I just spent an amazing 9 days in Costa Rica, checking out a volcano, horseback riding (1st time!), lots of hiking, zip lining (thrilling!), river rafting (class 3-4), and chilling out with monkeys on the beach. The week was so action-packed that I didn’t have time to work out, or even sit down and read. […]

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I just watched a video done by Swim Smooth on the variety of stroke rates among freestylers: Swim Smooth: What is an efficient freestyle stroke? I think he made some good points, that not everyone HAS to swim with a long stroke in order to be efficient in the water and perfect their triathlon swim […]

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The new Tri Swim Coach Online Triathlon Swim Training site is now open! By joining, you will get -6 months of focused content to keep you progressing on your triathlon swimming -Videos with explicit details of how to completely transform your stroke -Workout plans to get ready for various triathlon distances -“Change your bad habits” […]

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(continued from Part 1) Open water swimming is different that swimming in a pool in so many ways. The first way that comes to most peoples minds is the common inability to see the bottom, combined with the lack of the black line on the bottom to guide you where to go. There are two […]

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by David Wendkos [email protected] “You need to breathe bilaterally” “Nuh-uh! I only breathe to my right, and I do fine.” “If you don’t breathe to both sides, you’ll go slower” “Then why are so many Olympic swimmers breathing every two strokes, even in races as short as 100 meters? Huh?” The arguments for unilateral and […]

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By David Wendkos I recently heard a great ‘word picture’ to help describe how to initiate your catch in the water and maintain a grip as you pull through your stroke. It is the common thought to view a freestyle stroke as placing your hand in front of you and then stroking backward toward your […]

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I’m currently training for a half marathon with a local running group, and we’re about a week away from starting our “taper” phase, which means we will slowly start to decrease mileage and intensity of our runs leading up to the race we are training for. I’m bracing for the nutrition plan our coach is […]

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Today, I had the pleasure of listening to an interview with Swedish pro triathlete Jonas Colting on the Livin la vida Low Carb show with Jimmy Moore. Jonas is a 36 year old champion triathlete in his prime, eating a low carbohydrate diet and clearly thriving. This supports much of what I discuss on the […]

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I’m about 2 weeks away from doing my first half marathon since April 09, and yesterday I realized how unprepared I am for the race. I ran 11.2 miles, and about the last 2.5 hurt! And, this was not at any kind of brisk pace, just finishing the run was the challenge yesterday. So today […]

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By Aaron Moss When I started coaching beginning triathletes and gave them their first training schedule, I expected to get a response like, “Do I have to do all of it?” After all, looking at the weekly lineup of workouts, it appears burly in terms of total time spent training. However, this is split over […]

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Triathletes who did not come from a swimming background can often have a tough time learning how to breathe in freestyle. I have written a couple of articles on this, addressing some of the major issues many people face with breathing. This video shows a drill that adds a nice component to what we already […]

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On Saturday, I watched the Ironman on NBC as I do every year when it airs on TV. I find the Ironman to be inspirational, exciting, and even emotional, as I watch all the stories unfold: from the pros racing to win, to the challenged athletes to the people who are still doing the race […]

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I just read an article that really inspired me: Amy Palmiero-Winters, who is missing a leg, just ran the White Rock marathon in Dallas, TX. But that isn’t even the inspirational part. Amy’s cause is helping inspire other amputees. Not just by running marathons and other races herself, but by meeting with children who have […]

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by David Wendkos [email protected] So, I take my four-year-old son, Evan, ice skating for the first time. We aren’t on the ice for 20 seconds before he starts to get upset and states, “I can’t do this!” I lean over and tell him that, of course he doesn’t know how yet, but we will work […]

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It’s great to combine these two strokes, even if you are primarily training for a freestyle event.

