Swim Smart, Swim Fast: 10 Essential Tips For the Triathlon Swim
Since so many Triple Threat Life readers are preparing for their first triathlon, or their first long-course triathlon (70.3 or 140.6), we’ve created a 5-part Triathlon Tip Series.
Last week, you read a guest post from Matt- 10 Tips for Your Next Triathlon: Bike Edition. Well, he’s back to talk about his “favorite” topic- swimming! I’m joking of course. Matt came to triathlon with a running background, and suffice to say, swimming is his least favorite of the three disciplines.
To illustrate this point, he often tells the story of how he backstroked almost the entire 1.2-mile swim during his first 70.3 when he panicked and got out of breath. But honestly, I think most people share Matt’s trepidation (cough, extreme dislike) of the swim. In fact, the open water swim is what prevents many people from signing up for a triathlon in the first place.
These days, Matt has overcome (most) of his swim demons and often exits the water before me- which he loves. ;)
So who better to share 10 Tips for the Triathlon Swim than someone who’s experienced the same challenges as you and overcome them?
As a reminder, the 10 Tips Triathlon series includes:
Swim Smart, Swim Fast: 10 Essential Triathlon Tips
Smooth Transitions: 10 Time-Saving Tips to Gain Free Speed
Fuel for the Finish Line: 10 Triathlon Nutrition Tips for Race Day Success
Stay tuned to Triple Threat Life as we release each post in the series over the next several weeks.
If you’re a member of the Triple Threat Life Club, you’ll get a free e-book at the conclusion of the series that compiles all these tips into one place, making it easy to access and reference as you prepare for your next triathlon.
Join the Triple Threat Life Club 🚴♀️🏊♂️🏃♂️
Elevate your athletic journey with exclusive perks designed to help you train smarter, race better, and enjoy every mile:
✅ 10 Tips Triathlon e-book covering the essentials for swim, bike, run, and more.
✅ Monthly expert video calls featuring top coaches, pro triathletes, and mindset specialists.
✅ Members-only discounts from premium brands, saving you hundreds on your favorite gear and nutrition.
✅ Bonus deep dives and in-depth articles just for members, including worksheets and templates.
All this for $5 a month. Join today and take your endurance sport game to the next level!
*Guest post by Matt Vermeer
Most triathletes are adult-onset swimmers. Sure, you might have splashed around in the pool as a kid, but most of us never learned how to do a proper freestyle stroke. This obviously creates some difficulty when you decide to do your first triathlon. Sorry to break it to you, but you can’t get to the bike and run unless you do the swim.
Of the three triathlon disciplines, swimming is the one that’s the most reliant on good form and technique. Also, it takes time to develop these skills, and most of us just aren’t that patient.
While many triathletes overlook the importance of swimming, it’s the foundation for a successful triathlon. You can’t bike to your potential if you’ve exhausted yourself during the swim. You can’t run as well as you should if you’ve used up all your energy on the bike, because you came out of the swim exhausted. This means you have to spend time in the pool. The swim is where it all starts.
Here are 10 tips that have helped me with the triathlon swim.
1. Start by developing foundational skills.
I can’t stress the importance of working on the basics enough. Swimming relies on good form and technique. This involves many components, including good head position (neck long, eyes looking slightly forward), taut body alignment (strong core), controlled breathing pattern, catch (what propels your body through the water), and kick (just enough for balance).
There are so many parts and pieces that it’s hard to know where to start.
I remember when I was training for my first triathlon. An older lady in the lane next to me stopped me, and said, “You’re trying too hard.” She was right. I was fighting my way through the water, trying too hard to swim fast by flailing my arms, kicking way too much, and not breathing properly. The result is that I was exhausted after 25 yards, and I couldn’t figure out why.
These days, I spend the majority of my swim sessions focusing on drill work. While it might be tempting to slap on a pair of buoyancy shorts, paddles, and fins, and swim fast, that won’t prepare you for the demands of the race, and it doesn’t teach you how to swim better. We have a few favorite drills including: single arm freestyle with a kick board to work on body alignment and catch, fist swimming to improve feel for the water, and using a front snorkel for head and body alignment.
2. You must spend time in the water.
If you want to be calm when your adrenaline spikes and there are hundreds of athletes splashing around you, you need to be comfortable in the water. This means swimming more than you probably want to. Most of us should be in the pool 3+ days a week, even if it’s just for 30 minutes. The more time you spend doing drills and developing feel for the water, the more muscle memory you develop, which makes swimming easier.
3. Find ways to make it fun. You can join a swim group, learn new drills, or use pool toys. Do whatever makes it fun, motivates you, and helps you get in the water as much as possible. Triathletes love their pools toys, and we have plenty. Here’s what’s in our swim bags: a front snorkel, short fins, kick board, small paddles, buoy, and ankle strap, in addition to goggles and swim cap of course.
4. Use video for feedback. You would be surprised how much you can learn just by seeing your stroke. Although you think you’re doing something in a certain way, it’s almost never the case. The body-brain connection can be tricky to overcome.
Seeing your stroke often causes an “Aha!” moment when you realize you didn’t look exactly like you envisioned. Taking a video once a month can help prevent bad habits from creeping their way into your swim stroke. You can see things like the arm that crosses over your midline, how you over-rotate to breathe, or that your legs drop.
