How I went from swimming 2:03 per 100m to 1:38

How did I go from 15:37 to 12:17 for 750m over the same triathlon course? It only took 7 years and heaps of mistakes. Below are my 6 tips (plus a bonus tip) for improving your swim time sooner, rather than later.

I was not and I am still not a "swimmer". I don't come from a swimming family and I wasn't in swim squads. Like a lot of people, I did 12 swim lessons a year while at school, between the ages of 7 and 9. And that was it. I didn't swim again until I was 18 years old except for a few trips to the pool to do dives into the deep end until the lifeguards told us to stop.

Many triathletes (myself included) get into the sport with little to no swimming in their sporting background. For triathletes like this, the swim seems like an unconquerable hill (speaking from experience). No matter how carefully we swing our arms, no matter how many swim smooth videos we watch, no matter how many times someone says "keep a high elbow", we can't seem to make it to the end of the length without running out of breath.

However, over the weeks and months, session after session, progress happens.

400 unbroken meters becomes 600 unbroken meters, which becomes 1000 unbroken meters and before you know it, you can manage a 1500 meter swim.

We all know that the bulk of the time spent in a triathlon is on the bike so once the doubt of completing the swim portion is removed, it's off Zwift and the weekend long rides to find those race day minutes and seconds.

And this isn't a bad idea. There are huge gains to be made on the bike, especially as distances increase. And if you compound this with quality brick sessions, you are on to a winner.

But as you look back at your race performances over the last year, see how you stack up in the swim portion. Maybe you're swimming your sprint swim in under 10 minutes. If this is you, congrats! There is no such thing as perfection but with swim times like that, you are pretty close.

However, if you're looking online for ways to improve your swim times then you are likely not at the front of the field. We all know swimming is simple... in theory anyway: improve your propulsion and reduce your drag. Simple, right?

Although we are armed with this knowledge, it begs the question: why have my swim times not improved? I mean, we all spend time in the pool and we've watched 100s of swim technique videos so why don't I just get faster and faster each week? Why is it that swimming has less of a linear relationship between "time spent" and "improvement" as we get with the other 2 disciplines?

You probably already know the answer and you've heard it thousands of times: "swimming is all about technique!". But what does that mean? That's not useful! How can I parse that into something useful?

Well, that's what I'm here to try to do. Unfortunately, swimming is all about technique, especially over longer distances. Someone who isn't proficient with their front crawl may run a slightly better swimmer close over a one-length race, but add in any distance that requires more than one breath and they are toast. This is because technique is required to reduce drag and improve propulsion.

If you're thinking "yeah but I know about swim technique. I know to be streamlined in the water, to catch and pull the water with a high elbow, to not lift my head when breathing, to keep my hips at the surface of the water, but I can't get faster", then stay with me.

Here are some things that helped me make sense of swim technique and allowed me to make changes that made my swim times get faster each year. Admittedly, the first few points aren't about technique specifically but rather a method to measure success, which is important.

1. Measure your baseline

You need to know where you are at.

A Critical Swim Speed (CSS) test is like the swimming equivalent of the 20-minute FTP test for cycling. Its great for a number of reasons.

In short, you warm up, then swim 400 meters as fast as you can, record the time taken for the 400 meters, recover, swim 200 meters as fast as you can and record the time taken to swim 200 meters. This means you now have a benchmark of times and distances to measure against throughout the year.

It also means you can get some swim paces to use in your swimming sessions by putting your times into a CSS calculator like this one.

The test doesn't take long so if you only have a short time to get a swim session in, a CSS test can be a good option. Messing up the test by going out too hard is also a good reminder not to go out too hard on the swim during an actual race! You will also improve the pacing of your efforts which isn't a bad thing either as this also translates to triathlon swims.

Now that you know where you are at right now, lets keep track of where you are at. This feeds into point 2.

2. Retest your baseline

6 weeks have passed - has anything changed? How would you know unless you have something to measure? The CCS test is very, very uncomfortable; however both efforts only last a short time so you can repeat them every 4 - 6 weeks.

1 and 2 go hand in hand: how will you know if your technique is improving and you are getting faster if you are not measuring something?

3. Have a way of measuring your intervals

This may seem insultingly simple but I'm always surprised by how many people don't have a way of timing their sets. Either a sports watch with a laps feature or a stop watch at the edge of the pool, you need a way of timing your intervals. Each interval in your main set should have a target time. Maybe you're able to use the pool clock? I personally can't but more power to you if you can.

Ok we're 3 points in and not a "high elbow" or pull buoy mentioned - let's get to the technique.

4. Swim on your side - don't swim flat,

You may have heard this one before but its an exaggeration that kind of makes sense. Obviously, I don't mean to swim up and down the pool completely on your side. It's more about not swimming flat, which is something I see in a lot of people who started swimming as an adult.

