Try & tri-again
Proper swimming skills calm nerves on race day

Editor's note: Writers Vicki Viotti, a novice athlete, and Katherine Nichols, an experienced competitor, are training together for the Sept. 9 Niketown Na Wahine Sprint Triathlon. In this weekly column, they share insights from experts, other athletes and their own training regimen, aimed at helping readers push their own boundaries — physically and mentally.

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Swimmers line up for the start of last year's Na Wahine Sprint Triathlon, a 500-meter swimming course followed by a 12-mile bike ride and 5-kilometer run. Tania Jo Ingrahm

Even here in Hawai'i, where water encircles and enfolds us, it's common to find people who romp in it without attaining a mastery, or even a casual acquaintance, with swim technique. One reason why Na Wahine and many other events put the swim segment first is because there are so many skill levels that the swim tends to spread out the throng into a competitor stream that's safer on the bike route, said organizer KC Carlberg.

Also, you're less likely to drown if you swim before the running and biking tucker you out.

Ironically, swimming is one of those skills that improve dramatically with some good instruction and practice. Lilian Kanai, an anesthesiologist, could not swim a lick and would panic whenever in deep water. Five years ago, Kanai decided she'd enter the Tinman, and trained with triathlete Heather Jorris for seven months.

"You give me a challenge like that, and I'm so stubborn I have to get through it," she said, laughing. She has done three Tinmans, improving her time each year, and even though she still senses the occasional panic attack in the offing, she can talk herself down from it now.

Kanai's current coach is Peter Hursty, who just won his fourth Tinman. Hursty said the swim is still the most anxiety-ridden part of the race, partly because of crowded conditions. "You feel like a sardine in a can," he said. "It can be dangerous in that you have too many arms and legs that aren't yours."

Hursty and others who coach newbie swimmers — Jan Prins and the Honolulu Club's Cheryl Henry, among them — agree that the first step is breathing properly. For example, Prins said, swimmers need to inhale and exhale fully, which helps to eliminate a tightness in the chest that affects everything you're doing.

"And everything else pales next to good body position," Prins added. "You need to lie flat on the water."

At her Ala Moana Beach Park swim clinics, Henry exhorts swimmers to consciously press down in the water from their flotation center, about mid-chest level. This will help to lift the lower body, creating less drag as the swimmer moves through the water, she said.

Also: Keeping a lead arm out in front as much as possible helps to keep movements more efficient. Her mental trick: Imagine your hand out front is holding a baby shark you have to keep away from your face at all costs, quickly passing the shark to the other hand as that arm swings forward. This helps sustain the gliding motion.