One of the things that I felt would hold me back was swimming. Frankly I couldn't do it at 52. I was swimming 100 yds in about 2:45 then. Very slow. This speed would not have gotten me to the end of the swim in enough time to complete that leg and go on. However, I liked swimming a great deal and began to invest in it. I got very lucky in that the pool swim was pretty much abandoned by the other athletes once open water swimming season opened. I continued to do at least one pool swim per week and had my coach to myself those mornings. This happened for three years. Each year I made progress on my speed. Two years ago I accidentally swam a 100 in 1:31. This was when I was working on sprints and going all out but for some reason I could not repeat this for two long years. I became very frustrated. I was doing 100s at 1:45 usually in repeats. All out I was only getting to 1:40.
I started investigating swimming by watching youtube videos on it, reading articles about swimming and also reading scientific articles on the issues of drag in the water. Over time I came to realize just how important body position is in the water. Your swimming form is also of paramount importance. To put it simply, very small changes can have big impacts in the water. Moving your hand entry from the center to the shoulder width can affect the drag and your effectiveness of your movement. This means that in reality it is extremely easy to improve your swimming if you work on form. Many folks are pretty unaware of their body position in the water and this makes it hard to diagnose and fix. Ask your coach to help you but you also need to work on your own and "feel" your own body position. Try not swimming for completion but swimming for form. Pick your head up and watch how your arms enter the water. Make sure your hands are entering at shoulder width, not in the center of your body. When you use the kick board, feel how deep your feet are in the water. Try to kick at the surface. These simple fixes can have significant effects on your speed. Today I swim pretty fast. In fact I'm keeping up with athletes half my age and hoping to move even faster. I'm working on an article about swim drag to help others achieve faster speed. I hope that you'll read it when I publish!
Here's some proof that I'm able to swim pretty fast. This speed was attained over 5 years of work. However, had I known what I know now, I would have attained it much faster. It's not due to strength, it's due to corrections to body position and form I've figured out over that time. Good luck on your swim!
