Contrary

Glen Gore is South African. He's been that country's best triathlete for most of the last ten or fifteen years, notwithstanding the recent rise of very good short coursers like Conrad Stolz. Gore has been African Champion ('97); South African short course champion ('97); South African long course champion ('98); 5th in IM South Africa last year, and 5th in IM Malaysia last month. He is a swim-run specialist. He usually comes out of the water first or second. He has the unofficial fastest time ever in an IM swim.

We asked Gore to write something for us that the average triathlete probably hasn't heard before. He obliged us with the puritan's view to swim gadgets and training aids.

PARAPHERNALIA

Forget the fancy gadgets, paddles, fins, special swim aids, timers, and pacers. It’s all a load of crock. If you want to swim faster, then you have to just swim. Strange statement? Not really. Do you know how many times I go down to a pool and see age-groupers will a kit bag full of training aids? They honestly think that a technological approach to swimming is the way to go. Wrong, in my view.

If you are a pure swimmer and start off young with an expert coach, then yes, all these aids will help you get to the top. As a triathlete, though, you probably started swimming at a much older age and swimming, quite frankly, confuses you. It is the one portion of a triathlon most age-groupers understand the least, and perhaps even fear. My view is, if you want to swim faster, better, and gain more confidence, then just swim. Toss the junk in the scrap heap. All you need is a small cossie [he means a swim brief], and goggles, that’s it.

Yes, a wetsuit is fine for races, but races only! Don’t train in the thing too often and then suddenly come to a conclusion that you’re a decent swimmer.

Sure, get a coach, and get into a program too. But just swim.

That’s easy for me to say, since the swim comes pretty natural for me, but I’m still sticking to my guns. The bottom line is, pro, age-grouper, whatever, if you’re a triathlete, then train like one, and forget about the Olympic swimmers. It’s a different sport altogether.

When I do a training session of 3000 to 5000 meters, all I do is swim. No kicking, not much pulling, all I focus on is training for a swim section of a triathlon. If it’s long distance or short, everything I do is just swim drills. Forget the kicking, you save your legs in a triathlon anyway. Besides the wetsuit keeps your legs buoyant without you even trying.

Paddles? Good for technique, but they aren’t going to help you a day before a major race. I have seen the very best woman Ironman athlete do a session with paddles a day before an Ironman. She’s the best, but man, that’s the wrong approach to training in my book.

You have to feel the pace within, so you can swim the pace in a race. If you plan to do a swim in a particular amount of time, work out the pace for a 100m, then do these repeats over and over and over. When you are able to swim the same time over and over again without looking at your watch, then you’ll have no problem in the race. Remember, in a race there are no turbulent lanes, no clocks, plus a thousand crazy athletes jumping on your back! So learn to pace within.

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