Swimming - "Faster Freestyle Swimming By Decreasing Drag"

Enjoy this comic look at stroke and balance tips
to have you swimming faster freestyle!
                                 


                                              Jamie Shaules Monterey CA

Should I wear a wetsuit for a sprint Triathlon? - Victors' shared (humorous) words.

I Tested Positive for Neoprene But My Wetsuit Doesn't Think I Suck  
by Ismael Rodriguez


This story originally appeared in Mindset Triathlon's Triathlon's Toughest Sport: True Stories Told by Triathletes Making Their Case for the Swim, the Bike or the Run.

Victors' Shared Words -

I'm a new 'swimmer'. I state that as such because what I do in the pool hardly constitutes swimming. I decided to enter into the wonderful world of triathlon last year when I signed up for the Nautica New York City Triathlon. I felt there was plenty of time to learn how to swim in time for the July 2008 event. All I had to do was temper my fear of the deep water, learn the front crawl, and be competent enough to eventually look like the 'other' competitors, you know blend right in like I'd been doing this for a long time.

Well, November rolled by, so did December and so on... then I woke up one day in April and realized, "holy crap, you gotta learn how to swim, dude."

I eventually signed up for an adult swim class and was immediately struck with a sense of dread - "I can't do this." My fears were confirmed after the second class when I came to the stark realization that I suck at this. I was classified as a 'sinker' - my legs were about as buoyant as a sack of potatoes - the industrial sized pack. Undaunted, I soldiered on and with each class I got, well, worse. I decided to cycle to the pool weekday mornings before work. A 5:00 a.m. start, get to the pool at 5:30 a.m. Empty lane lines and a chance to strut my stuff without the embarrassment of the noisy splashes to disrupt the other real swimmers.

Then it happened: I completed a full lap. 25 meters without stopping.

One problem however: it was a week before the Nautica New York City Triathlon. But after that triumph of the lap I declared myself ready. So here was the deal: I'd done one full lap on my own and I felt I was ready to take on the mighty Hudson River and 1,500 meters!!! Note to self, there's a Visa commercial here:

Swim skills: 0.
Open water experience: 0.
Stupidity: Priceless.
Yes, stupidity, that one intangible that sets me apart from your average, run-of-the-mill triathlete - if there exists such a person. Now I was not completely incompetent. I had an ace in the hole. I'd done some homework on wetsuits. I'd read everything I could and asked a few experienced athletes the same question: "How buoyant is a wetsuit?"