Laughing at the Water????

About two weeks ago I received in the mail a copy of “The Essential Triathlon Swimming” DVD by Kevin Koskella. Koskella is the founder of http://triswimcoach.comand was also an accomplished swimmer at the college level. Koskella also currently teaches Masters swims classes in California. So, with my upcoming 1st Half Ironman on the horizon, I figured I would check out the DVD and see if I also could “laugh at the Water” also.

Ask anyone who has done a triathlon and I guarantee they would say that the swim is the toughest portion on the race. The reason for this is simple. Humans were not made to swim (unless your last name is Phelps!) I know I struggled in the water and it took me a long time to figure it out without the help of a coach.

So I watched the video.

It was really a great video and I will tell you why. Koskella does an excellent job of explaining the whys of swimming and an even better job at showing you how to do drills. The first 20 minutes or so of the video are all about drills you can do in the pool. Drills for balance, drills for those of us that tend to slap the water and drills to work on how the hand enters the water. The best part is that you actually get to see how the drills are done from an above view and an underwater view. This to me made a huge difference. I have read about one armed swimming drills and swimming with your fists, but to actually see it really showed me what the technique was working on.

The rest of the video concentrates on workouts and OWS (open water swimming). Both of these things are hard to accomplish because when I started swimming a workout plan, I had no idea of what to do, how to design or how to read a swim plan! OWS is a different animal itself, and is very different than swimming in a pool and Koskella does a great job of describing the ins and outs of OWS.

So after watching the video, which really made me want to go out for an OWS, I went to my local pool and tried out a few of the drills he describes. I worked on the vertical kick (freaking hard), the fingertip drag (I am a water slapper), the corkscrew, the hip rotation drill and the sighting drills. All of these drills have already helped my swimming in the week I have been working on them. I am not sure that I am faster yet, but I know that I am becoming more balanced and efficient in the water. This has also helped me get better at bilateral breathing (I only breathe to my left for some reason), and the main reason for this is balance in the water. I have found out how very important it is to have balance.

I still have a lot of work to do in the pool, but now I have some specific drills to work on to help me become more efficient in the water and not come out of the water winded. I am attaching the links to Koskella’s website and how to get a copy of the DVD. Go check it out, it helped me and then we can all get together and laugh at the water!!


To purchase a copy of the Essential Triathlon Swimming DVD, click this link:
http://www.triswimcoach.com/
For more information and free stuff from Tri Swim Coach, click the following link: http://www.triswimcoachonline.com/