Open water swimming.
Possibly the element of triathlon that generates the most heartburn for a triathlete. So we’re going for the hard sell on this page.
We actually freaking love open water swimming (no, really), and want you to do the same.
We aim to be shamelessly biased while still giving you all the open water swimming tips you need to confidently swim in the great outdoors.
What is open water swimming?
Open water swimming is any swim in a natural body of water, typically a dam, lake or reservoir (okay, not technically ‘natural’ unless the beavers built it, but you get the point), river or ocean.
Open water swimming is a skill you need for triathlon
Most triathlons of Olympic distance and longer will be in open water, but the same can apply to the shorter distances too.
Is open water swimming harder than swimming in a pool?
No. Okay, maybe sometimes.
But you do have a few things working in your favor:
- If you’re in the ocean, you’re swimming in salt water, which gives you additional buoyancy and makes swimming much, much easier.
And there’s no need to tread water if you stop for a break. - If it’s cold, you’re in a wetsuit, which is almost as buoyant as a pull buoy, even in fresh water. In salt water, you’re virtually skimming off the top of the water, almost.
- If you’re in a river, a significant portion of the race course usually involves swimming downstream. So there’s a current literally pushing you along to the finish line.
If you’re in a fresh-water lake with no current and no wetsuit on… yeah, we got nothing for you. It’s probably harder.
Try doing this in a pool.
Top pool tips to prepare for open water swimming
We’ll get into the prep tips shortly, but given the focus on this article on hard selling open water swimming to you, here are some things you won’t have to worry about in open water.
Things that only won’t bother you in open water swimming
Chlorine. That wonderful chemical that allows you a clear swimmnig pool by extracting every ounce of moisture from your skin and hair, leaving you shedding skin like a snake on a growth spurt.
It also leaves you smelling like hand sanitizer.
Waiting for some space to open up in a lane…
The man (it’s almost always a man) who waits for you to get right to the very end of your lap, and then pushes off the wall in front of you and swims breaststroke like he’s trying to keep his hair dry.
That other man (yes, man) who gets in the ‘fast lane’ during lap swimming and proceeds to do an entire session of kicking.
Preparing for open water swimming
Despite the many joys of pool swimming, we are often stuck with it for most of our training, and there are several things new open water swimmers can do to ready yourself for open water.
- Swim with your eyes closed. This sounds like a way to swim straight into either the lane ropes or that backstroker we just spoke about, but stick with us. Getting used to murky water and lower visibility takes some doing, and so short stints with your eyes closed doing front crawl give you a chance to rely less on sight to get your bearings.
- Practice bilateral breathing (breathing on both sides) – not all the time, but once or twice per lap. This will help you look for other swimmers in a race situation, particularly as you approach a buoy and things can get crowded (see our race tips for more on that).
- Practice swimming with your head up, looking forward like a water polo player. Swimming in a straight line is a challenge affecting most open water swimmers, and so looking forward for an extended period of time to get your bearings is a very useful skill.
- Practice sighting. This is different from the water polo style above (which is way to tiring to sustain for even the shortest of open water events), and is the single most useful skill first timers can practice ahead of race day.
- Lift your head slightly and look forward over the surface of the water – the analogy swimmers use is ‘alligator eyes’, where only the eyes break the surface between breaths.
- Practice taking a quick peek every 8 to 10 strokes as you swim front crawl in the pool, without breaking your stroke or changing your stroke rate.
No, you won’t see one of these on the swim leg
Things you can’t prepare for in the swimming pool
There are a few specific aspects of open water that you can’t easily replicate in a pool swim.
It is therefore really beneficial to swim in open water a few times before you race, to get things to the point where they feel natural.
Swimming in the right direction
This is tricky for two reasons – no lane rope to keep you in line, compounded by open water conditions which might include currents, choppy water and wind to move you off course.
In bigger races like Ironman®, the open water swim course is plotted out with a marker buoy every hundred to two hundred meters, giving you almost the same effect as lane lines and helping you spend far less energy on swimming straight.
Many smaller races only have the turn buoys however, with no marker buoys in between, and these can be several hundred yards apart.
Sighting drills in the pool help with the technique, but practicing in choppy waves or more dynamic conditions will help you become more confident when the turn buoys are harder to spot. See our race tips for more.
Don’t worry – you’re not going to get lost. All races have paddle boarders or kayakers in the water with you, and they’ll set you straight if needed.
You may encounter wildlife
Practicing turning
Yes, after several sections dedicated to swimming straight, we’re now telling you to practice turning.
Practice swimming around a turn buoy in a relatively smooth arc, which you can’t do surrounded by lane lines.
Practice breathing and sighting while you veer left (or right!) around a buoy to get used to this.
Gaining confidence in open water conditions
Pool swimmers train in a very controlled environment. There are rules, lifeguards, lines on the floor, and in warmer water than you may find in an open water environment.
Open water can sometimes consist of deep water, cold water, murky water, come with unexpected waves and sometimes even unexpected wildlife (although not as often as you’d think).
There are several open water swimming tips specifically aimed at building confidence:
- find other triathletes, or someone familiar with open water swimming in your area, to train with. Swimming alone is not recommended in open water, so why not swim with someone who already knows the ins and outs?
- actively plan to swim in colder waters, to get a feel for how to breath, relax, and maintain your regular stroke rate outside of an ideal (i.e. warm) environment.
- don’t think too much about what’s below you. No matter how deep the deep end is in your local pool, you’re likely to be in much deeper water in any body of open water. You can (and should) address this worry by staying in the shallows, particularly if you’re swimming in the sea.
But dwelling on what you think you may or may not have seen in the shadows below you won’t lead you to a happy place.
You’d be far better off keeping an eye out for boaters than for rogue piranhas.
Take the plunge
“Take the plunge”? Bad, terrible, lazy writing. Sorry.
But seriously. Don’t let cold water or some idea that Jaws lives in your local lake hold you back from trying open water swimming.
Yes, many races require it of you, but once you get more comfortable, you may well find you prefer it to pool swimming.
With the right gear to keep you warm, you’ll find open water swimming great no matter where your swim speed is at.