What’s Actually Slowing You Down in the Water

Most triathletes assume they’re slow in the swim because they’re not fit enough. They look at heart rate, volume, or missed sessions and conclude they simply need to work harder.

That’s almost never the real problem.

Most triathletes are slow because they leak speed everywhere. Not one catastrophic mistake, but a collection of small, hard-to-see brakes that quietly drain energy, spike effort, and make the swim feel far harder than it should.

This isn’t about adding more work. It’s about removing what’s holding you back.

1. You’re Fighting the Water Before You Ever Pull It

Speed starts before the arms do anything. Long before strength or conditioning matter, body position decides whether you’re moving efficiently or dragging water behind you.

When the head lifts even slightly, the hips drop. When the hips drop, drag explodes. Suddenly you’re swimming uphill, even if the effort feels high.

Most triathletes try to fix this by kicking harder to stay afloat. That works briefly, but it costs energy and doesn’t address the root problem. A strong pull can’t overcome a broken body line.

Swimming with good balance feels like sliding downhill. Swimming without it feels like grinding upward. Just a few centimeters of head lift can cost seconds per 100 — and far more over the course of a race.

Takeaway: Speed starts with balance, not strength.

2. Your Catch Is Late, Rushed, or Missing Entirely

This is one of the biggest and most misunderstood speed leaks.

Many triathletes don’t actually catch the water. They start pulling before they’ve set any pressure. The stroke feels busy and tiring, but it doesn’t translate into forward motion.

Under fatigue, the elbow drops, the hand slips, and water is lost. It looks like work, but it’s work without payoff.

A simple way to describe it is spinning the wheels in neutral. You’re moving fast, but going nowhere.

Paddles often mask this issue. They add load, but they don’t teach connection. If you never truly caught the water, there’s nothing meaningful to pull.

Takeaway: You can’t pull water you never caught.

3. You Breathe in a Way That Breaks Your Stroke

Breathing isn’t a break from swimming. It’s part of the stroke, and when it’s done poorly, everything else falls apart.

Many triathletes lift the head instead of rotating, rush the breath, or hold tension through the neck and shoulders. Each breath disrupts balance and stalls momentum.

In the pool, this shows up as choppy rhythm and rising effort. In open water, it often shows up as anxiety or panic.

Controlled breathing creates calm. Calm preserves technique. And preserved technique costs less energy.

Takeaway: If breathing costs speed, it’s done wrong.

4. You Start Every Swim Too Hard

Pace control is a skill, not a personality trait.

Most triathletes surge the first 100–200 meters, whether in training or racing. Heart rate spikes, breathing becomes rushed, and technique starts to unravel early.

From that point on, the swim turns into damage control.

Strong open-water swimmers do the opposite. They look calm at the start. They settle first and apply pressure later.

A controlled first 300 meters often saves minutes by the end of the swim.

Takeaway: Control creates speed. Aggression usually kills it.

5. You Train Tired Technique and Call It Endurance

This is one of the most common traps in triathlon swim training.

Long sessions with collapsing form don’t build endurance. They reinforce poor movement patterns and teach the body how to swim badly for longer.

Elite swimmers don’t train that way. When form breaks down, they slow the pace or stop the set.

Because endurance isn’t surviving ugly meters. Endurance is holding shape as fatigue rises.

Once technique falls apart, the set has already stopped doing its job.

Takeaway: Bad reps don’t make you tougher. They make you slower.

6. You Rely on Tools Instead of Fixing the Problem

Pull buoys, paddles, and bands all have a place. The issue isn’t the tools themselves. It’s what they’re used to hide.

Buoys can mask balance issues. Paddles can overload weak shoulders. Equipment can make swimming feel faster without actually fixing anything.

If speed disappears the moment the tools come off, nothing has transferred.

Tools should teach, not disguise.

Takeaway: If it only works with equipment, it’s not fixed.

7. You Don’t Train for Open-Water Stress

Pool speed doesn’t automatically become race-day speed.

Many triathletes never practice sighting under fatigue, swimming in contact, or breathing when stress is high. So when chaos hits, technique disappears.

Panic is the biggest brake of all. Calm swimmers waste less energy, adapt faster, and exit the water fresher.

The swim doesn’t start when the horn goes. It starts the moment control is challenged.

Takeaway: Calm is a skill, and it’s trainable.

The Bottom Line

Most triathletes don’t need more fitness. They need fewer leaks.

When you remove the small brakes — poor balance, rushed breathing, sloppy pacing, tired technique — speed shows up without forcing it. Effort drops. Control improves. The swim stops feeling like a fight.

This is why guessing rarely works. You can train hard for years and still miss the one or two things that matter most for you.

That’s also why many triathletes start with clarity before they commit to bigger changes.

A clear look at how you swim, where you’re leaking speed, and what to fix first often does more in a few weeks than months of grinding through generic sets.