Three Swim Form Habits That Slow You Down on Race Day
For many triathletes, the swim is the most challenging part of the race. Swimming next to other athletes without lane lines can be a daunting experience. Add in the environmental factors of wind, sun, waves, chop, current, swells, and cold water and it is unsurprising that many age group athletes struggle with the swim.
If you are looking to improve your open water swim before race day, remember that FORM = FAST. The longer you can hold good form in open water the faster you will swim. As a coach who regularly works with triathletes at Open Water Swim workouts and giving Swim Lessons with our Endless Pool, here are the three most common swim form mistakes I see triathletes making.
1. Picking the head up too high when sighting. When we are sighting in open water swimming, we want to keep our head as low in the water as possible, just getting our eyes above the water line like an alligator who is peaking at its prey. If we don’t have “alligator eyes” while sighting that throws off our balance in the water. When our head goes up, our bottom and feet go down, thus creating more drag and making us slower. Likewise, if you lift your head too much it also can strain your neck and back which can later impact our bike and run performance. To improve your sighting before race day, focus on execution not speed. Remember FORM = FASTt.
2. Over rotating. When a swimmer is over rotating, their entire face is above the water to breathe, their should goes deep into the water, and their legs splay out to the side to try to maintain balance. To fix this, I ask my athletes to include body position and rotation drills in their training. My favorite drills are: kick sets on the side and 6-3-6. Kick sets while swimming on your side helps improve awareness of your body position. 6-3-6 involves doing 6 kicks on one side, taking three strokes, and then 6 kicks on the other side. This drill helps you get comfortable rotating in freestyle and improving your balance in the water.
3. Dropped elbow. In freestyle, an ideal pull begins with an “early vertical forearm” position. This means that your elbow stays high and stable, while your hand and forearm rotate downward and backward to catch the water. If you elbow drops, this leads to reduced propulsion, increased drag, wasted energy, and an increased risk of shoulder impingement. When your elbow drops, you feel like you are slipping through the water with little propulsion and that you are using way too much energy to maintain speed in the water. Two drills that help with improving this are: fingertip drag and single arm freestyle with paddle. For fingertip drag, swim freestyle while dragging your fingertips across the surface during recovery. This encourages high elbow position during both the recovery and the catch. For the single arm freestyle with paddle, swim freestyle using one arm, using a page on that side. Focus on EVF mechanics, ensuring your elbow stays higher than the wrist through eh catch. Performing these drills slowly helps to emphasize precision and muscle memory. Remember FORM = FAST
I hope you found this article helpful! Click on these links to learn more about our swim lessons, open water swim workouts, and coaching. Or email me at jim.rowe@playtri.com if you have any questions. Happy training and racing this year!
Jim Rowe is a Playtri Level 5 Coach and Coach Education Lead, a USAT LI Certified Coach, an NASM Certified Personal Trainer, and an Ironman and 70.3 World Championship Qualifier who works with adult athletes who are chasing PRs, moving up to long course racing, or want to qualify for a world championship. Learn more about Jim at www.playtri.com/jim-rowe.