Swim Training


TRAINING ALL FOUR SWIM STROKES TO MAKE


A COMPLETE TRIATHLETE


BY IAN MURRAY Call it whatever you


want — forward crawl, front crawl, freestyle — everyone agrees it is the most efficient swim stroke for triathlon. How- ever, triathletes need to incorporate butterfly, backstroke and breast- stroke into their training sessions on a regular basis. Cross training is important, and training in the other three strokes is cross training for your freestyle. Triathletes already


demonstrate a propen- sity for the complex. We are not satisfied with a single sport, so we chal- lenge ourselves with three. Expand your swim, too. It will improve race results, reduce boredom in training and protect against injury.


28 USA TRIATHLON WINTER 2014


RACE-DAY REWARDS During the swim portion of every triathlon,


there are places to use the skills learned from other strokes. The butterfly stroke motion is duplicated


during dolphin dives. Dolphin diving is used in shallows, through surf or when water is too deep to run but not deep enough to swim. Backstroke skills allow you to sight activity


behind you, like the surf break near the end of an ocean swim. By rolling into a few moments of backstroke, you can spot waves to avoid (by then ducking under them), or time a quick ac- celeration to body-surf into shore. A single stroke of backstroke is effective for quick and efficient buoy rounding. Swim free-


style right up beside the buoy and when your torso comes even with the mark, let the arm closest to the buoy enter the water and extend in typical freestyle motion. Allow that arm to keep reaching and let the body keep rolling all the way over onto your back. Then complete one pull of backstroke with that same arm — the one that was close to the buoy. As that arm goes through its backstroke pull, the other arm will have gone through its backstroke recovery. Let it enter the water and extend while the torso performs another extra-long roll so you turn back over onto your chest and back into freestyle. The result will feel like a corkscrew twist


that will carry you through a tight, 90-degree turn with surprising speed.


Cross training is important, and


training in the other three strokes is cross training for your freestyle.


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