Triathlon swimming made easy

by Terry Laughlin

  • 100-yard repeats: 25 UnderSkate on your right side, 25 UnderSwitch, 25 UnderSkate left, 25 UnderSwitch.

  • 150-yard repeats: 50 UnderSkate (25 right, 25 left), 50 UnderSwitch, 50 Double UnderSwitch (25 balance on right, 25 on left).

  • 150-yard repeats: 25 UnderSkate right, 25 UnderSwitch, 25 Double UnderSwitch right + 25 UnderSkate left, 25 UnderSwitch, 25 Double UnderSwitch left.

  Until you have put in a cumulative total of several hours practice in Lesson Three drills, rest for at least 3 yoga breaths after each length. Similarly, take three yoga breaths in your Sweet Spot between cycles of each drill.

  Let Go of Your Kick: How to Make it Economical and Relaxed

  Most adult swimmers kick too much, not because they want to but because they feel their legs sinking. This kicking is not only non-propulsive and energy-wasting, it also wrecks your rhythm and any chance of achieving fluency. The ideal kick for most people is one that is non-overt and nearly effortless. Your drills are the perfect device for helping you replace an energy-wasting kick with an economical kick, called a 2-beat kick (for two kicks in each stroke cycle).

  The only overt kicking that should happen as you drill is a gentle kick in Sweet Spot to maintain momentum between drill cycles. But when your body rotation is providing momentum, let your legs take a rest. You can train them for this by using Switch drills to learn the timing of the 2beat kick. This kick does a wonderfully efficient job of helping the body roll from side to side, which generates ample power for propulsion. You can swim with this kick virtually all day without tiring.

  The learning process is fairly simple. Whenever you do any of the Switch drills stop kicking as you make the switch. Try to glide in balance without a kick fora few moments in Sweet Spot, then resume gentle, steady kicking. Keep kicking easily as you swivel to the nose-down position, but as your hand slices forward to initiate the switch, pause your kick again and let your body glide forward on the momentum from your weight shift and body rotation. After you rebalance in Sweet Spot, pick up the kick again.

  It's the same with the Multi-Switch drills. As in the single-switch drills, maintain a gentle kick while in Sweet Spot and when you swivel to the Skating Position, but once your hand slices in on the first switch, let your legs pause. They won't actually remain motionless. Instead one leg should beat down as each hand enters the water. As your right hand enters, your left leg kicks; as your left hand enters, your right leg kicks.

  Don't use too many brain cells trying to coordinate this. Instead, focus on letting the legs do what comes naturally when you just pause the steady kick you'd been using prior to the switch. Your arms and legs already are well acquainted with moving in a counter-balancing fashion. Running or walking, they do the same: Right arm and left leg swing forward together, then left arm and right leg.

  Lesson Three: Mastering a Compact, Relaxed Recovery

  Having mastered Lesson Two, you should now have experienced two important elements of Fishlike Swimming: First, how to generate effortless propulsion by using your hand to simply hold on to a spot in the water while dynamic body-roll takes you past that spot. Second, how to keep your bodyline long and to "lie on your lungs" while doing that rhythmically. Lesson Three will give you an even stronger sense of balance and start imprinting the muscle memory for a compact, relaxed recovery. Having painstakingly developed a balanced, aligned foundation for stroking, we don't want to let an arm-swinging recovery upset that. ZipperSwitch drills teach you an energy-saving, alignment-preserving, drag-reducing recovery.

  Drill #10: ZipperSkate

  Why we do it: We used UnderSkate as kinesthetic rehearsal for UnderSwitch. ZipperSkate will prepare you for ZipperSwitch in the same way. But it can be even more valuable in preparing you for whole-stroke swimming because it's the ideal way to gain the most powerful sense of how to "lie on your lungs." Once you feel that in your bones, you'll know how to have a truly relaxed, unhurried stroke.

  Follow this sequence:

  1. Begin in Skating Position. Rather than recover under water, drag your hand slowly along your side (as if pulling up a zipper). Keep your hand under the surface, as shown in the photo.

