Swimming Problems

[Kitsune06]

Okay... I'm having serious swimming problems...
I'm trying to read up on different strokes, etc, and I'm looking into beginner swimming courses, but my major problems are:
Trying to breathe without inhaling half the pool, freaking and gagging,
Trying to float. If I'm not constantly in motion, even when relaxed, I can't float to save my life unless my lungs are completely full...
Maintaining any sort of momentum. I seem not to 'glide' on my strokes at all... probably because of the aforementioned problem.

I'm trying to get into swimming because I think it'd build me up aerobically enough that I could handle running once I got going... so I can *someday* manage a tri... but swimming is also my worst point (can't just stop and put your feet down when you get tired...)
Any suggestions?

[Grog]

I was pretty much in your situation until November of last year. I could swim with my head out of the water, decently I would say, but I wouldn't get anywhere fast and I got tired really quickly anyway.

In preparation for an indoor (which actually means in-pool) triathlon, I forced myself into the pool three times a week about 5 months before the event. I did breastroke in an approximately proper way, that is with my head under water. Then when I was able to swim more than 1 000 m like that, I started crawl. It was like starting all over again. But I was at least confident I could deal with putting my head in and out of the water.

I find crawl very challenging for a beginning swimmer. Practicing breastroke, and even just putting your head in the water, breathing out, and out of the water to breathe in, will definitely help.

I can't help more than that, hopefully our local swim-champs will help...

[colby]

Grog has a good idea, breaststroke is a good one to learn that keeps you facing forward. It's not as fast/efficient as freestyle/crawl, but it keeps you seeing where you're going and you lift your head out of the water going forward which is easier to learn than turning to the side :)

The lessons are a great idea, too. Someone can give you pointers, show you how to do the strokes, and explain what it is that you're missing -- it might be something simple. Gotta walk before you can run, and they can help. If you have a swimming friend you might poke them for ideas, too :)

Good luck!

[Kitsune06]

yeaaah... dgf used to lifeguard... really good at swimming (okay, so maybe I have some encouragement there, too?) but I feel silly being as bad at it as I am and bugging her for help all the time. :rolleyes: Still, who better to go to for help? The idea of breaststroke, then crawl/freestyle sounds good... I just really need to build my endurance, I think. Part of my fear of the water has always been that I get *so* tired and then freak when I can't put my feet down or something while I catch my breath...

[Grog]

Part of my fear of the water has always been that I get *so* tired and then freak when I can't put my feet down or something while I catch my breath...

If you are okay with swimming 25 meters, just find a 25 meter lap pool, and make sure you have a 15-30 seconds break at the end of each lap. If you can do 50 meters that's even better. The important thing is to rest before you are tired so you don't panic.

If you can't swim 25 meters without getting really tired, then find a non-lap pool (or a smaller pool) and try shorter distances.

Good luck!

[DirtDiva]

A kind of head down, bum up approach helps with the floating. So does lots of beer and pizza, fat being less dense than water and all... ;) Seriously though, look into the swim training/lessons/coaching thing - I'm a confident, competent swimmer and I'd sign up for some of that in a jiffy if the pool I swim at offered such things for grownups. Hmm, perhaps I should look into it while I'm home. I know I don't swim that efficiently and I'd love to be able to go faster. :D

[EBD]

I was a beginning swimmer last year, and this is really random but I found these video "master classes" on the BBC website that are awesome. They are just a few minutes, and an Olympic swimmer basically breaks down the stroke into pieces and demonstrates. As an untutored swimmer, I really learned a lot. You can find them at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/swimming/default.stm.

Now that I've mastered the basics from reading and the videos, I'm not getting any better - so I've signed up for a couple of lessons before my next tri in October! But the self-help approach (and lots of pool time) have gotten me through 5 sprint races.