Three ideas that will not only help you swim better in your next triathlon — they’ll also have you ready to cycle and run your best.

This will come as a shock to many, but 200 Butterfly doesn’t have to be grueling. It’s entirely possible to learn to swim 200 continuous yards of Butterfly and feel nearly as good on your last 25 as on your first. How? By practicing ease, rather than struggle.

Well, not 5.85 miles exactly. But yesterday at the Little Red Lighthouse swim, I “sprinted” for over 2 miles, or nearly 50 minutes, by breaking that longish stretch into segments lasting less than 20 seconds — the time between peeks forward at the two red caps I was chasing.

The two numbers — how many people have swum the English Channel, and how many have been in outer space — are virtually the same, pointing up what a strikingly rare and significant accomplishment it remains to swim the Channel. And yet, Channel swimming remains accessible to the average swimmer willing to prepare extraordinarily well.

Swimming the English Channel – by which I mean not just the business of traversing Dover Strait under your own power, but of joining the Channel-swimming community — is as compelling a social, as an athletic, experience. What struck me most during our 14 days in Dover was Channel Swimming’s combination of being both profoundly isolating and powerfully communitarian.

Many swimmers wonder if practicing drills will hurt their fitness. The most succinct answer is No . . . so long as they’re part of a program designed to improve your swimming. My email exchange with a recent TI Workshop graduate explains why and how:

>>Hi Terry!

My concentration was broken numerous times — most often by a “rogue swell” that broke my rhythm. It sometimes took six or eight strokes to get it back — and for me to get back in my “zone.” But the important thing was that I stayed with those focal points, or re-establishing them, for the entire two hours. It made the time pass somewhat faster, but more important gave me a clear sense of purpose throughout.

At the center of my awareness was a sense of my focus and action merging into perfect unity, and a meditative state so profound that I flowed through the 4th loop with little sense of passing time or distance. What had been effortful – as much mentally as physically – was transformed into rhythmic and relaxed.

in English Channel terms, if I average 1 meter per stroke for 23 miles (assuming a less-than-laserlike course) it will take me 36,800 strokes to reach France. If I average 60 strokes a minute, I can complete the swim in just over 10 hours. But the turbulence I should expect to face will undoubtedly have a significant effect on how far each stroke will propel me. Each tenth of a meter (about 4 inches) in lost distance per stroke will add an hour to my time!

At 5:30, we returned for a second harbor tour. I’d been thinking about how ineffectual I’d felt in the morning. I retained a picture of Dave cutting through the waves ahead of me, while I felt like a cork being tossed about. I decided to use that visualization during the afternoon swim, creating a stroking sense to match that picture before reaching the rough south end of the harbor and maintaining it once I did. I also decided to be conscious of body language from the time I arrived at the harbor. While I’d been a bit tentative about getting in for the first time, now I would prepare for the swim, walk to the water’s edge and immediately dive in and begin swimming without a moment’s hesitation – radiating purpose and confidence throughout.