How To Prepare For Your Triathlon Swim | The Beginner Guide

So maybe you’ve been brave enough to sign up for your first triathlon? Or maybe you need some guidance on how to structure and improve your triathlon swim training? No matter what the reason is, you’ve come to the right place. Don’t get me wrong, there is no ‘one-size fits all’ when it comes to triathlon swimming preparation, and the with vast amount of beginners articles out there, it’s not easy to find the miracle plan! However, this plan runs through the basic fundamentals of triathlon swimming preparation, and if you implement and follow these correctly, you WILL see dramatic improvements.

Be Consistent – Swim 2-3 times per week

Let’s start off with a very important tip (not that everything I say isn’t important!). Being a consistent swimmer is key to improving, and on the flip side, a lack of consistency is going to hit your training progression like a ‘misplaced’ buoy! It’s very easy to become demotivated or lose track of training, therefore optimising consistency can only be a beneficial.

The recommendation here is definitely to swim 2-3 times a week to really keep the training consistency at an optimal level. A good direction to follow is start with three sessions a week, to build an effective foundation, before potentially scaling down to two sessions in order to best manage your training regime.

One way to manage this aspect of triathlon swim training is fairly simple, schedule it! Using the DuoSwim app is one way to easily log and manage swim sessions. Other examples could involve weekly Google Calendar plans that easily plan this weeks and the following weeks swim sessions. If you treat your sessions as booked appointments, then consistency is a lot more easy to come by!

Follow a structured training plan

Now a lot of beginners have this idea that coaches are only for semi or full professionals, and if this is true of you- you could not be more wrong. A swimming coach will be the eyes and brains of your progression, pointing out your mistakes, and being your main source of support. They will help you translate technical prompts into fluid swimming movements that will only enhance your triathlon swimming training. So, if you’re only just beginning your triathlon journey- get yourself a swim coach!

Try to keep your swim coach sessions as small as you can (one-on-one would be the most ideal), and probe for as much individual feedback as possible. The DuoSwim app is a perfect remote source for coaching, where out instructional videos will guide you through focusing on correct technique, or make use of the video analysis feedback option where individual tips and critique is given for your improvement- the perfect one-to-one coaching if you ask me!

By setting a coaching structure up for your triathlon swim training, you’ll make improvements way beyond trying to go alone, plus the enjoyment of seeing progress is priceless in this sport! Avoidance of bad swimming movements and technique early on in your development is also a great benefit of having a coach- as these can be really hard to correct once you become more established in the pool or open water!

Focus on your swim technique

This leads nicely on to the next step of this masterplan- focus on making your technique as efficient and effective as possible! Good technique will exhaust you less, and something as simple as proper stroke mechanics will take you that much further into your swim before becoming tired. Further, it will also reduce your risk of injury- you aren’t going to improve if you aren’t in the pool!

I’ve been kind enough to reproduce a short and sharp overview of good swimming form just for your eyes only:

Body

Perpendicular alignment with the waters surface (no sinking legs!).
Fixed head position- looking down and slightly forward.
Body rotation at the hips through to the shoulders during each stroke (head rotation for breathes only!).

Stroke

Start each stroke with your arm fully stretched out in front of you- your arm should also point slightly down.
When pulling through the water, keep your elbow high and bent- no side movement with your arm. The palm of your hand should direct all the power straight back to propel you forward.
Only exit your hand from the water when your arm is fully extended back to at least hip level!

Breathing

Breath out constantly when your head is in the water- blow bubbles from your mouth and nose is the best way to go about this!
Rotate your head and body to breathe in on every second or third stroke - do not lift your head by itself!

Don’t worry if some of that (or all!) went in one ear and out the other. Make use of the DuoSwim app for tips and tricks or there are an abundance of videos on platforms such as YouTube that you can engage with in order to analyse perfect swimming mechanics!

Get Filmed

Getting filmed can be a real game-changer in terms of your progress and motivation for swim training. Firstly, it is perfect for assessing the previous step- as it helps you aware and analyse where your current swimming technique is currently- an essential step for improving! Secondly, it will help your coach to guide and implement more detailed instructions, something that will make executing them a lot easier!

The more footage you can capture- the better! This means you should capture all angles above water, as well as below- which means you may need to invest in a GoPro or a smartphone waterproof case (if you’re a lot braver than me!). To increase the quality of the videos captured, selfie-sticks (I know you have one) and tripod are great ways for gaining stable shots, especially when walking along poolside. Try to shoot videos every 4-6 weeks in order to monitor and compare your progress.

Equipment

Equipment and swimming tools are a lot more important than you may think! They provide you with the basis to give your training that extra push in the right direction. One mistake you shouldn’t make, is buying a random bunch of training aids and use them until there’s nothing left of them. There is a time and place for everything- a good mix of using them and not should suffice- and use them to isolate the areas that you are working on (i.e. stroke or breathing).

Here’s a brief overview of potentials swimming practices and what aids are useful:

Kick Practice: Swimming fins and kickboards.

Stroke: Pull Buoy, snorkel and paddles.

Body Position: Swimming fins and pull buoys.

Breathing: Pull buoy, fins, and kickboards.

Vary your paces

The final step before I let you continue with your path to swimming greatness is to vary your paces. If you mindlessly swim laps at the same constant speed, this creates a very low-value training environment, and secondly, your body is one of the best adaptive beings out there! This means you will gain very little from all those hours you may spend in the pool and plateau any training gains- nobody wants this! As a beginner, most of your training drills will be in the confines of 25-50 meters, concentrating on good swimming form, and occasionally venturing a little further (at your own peril!)

Eventually, your technique sessions will naturally elongate, with no need to stop every 25-50m. Therefore, varying your pace will improve your technique on two fronts:

Brute force or fitness won’t get you far, and being forced to think about swimming form whilst going faster will increase your speed gains.
Your limitations will differ at different paces. Therefore, training at these differing paces will allow you to focus on each individual aspect of your technique and help structure your future swimming training sessions.