRATED?
Why practice kick at all, you may ask? Well, kicking gives us balance in the water and, even if you think you don’t kick with your wetsuit, on race day, you do, so don’t become a total pull buoy addict in training. Your quads are your biggest muscles, thus requiring more oxygen. They can get you short of breath very fast on race day, if you forsake practicing even the bare minimum two beat kick in training (as well as your minimum 200 metres of proper kick boarding). If you find that you’re a terrible kicker, then you really need to spend more time stretching your ankles and perhaps look into adding more magnesium into your diet. This will help increase flexibility and reduce foot cramps. I have seen people so stiff in the ankles that they literally kick on the spot and in some cases move backwards. If this is you, don’t despair. It’s happening because you are reverse sculling with your feet. Stretch your ankles religiously. Be patient, as it will take time to fix. Stiff ankles, on an even smaller scale, mean that, when you swim, your feet are acting as a drag factor, not a drive factor, because your upper foot / toes are pointing towards the bottom rather than behind you. A good stretch to do on dry land is to sit on your heals with your knees together. As you get more comfortable, lean back further, with the weight on your forefoot / toes. Your knees may come off the ground, but keep them together.

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Open Water Swimming - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

Is there anything more daunting than the beginning of a triathlon swim? Its starts at a horribly early time, the first turning buoy is usually only a few hundred metres away, and you have a multitude of fellow competitors (some even family & friends), just itching to bring out the WWF wrestling moves.

Well, I’ve never subscribed to any of this rubbish (apart from hating the early morning starts). I’d heard all this complaining before from people bludging in packs, but never before had I experienced firsthand being amongst the throng of arms and legs known as the human washing machine, until this year’s Hawaii Ironman.

I had a plan: join the bludgers in the pack and come out fresh for the bike - how wrong I was! Even the pros think they’re wrestlers! I came out battered and bruised. So what is the answer?

I have figured out that you are going to get knocked around whether you are in the front half of the field, the middle, or the back. The best solution is to be in the drink for as little time as possible. Here are some hopefully helpful tips.

Learning to draft
There are two spots to draft:
a) On the toes – so close that you actually touch them every now and then (accidentally, of course). Don’t fall into the trap of looking for bubbles, look up at least once every six strokes to make sure that you’re as close as possible and also that your "draft ride" is staying on course.
When I say look up, only look up high enough to see. If you lift your head too high, it will distort your streamlined body position in the water and you will also get a sore neck. Practice it regularly in a swimming pool. My sister, Tammy, was the Jedi Master of it - she’d supposedly go 5 seconds behind me in the main set, but be on my feet by 25 metres. Joanna Zeiger is another master in the Ironman swims, as too is Steven Sheldrake. Sheldrake would draft behind you all day then run over his grandmother to win in a sprint finish. It makes a big difference if you do it properly and don’t give away an inch – practice it this way.
b) Side draft – this is the harder of the two and a lot more difficult to master. Not too many triathletes know how to do it properly, so here are my tips.
This is best practiced by pairing up with someone in the pool. Swim within half a metre of their side (between armpit and hip). You are actually surfing their bow wave and they should (unlike feet drafting) feel your bodyweight like an anchor. Make sure you are breathing to that side, so that you can see them, and try to synchronize your arm cycle with theirs, so you don’t lock arms. I use this draft if there is a sprint finish coming up, as it tires the leader out. The beauty of this draft is that, if they surge, you are poised and ready to jump on to the feet draft. So basically, they have to surge twice to lose you. One point to remember is to stay away from the knee area, the draft is reversed and it actually pushes you backwards.

On Your Mark
Never wait for the gun to go. If they do the ten second count down, go on two or three. They very rarely pull you back. If it’s a deep-water start, keep a head in front of the rest beforehand. You’ll hear the same old spiel from the lifeguard on the board "we’re not starting till you move back". Don’t listen to them (unless they have a walky talky), as they have no power whatsoever. The starter on the land is usually on an ego trip and can’t wait to fire his or her baby.

