Mike McRoberts' road to an Ironman: Learning to swim

Over the next couple of months I'll take you through my training and preparation for my latest challenge: the Taupo 70.3 IronMan next March.

I'll let you see exactly what I'm up to; what's working and what's not, the good and the bad.

One of the disciplines I'm need to get my head around if I’m going to make it to the start line of next year’s 70.3 Ironman in Taupo is swimming.

I've never been a strong swimmer and despite completing an Ocean Swim last year (which was big news, not because I'd completed it but because I had my photo taken with the top of my wetsuit down haha), I never really felt comfortable doing it.

Mike McRoberts' road to an Ironman: Learning to swim

I've enlisted the help of Ironman and swim coach, Andrew McKay and have started swimming lessons. I'm hoping Andrew is going to get me to a stage where I don't feel like I'm pulling a chest freezer when I'm swimming.

Mike McRoberts' road to an Ironman: Learning to swim

I can tell you it's not easy and I've absolutely struggled. Despite being pretty fit I've found the breathing part of swimming hard to master and I seem to be working much harder than I need to.

Mike McRoberts' road to an Ironman: Learning to swim

You'll see from the video clip I’m wearing Blue Seventy buoyancy shorts which help promote better technique. My Garmin Fenix watch is also paired with a heart monitor so I can see how hard I'm working in the water.

But even the best equipment won't swim the 1.9 kilometres for me next March so it looks like I've got a bit of pool time coming up!

Newshub.