Mark Threlfall: Over the years here at GTN, we have been fortunate to have chatted with
many of the world's top pro-triathletes about their training and their racing. Today, we
decided we collate a number of tips from some of the fastest athletes in the water from
both short-course and long-course triathlon racing to help you improve your swimming.
[music] Mark: One of the
most important aspects of being able to cope with the open-water environment is having
a swim stroke with a high cadence or a higher turnover. I went and spoke to one of the fastest
swimmers, in the women's field at least, Lucy Charles, for her thoughts on this higher stroke
rate and how she uses it in her training. Lucy Charles: For triathlon and open-water
swimming, a high cadence stroke rate very often works a lot better. I'm fairly lucky
in that even when I was a poor swimmer I had quite a high cadence stroke rate where if
you compare me to my other triathletes, he had quite a long slow stroke rate. He was
always much faster than me in the pool but when we went over to open water, he often
struggled. He's actually had to adapt his stroke rate now to a high cadence, especially
in open water. Mark What is it that you need that high cadence
for? Lucy: Particularly if it's really choppy in
the water, actually it helps a lot more to have high cadence because you cannot fight
with the waves, you actually can get through them and it works a lot better then.
Moderator: Because the water is moving so you've got more chance of catching a stroke.
That's what I think. Lucy: Yes. Like we talked about earlier with
the catch, if you've got a good catch and a high cadence stroke rate, you will really
work with the waves and move through the water a lot much better.
Moderator: Is there anything you do in training to help that, or perhaps Reese is trying to
implement in his training? Lucy: Yes. Often you can actually, I'd say
do a half a length's sprinting but you're actually exaggerating that high cadence stroke
rate. You're doing it way more than you would but you're going over and above. If you can
do that then when you're doing high cadence but not exaggerated, it feels more normal.
Mark: So brings on those wiggle arms. Lucy: Yes.
[music] Moderator: Triathletes are well-known for
their love of toys and equipment, particularly so in the swimming pool. Having been out of
the water at the Ironman World Championships, Josh Amberger certainly knows how to make
his time in the water count. He explained to us actually what his go-to training aid
is, or his toy, and why it is and how he uses it to help avoid some bad habits.
[music] Josh Amberger: Get used to equipment aids,
let's call it. For me, everyone hates them or loves to hate them, but floaty shorts.
I really love them. I find that they're a fantastic training tool. Training for an Ironman,
you're pretty much always under very heavy bike and run load. Generally, as a triathlete,
you're always tired. Every time you jump into the pool, you're not going to feel 100%. I
feel that having a lot of buoyancy through the hips and it's obviously helping you lift
your legs up and improve your body position. Sometimes it can feel a lot easier but it's
also avoiding getting into bad habits if you're going to the pool always tired but expecting
to try and improve your swim at the same time. For me, little aids like that can really help
your feeling in the swim and avoid you getting into bad technical habits.
Moderator: It's important not to rely on them at the same time? So I guess you mix it up?
Josh: Yes. You don't want to go do some dive hundreds with you float shorts on and go,
"Damn, I'm swimming fast. I'm doing like 105, 100," but then you take them and you're not
getting the times when you take them off, which is probably about five seconds slower
to be honest. Don't let it build your confidence but just use it as a complementary tool.
[music] Mark: I have also picked some equipment pointers
from ITU swim star, Richard Varga who explained how he uses the pull buoy band and paddles
to add some variation to his swim sessions. Richard Varga: For me, it's really good to
swim with a band and with a pull buoy. Because I think that naturally, it's helping you to
have a higher cadence, otherwise you're going to sink down. That's my best for the open
water, in the pool exercise, and drill. I'm trying to be as much have the variation. I'm
using a pull buoys, sometimes without a pull buoy, sometimes I'm using the parachute. So
it's changing my position but I'm still trying to hold a strong core and to be as high as
possible. I steam all the very different positions. In a race sometimes, as you said, in a swim
wetsuit or in a sea you have different buoyancy so you have to be prepared and you have to
feel it. [music]
Mark: Let's return to Lucy Charles. She's highlighted another fundamental skill for
the open water and that is bilateral breathing. Such a useful skill particularly in terms
of spatial awareness when you've got other swimmers swimming around amongst you.