  2. Lead with your elbow for as long as possible, with your hand trailing until elbow and hand are alongside your ear. (Tip: It can be extremely helpful to practice this movement while lying on your side on the pool deck or on your floor at home, as illustrated in the photos.)

  3. Once your arm is dangling alongside your ear, check that your shoulders are still stacked, then slide your hand back down. Finish by rolling your needle shape all the way back to Sweet Spot. Take 3 cleansing breaths, then repeat.

  Time to practice: Over time this will probably be your most valuable balance drill and the one you should practice most often. After you've learned the basic movements (particularly the elbow leading the hand, and the hand remaining under water), I recommend you use the practice-till-you're-bored philosophy to fully develop your kinesthetic balance awareness and burn it into your nervous system. You could easily practice this drill non-stop for 15 to 30 minutes once a week for the next month or two and learn valuable lessons on every lap. Here are a few focal points:

  1. Are you stable or do you immediately begin to sink as your arm comes forward? If you begin to sink right away, make sure you keep your head in line and the extended arm angled quite deep in front. Your goal - if you sink - is to sink in a horizontal position. This is enormously valuable to learning equilibrium. If you're a sinker, bring your hand to your shoulder and immediately slide it back to your side.

  2. If your body position remains fairly stable as you draw your arm forward, "skate" for a few seconds with your elbow motionless above your shoulder. The weight of your arm in the air should give you a clear sense of how to balance by "lying on your lungs." If you feel balanced while doing this, practice doing the recovery super slowly. This is the nearest sensation thus far of how you'd like to feel once you begin whole-stroke swimming.

  3. Focus on sensing the water resistance against your hand on recovery. Don't fight it. Instead yield to the resistance by softening your hand and arm. How compact and gentle can you make that recovery action?

  4. If you're in the "sinkers" group on this drill, fins will allow you to sense the stable support a balanced swimmer feels when doing this drill.

  Drill #11: ZipperSwitch

  Why we do it: The compact, relaxed, unhurried recovery this teaches will effectively linking your armstroke to the power of core-body rotation. This drill will also teach you the front-quadrant timing that keeps your bodyline long throughout the stroke cycle. The purposeful exaggeration on this drill is to slice your hand in alongside your ear, before slicing it forward underwater. This corrects the nearly universal tendency to over-reach on the recovery.

  Follow this sequence:

  1. Begin as in Drill #10. Do a "Zipper" recovery with your hand under water, elbow leading as far forward as possible. Feel water resistance on your hand, but don't fight it. Soften your arm and hand and keep them close to shoulder and ear.

  2. As soon as your hand catches up to the elbow, slice it in and forward as you switch and roll to Sweet Spot on the other side.

  3. Relax and glide in Sweet Spot for as long as you want (3 yoga breaths), then repeat in the other direction. As you practice, emphasize the following:

  • A compact and unhurried recovery. Continue to focus on switching through the smallest possible space, but that space is now above and below the surface.

  • Hand entry that is exaggeratedly early and close to your head. Drive your hand into the water alongside your ear to over-correct the tendency to over-reach.

  • Practice silently, taking all the time you need to feel in your bones the right moment in your recovery to make the switch.

  • Continue to feel "connected" to your core-body as you switch.

  Drill #12: Multi ZipperSwitch

  Why we do it: As in Double/Triple UnderSwitch, Multi-Zipper introduces swimming rhythms
to the movements you've just learned. You're coming ever closer to actual swimming.

  Follow this sequence:

  Start as in ZipperSwitch, but do two or more Switches before rolling to Sweet Spot again. (Once you've achieved true relaxation and ease, you may be able to do as many as 5 or 6 ZipperSwitches before returning to Sweet Spot.) Some swimmers find they can do effortless, unhurried Triple Zipper for a full 25 yards because they are so economical they use little oxygen to do a full pool length. Focus on the same points as in Triple Under: head hidden, steady unhurried core-body rhythm, consistent "switch" timing. Here are some specific instructions you can give:

  • Hide your head... Water should flow over the back of your head much of the time... Look straight down and watch yourself slide effortlessly past tiles on the pool bottom.

