Of the three sports in triathlon, swimming is by far the sport, that can benefit most from improving your technique.  Moving through the water efficiently is not a matter of pure effort, the use of the right mechanics, increases speed dramatically.  So how do you improve technique? Swim drills, as part of your pool workouts, will definitely help.

I had a lot of freestyle one-arm drill swimming during my workout this afternoon. About 15% of the total distance that I swam today was done using only one arm.

One-arm drills are one of the most used swim drills.  There are dozens of really good videos on the internet that show you how to do them.  The most important part of the drill is to include body rotation.  You have to make sure you rotate your body to the side opposite the arm that you are swimming with.  To help force this rotation, it helps to breathe every stroke on that non-stroke side. 

The one-arm drill, when done correctly, really helps develop a good catch and rotational power.  It is not an easy drill to master immediately, because it requires a lot of coordination.  Once you get into the rhythm of doing the drill however, you can really get a feel for all aspects of the stroke, including kicking.

I don’t do swim drills in every pool workout, but I do include them quite often.  I find that they can be quite challenging, but at the same time, I know that they are helping me improve my technique.