Slow Total Immersion Swimmers?

Wow Bill,

I was going to buy a TI DVD, but it sounds like it might slow me down, that would mean I would swim backwards!

It sounds like the "new" coach is a smart one, you better listen, from 2:00 to 1:37 is a big differance in my swimming book.

Here's a question (and I do mean for this to be a serious question): how many racers have won or lost the race in the swim?  It seems like even a "slow" swimmer can make up a lot of ground on the bike and run.  I can see wanting to improve to save a few minutes in the swim but I'd rather be a little bit slower in the swim and then kick tail on the bike and run.  What do you all think?

Tom

I agree most of the time it makes absolutely no difference. In fact last year in a race  knocking even 5 minutes off my 1/2 mile swim wouldn't have helped move me past the guy in front of me in my division. But as far as race results go it's more a matter of who else shows up most of the time.

For me faster in preferable to slower. I also want to get out of the water sooner so I can start taking in nutrition, especially this year when I move to longer races.  An hour swim in a 1/2 IM could be a problem, especially in the heat.

I relearned how to swim using a private TI coach. Since June when I actually started swimming my 100 yd time has dropped  a minute...still slow but make steady progress.

I see TI as giving me the tools to feel comfortable in the water, have better body position, learning to be able to swim longer distance, gaining confidence but I see it as a jumping off place. For everyone who could improve in body position, TI will help. There are other aspects not covered as well by TI.

My TI coach did tell me when she swims faster her arm enters farther in front not by her ear like they teach.

Congrats at making a huge jump in improvement!! It will help you a lot in your upcoming tri season.

I have not seen TI.  Recently I had a few comments from a coach and PRESTO, my swim is remarkably easier.  I'ts all in the little things. 

We have a few very fast swimmers in our masters group.  I watch them and realize they do things different.  One  rotates from side to side.  The other (Olympic distance swimmer) is always square in the water but his reach is huge.  Everyone is different and differtnt little things seem to work better for different people.  In my opinion, a good coach can help.

I learned a lot from TI and still do TI drills at the beginning of every session.  I also try to incorporate stuff that is not taught in TI (although Terry Laughlin HAS written specific articles on propulsion/pull/catch, etc) and find additional help in those things.  Swimming technique improvment is a constant reiterative process. 

All this TI talk is interesting as I have been toying with the idea of doing a two day training camp - but it's expensive. (I have got the DVD and the book). I came from a  non swim background - ie couldn't freestyle until getting lessons at age 27! I have soldiered on in the past trying to pick up hints from forums like this. Upon reading the TI stuff I immediately was able to get better positioned in the water and found that my times lowered somewhat but I felt like I was fighting the water less which lowered my stress level a lot! For absolute  beginners like me, I think the TI drills break down the components of the whole stroke into very 'doable' chunks, allowing mastery of those bits. The thought of 'improving my stoke' as a whole is a little daunting!

I'm also of the mind that in a lot of tri's being a poor swimmer may not be a big handicap. My reckoning would be that it would require a lot more training time and effort to make up 2 minutes in the swim leg than getting two minutes back on the bike or run. I read in a tri mag that a study was done on IM competitors and showed the single most important determinant of overall time was the amount of time they spent trainig on the bike.