Are You New To Swimming Or Worried To Start? I Went From 0 To A 2.4 Mile Ironman Swim.

Here’s how:

When I first started training for triathlons, swimming was by far my worst sport.

I was only able to swim 25 yards at a time. Completely out of breath and burping up air. I was not comfortable in the water and did not understand how people breathe while swimming. Since then, I’ve done a 2.4 mile swim which is 4224 yards.

Starting at 25 yards and going to 4424 was an interesting journey.

Here is what I learned to improve in swimming:

• Swimming 25 yards, over and over

• Focusing on breathing in the water

• Gradually build volume

• Being in the water as much as possible

Swimming 25 Yards, Over and Over

Even though I was only able to swim 25 yards at a time, I continued to do repetitions of 25 yards after 25 yards.

Struggling to breath and barely making it to the wall to rest for a minute in between sets.

I realized that being uncomfortable and struggling during each set was a good thing. When starting something new there will always be a phase of complete discomfort that turns a lot of people off.

Gaining a new skill is often never easy, and I kept this in mind during each of my swim sessions.

Focusing On Breathing In The Water

As I continued to repeat repetitions of 25 yards during my first few swim sessions, I realized that I needed to learn how to breathe comfortably in the water. I began to watch YouTube videos on tips to breathe in the water and practiced those during my next swim sessions.

Getting more comfortable in the water launched my swimming progress. My sets went for 25 yards to 50, then 100, then did my first 250 yards without stopping on the wall.

The first milestone to improve at swimming is to learn how to comfortably breathe in the water.

Gradually Build Volume

Now that I began to feel comfortable breathing in water, I started gradually increasing the volume of yards I swam per session and per week.

I increased volume in two ways.

First, I increased the size of sets. For instance, I would swim 4 sets of 400 yards as my main set. The following week, I would increase the volume to 4 sets of 450 yards.

The second way I increased volume was to do one long set for a whole session and increase the yardage per week. For example, I would swim 1500 yards without stopping for a session. The following week, I would swim 1650 yards without stopping.

This gradual increase in volume improved my form, comfort in the pool, and endurance in the water to get closer to the 2.4 miles Ironman swim.

Being In The Water As Much As Possible

The only way to conquer or begin to build courage against the fear of water is to get in the water.

The more you face your fear the more you can handle it. The same goes with improving in swimming. The more you are in the water and swimming, the better you will get.

If you want to start swimming or get better at it, just start and swim a lot.

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