If at First, You Don’t Understand, Try, Try Again by David Wendkos My last post focused on the differences between the ideal kick for a triathlon swim as opposed to others. It was introduced by pointing out the challenge of human communication and how often, different people will try to communicate the same idea in […]

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by David Wendkos Yet again, my topic comes from a conversation with a fellow athlete. Nancy has completed more than one Ironman distance event, as well as a variety of other triathlons. Her swim is clearly her weakest leg, and so she has been trying to focus on improving it. She has spoken with more […]

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By Aaron Moss Part 3 of 3: Goal Setting The previous two parts of the series discussed data collection and analysis of the data to get you ready for setting your goals and plan for the offseason. Using this retrospective analysis and a list of those specific areas you feel offer the biggest potential for […]

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by David Wendkos [email protected] I once took a course in which the seminar leader, Larry, asked each person present to make a commitment to be coachable. Most of us immediately responded that we would do so. Larry then asked, “Before agreeing, don’t you think you should understand what I mean by ‘coachable’?” That seemed silly […]

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By Aaron Moss Part 1 of 3: Assessment For a lot of us triathletes the end of the racing season is a time of confusion and lack of direction. Many athletes find themselves wondering what to do when they aren’t racing, because there is a void inside of them where the goal of training for […]

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by David Wendkos [email protected] “A prudent person profits from personal experience, a wise one from the experience of others.” – Joseph Collins Recently, I was chatting with a friend who is also an aspiring triathlete. She is relatively new to the sport, coming predominantly from a running background. She remarked that she was slow in […]

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A really important part of triathlon and swim training is yoga. I spend a chapter in my book, The Complete Guide to Triathlon Swimming on it. Here are some of the benefits I have listed: Flexibility: Yoga does involve stretching the muscles. But there is more to it than that. People often ask me, “Is […]

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Ever do a morning workout and feel like you’re struggling, even though just the day or two before you felt great? Often times, this is due to your body lacking the calories it needs to perform the activity you set out to do. I meet people all the time that say they skip breakfast before […]

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1. Kick WITHOUT a kickboard, On your side. This improves balance in the water and with practice, will improve your kick. Also, stretch your ankles- ankle inflexibility is the #1 reason for a weak kick! 2. One-Armed Freestyle. Freestyle only using one arm to stroke, while keeping the other arm at your side. Rotate your […]

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Last weekend, the annual La Jolla Roughwater Swim took place here on the shores of San Diego. There is a 1-mile and a 3-mile swim, and all age groups are included. I watched all of the mens 1-mile competitions from a front row seat! Ironically, even though it is called the “rough water” swim, most […]

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Today I want to talk about a classic conversation piece around pools: Zoomers fins. I have written about them in the past but wanted to update and reiterate! One of the most common questions I hear as a coach is, “Should I use fins?” The answer depends largely on your goals, your skill level and […]

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On the freestyle recovery, you often hear from coaches (like me) to bend your elbows on recovery. Swimmers may wonder why bending elbows is recommended so often. While there are swimmers, like legendary World Record holder Janet Evans, who have perfected the straight arm or “windmill” recovery, this is not a technique that works for […]

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There’s some awesome shots in this video that we can all learn from (except for the part where she’s using a dreaded kick board!)

Last night, I attended the tri club san diego’s monthly meeting, and had the pleasure of seeing guest speaker Matt Hoover talk about his journey from losing 157 pounds on TV’s The Biggest Loser, to now training for the Ironman this October! It was definitely an inspirational story. His success with weight loss started with […]

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On Sunday, I went up to the Triathica Academy training center in Orange County, CA (about 1 hour, 10 minutes from my home in San Diego) to analyze some strokes for four triathletes. They were everything from beginner level to competitive, one woman, Julia is going to the world championships in Gold Coast, Australia in […]

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Woke up this morning and recorded a podcast for Healthy Mind, Fit Body. After this, around 9:30 a.m. I was greeted with a wood chipper across the street! Apparently, there was a fixer-upper for sale and it was just purchased. It’s a crappy old house that has all of its original features from the 1960’s, […]