  • Keep a low profile... Hug the surface, as if you were swimming under a very low ceiling.

  • Pierce the water... Slip through the smallest possible space both above and below the surface.

  • Soften your arms and hands... Feel the water resist your hand, but try to recover without splash or turbulence.

  • Feel the complete support of the water and use it to bring your hand forward as slowly as you can.

  • And finally drill without making a sound.

  Lesson Three Practice Plan

  The transition from drilling to swimming starts here. Lesson Three teaches you movements and coordination almost exactly the same as you'll use in fluent swimming. Spend lots of time practicing ZipperSkate to develop the great balance sense that will make you successful in the drills that follow. Spend just enough time practicing ZipperSwitch to master the switch timing. As your skills develop, spend more of your time with Multi-Zipper because it teaches a range of valuable lessons and can do more than any other drill to make you a truly economical swimmer - able to practically float through a swim of any distance without even breathing hard. Here are some suggested sequences:

  100-yard repeats:

  • 25 ZipperSkate on your right side, 25 ZipperSwitch, 25 ZipperSkate left, 25 ZipperSwitch

  • 25 UnderSwitch, 25 Triple Under, 25 ZipperSwitch, 25 Triple Zipper

  150-yard repeats:

  • 50 yards each (25 right, 25 left) of Drills 3,4, and 9.

  • 50 ZipperSkate (25 right, 25 left), 50 ZipperSwitch, 50 Multi-Zipper

  • 25 ZipperSkate right, 25 ZipperSwitch, 25 Multi-Zipper + 25 ZipperSkate left, 25 ZipperSwitch, 25 Multi-Zipper

  Lesson Four: Meet Your New Stroke

  Lesson Four, though simple to master, will teach you precisely how your stroke will feel for the rest of your life. For some, OverSwitches are their form of "swimming," at least for a while, because it gives almost anyone, even someone in the very early learning stages, an easy way to practice Fishlike Swimming.

  Drill #13: OverSwitches

  Why we do it: This teaches you how your new Total Immersion stroke will feel. In fact, you'll be swimming with a TI stroke between pauses in your Sweet Spot. This drill reinforces the timing you began imprinting with Under- and ZipperSwitch, which helps you swim taller. It also allows you to practice a deft, knifelike entry... Both of these skills help connect your arm to effortless power from core-body rotation.

  Follow this sequence:

  1. This drill is a natural extension of Multi-Zippers. Start with at least one length of Multi-Zipper. Make sure you're recovering with a compact, relaxed - almost lazy - recovery. On the second length, raise your recovery hand so it barely clears the water and immediately re-enters. Do three or more "switches" on each cycle before going to Sweet Spot.

  2. If you feel good and don't particularly need to breathe, add switches. Most TI students can do four to six switches with ease. The key is to sustain a relaxed, effortless, switching-and-rolling rhythm. You may find yourself able to complete a full 25 yards without pausing in Sweet Spot.

  Lock in Efficiency with Patient Practice

  Concentrated practice of Triple Over can deeply imprint a far more efficient new stroke. Do 25-yard reps (resting for 2 to 4 yoga breaths) for 7 to 15 minutes. Try to do 4 to 6 switches before pausing in Sweet Spot for three yoga breaths. Here is a menu of focal points:

  • Look down so water flows over the back of your head.

  • "Ear Hops" Take your hand out of the water for the briefest possible period - imagine you're trying to just hop it over your ear - then put it back in right beside your goggles.

  • "Marionette" Ann Let your elbow do all the work of plucking your arm from the water and placing it back in. Your arm should hang from your elbow like a dead weight - or marionette.

  • Cut a hole with your knuckles (if wearing fistgloves®) or fingertips and slip your entire arm through cleanly and steeply until it's below your head.

  • Steep and Deep Entry. On entry, slice your hand steeply to the spot you've been imprinting since Skating position - with your fingertips angled down..

