Beginner Triathlete - Swim Q&A by TriSwimCoach.com articles

I have 10 lessons with a coach and he keeps telling my I'm holding my breath. I cannot figure out where since I'm breathing out and in every 3rd stroke. Any drill recommendations?

I am still pretty weak in the water and have a pair of Zoomers that I use for drills. What do you think of wearing fins to swim in the pool until I build up endurance?

My problem is I can only swim about 30-40 meters without having to rest. What is the best way to improve this? I need to get from 40 to 750 meters in 6 months.

In running, when trying to increase your distance, you don't want to add more than about 10% a week to avoid injury from overtraining. Is there a similar limit with swimming?

I can swim long with ease and have decent endurance, but I have a race coming up and I don't want to be last anymore. Help?

How long will it take before I start seeing some improvements? I have only been swimming for about a week and can go a maximum of 75 to 100m freestyle before I have to stop or use another stroke.

I downloaded a 20 week program, obviously I would not want to jump in the swimming volume since the plan assumes I have already been swimming. Can you suggest an alternative?

Until I feel comfortable in the pool, would it be silly to put in my pool time while wearing a snorkel? I really want to swim until I'm tired and force myself to go further each time.

I feel as if I am working very hard to actually breath especially on my right side. I also am not sure that I have the correct arm and hip rotation as it feels like I am fighting the water. Any help?

There are a few things you can do prevention-wise to avoid these annoying toe cramps (one of which is NOT eating tons of bananas as the common wisdom dictates!)

I have been swimming for ten months and it has been quite a challenge. I'm sure you have heard this before but I am a sinker.

So tell me why I want to bother swimming the other strokes? I'm IM training, and plan to swim freestyle for the entire race, is there an advantage to working on the other strokes?

It seems that if I swim that slow I begin to sink and I have to either kick or pull harder to compensate while my heart-rate starts going up. I find myself kicking too hard trying to keep afloat.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had luck with moving to a five-stroke breathing pattern. Is this okay for endurance swimming? What are its benefits and drawbacks?

Start with balance, once you have improved in that area, move on to rotation, then breathing, and finally, you can start to get into the technical aspects of the pull.