The Start
Open water swims begin at a pace that nobody can hold, unless you’re Grant Hackett, but, if you don’t begin fast, you’ll miss the train. It's important to incorporate a bit of sprint work into your training, and a good example of this is to do a set of 100s broken into 25m flat chat, then 75m at a realistic pace.

Wait for your heart rate to drop back down until your next 100m and don't do too many, as they are taxing. Approximately 5 x 100s should be sufficient. You could also do 1 - 2 x 200m as 50m hard and then 150m at a realistic pace, or, alternatively, 1 x 400m as 100m hard and 300m at your race pace.

Navigation
Sometimes it’s just your luck that you’ll be drafting on someone who wears coke glasses on land, or maybe the fool who hasn’t heard of anti-fog goggles. In either case, it’s important that you take the initiative and practice looking up.

If you are ever in a situation where it’s a rough day and the marker buoys are small, make sure that you take the time before race start to look for something on land that you can line them up with. This way, if you can’t see the buoys over the waves, you can just look back over your shoulder to your landmark and know that you are on course (or off course). If it’s a flat lake swim with small marker buoys, line them up in front of a landmark on the other side of the lake.

The Finish
If it’s an ocean swim, don’t stand up until you can touch the bottom with a straight arm. You can easily be fooled by the depth in clear water and stand up too soon, losing all your speed and momentum. The same rules apply for lake swimming, except that, more often than not, you can’t see the bottom and don’t know you’ll touch.

How to Lose Drafters in Desperate Measures
If they are within about 2 percent of your swimming ability and don’t wear coke bottle glasses or anti-fog goggles, then you’re in trouble. If not, you can lose them in the feet draft by a quick zigzag surge. The side draft is more difficult - you will have to move sideways just ever so slightly, so that they are unaware, and then surge. Let them stay on your feet until you catch your breath and then do the zigzag trick. If they try to get back on your side draft while you’re getting your breath back, keep turning in front of them or match their pace when they get to your knee. As I mentioned earlier, the draft in that area works in a negative way and they’ll soon give up.

Wade Start & Finish
If it’s a beach start with sand banks, check out the shallowest route available at the start/finish line. Sometimes the depth can vary so much that you could be running on one side of the bank , whilst others are dolphin diving or swimming on the dud side. It’s always quicker running and an even bigger advantage if swimming is not your strong suit.

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Rhythm & Power - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

Are you constantly feeling robotic or awkward in the water despite putting in the miles, doing the drills and stretching as much as possible? Chances are you are trying to conform to someone else, a text book. Insweep this angle, outsweep that angle, the magic 'S' pattern. The truth is, there's no exact mould to getting each individual swimming their fastest; there are merely biomechanical guidelines. With bike riding, each triathlete has a preferred seat angle, crank length, pedal system and aerodynamic positioning. With running, it’s stride length, foot striking action and arm positioning. In today’s swim column, we’ll look at different ways to freestyle, and perhaps solve some problems for the self-coached or over-coached.

ARM RECOVERY
The arm recovery is just that, a recovery, a rest. It's from the exit of the stroke to the beginning (so basically every time your arm is out of the water whilst freestyling). The standard textbook will tell you to have a high elbow recovery as it promotes good body rotation and it shortens the journey of getting your hand back in the water for the next stroke. This is all true, but it's not a major deal in terms of creating speed, especially if you don’t feel like your arm & shoulder are getting a rest. If you’re not relaxed on top of the water, it won’t take much time (especially with a wetsuit on) before your underwater stroke suffers and your speed drops. Your fastest swims will always feel the easiest, just as your fastest rides and runs are, as you become rhythmatic. I feel that most triathletes need to lower their elbow positioning dramatically.This will mean sweeping your hand out much wider with your thumb just above the water.You should keep lowering your elbow/sweeping your hand out wider until your arm feels like jelly and almost weightless. Don’t have your fingers cupped tight either. Throw the arm (leading from the hand) over, like you don’t have a care in the world, and make sure your hand isn’t entering just above your head either. Enter your hand in the water around ten centimetres before you start your catch. We will talk about the catch later, but let’s now talk about …

