(glitchy ambience)
- It's fair to say that most people find the swim
the most daunting of the disciplines in a triathlon
and you would really love to be able to get to T1
just that little bit quicker.
Well, today we are going to share our top tips
for how to swim faster in a triathlon swim.
(reggae music)
Right then, so my first tip is equipment
and top of that list is our wetsuit.
For most athletes out there,
almost every open water triathlon that they're going to do
is going to require the use of one.
So make sure that you get a wetsuit that fits you properly,
you're comfortable wearing it, but most importantly,
practice using that wetsuit.
Personally, I recommend during the summer or race season
that you're going to be doing some events,
wearing that wetsuit for at least one swimming session
that you do during your week
and wear that wetsuit for the whole swim so you're
really used to wearing it when you're in the water.
(upbeat music)
So my second tip involves navigation
and that means, in an open water environment
you want to be able to swim straight and sight well.
Being able to make sure that you take the most direct line
to the next buoy in event is hugely important,
meaning that you swim the bare minimum of distance in a race
and you're not taking far too long in the water,
meaning you are going to be swimming faster.
And, in fact, I have done a video
all about how to swim in a straight line
and I will throw to that at the end of the video.
(dance music)
Tip number three is all about drafting.
Now, a lot of you might think
'Why would I want to draft?'
'Surely that's only something we do on the bike?'
But absolutely believe me.
When you're in the water, there is a huge benefit to be had
from sitting on the feet of an athlete in front.
So if you can see those bubbles of the feet in front,
lock on to them and swim behind for a fairly significant
energy saving.
But I will point out a note of caution; refer back
to my previous tip of swimming in a straight line.
As long as that feet in front of you are going
in the right direction, then please stay there as long as
you can.
(chilled dance music)
So tip number four is all about the swim start.
Now, I'm going to suggest that this is a clockwise swim
you're just about to embark on.
So the first buoy that you're aiming for will be
a right-hand turn.
So if you're a stronger swimmer, I would always suggest
being on the right-hand side of that swim start,
because hopefully you are confident
in getting away from the start quite quickly
relative to all the swimmers that you're going to be
mass starting with.
However, if you are a weaker swimmer
then that is certainly going to be a daunting situation
and you're not going to want to get caught up in that
washing machine effect at the start.
So in that regard, I would suggest you start
towards the left of the swim start
'cause that's going to give you a little bit more space.
Granted, it's going to take you a little bit further
to get to that first right-hand turn,
but in my opinion, that trade-off is worth it
for not getting worried about your start position.
(chilled electro music)
So my fifth and final tip is swim with others.
Now ideally, the best thing to do
is to get into an open water environment, your local lake
or down by the beach at the sea
and try and swim as a group for the length of your session.
It makes a huge difference to become more comfortable
and more spatially aware as an athlete
if you're swimming with others in training
so when you get into a race, you're not getting
really panicky and anxious before that swim start.
Of course, if you're not able to get into
the open water that often, you can still practice this
in the swimming pool.
Something that we used to do quite a lot
in our training sessions,
would be swim as three or four of us in one lane
and swim from one end to the length up to the other
as a little group of swimmers to just get used to being
nice and close in that confined environment.
Give it a try, see what you think.
Let me know about that in the comments section below.
Hopefully you've enjoyed this video,
and that means that you're going to be able to swim
quicker in your next swim triathlon.
Hit that thumb-up like button if it's the case.
Find the globe on-screen if you want to get
all the other videos that we do here on GTN.
And if you want to see a video about swimming
in a straight line that I mentioned earlier on,
well, you can find that here.
And for another video about open-water swim tips,
well, that is here.