  • Time your switches consistently and move as silently as you can.

  Transition to Swimming

  Your swimming movements are all in place now. All that remains is to take out the Sweet Spot pauses and replace them with rhythmic breathing. Your goal here is to make breathing a seamless part of your body-rolling rhythm. (A secondary goal can be to breathe smoothly on either side.) Let's review what has prepared you for this:

  1. You learned to breathe by rolling your body to the air (rather than turning your head) in all three variations of Skating. Use Skating, Under Skate and ZipperSkate to reinforce that habit.

  2. You learned to keep your head connected and aligned as you rolled to the air in UnderSwitch and ZipperSwitch. Use those drills to reinforce this habit.

  3. You developed your sense of core-body-rolling rhythms in Triple Zipper and Triple Over. Use those drills to reinforce your rhythm awareness. 4. You've worked on balance in all 13 drills. Improved balance will allow you to breathe without driving your lead arm toward the bottom. Focus on balance to "stay tall" as you breathe. Extensive use of fistgloves® in your practice - both drilling and swimming - can be particularly helpful in developing the "weightless arm."

  We'll use Triple OverSwitch for the transition to swimming. Do a series of 25-yard repeats. Rest as much as needed (5 or more yoga breaths) between reps to start each completely fresh. Start each rep with a normal (but water-piercing) pushoff and begin stroking with at least four switches before your first breath. This should not be a breath-holding effort, but a measure of how relaxed and effortless you are. The purpose of beginning with several uninterrupted switches is to establish your rhythm with core-body rotation and not with your arms. Once you feel an effortless, relaxed rhythm, you are ready to fit a breath into that rhythm with no interruption. Here's how.

  1. Take your first breath simply by rolling right to where the air is and immediately back in the other direction.

  2. Try to do that with no interruption of the rolling rhythm you established on your switches before the breath.

  3. If that breath goes smoothly, do another the same way, several strokes later. If you sense a slight interruption in your rhythm, try to smooth it out on the next stroke cycle.

  4. If you lose control, go back to Sweet Spot on the next breath and think about how to improve your breathing technique on the next 25.

  Be patient. Some swimmers will fit breathing in seamlessly right away. Others, particularly those who have the most delicate sense of balance, may need to spend weeks learning to fit in a rhythmic breath without breaking down the control and coordination they have worked so diligently in drills to develop. Here are some tips that may help.

  1. A weightless arm is important. During Multi-Switch drills focus on having your arm float forward after entering next to your goggles. When you take your first breath, put particular focus on keeping that weightlessarm sensation. Your hand should keep inching forward while you breathe. Fistgloves® will help!

  2. Keep the timing of every switch exactly the same. Maintain
that timing as you fit in your first breath.

  3. Roll as far as necessary. Old habits may be causing you to lift or turn your head. Keep everything connected and aligned as you roll your head, neck, and torso as one unit to air. Roll all the way to the air. If you're having difficulty getting air easily, m\ farther.

  4. Slow down. Anytime you feel a loss of control, slow everything down. Be quieter and more gentle. Don't let yourself feel hurried.

  5. The FME DVD illustrates several very helpful exercises for learning more seamless breathing technique.

  Terry:

  I wanted to touch base and let you know the results of the weekend workshop in Atlanta. I am amazed at what it has done for me and for my relationship with the water. I no longer dread getting in for endless laps, mainly because mindless swimming is no longer the focus. What I did not expect was how the experience would affect all my other training. I have been practicing my stroke drills diligently and am so thrilled with the way it brings pleasure and clear purpose to my training that I've begun to apply your mindfulness principle to my running and biking. Each time I go out to run or bike I focus on and practice one aspect of my technique for that workout. It really made me think about all the other training I've done in years past: endless miles or laps without focus and no purpose except conditioning for race day. I'm constantly learning more ways to apply focus every time I go out and it makes every training session interesting and rewarding in itself. My whole attitude has changed now and I'm so excited Thank you so much Sincerely, Michelle Judson