HAND ENTRY POSITIONING
The standard text book will tell you to enter in line with your shoulder- this again is a generaliaation. You can enter your hand anywhere from your shoulder to your centerline (in line with your nose). Think of it like doing push ups or pull ups. Some people prefer their hands closer to the centre, others wider. Experiment where yours feels most powerful. If, when you stroke , your hand stays outside your body for the entire underwater pull, then you need to enter your hand closer to the centerline to begin with. If, when you stroke, your hand goes across your centerline (making you snake in the water and over roll), then you need to enter your hand closer to your shoulder to begin with.

THE CATCH
This is the beginning of the stroke, where you are gripping on to the water with your outstretched hand. Your arm should be straight, without being forced straight; your hand should be relaxed, with your fingers slightly apart, not cupped tight; and you shouldn't have clusters of bubbles on your hands either, as this will reduce the power of your catch (as air isn’t as dense a lever as water). Press your fingers down towards the bottom, without letting your upper arm drop too much.This part of the stroke takes the most power and will always be the slowest your hand will move through the stroke (as it’s the furthest away from your body, where we are biomechanically weakest), but it’s VERY important to do it properly. Once your fingers are pointing to the bottom, use your upper arm & back more (but still keep pressing the hand at all times). Accelerate your hand to your hip as fast as possible. If you’ve done this properly, you’ve kept your elbow higher than your hand for the entire underwater pull and have used your forearm as a paddle without knowing. You should, however, feel constant pressure on your hand. Slower swimmers will have dropped their elbow/upper arm, or lent on their elbow during the catch.This means they’ve lost the maximum lift the catch gives you at first, when you press (reducing drag). They’ve also missed the initial use of the forearm as a lever as, by the time they’ve got their elbow higher than their hand again (usually when the hands at about head level underwater), the boat's gone. In other words, they’ve lost momentum & will be lower in the water also. It’s a bit like the difference between attacking a small hill on the bike with speed/momentum from the bottom, or cruising the first part of the hill, then trying to re- accelerate. The momentum's gone and so has your average. When you sort your catch out (it takes a while to get strong), you will actually feel better swimming fast (it’s a bit like how much better striding out on a run feels compared to a shuffling recovery run).

PROBLEMS:

1) BUBBLES ON THE CATCH
If you have troubles getting 'clean hands', try swimming slower until you have the feel of it (the water). It can take time, but be patient. Your hands don’t have to be crystal clean, but no clusters.

2) DROPPING ELBOWS
Practise swimming with clenched fists with fins on, as this will reduce the strength aspect out of it on your shoulders and deltoids. It just means you can get the feel of keeping you elbow higher than your hand (fist) without grabbing as much water. Fists are also good for learning superior hand speed through the pull, like doing run throughs with running.

Conversely to fists, a good strength exercise for the press is paddles. Paddles are great for the feeling of lifting your body up on the press, but don’t do too much as you’ll get addicted to them & can get sore (don’t do more than 5% of your total mileage with paddles).

The master of masters for elbow height/press is butterfly. Butterfly forces you to press on your catch, otherwise you won’t be able to get your head up to breathe. Wear fins if you have to, but don’t be scared of how bad you feel your fly looks. It requires & creates very good shoulder flexibility (which will help your freestyle arm recovery also). If need be do 5 – 10 strokes, then rest - you will adapt eventually and build the distance without dying. Fly is like riding hills on the bike sitting down, it's great.