Once you pinpoint specific areas for improvement, you can look up YouTube drills for guidance. Effortless Swimming on YouTube has great video instruction.
5. Practice in open water, often.
Your race likely won’t be in crystal clear water like the pool. It’s dark, can be cold, and there’s current and waves to deal with. You need to experience all of these things outside of the high stress environment of race day. Many people have fears surrounding open water swimming, like panicking, swimming in crowds, not being able to take a break, or even what lurks beneath the surface.
Look for opportunities to practice open water swimming with a local swim group or triathlon club that has group practices. By swimming with others you will feel more comfortable in open water and get used to swimming in a crowd. Never swim alone. Always use a colorful swim buoy for visibility. It also serves as a fail-safe inflatable if you need to take a breather.
6. Prepare ahead of time for scenarios that could derail your race.
What happens if your goggles fill up with water, or you lose them entirely? What if you get jostled or kicked during the swim? What if you get out of breath and feel panicked? You need to have a plan for scenarios like these. Use “if-then” thinking: “If this happens, then I will do this…”
Every once in a while, play out one of these scenarios so you can learn how to respond. For example, swim in the same lane as someone else so you get used to being jostled and have to navigate waves when you breathe.
7. Practice sighting.
All too often, we swim laps in the pool and don’t bother with sighting. While this is fine when you have a nice, black line to follow, there’s no such luxury on race day. Being able to sight without significantly altering your form is crucial for maintaining efficiency and speed. Lifting your head or eyes too much will cause your legs to drop, creating excess drag, which you have to fight to overcome. This wastes energy.
Everyone sights differently, but a common method is “alligator eyes” where you lift your eyes up just slightly out of the water for a second before continuing with your stroke. There’s also a rolling sight. Some people sight every 3 strokes, while some sight every 5. Find what works best for you.
8. Don’t become over-reliant on swim toys or a wetsuit.
I’m guilty of this one. One time, I was preparing for a 70.3, and I was certain the race would be wetsuit-legal… Race day rolled around and the temperature was just above the cut-off. I’d undertrained for the swim and paid for it dearly, which then affected my bike and run.
A wetsuit is an aid, not a crutch. While it does provide buoyancy, which can make swimming feel easier, it can’t make up for time not spent in the pool. If you don’t dedicate time to practicing skills and improving your technique, you will suffer the consequences on race day. A wetsuit can’t fix bad form.
While swim toys like paddles and fins are great when used to do drills, they can easily be misused. Don’t make the mistake of using swim toys as a crutch. For example, if you’re using paddles or fins just to swim fast, then you’re missing the point. Misuse of these tools can reinforce bad form and even lead to injuries. Paddles are used to enhance feel for the water during the catch and develop strength, while fins are used for propulsion and body alignment when doing drills that take away natural propulsion. They’re not used to make your Strava pace look more impressive. That’s not reality, and it won’t help you on race day.
9. Save your legs for the bike and run.
Because most of us haven’t developed a good catch and feel for the water, we overcompensate by kicking too much. The triathlon swim is different than swimming on a swim team, for example, because we use our legs for balance, not necessarily propulsion. We’re not sprinting to the wall to take a break; we have to ride a bike and run after we swim! I know it may sound counterintuitive, but over-kicking wastes energy and can actually slow you down in the long term.
Instead, the catch is what provides most of the propulsion through the water. We like to think about swimming up a ladder where you place each hand on the next rung and then push your body up and past your hand. This visual image should give you a better idea of what the catch should feel like.
Don’t rush the catch. You first have to anchor the catch by feeling the water, before pulling through, otherwise you risk slipping through the water and losing all your power. Faster isn’t necessarily better. Take your time setting up your catch and use the big lat muscles in your back to do all the work, instead of your shoulders.
10. Work on different breathing patterns.
I’m not a fan of breathing to both sides when I swim. This is called bilateral breathing. Instead, I have my favorite side. I would be happy breathing only to the left for all eternity if it were up to me. But alas, that will create a very unbalanced stroke and lead to form problems. It’s important to learn how to breathe to both sides for balance and rotation. Also, the timing of the breath and how we breathe is important.
When I first started swimming, I was guilty of taking a quick, shallow breath, which can lead to a build-up of CO2 and a feeling of breathlessness. One tip that helped me was to make sure to exhale completely by blowing bubbles continuously when my face is in the water.
Many of us hold our breath, which can make the CO2 alarm go off as well, leading to panic. Also, avoid picking your head up out of the water to breathe. Instead, keep one goggle in the water, your head parallel, and your eye on the lane line.
Practice breathing smooth and controlled in different intervals. During easier efforts, you may be able to breathe every 3-5 strokes, while on harder efforts you might need to breathe every other stroke. But it’s important to practice them all, and don’t forget to switch sides occasionally. If you revert to your preferred breathing pattern during a race, that’s ok, but practicing bilateral breathing with different patterns is the best method for training sessions.
Stay tuned to Triple Threat Life for the next installment of the 10 Tips Triathlon Series: Run Strong Off the Bike: 10 Tips for Triathlon Running.