When you begin your swimming training there are many points to keep in mind. The first is relaxation. You may not be very comfortable in the water; you may have bad memories of swim lessons. The swim portion of a triathlon is normally done in swim lanes in a pool or in open water in a crowd. You may be jostled or splashed. If you aren’t comfortable in the water, if you feel like panicking when your face gets wet, you will have a problem. So when you begin your training, work on relaxation in the water. Get in the pool and submerge yourself. Stay under the water and look around a bit. Come up for air and go back down. If you feel a little panicky, think about a pleasant place. Relax. The second step is to try swimming under the water a little bit. You won’t be swimming under water in your competition but this step will help in decreasing your anxiety level. Push off the wall and try to swim as far as you can under the water with your eyes open. Come up for air and go back down. Relax. Finally for this portion, go under the water and lie down on the bottom of the pool on your back and look up. Many times even if you had no problem with the first two suggestions, this third one will cause some difficulty. If you are new to swimming, I advise you to do these three steps frequently all the while reminding yourself to relax, to loosen up.
The second key point is related to the first because without being relaxed a lot of what happens in swim training is more difficult. Push off the wall, on the surface this time, and just stretch out and kick. When your face is in the water blow bubbles; when you need to breathe turn your entire body and inhale. Then return to your prone position blowing bubbles. You have to learn to exhale while your face is in the water and inhale when your body turns. This may seem very obvious, but many new swimmers hold their breath when their faces are in the water and then try to exhale and inhale in the same motion. When they do that they lift their heads too high, they blow all their air out, and they gasp for new air. This becomes a negative cycle and can destroy any comfort or relaxation achieved as well as interrupting good stroke technique. So blow bubbles in the water, breathe air out of the water.