SHOULDER AND HIP ROTATION
This is where your left shoulder and left hip will rise as you pull with your left arm, then, conversely, the right shoulder and right hip will do the same on the other side when it’s the right stroke's turn. Please don’t force this; your shoulder or hip rotation happens naturally according to your own mobility range. The only time you should rotate more is if you have problems breathing (rotate shoulders more on that side, not hips though), or if you are EXTREMELY unflexeble (again, rotate shoulders more,which will make it easier for you on the arm recovery). For most of you, though, if you force your roll, it will just put you off balance and make your stroke less powerful. It won’t make you cut through the water, as the books might say, or, at least, it won’t make up for the power you lose for it, in my opinion.,At least, that’s what I’ve felt testing it with myself. It’s the natural roll I feel that makes your hand create a slight ‘S’ pattern through the pull, not the swimmer trying to draw (I’ve tried this too, you’re not alone.)

TIMING OF CATCH

HOW LONG SHOULD I HOLD MY CATCH BEFORE THE PRESS?
I feel triathletes will be suited to a much higher rating than a swimmer. In other words, don’t leave your hand out in front to glide for too long (i.e. Hackett, Thorpe style). Press on your hand pretty much straight away once your arm is extended. This will mean your opposite arm (in the recovery phase) will almost be in line with your ear (no later for triathletes, in my opinion).The Hacketts and Thorpes have a lot more power to hang on to their catches, and are backed up with much better kicks than any triathletes can muster. A long pause 'catch up' style stroke feels relaxing, but it won’t translate into speed for a triathlete, I feel. We just don’t swim enough to generate the power required to get that stroke up and happening, and I’m speaking from experience (the wise old man, I am). I rate five to seven strokes per 25 metres more than when I was purely a marathon swimmer doing big mileage. As a triathlete, I can’t get going trying to reproduce the same lower stroke count. Whilst this is just my bias column, I still warn you not to go for the 'cosmetically good-looking' catch-up stroke, as it’ll cost you speed. Good examples of great triatlete/open water swimmers are Brad Beven and Craig Walton. They just get the job done and would knock off most fast pool swimmers in the open water. If you would have asked me about their strokes five years ago from seeing them on the telly, I would have said they were battlers and they drastically needed their strokes tidied up (I’m the wise old man again).

KICKING
You need to kick, as it gives you balance in the water (which again means power), so DON’T do all your swimming with a pullbuoy. With kicking, you should just try to flick your feet (as apposed to kicking a football). Triathletes tend to be rotten kickers (sorry), despite having strong legs.This is because of the bad ankle flexibility that all the running and cycling gives you (or you’re just naturally a plank). A good stretch to do is pull your toes towards your backside as much as possible when you do your quad stretch. I’ll get into kicking inmore depth in another edition, but, for now, just be sure that you don’t overkick whilst freestyling. It is oxygen that would be better used in your arms, as your quads are your biggest muscles and will hog the 'petrol' if you try to kick as intensely as say, Ian Thorpe, does . Think of it this way, Thorpe can kick well under 30 seconds for 50 metres on a board & swims twice a day, so he has much more incentive to use his legs and a much bigger swimming cardiovascular system to use his extra weapon. Your speed will come from your arms, but still kick and don’t totally forsake kick sets in your training, just don’t over emphasize it (I’m speaking from experience again)(the wise old man). It’s also somewhat nullified with the wetsuit on, if you’re asking.

HEAD POSITIONING
Don’t have your chin on your chest and don’t have it higher than the water being level with your forehead. Find where it feels most relaxing and balanced for you with these parameters.

PRESS BACK
A rare fault amongst strong & crazy triathlete swimmers is that they press their hand back past their hip at the end of the underwater stroke, splashing water over the other side of their body. Once your hand is at your hip, stop pressing, relax and take it out to the recovery phase, as pressing back any further won’t get you anymore forward, but will burn your triceps.

FINALLY…
Well, this is all I can think of, folks. Just remember that the standard textbook is written by a nerdy scientist who can’t swim and got his (or her) parameters from one swimmer (generally). If this is the case for you, stop reading and start swimming naturally under my nerdy guidelines. Put their book under your front wheel next rainy day. Bye for now.