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Whether it’s swimming, running, or biking, make sure you are doing a proper warm down. Most masters swim teams I have been on do a lousy job implementing a warm down into workouts. It’s especially important after you have done sprints and large-effort swims to do at least a few lengths of easy swimming before […]

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I see swimmers in my workouts bringing their Gatorade bottles or other sports drinks to the pool with them, and sipping them throughout practice. Hydration is good most of the time, but is water enough or do we need something extra while we work out? There are a wide variety of sports drinks available, most […]

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How do I swim straight in the open water? This is a major challenge to open water swimming (and even swimming in a pool with lane lines!), and the key lies in one of our other fun challenges in swimming: breathing! Here’s a quick guide to swimming straight: 1. Simply doing alternate (or bi-lateral) breathing […]

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Whether or not you have my training guide for triathlon swimming, you may need some help structuring your workouts or just need more background on how the workouts in my book are formulated. Let’s look at a typical workout and dissect it. 300 Warm Up 300 yards or meters. 12 lengths in a 25 yard […]

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In about an hour, I will be jumping on a plane headed to Sacramento, and visiting a friend there tonight until leaving for Lake Tahoe, CA tomorrow for the Trans Tahoe Relay. It’s a race across the width of Lake Tahoe, about 11.5 miles. This is a 6-person relay where we have a boat, and each […]

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A topic that came up in the Beginner Triathlete chat forums last night was, how quickly to add distance to your workouts in swimming? There’s no “one size fits all” here, but generally, you want to be conservative when increasing the distance of your workouts. Focus on your technique first with drills, then decrease the […]

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This was from my experience swimming at the Endless Pool at Triathica Academy Triathlon Training Center in Irvine last month. Check it out! For southern California locals I highly recommend checking out the training center and getting videoed.

For some, making your workouts count may mean “go hard or go home”, or “no pain, no gain”, or some other silly expression. Making your workouts count really should mean setting weekly goals and following through. You may want to decrease your average stroke count per length, decrease your interval, or increase the amount of […]

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After my 2.5 month trip to Australia and New Zealand last year, I didn’t exactly keep in great swimming shape. This was partly due to not having a car to get around, and partly due to sight seeing as much as humanly possible. However, I did not just let my swimming go. I made sure […]

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Summary of Sports Supplement Lecture Coastal Sports Medicine www.coastalsportsmedicine.com August 18, 2008 San Diego, CA Endurance exercise can significantly increase the production of free oxygen radicals. However, the training or exercise history is important. In untrained or sedentary individuals, skeletal muscle damage can occur from the increased free oxygen radicals and lipid peroxidation levels and […]

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The sport of triathlon can definitely keep you very busy! Between work, workouts, family, etc., often it is difficult to actually relax. Many triathletes I know are “type A” personalities, and feel like they constantly have to be in action. This can lead to burnout and injury. It is very important to take 15 minutes […]

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The “S” Curve Too many times I have heard swimmers ask me, “should I do the ‘S’ Curve when I pull?” The “S” Curve has been a method, created by the Red Cross, of teaching a swimmer how to do the “proper” pull in freestyle. However, this is not exactly correct. First, there are many […]

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Masters swimming offers some wonderful benefits such has the social and motivational aspects of a group, and a coach to give you structured workouts and occassional feedback. However, masters workouts have their downside for many swimmers! If you do belong to a masters group, make sure you are not overdoing it. If your stroke technique […]

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If you’re swimming on your stomach, you will need to change this bad habit! Triathletes need all the energy they can get, and learning to swim on your side rather than swimming flat in the water will allow you to reserve your energy for the main part of the race. If you’re a stomach swimmer, […]

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Many swimmers enter their hands into the water properly and extend the arm out in front, but then put up a “stop sign”, where their hand curves up in front of them and actually pushes against the water in front of them, causing a slowdown or pause in their stroke. Make sure that you are […]

