Swim: how slow is slow?

Well, if I wouldn't have gotten the horrendous cramps during IM Moo last Sept., I think I would have beaten Frank Farrar out of the water!  I just made it out under 2 hours.

I'm working on this year and the next to vastly improve my swimming before IM Moo '09.

I've gone from a 2:45/100 swimmer last fall to a 2:10/100 (for longer distances) this spring.  Since January, I've done my best to be in the pool 4x/week.  Drills, drills, drills.  Then swim and identify stroke faults.  A lot of good info regarding stroke mechanics can be found on the web and here. 

 If this doesn't sound like something you can do, try swim lessons or a coach.

Ironman swim cutoff time is 2:20 for a 2.4 mile (4200 yard) swim.  That works out to about 3.33 minutes/hundred.  3.4 minutes/hundred would be too slow in that case, but I have no doubt that you'll get faster as you swim more. 

Most sprint triathlons do not have a swim cutoff, so you're really not too slow for those. 

This is true, but coming out of the water 5, 10 or more minutes after many others is going to be difficult to overcome when doing a sprint.  In an Oly, I can see that there would be more mile to make up some time but don't think that all those that finished the swim early will be slow on the bike. 

That's not very much to go on, but it sounds like the problem is very likely form - I would guess that your hips are sinking down and you're "paddling" to stay afloat.  Try to visualize yourself swimming downhill.

I would highly recommend coaching for you.  There are a lot of form drills that you can do, but doing them right sometimes requires having somebody on the deck to whack you with what you're doing wrong. 

Yes, you are right.  I know I am paddling a little at least when I breath....  My 1st coach lesson is this Thursday

On April 11, 2004 I first logged a swim workout here. It was my 3rd or 4th attempt at lap swimming in I think 3 weeks. I did 5 laps, stopping after each one to catch my breath. It took me 6:41, a pace of 2:40 per hundred. That's with breaks every lap. 

In August of that year I did my first tri, swam at a 3:07 pace and came out of the water 15/16 in my age group, which happened to be my final standing as well. At the finish line I felt like Superman.  I had finished my first triathlon. Since then I've improved my swim by doing two things:

1. I got some help in the form of two Total Immersion lessons and instruction from friends who are good swimmers.
2. I swam more.
   

Keep up as you are, get a few good open water swims in before your race, and you'll finish. Don't worry about where in the pack you finish. "Just" finishing is a fine goal, particularly for your first race if you're new to this.  If you want to really improve, some instruction and more time in the pool are great investments. Keep working at it and the swim will come.

I do not come from a swimming background.  When I started training for my 1st tri a few years ago, I was in your exact situation.  Could only do a few hundred yards at a time.  Here's a clip from my blog back then: 

2 laps warm-up. 10 laps alternating catch-up and freestyle

Now I'm still not fast, but I've seen improvement.  Did a 2000 yd workout last month and averaged 2:07/100 yds, my PR for 500 yds is 1:48/100, and FINALLY while swimming 8 x 100 repeats swam a 1:31 as my fastest split.

It's possible to improve.  I think it's mainly about learning correct form, stroke technique, kicking less (keeps the HR down), and learning to be 'fluid' in the water.  I started out the 1st 4 months with Total Immersion (www.totalimmersion.net), then gradually 'graduated' up to the BT silver plans.  The BT silver swim workouts are great and you'll continue to focus on form, efficiency and start to concentrate on speed work.

No worries about your 1st tri.  I rested on a float a lifeguard gave me for several minutes at the halfway point (legal as long as you're not making forward progress).  I did the backstroke for the rest of the swim.  And looking back at my time (more than 3 min/100), I STILL didn't have the slowest swim time.  Swim your own race, relax, realize that improvement will come with hard work and discipline, and you'll do just fine...

Good luck!

I just realized something.  Forgive me if I made the wrong assumption if you do understand.....

A lot of people give the "slow down" answer.  Maybe that's not being entirely understood.  When I give that answer, it means slow the kick down and arm turnover.  Don't do a flutter kick like a humming bird flaps their wings.  That just wastes energy.  Also, don't turn you arms over a hundred times a length, that gets you tired too.

But, it doesn't entirely mean that your swimming should get slower.

I like to think grab some water and really use power to pull, then push the water all the way to the hip, as the leading arm is stretched out front and glide....  So, stroke and glide, stroke and glide.... 

Idealy, you should find that as you slow your kick and arm turnover, and you increase your power per stroke, your overall speed (from wall to wall) will hopefully increase...  The tip to slow down means just that, slow down the cadence, but don't get lazy...

I good drill that helped me a lot at first was the stroke count drill.  Just count how many times you stroke from one end of the pool to the other and try to get that down to as few as you can.  You will find the trick to do that is a very strong pull and long glides.... 

Due to the relative lengths of the events in triathlon, you will likely not be DFL solely due to a slow swim.