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Swim Structure - As featured in Triathlon & Multisport Magazine Swim Column 2002

Well, summer is nearly here and most of you, we presume, are out there doing the long weekend kilometres? Some of you fanatical types may have even started competing already? In today’s TSMS swim column, we’ll look at getting some swim structure during the week. For most of the off season, the TSMS swim column has endeavored to teach you to find a fluent, powerful freestyle technique, which we feel suits the majority of triathletes. We’ve preached the need to get as flexible and strong as possible, through stretching and incorporating backstroke and butterfly into your sessions. If you’ve stuck with this, you will be rewarded either now or down the track. Even butterfly, which once might have seemed impossible, can be conquered through persistence and logic (although it’s ALWAYS a battle). Let’s look at a five session a week swim guide.

MONDAY
You most likely raced / long biked / long ran / long partied or gardened (or all of the before) on the weekend, so, with this in mind, Monday should be a very easy constant swim. You could make it open water, if the weather’s nice and conditions calm. Stretch before and after the swim even if it’s only 5-10 minutes (as with all the swim sessions). Spend the session getting very relaxed in the water, just awake enough to think about basic technique, such as keeping a bend at your elbow on catch (with a clean, relaxed, bubble free hand), and keeping gentle constant water tension on your hand from catch to hip. Swim on time; don’t bother counting laps or worrying if people are passing you. Thirty minutes minimum, an hour and a half max.

TUESDAY
This could be your strength session where you do different strokes such as 100s, 200s, or even 400s I.M, (I.M meaning Individual Medley, which is an equal order of butterly, backstroke, breastroke, freestyle). Be careful with breaststroke kick, though, it can be bad for pulling leg muscles, preferably do it with a dolphin kick (i.e. double freestyle kick). Have at least a 500 metre warm up and cool down of freestyle. This session could also be used to build up an as aerobic as possible butterfly set. Each week, increase the distance, even if it means increasing rest periods. Building up to a 1500 metre fly set in the near or long future, is not out of the question for most of you, even if your jaw has just dropped reading this. Other strength exercises are swimming with a bucket attached to a rope, attached to a belt, attached to your waist. This can be awkward in small pools though, and watch out for yourselves when you turn laps. This total session should be 2- 4km long.

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday could be your anaerobic swim day. Look at doing a freestyle test set of no more than 500 metres long. You don’t need to go any further. I’ve found that a set around this distance allows you to absorb and improve, much more and the reverse happens. A long warm up and cool down is needed in this session. There are hundreds of different sets you can do. Here are a few examples:
Eg 1. 3 x 100m @ 400 metre race pace, 10-60 seconds rest.
200 metres timed effort.
Eg 2. 10 x 50 metres short or long rest @ 200 metre race pace.
Eg 3. 5 x 100m as 25m flat out, 75m @ 200 metre race pace, long rest.
Eg 4. 400 metre time trial, 30 seconds rest, 100m fly.
Eg 5. 20 x 25 metres @ 200 metre race pace, 10-15 seconds rest
Eg 6. 200m @ 400 metre race pace, 1 minute rest, repeat, 1 minute rest, then 100 metres flat out.
Etc, etc, the main thing to remember in these sets is to keep relaxed and supple under stress. Keep your hands as clean and relaxed as possible (not cupped tight) and maintain constant water tension on your hand from catch to hip underwater. Last but not least, GET your rating up, don’t procrastinate on your catch or waste time rolling around. All of this is why we need to do the slow perfect swimming sessions for reinforcement, as well as absorption of today’s session. 2-4 kms today, apart from the test set, the rest of the session should be easy.

THURSDAY
An easy skilled session, practice breathing to non preferred side for most of the session. If possible, pair up with someone and practice drafting slow on both side washes and feet.
2-4 km

FRIDAY
Aerobic threshold swim. Do a set off the clock in the pool or an open water swim. Throw in 4 x 25 metre sprints (or starts) with long rest.
2-4 km

SATURDAY/SUNDAY
Long bike, run or race again.

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