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On freestyle arm recovery, it seems logical to lift your arm out of the water, and reach as far as you can through the air before putting your arm back into the water to start your next pull. It may come to a surprise to many people to find out that this is inefficient! Reaching […]

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You may decide that after reading several swimming books, practicing drills and workouts in the pool on your own, joining a masters swim team, and even ordering The Complete Guide to Triathlon Swimming online, that you need a little outside help to get your swim where it needs to be for a tri. You’re normal! […]

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You are not alone! This is a very common problem among freestyle swimmers. Practice these drills to overcome this and improve your stroke: 1. Kick on your side with your arm extended. Belly button should be pointing directly at the wall, eyes at the bottom of the pool, hand extended. When you need air, roll […]

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When training for an open water swim, part of your training should be in an environment similar to the one you will be racing in. If you are doing an ocean swim, don’t let the race be the first time you set foot in the ocean! It’s important to get your body used to the […]

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Everybody, especially triathletes, seems to love the pull buoys, kick boards, big paddles and long fins. However, these items are not going to help you when training for a triathlon swim. Buoys and boards are floatation devices and give you a false sense of being on top of the water, and are allowing you to […]

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So you’re ready to get out there and do some open water swimming to prepare for your next triathlon? Before you go dipping into your local body of water, keep these tips in mind: 1. Never swim alone. For safety purposes, always swim with a group or bring along a friend. Given the unknown elements, […]

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I often get asked about what type of weights or strength training helps the most in swimming. The answer is that gaining muscle strength in general, such as working the triceps, will not help you to swim faster (especially when we’re taking distances of 1K or longer!). However, triathletes and open water swimmers can make […]

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1. Swim with your fists. Closing your fists and swimming freestyle can really improve your stroke technique. At first it will feel clumsy and awkward, but it actually forces you to rotate your hips and move through the water the way you are supposed to. Try alternating 2 laps with fists, and 2 laps straight […]

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Is it legal to draft off of other swimmers in a triathlon? Yes! Is it a good idea to draft off of other swimmers in a triathlon? Yes! Most people draft in the swim, whether they know it or not (except of course, whoever the leader is). But how can you get better at it? […]

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Playing sports competitively comes with certain risks, injury being the most important. While swimming isn’t usually thought of in this light, it’s certainly an activity that can result in injury. When it comes to the pool or open water, the most common injury generally involves the shoulder. I’ve been swimming competitively off and on for […]

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In the past, you’ve probably had coaches that asked you to count strokes during your workout, either by incorporating it into drill sets, the primary set, or at the end of a workout. Indeed, many coaches advise their swimmers to make a habit of keeping track of the stroke count. After years of experience coaching […]

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You may already have heard the most commonly asked question in the swimming world today. Which of the following techniques is superior: breathing to one side, or bilateral breathing? Until just one year ago, I breathed to the right side every time I got in the pool. Why, do you ask? Simply because taking breaths […]

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One of the most commonly asked questions in the world of triathlons involves breathing. While swimming freestyle, the first step on the road to proper form is body positioning. Add in breathing, and suddenly everything is turned on its head! More than anything else, this has to do with a lack of balance. Instead of […]

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One of the most commonly asked questions in all of competitive swimiming is whether fins are beneficial in training. There is no one answer; whether fins are right for you depends on what you hope to gain, your level of skill, and the type of fins used. Swimmers often wear fins simply to maintain the […]

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Last night, I attended a yoga class for the first time in about a month. I was going to a yoga class at my gym consistently over several months while training for the past 2 half marathons I did. It helped keep me feeling loose, kept the injuries at bay, and gave me more energy. […]

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continued from Part 1. 6. If someone touches your feet when you are swimming, let them pass by staying to the right, or stopping at the next wall and moving to the right side of the lane. Try not to take any offense to getting passed, this happens all the time. 7. At the beginning […]

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Many people in the triathlon community, particularly the beginner crowd, believe that masters swim teams (coached group workouts for those 18 years of age and older) are for fast, competitive swimmers that probably swam on teams their whole lives. These triathletes tell me that there is no room for novices, and they feel out of […]

