How Many Swim Coaches…

does it take to turn a triathlete into a swimmer?  Good question and I am trying to find the answer.  Right now, three seems to be working!

This season I am swimming with a local Master’s group.  Unfortunately, my team does not have a swim coach.  At Gordo’s (Coach number one) suggestion (and with the team’s support) I am now bringing my own swim coach (Alex Jerden).   I pay him a base fee to join me every Monday for the hour and I have asked anyone else he helps to give him $5 per session. Initially I was the only one he was working with during practice.  As of yesterday, he is now assisting at least five people.

How is it working?  Very well.  Since I am in lane six Alex can walk the deck while I swim contorting his body into his unique form of charades to get me to focus on certain technique things during my stroke. In five months, my 100 yard time has dropped from 1:40 to under 1:30 consistently.

Enter coach number three: Kristin Cihoski a former Indiana University IM specialist and Volunteer Assistant Coach for Indiana University Swim Team.  Her task has been to teach me the other three strokes.  She uses an underwater camera/Tivo set up during our sessions.  I have progressed from swimming the other strokes only with fins to now being able to do stroke work in practice without fins.

A huge help this week was her teaching me how to do proper flip turns including adding a dolphin kick or two (my current attempts look more like a convulsion than an actual graceful kick by a beloved mammal).  I actually implemented them into our 100 swim set yesterday.  I missed a few but overall I improved.

Looking forward my goals are to:

1. Swim 100 yards in 1:20 or faster.  Current best is 1:24.
2. Swim 100 IM in under two minutes.  To do this, I need to learn to swim the breast stroke better.  I swear my kick drives me backwards!
3. Swim 1:10 or faster at IM Louisville.  I completed a 1000 meter open water time trial on vacation in okay conditions averaging 1:41 per 100 yards.  Last year at Louisville I averaged 1:51.

I still don’t enjoy swimming very much but I am enjoying learning something new.  I really like the thought process and the struggle of implementing new techniques.

There has been a lot of debate on the best ways to swim faster lately.  I can tell you confidently, try it all. Just don’t do one thing all the time.  Keep mixing it up and do the work.

Most importantly, push your brain and your body.  Work hard enough once in a while to tear up in your goggles, see the tunnel closing in and be scared that you are going to create a biological hazard in the pool.  Those are the days that give you strength on race day.

Train your body and your brain.  Back to practice…