1 KM swim tough for non-swimmer?

thinking about entering into a team triathlon.

1 km swim

33 km bike

7 km run

My friend does a lot of biking, so he'll take care of that. I do a lot of running, so I'll take care of that.

Neither of us do much swimming. I'm not a bad swimmer. A couple years ago I used to take this swimming class, was really fuckin tough. Problem with my swimmmng is mainly that my form has never been great, so I end up expending way more energy then I need to be. But do you think that will be a problem for just a 1 km swim?

I'll go practice, there is an olympic sized pool near by, but won't be able to get there much.

is that it?!

shit, I may just have to go ahead and win ths whole damn race ;)

but seriously, 20 laps, that will be no sweat

I'd drown...legs are like bricks. Powerful? Sure, endurance? SCREWED.

Swam 21 lengths of a 25m pool and I was shattered, granted it was my first time doing lengths and my technique is probably worse then terrible :P. I can hold my breath for a decent 92seconds but my leg technique is probably horrible!

Koing

just did my first tri in May swam 400m in 10min.

Last time i tried swimming I was training for a fight, so i was in decent shape...but, i am not a good swimmer. Doing 10 laps in an olympic pool wiped me out.

I think its because for me, its not so much swimming as trying not to drown. Also, getting the breathing rythem is hard for me, then i hyperventilate...and then i gas.

Swimming is NO JOKE. An important skill to learn, if anything for survival purposes.

Like other forum members on this thread, I swam like 10-15 laps once in our olympic pool...and I was wiped.

My legs are on the heavy side, I have "squat-ass", and my technique was for doo-doo.

But, again, it's a skill to be learned, so I imagine that with more time and practice, anyone can get better at it.

Scrapper hasn't chimed in, so I will. After many years of competitive swimming and water polo, I have changed the way I train in the water and I enjoy my work outs more. Scrapper posted a recommendation for "Total Immersion" on the boards a while back.

Total Immersion swimming (books, clinics, http://www.totalimmersion.net/) is a great resource for learning to swim better. They say improvements are 70% form and 30% endurance. Learning to lengthen your stroke and cover more space per stroke will yield faster results than simply kicking harder and turning your arms faster.

So if you are going to train, learn to swim efficiently so you aren't wasting all of your energy trying to beat up the water. Read what is available and spend some time in the pool.

I don't think a distance swims are that bad, even though I was a sprinter, but I have too many hours in the water to be objective.

thanks for all the advise guys.

btw, the triathlon is in 2 weeks!

http://www.triathlonmonttremblant.com/eng/accueil.html

I've run 2 marathons before. Don't do much very long distance running anymore, I do mostly sprints, hill sprints...but don't really considwer 7 KM long distance

I will also say Total Immersion (i have the book) is fantastic

If an Olympic pool is 50m long, then 1 km = 10 laps, since a lap would be 2 lengths.

It's highly unlikely that someone who doesn't train regularly at swimming
will break 10 minutes for the 1000 meters. Not to rain on your parade,
but you'd better form some realistic expectations if you expect to
maintain your composure when you have two more legs to race after the
swim. If you figured that you'd complete the 1000 swim in 10 minutes,
and then finished in 15 minutes, that could be a bit of a shock.

Go to the pool and try to swim 100 meters all out, and see what your time
is. Then, multiply that by about 15 to get a reasonable estimate of your
1000m time. This will allow for a slightly reduced pace for the greater
distance, and also take into account the degradation of your form over
the longer distance due to fatigue.

Good luck, and race smart.

Lee

"if there was somebody in front of me, instead of swimming around them, I swam over them. "

lol

Jonathan,

No problem. Just don't wan't him to form fantasy expectations. Too far
to go in the race to have your willpower destroyed when you see the clock
as you get out of the water.

Lee