Struggling to Simply Swim

By Peter Howcroft

I like to read the amazing testimonies of those whose strokes per lap (SPL) have dropped from very high numbers down to almost single digits, but my story is a little different. I’ve always felt very comfortable in the water because I’ve surfed since an early age and have often had to swim a long distance back to shore. My swimming has been functional but not fast enough to compete. It wasn’t until I read an early TI publication called “Swimming the TI Way,” that I got the idea that I could swim more efficiently.

I decided to rebuild my stroke and work through all the drills until I became fishlike, and it was disastrous! I reduced my SPL from 28 to 16, but was slow and couldn’t sustain longer distances without feeling breathless. I registered for a TI workshop in Sydney and flew from my home in Auckland, NZ to try solving my human swimming problem, as I only had my book for reference and my attempts at drilling were beginning to alarm others at the pool. I became worried because after completing the workshop I had lost my old swim muscle memory and felt like I had swapped it for a sleek but tiresome new style. Previously I could swim 2 or 3 Km easily in open water and now I struggled to swim that distance, even at much slower times.

In desperation I took a couple of swim lessons from the local instructor, a top competitive swimmer and triathlete. I didn’t mention anything about TI and was happy just to get back to my old thrashing, but to my dismay I had completely erased the muscle memory. My coach, on the other hand, was quite impressed with my style; he mentioned that I should try to lead with a higher elbow, but had no other suggestions. At that point I was fed up with drilling and decided to simply swim. No more analyzing; I just wanted to swim long distances without fatigue like I once did. I was over TI.

I swam a lot during the summer in the open water and deliberately avoided examining any aspect of my stroke. I would begin my swims by settling into a comfortable breathing pattern and then just keep that up for 45 minutes straight, in which time I’d get all sorts of insights and nice moments regarding parts of the stroke: clean hand entry, reaching forward into the sleeve, rolling like a log, propelling from the hips, high elbow, reaching not pulling, feeling the rhythm connect with power from the kick and the hips together — hey, wait a minute, I thought I was done with this TI stuff!

I’d stopped trying and was amazed to find that my stroke was more efficient than ever before. Now I am swimming long distances again, but with a real sense of ease and enjoyment. In the course of each swim, I drift from one key thought to the next and lap by lap am making minor adjustments. There is a real joy in this, as I find myself always looking for the glide feeling and finding that the secret is to just let it flood over me as I relax and swim!

I’m writing this article today aware that there may be others out there who have felt really defeated in their attempts to master TI. In my case, every step of the process was necessary. By focusing too much on outcomes, I had sacrificed my natural feel for and enjoyment of the water. I don’t measure my SPL anymore; instead, I ask myself how do I feel right now. In the long run (and the long swim!) that’s the measurement that matters most.

Comment on this Article

Peter is 51, married to his beautiful wife Lynnie for 25 blissful years and together they have three children: Joe (24), Kate (22), and Rose (18). Peter owns a high rise abseil company and employs 20 crazy young guys who like to jump off buildings for a living, cleaning high rise windows. Peter loves to surf, swim, run endurance events, golf and hang out with his family.