SWIMMING TO SUCCESS
BY DOUGAL ALLAN
I
n my first iron-distance race in 2014 I swam 1h03m for the 3.8km
at an average of 1.40/100m pace. At the age of 29 and with no
previous background in swimming I was satisfied with this time,
given how truly terrible my swimming felt and looked when I
first started to prepare for the event. However, it left me with a
deficit of 18 minutes to the front of the race that day, illustrating
the often-stated fact that ‘you cannot win the race in the swim,
but you can certainly lose it’. Flash forward to my most recent race
over this distance: Ironman Australia in May this year, I swam 52min
at an average of 1.23/100m pace, leaving me less than seven
minutes off the pace as I started the bike. While this is still not
earth shattering, especially for a professional triathlete, it shows a
massive improvement in five years and gives me a great sense of
satisfaction when I reflect on the process that took me there.
One frustration I have is when fellow ‘adult-onset swimmers’
comment to me how they ‘wish they could see improvements in
their swimming the way I have’. Generally this frustration arises out
of an awareness that they simply have not put the same measures
in place to achieve the improvements I have managed for myself.
When I reflect, these are six of the most important ingredients I
can now extract from the process I have experienced in my pursuit
of better swimming: could be missing some big opportunities to swim better.
1. PATIENCE: Often I hear triathletes say they want to chop five
minutes off their swim time next year. While this might be realistic
for some, my experience is that the decrements in swim times are
often agonisingly small. However, by remaining passionate about
the process (rather than outcome) you can virtually guarantee that
unless you are already swimming front pack, you will always see
improvements in speed and/or efficiency in your swimming by
sticking at it. Just keep in mind that swimming is unlikely to offer
you huge rewards in an instant, rather it is a longitudinal process
that rewards those who persevere. 6. MOBILITY: Finally it has been through many trials and
tribulations that I have discovered the importance of swimming
mobility. To achieve speed as a swimmer you need two things: 1)
good propulsion and 2) minimal drag. While propulsion relates
more to specific aspects of the swim stroke (eg. catch), minimising
drag relates to achieving a streamline potion in the water. Hip,
shoulder and thoracic mobility are three critical areas to focus
if you want to optimise your position as a swimmer. This will
also help reduce your chances of swim-related injuries such as
shoulder impingements. Talk to your coach or a qualified sports
physio (with an understanding of swim mechanics) if you wish to
get more insights on mobility.
The biggest breakthrough I had as I tried to become a better
swimmer was when I began enjoying the sport. For me this
had a lot to do with joining a squad and creating more social
opportunities as a swimmer. When you enjoy something, you
are more likely to commit yourself to the process and that will be
where results start to flow back. Be kind to yourself and remember
how powerful your language can be. I used to laugh at myself
and describe myself as an awful swimmer often. Somewhere
along the way I decided that if I was putting all this effort into
trying to improve, I needed to start giving myself more respect.
Interestingly, as I started to talk about how much stronger and
faster my swimming felt, I would see evidence that this was in fact
the case. Keep your thoughts and words positive and it will have a
flow on effect to performance.
2. CONSISTENCY: Relating to the first point, you need to realise
that you cannot just ‘come and go’ with swimming if you expect
to improve, you have to keep at it. In the five years I have been
swimming for the purposes of triathlon, I do not think I have had
a single week off. Some weeks it is only one or two swims, others it
might be eight, but it continues and never ends. Unless you have a
history in the sport, the moment you stay out of the water for a few
days or weeks, you will go backwards quickly. Keep at it.
3. TECHNIQUE: When I look back, the blocks where I have made
the biggest leaps forward in my swimming are usually those where
I have been able to spend time in front of a good swim coach
who has critiqued my technique. It is all well and good getting in
and doing the miles, but swimming is a highly technical sport and
without a qualified set of eyes giving constructive feedback you
ALLAN TALKS AFTER HIS WIN
@ IRON MAORI!
22 | MULTISPORT MAGAZINE
4. OPEN WATER: It might as well be a different sport to pool
swimming. For a period I was seeing big gains in my pool times,
but nothing was transferring to the race scene. It wasn’t until I
started to do structured and purposeful open water swims with
other bodies and in race simulated settings that I started to see
noticeable transference into the races. Being in a wetsuit and in a
dynamic environment is very different to the pool and should be
practiced often, especially in your race specific training phase.
5. CHANGE GEARS: I have realised over the years how important
it is to train the ability to move at different speeds in the water. If
you spend most of your time swimming at a constant speed you’ll
find it hard to execute an effective swim on race day. The trick is to
carry as many tools in your tool box so you can accelerate off the
start line, hold a good breathing and sighting rhythm when the
pace settles, lift the pace to get onto someone’s draft, ease back
and conserve energy when the opportunity arises and generally
change through your gears as you response to the race dynamics
in the water. Make sure you are training across all your energy
systems and the full speed and endurance spectrums in training.