As autumn becomes winter and the triathletes and open water swimmers migrate to the warmer confines of their local swimming pools, it can sometimes feel a little mundane pounding out the lengths in a wee 25 metre pool (or even 50 metre if your lucky enough to have one nearby); but like all dedicated athletes, we should try to remember that the lake is not the only, or best place to improve our swim technique.
Moreover, with the swimming pools clearer water, a consistency in lap length, timing clocks on the walls and the option for a swim instructor to critique your overall swimming technique/stroke more clearly, pool based training offers a plethora of benefits over the local lake.
That said, these benefits can be negated should the lap upon lap, or drill upon drill be performed with a poor or inefficient technique; and thereafter / similarly to almost 50% of age group swimmers, repetitive strain injuries can occur Shoulder Impingement Syndrome.
Consequently, your out of season training, shouldn’t just be about spending hours racking up the lengths. It should also be a time when you work on ironing out any weak links… such as focusing on improving your overall technique. And to help promote these improvements in your overall technique, the focus should not just be about what we do in the pool… ie: multiple laps and varying drills.
For example, restrictions in mobility (eg: caused by tight muscles) will inhibit normal ranges of movement – which in turn will impose greater demands on the physical structures of our body, adding for the potential for fatigue to set in a little earlier than could be expected… and thereafter, increasing the risk for an injury to occur as technique falters even further. So if you feel this might be something you are guilty of, and your then asking your body to perform the same movement several hundred / thousand times over the course of your swim (bike or run) session(s), it could be suggested that its only a matter of time before some form of repetitive injury occurs.
So to help improve our overall technique , we should also be looking to review and or improve areas in our flexibility and ranges of movement, as well as our cardio-vascular and muscular endurance. Equally, as swimming (similarly to cycling and running) also requires a high degree of symmetry between the left and right sides of the body, comparisons between both left and right should also be regularly reviewed; so as to protect against any imbalances from occurring, and once again reduce the risk for injury.
In summary, with an ability to facilitate good biomechanical range of movement throughout the required task, combined with improvements in muscular strength and endurance, we should start to notice less drag (eg: because of improved body alignment) and fewer strokes being taken within the distances being performed. This in turn should leave you feeling a little less fatigued, or able to sustain a little longer swim set (or for the triathletes amongst you, a little fresher on the bike section). Equally, it might also be suggested that you can exchange this newly saved energy and improved technique for an increase in speed / decrease in time taken to finish the event.
Thereafter, its time to get the speedo’s back on, slip back in the pool, and to focus on that clock, listen to your coach and work on the numerous drills which will also help to improve your swimming technique… and of course your swim times 
Need more motivation? Read our Clinic Ambassador Corrine Abraham’s blog on 10 things she loves about swimming
For more information on any of the above, please contact the Clinic team on 01628 639 532.