questions about swim - Triathlon Week

nicoleff · 08-25-2005, 08:13 PM

hey i was wondering in swimming for triathlons are you supposed to use mainly your arms to save energy in your legs for the bike and run? How much are you supposed to kick?

Also, in swimming how often do you get a breath of air? Is it after every stroke or every 3 strokes? And do you switch sides or always get air from the same side?

And one more question! When I did my triathlon I swam with my head out of the water so I could see where people where and didnt bump into anyone. Is this correct or not? Should you keep your head in water except to get air or always keep it out of water?

Thanks :)

julian · 08-26-2005, 12:20 AM

Its up to you but personally I keep my head in the water and breath every stroke, you may find that better swimmers breath after two or more.
Do not worry about bumping into other triathletes as they will not worry about bumping into you they may even try to swim over the top of you.
If your new to the sport just do what your most comfortable with and you will improve with more training.

Also you will find lots of people happy to give plenty of advise on this forum.

Good Luck
Cheers

Julian.

sfricks · 08-29-2005, 03:56 PM

Whether to kick on the swim depends on the distance, water type (fresh or salt - the latter being more bouyant) and wetsuit or not. If you're doing a warm water (no wetsuit to keep your legs up) swim, you have to kick or you'll wear yourself out trying to stay afloat. If there's sufficient bouyancy (salt water and or wetsuit) you can kick very little - maybe a two count kick - and any energy not spent one place can be applied somewhere else (run or bike). Kicking will give you minimal propulsion so don't waste your energy if you don't have too. If you're doing Half Iron or Iron distance you definately will not want to kick until the last 100 meters and then you'll turn up the kick to redistribute the blood from the upper body.

Julian hit the nail on the head. Do not worry about the other swimmers. They can take care of themselves. If you're fast enough to catch and run up on swimmers ahead, you should be in the front of the pack anyway. Be curtious but tri swim starts are akin to a full contact sport. Swim head down to keep your body as flat and hydrodynamic as possible. HTH