Open Water Swimming Workout Tips

Open Water Swimming Workout Tips

  There is more to swimming than just doing lap after lap, turning when you reach the wall at the end of the swimming pool. You can swim in places with no walls -open water swimming . Lakes, oceans, and rivers, all open water swimming arenas, offer a great change of scenery - go to your local beach for today's swimming workout instead of more laps in the swimming pool. Depending on the reasons you do open water swimming, you may find it more psychologically rewarding; open water swimming can certainly be just as productive for building your fitness and health .Competitive open water swimming events are held at many distances, from across the local pond to 24 miles or more. There are open water swimming races and events at Manhattan Island (28 miles), Tampa Bay (24 miles), and the English Channel (30 to 40 miles). Open Water World Championships, sanctioned by FINA, are held at distances of 5km and 25km; there are other distances contested, too. USA Swimming has an Open Water Division. And of course, in the world of triathlons,open water swims are the first leg of the race. Distances can vary from the sprint triathlon's short (500 meter) splash to the Ironman distance's long (2.4 mile) soak.(www.poqswim.com)

Open Water Swimming Tips(wwww.poqswim.com)

• There are no lines on the bottom. Look forward and sideways for landmarks to aid navigation, but find the balance between looking too often and not looking enough.
• Put on your sunscreen - and don't forget your lips.
• Drink plenty of fluids before you begin.
• Make sure you follow the buddy system - if you are at a guarded beach, tell the lifeguards what you are doing.
• You can do any type of open water swimming workout - long straight swims, intervals where you vary the intensity level, even short sprints then tread or float in place.
• It will be easier to count strokes compared to doing efforts for time or distance; 50 strokes at a high effort, 50 strokes easy, etc.
• Base your open water swimming workout on time spent swimming, not how far you think you have gone.
• Stay on the safe side of distance from shore - DON'T GO OUT TOO FAR.
• If you are in a race, watch out for the flailing arms and legs of those around you - getting hit or scratched hurts, and can knock off your goggles.
• Learn to use the waves to help you ride up and slide down.
• Time your stroke so you can breath without getting splashed in the face.
• Make sure you teach yourself how to breath to either side, left or right. If the waves are coming for the right, breathing to the left is much, much easier.
• If they are allowed, wetsuits designed for open water swimming will help - you will be amazed at the extra warmth and the additional speed with no additional effort.
• Overcoming a fear of open water swimming is worth it; it may take time and effort, but you can do it.

If you choose do open water swimming events or open water swimming workouts just to add variety to your workout, to practice for a triathlon, or to get ready for an open water race, have fun and enjoy the freedom of swimming without the walls.(www.poqswim.com)

Open Water Swimming For Beginners - The First Time

Open Water Swimming For Beginners - The First Time

Now that you have practiced a couple of skills, you are ready for your first open water swim. Your location will dictate which sites are available. Be smart for your first start. If it is raining and cold with 20 mile per hour winds, put your swim off to another day. (www.poqswim.com)

Research the site where you plan to swim. Safety should always be your first priority. Are there lifeguards on duty? If yes, let them know your swim plans; direction, time and/or distance. If not, don't swim alone. Have someone kayak, paddle, swim or walk the shore along your side. Try to stay close to shore in water depth where you can stand unless the ocean surf dictates otherwise.

Find out the water temperature so you will have a better idea what to expect. Are there hazards such as rip currents in the area? What water creatures might be encountered? Talk to the lifeguards or other local swimmers in order to get information about the site. (www.poqswim.com)

Have an escape plan from your swim if the weather or your body takes a turn for the worse. This is easy during a shoreline beach swim, just get out and walk back to the start. 

Navigation Landmarks 

Take a moment before getting in the water to look and see what's available for landmarks to help guage your location during your swim. The sun is the easiest landmark to use if it is low in the sky. If you are swimming a straight course and the sun is directly to your left while breathing, watching it will help guage your position. If it suddenly appears in front, you're off course and need to readjust. The ocean or lake shoreline is another excellent landmark that can be seen on each breath (assuming bilateral breathing is part of your repertoire) and are easy to use when swimming an out and back course along the shore. (www.poqswim.com)

In a lake, there may be a large tree sticking up above the horizon or a brightly colored house across the lake which can be used to keep aim; finally, a reason to be thankful for a homeowner's bright pink paint selection.