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What should your focus in swimming be? It really depends on what level swimmer you are. If you’re: – A new swimmer – Still swimming flat in the water with no hip rotation or – Plateauing or having a tough time making gains then I would recommend 90-100% of your time spent in the water […]

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Open water swimmers and triathletes are often confused on how to get faster. Often, they think that they need to swim fast to go fast. In other words, just train harder and do sprints at workouts. Since swimming is so technique-focused, the fastest way to getting faster in the water is to play a game […]

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I’ll be the first to say, I hate the cold! Cold air, and especially cold water. 14 years of competitive swimming, I never once got used to or enjoyed jumping into a cold pool. These days, I prefer open water swimming to pool swimming, but refuse to get in our local Pacific Ocean until it […]

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I found this great video by New York coach Doug Stern. He does a great job describing the arm recovery in freestyle. Some of it is a bit technical but if you just get the gist it you will learn quite a bit here.

Triathletes seem to love their toys and gadgets! Whether it’s the latest gauge for the bike, the highest-tech running show on the market, or a SwiMP3 player for swimming, part of the fun of this sport seems to be collecting the latest and greatest in equipment. But what do you really need for swimming? Not […]

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When it comes to burning calories, swimming tends to fall in the middle of running and cycling for workout efficiency. Running tends to burn the most calories per minute, while biking would burn the least of the 3 triathlon legs. However, the amount of calories burned in swimming will depend on your stroke technique, and […]

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Endurance athletes are often familiar with the concept of LSD- Long Slow Distance. Swimming training for triathlons definitely requires some LSD training. But how long and how much? Partly it will depend on the distance of your race. At minimum, I recommend swimming the distance of your race straight at least once per week (after […]

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Check out the triathlon swimming quiz on facebook and test your knowledge! Find out your ranking!

Especially as a beginner swimmer, it can be difficult to measure your progress in the pool. Most triathletes tend to get caught up in how fast they are going. “My 400 time is too slow!” “My base interval is too much!” “I’m the slowest in my group! Old ladies are passing me up!” Being obsessed […]

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If you are training for a triathlon, it is likely that you prepare for the swim at least partially at a pool where you join in with other lap swimmers. It can be confusing as to what the “rules” are when you get in a lap lane with one or more other swimmers. Here are […]

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There are countless challenges to open water swimming for triathletes. Here are a few tips to keep in mind for your next race or training session: 1. Practice in the pool with workout buddies. It can be quite the shock and even panic can set in at the beginning of a triathlon, where there will […]

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If you are training for a triathlon swim, what kind of intervals should you be doing? Interval Training in Swimming At the two ends of the spectrum are tight intervals where you only get around 5 seconds of rest, and long-rest intervals where you get lots of rest. Typically, the latter swims come with the […]

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When training for a triathlon, is it okay to train in a 25 yard or meter pool, or should you try to swim in a 50 meter pool as much as possible? Most pools in the U.S. are unfortunately 25 yards in length. Some are 50 meters (which is the real Olympic-size), but even most […]

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A confusing issue for many triathlon swimmers is how often to kick in the swim? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many coaches and swimmers want to focus on a “beat” kick. You will hear “develop a 3-beat kick” around swimming circles. This may work well for some people. But let’s look at […]

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Insight on triathlon swimming for beginners through advanced level triathletes! We’ll focus on swimming tips, techniques, workouts, and general Q&A for the first few episodes, followed by interviews with pro’s, coaches, and other endurance experts. The first episode on breathing in swimming is up, the next one will be done this week! Subscribe in iTunes […]

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I FINALLY got the cards, and did a little video preview. Enjoy!

Don’t panic in a triathlon swim Do you experience a sensation of panic when you put your face in the water? Has this stopped you from competing in a triathlon, or freaked you out in a race? Well you are not alone! In fact, many beginner swimmers feel this sense of panic when they attempt […]

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