Lucy: My next tip is bilateral breathing, which basically means being able to bring
to both sides. When I was a swimmer, I actually only breathed to the right-hand side because
I was a lot faster like that. When I moved into triathlon, I actually found I had a lot
of issues and some injuries from bike and run because I was so imbalanced from only
rotating into that direction. In that respect, I would definitely say you should bilateral
breathe. Also, in open water you need to see what is going on both sides of you. I'd definitely
say get in the pool and breathe to both sides. Mark: When you're swimming in the open water
if someone approached on your left-hand side you switch and start breathing so you could
see them? Lucy: Yes. Obviously, I've had to work on
breathing that way as well, because I'm much more efficient breathing to the right. Obviously,
if you say there's someone coming up on your left and you don't look that way you're not
going to know they're there. You're not going to make use of drafting from them or anything
like that. You want to know what's going on either side.
Moderator: How have you helped to improve that breathing in your training?
Lucy: When I'm swimming, like the warm-up or swimming slowly, I'll make sure I'm bilateral
breathing. Or even make sure I'm actually breathing to the weaker side so I'm getting
stronger that way. I still tend to revert back to breathing to the other side.
Mark: Because it's quite hard to implement it in the middle of a hard session because
you're trying to work really hard. You're going to opt for your preferred option there,
aren't you? Lucy: Yes. I've got that competitive nature
as well that if I'm getting left behind on a set with these faster swimmers because I'm
breathing to my weaker side, then I'm going to revert back to breathing on my stronger
side. Moderator: So on the easy parts, the warm
downs, the recoveries, that's the good? Lucy: Yes. For myself, I would almost call
it like a rehab because I'm strengthening the other side by breathing the other way.
Whenever it's easy stuff I definitely make sure I'm bilateral breathing.
[music] Mark: The physical aspect of swimming amongst
others in an open water environment is unavoidable. Richard Varga also explains how he has implemented
some drills into his training to help him adapt.
[music] Richard: I asked the boys to draft me on my
hips or on my legs or beat me up from one side and that side.
Heather: [laughs] This is a good tip here. Get your friends to beat you up.
Richard: For one hour. Also, you're going to get used it.
Heather: This is in the pool you practice swimming with people on your hips?
Richard: Yes. We sometimes do like 100 or 200 reps where one guy is in your hip and
then you switch off. So you're doing a couple of these and one is resting and one is going
hard. Heather: Because I think people often think,
"We need to practice drafting on someone's hips." Actually, you do in the race have them
on your hips too so it's good to practice in both ways?
Richard: Yes. [music]
Mark: While following on from those, Josh also gave me some insight into some techniques
and drills that you can use within your swimming to help improve your drafting abilities, which
are pretty key to open-water swimming. [music]
Josh: It is very important as a triathlete to get used to people being around you in
the water. It happens to pros, it happens to amateurs, but you jump in the water with
a bunch of other people, you can't control their movements. All of a sudden you feel
really anxious about getting pulled under and just generally getting hassled. It's always
going to affect you if you're not comfortable being around people. I've been working with
helping my partner, Ashleigh Gentle try and develop some drafting techniques for her ITU
races. It's going to be something as simple-- you start with something as simple as doing
say 100 or 200 repeats, and it's just like, "Just stay on the feet for as long as possible."
I've found that sometimes people who have anxiety around being very close to someone
in the water and drafting and touching them, is you've got to give them little tasks to
do during the swim to take their mind off what they're actually doing.
Early in the year, I found this worked really well where Ash has the ability to stay on
my feet but she's nervous about being around someone. I tell her that every lap of the
pool she had to touch my feet three times. That meant that she had to, at speed, be swimming
as hard as she could, but she's thinking more about touching my feet three times than about
what's around her and what's making her feel uncomfortable in that environment.
I found that just developing some little techniques like that can really help you be comfortable
around people in the open water and it's working on your drafting skills at the same time.
Which is, in this game, critical to be able to sit in a pack and not get spat out all
the time. [music]
Mark: Hopefully, you've enjoyed those tips from some of the pros and they will help you
to improve your swimming skills into the future. If you've got any other queries or things
that you're struggling with, let us know in the comments section below. We'll try to address
that and make a video in due course to help you out. If you have enjoyed today's video,
make sure you give this a like, a big thumps up, and don't forget you can follow GTN on
social media. [00:11:36] [END OF AUDIO]