But what does that mean?

It means that they swim with their chest facing the bottom of the pool all of the time. This means they are pulling their body through the water as one big, solid, draggy object.

This is opposed to rotating during the stroke, moving the hips to "glide on the side". You rotate your hip and shoulder on the same side, reaching forward with the hand on the same side. This is beautifully demonstrated by Mark from GTN in this video.

A thing to note is that it is your body that should be rotating, not your head. Rotate your hips and shoulders but keep your head nice and still, only moving it when you turn to breathe.

Although you may have already received this advice and may even be trying to incorporate it, you may be surprised at just how much you need to rotate to get even halfway on your side. I remember during a swim analysis session, I was told to exaggerate the movement to get a feel for it. It felt like I was almost dancing in the water. When we watched the footage back, I was prepared to see some outrageous hip movement, and I would be chastised for making a mockery of swimming. Not the case. In the footage, it looked like I was barely moving my hips. So really exagerate the movement to get a feel for it.

That being said, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Over-rotating isn't good. Exaggerate to get the feel of the movement; this is important. Feel what it's like to swim "flat" and then feel what its like to swim with a lot of rotation. However, when adding rotation to your stroke for a session, you should aim to rotate about as much as the swimmer below (note how the swimmer's right shoulder and hip are lower in the water than their left shoulder and hip, meaning they are rotated to their right):

Image from: https://blog.myswimpro.com/2023/02/01/try-these-drills-to-fix-your-freestyle-rotation/

The benefit of working on rotation is that it unlocks a few things at the same time:

• It gets you to start your catch correctly as your hand is extended as far in front of you in the water as possible

• It aids the breathing movement as extending your arm and rotating your shoulder compliments the slight turn of the head to the opposite side required to breathe.

• It adds a rhythm to your stroke which makes it easier to get your timing correct. Timing being the way in which you combine the elements of each stroke to swim smoothly.

  
  

5. Your catch should lead to your lats being engaged

Your latissimus dorsi muscles, or lats, are big muscles in your back. They are in fact, the biggest muscles in your back.

image taken from: http://www.kinfolkwellness.com.au/blog/2017/5/23/get-to-know-your-muscles-lattisimus-dorsi

They are great muscles to use for swimming however, a bit like the glutes with running, your lats can be hard to engage. You don't use them during office work, driving or on the bike. They don't get much use while running or eating either.

So they can be hard to engage as we don't use them a lot. What's worse is that swimmers are meant to use their lats! A lot of us end up using our shoulders or arms to pull the water during our stroke but this isn't the most efficient use of our body.

How do we engage the lats? With a high elbow catch accompanied by a nicely rotated body. Step 5 in a swim tips and tricks list before any mention of a high elbow, not bad?

Much like points 1 and 2 in this list, points 4 and 5 are also intertwined. This is because swimming flat makes it harder to use your lats, but if you are nicely rotated on to your side with your shoulder forward and your hand stretched out far in front of you, keeping the elbow above the height of your wrist just before you start your catch should engage your lats.

6. Aim to swim a certain distance in a certain time as easily as possible

My top tip for where to focus: Instead of making your swim sessions about swimming as hard as you can, holding on to consciousnesses for dear life as you push off the wall on your last length of your 200 meter rep, make them about completing a set distance,in a specific time as easy as possible.

Take the humble 100 meters for example,

Swim 100 meters at 6/10 effort. What was the time? Can you swim 100 meters in the same time but with less effort?

Another way of thinking about this is that slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Try to glide further with each stroke, taking fewer strokes. Try the rotation discussed in the previous point. If you exaggerate the rotation are you faster? How about if you focus on not crossing your arms over your centre line? Did that make you go faster? If you combine 2 things together, are you still faster?

With these changes, are you getting the same time as your initial 6/10 effort but now with 4/10 effort?

Not making any progress? Then on to my last, but most useful tip:

My ultimate tip is to get a video swim analysis done

To a casual triathlete, this may seem like a major step but it's the best use of your time. It probably seems like a cop out on a list of tips and tricks; to seek the guidance of a professional. However, there is no substitute for it.

There are lots of types of video swim analysis. I recomend getting analysis from an analyst who has an endless pool. I've had analysis done in both the pool and in the endless pool. The endless pool is my preference but it's not necessary. Just seeing yourself swim can be eye-opening. This, combined with feedback on how to improve from an experienced swim coach can be very powerful.

If you are in Northern Ireland then you are in luck because I would strongly recommend swim analysis by David Graham of Trinetic. This analysis was what resulted in the biggest improvement in my swimming. I went from averaging 1:49 per 100 meters to 1:40 per 100 meters for 200 meter intervals in one season.

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