How to help a drowning man
In an ongoing reaction to a sense of mortality/desire to try it whilst I can/sense of self-competitiveness/leaning towards for self-harm, earlier this year I entered for August’s London Triathlon. And not just any triathlon: we’re heading straight into the Olympic one. That’s 1,500m of swimming, 40km cycling and 10km running.
Now I’m not stupid enough go straight into ‘London’ with no experience. Early one Saturday in April I pulled on my wetsuit for the first time, tightened the wheels on the new bike that I’d ridden for only ten minutes the night before, and entered the Dorney SuperSprint.
Inevitably not a super experience, as soon as my head went into the murky water I knew there was trouble ahead. I breaststroked the whole way around the 400m course, accompanied by a safety kayaker, and completed the swim stage a disheartening 906th out of 948. By the end of the race I’d moved up to around 605th overall, so the cycling and running weren’t that bad. The swimming was, well, hopeless. Like a drowning man.
Clearly my swimming was a problem. Frankly I couldn’t swim 25 metres front crawl, let alone 1,500. Sometimes it helps to throw money at a problem so I signed up for an analysis session with Swim4Tri. Tucked away on the second floor of a disused brewery on Brick Lane, an endless pool provides a continuous current against which one swims. The video evidence from this first session shows that I really don’t know how to swim. Which is not a surprise given that no one has ever shown me how to front crawl.
Feel free to laugh: I did.
But with quite a bit of practice, specific drills and three subsequent sessions of one-on-one coaching since that first video, things are improving. I’m not there yet – my legs are a particular problem, as is all the lower body, too low, kicking far too much; indeed, if I only kick I actually go backwards – but I feel things are much, much better than just a couple of months ago. Just this morning I swam about 1,600m in the lovely Liquid Leisure. Early mornings are becoming the norm and I’m starting to enjoy it.
The lesson: practice makes better, if not perfect. And if you can afford individual coaching, it’s worth every penny. More to follow on my triathlon exploits over the next few weeks.
One Response to “How to help a drowning man”
1 Chris 12 July 2008 @ 10:10 pm
So, you’re certifiably mad, then!?
But that’s an interesting training method you’ve used there. I have the same problem – when I go 50m crawling, I’m completely exhausted, whereas I do 2 km of breast stroke twice a week. Kicking definitely is an issue.
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