New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming

New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming: Spend More Time in the Pool.

I coach a regular open water swim practice for the triathletes and open water swimmers in the area. This article is my observations of some of the participants in the practices and is my contribution on how we can make open water swimming a little safer for everyone.

A lot of the best open water swimmers in the world will tell you that they get their best workouts not in open water, but in the pool. The pool is a controlled environment – distance is always the same, conditions are always the same, the water is clear, you can follow a black line and there is a pace clock to gauge performance. The pool is a simple, efficient training environment. If you are looking to improve your strength, conditioning and technique in the water, there is no better venue.

Here are a few recommendations for when a new triathlete with a limited swim background should start open water swimming:

- Do you have an experienced swim coach? This is a coach with years of on deck experience coaching swimming. Look to a Master’s swim program preferably one focused on open water swimming or ask how much experience they have coaching open water swimming.

- Do you know your pace per 100 in a pool? If you don’t know, you need to spend more time in the pool. On a side note, if your pace is slower than 2:30/100 yards, you need to spend more time in the pool.

- Can you comfortably swim 1000 yards in the pool without stopping? If you can’t, then you need to spend more time in the pool.

- Do you train alone? Again, training for the strength, conditioning and technique needed to be efficient in open water swimming is a team effort. You can’t effectively do it alone. Swim training is very different from training for the bike or run of a triathlon.

- Do you think 2000 yards is a long workout or 10,000 yards a week is impossible? If you do, you need to spend more time in the pool.

- Do you think that 4 times a week is too much training for swimming? Four times a week is my recommended minimum for new triathletes without swim backgrounds looking to become efficient in swimming and to tackle the open water swim.

- Do you have a big fear of open water swimming? This is perfectly natural and healthy. Even experienced open water swimmers have a little apprehension before going into open water swims. You have to respect the environment. But if your first instinct is to look for the kayaker or the buoy to grab onto, you need to spend more time in the pool.

- If you think that what is holding you back and why you can’t swim is your technique, you need to spend more time in the pool.

- Is an upcoming race that you entered driving you to get in the open water against your better judgment? If it is, you need to spend more time in the pool and probably think about canceling that race.

- Have you been swimming consistently (4 times a week) in the pool for less than three months? You need to spend more time in the pool. I usually recommend 3-4 months of consistent, hard training before we start to introduce a little open water swimming into the mix.

Swimming and open water swimming are challenging, exciting and rewarding pursuits. They require a lot of discipline, experience and hard work. With the right coaching guidance they can be safe and fun. I look forward to seeing you in the pool.

You can see the original posting of this article here along with other articles: www.magnoliamasters.com/swim-efficiency/ and take a look at the workouts the team does to get ready for open water swimming. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me. tim at magnolia masters dot com.