The majority of triathletes are not strong swimmers. I say this without any formal evidence to support my claim; it’s just a general observation derived from spending more than 15 years around multisport athletes. Anybody can ride a bike and run down the street without coaching or perfect technique.
Not so with swimming. Everyone has an excuse when it comes to the swim.
“I don’t have time to go to the pool.”
“I never learned correct technique.”
“The open water freaks me out.”
“It was too choppy.”
“I got kicked in the face.”
“A wave took off my goggles.”
Most of the explanations I hear for a poor race usually revolve around the first part of the race. If the swim goes poorly,there is little chance that an athlete can change his mindset for the remainder of the race. As a result, the common outlook for a triathlete is to survive the swim and then hammer the bike and run.
If he makes it around all the buoys and into the transition area,the swim was a success. This is the wrong mental approach for the sport of triathlon. We can no longer see it as three separate entities: swim, bike and run. Triathlon is now just triathlon—one sport, very original and extremely tough.
Lately, coaches and athletes are modifying the standard training theories to accommodate this new view. In the past, triathlon legends were commonly known for their strength and speed in a single sport. Maybe it was powering to a huge lead on the bike or chasing down the leaders on the run. Because triathlon was a new sport, athletes were moving over from one of the single sports and finding success in the multisport arena.
Triathlon is now more than 25 years old. It exploded after debuting at the Olympic Games in 2000. More races are shown on prime-time television. Some of the current stars of the sport have only been triathletes. They were never just swimmers or runners—always triathletes.
The current stars of this sport are perfect examples of change in the winning strategy. In the draft-legal format, the race winners are the best runners from the fastest group of swimmers (Olympic champions Emma Snowsill and Jan Frodeno are perfect examples). International distance races frequently have a single leader from start to finish (think of Matty Reed or Sarah Haskins).
Even half- and full Ironman triathlons are being won by athletes who can’t be classified with a single specialty (Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander are complete triathletes).
I have been honored to write the swim column in this magazine.With that said, I imagine it can be a little tough for some readers to take swimming advice from me. I have been swimming almost as long as I have been breathing.
Today, take a cue from your favorite professional triathletes. Check out their blogs,their online training plans or just the results from 2009. For them,swim practice is not just a recovery workout in the training plan.
Total weekly yardage rivals that of some local swim teams. The swim leg of triathlon deserves more than just a passing thought.With the New Year just past and the 2010 season just around the corner, make a triathlon resolution about your mental approach to the sport.
Start seeing yourself as a triathlete. Not a runner-triathlete or a cyclisttriathlete but a triathlete.Become a more confident athlete by mentally merging your weaker event with your stronger events. Ignoring your weak event does not make it go away.
Improvement can come in leaps and bounds with just a little extra effort.Think about your personal mental dialogue during a triathlon.Take the positive thoughts that easily roll around your head during the bike or run and use them during the swim.
If you see yourself in a tight aerodynamic position flying by people on the bike, try adapting that same image to the swim, and see yourself in a hydrodynamic position gliding smoothly through the water.
If you can easily settle into a steady pace on the run, try using the same physical cues in the water: your breathing, effort level and heart rate. We have all heard the saying that endurance sports are 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.
Train your head this year! The race will unfold in an entirely different light if you think positively and have confident thoughts from the start. By embracing the swim instead of fearing it, you can become a triathlete.
Sara McLarty coaches swimming at the
National Training Center in Clermont,
Fla. Visit her blog for daily swim sets at
Ntcmastersswim.blogspot.com
source: Triathlete_Magazine_Mar2010
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