Try to use landmarks which are tall or high above the horizon as opposed to those close to the water level. If a landmark is low, it may be difficult to see if there are waves or swell. Look for tall buildings, water towers or church steeples. While swimming at open water camp in Mooselookmeguntic Lake in Maine -yes, that is the actual name of the lake- mountains in the area provided excellent landmarks.(www.poqswim.com)

Getting In The Water

  Some swimmers have a saying, "The worst part of workout is getting in the pool." Getting into open water isn't any easier. Is better to get in slowly and adjust to the temperature or get in quickly? Try both and see which is preferable, either is acceptable with one caveat. If the air temperature is cold, a lot of body heat can be lost while "getting in" if it takes several minutes. Better to get in quickly and lose less body heat than slowly and get chilled before starting. If the water is cold but the air is warm, and sun is shining, it's OK to take longer getting in since your body's not losing heat. (www.poqswim.com)

     Many open water athletes swim for time rather than distance for their training. While watching your wristwatch, time might seem like it is D R A G G I N G! This is fairly common. Five minutes seems like twenty. Don't worry; your 'time sense' will improve with more open water practice. 

      Adjusting to swimming for long periods without turns, takes time. Take it easy and try to enjoy your first open water experience. Check in after the first few minutes, and ask yourself, "Am I relaxed?" If your arms and legs feel like 2x4's, concentrate on relaxing your muscles and see if that helps your comfort level improve. The mind is your company during open water swims, and its important to keep the "little voice" (sometimes it's shouting) in your head echoing a positive message. Try to keep the 'negative' thoughts (this #*$% stinks!) to a minimum. Sometimes it's helpful to yell out negative thoughts, "This water is FREEZING" or "These waves are horrible!", and get them out of your system. (www.poqswim.com)

      Don't be concerned if your first experience isn't nirvana. Remember back, learning to ride a bike or drive a car? Those skills weren't second nature the first time either. The more experience gained in open water will help increase your comfort level. There is a freedom and challenge swimming in open water which just can't be experienced in the pool. So go out and have some fun with it!(www.poqswim.com)

Open Water Swimming for Beginners - How To Begin

Open Water Swimming for Beginners - How To Begin

Swimming in open water is your goal, where to start? I will assume that you already know how to swim. If not, take some lessons, join a YMCA or a masters swimming team and learn the crawl or freestyle. There are a few things that you can do in the pool to prepare for swimming in open water; bilateral breathing, head lifting and stroke rate training.

•First of all, breathing on both sides, or bilateral breathing, is a must. Is this within your physical capabilities? Stand up and twist the upper half of your body to the right and then to the left. Then turn your head to the right and left.(www.poqswim.com)

Learning to breathe on both sides is possible. Why is this necessary? Imagine or perform the following experiment. Find an open space about 400 yards long. Select a target and try to walk straight toward it EXCEPT close your eyes and turn your head, looking to the right every 2 steps. Sneak a look forward every 10 steps. Vision in the water will be even harder because your forward view may be restricted depending upon wave conditions, fog in your goggles or glare from the sun reflecting off of the water. This is also assuming strict concentration upon straight line swimming, a difficult task for your first open water swim.

Breathing on both sides accomplishes two main goals. It tends to "even out" your stroke so that you will naturally swim straighter. Ha, ha, you already KNOW how to swim straight, right? But that is in the pool. Think of the available cues, lane lines on the side and a black line on the bottom to guide your progress. Open water is much different. In addition to the lack of visual cues available in the pool, the water is colder, there might be some waves and the 'pool length' can be as long as a mile!(www.poqswim.com)

The second advantage to bilateral breathing is that it will allow you to see to the right and left. When swimming in the ocean, the usual course traverses down and back along the beach. With single side breathing, half of your race will have NO visible cues toward the shore. Watching the shoreline is extremely helpful for straight swimming in the ocean. Other advantages include being able to breath away from oncoming waves or fumes from boats and snubbing your trainer in escort swims if he/she makes you mad.

•Another skill to practice in the pool is lifting your head to see forward while swimming. The easiest way is to lift your head forward just before taking a breath to the side. I use the forward motion to look and then breathe to the side. Breathing head forward is not suggested since it requires too much energy to lift the head high enough for a breath and will cause slower swimming. Swim head up freestyle in the pool and see how difficult it is compared with head down swimming.

Try to get comfortable with this peek forward in the pool where it is relatively calm. It will be more difficult in open water, especially in the ocean.(www.poqswim.com)

How often is it necessary to look forward? That depends upon your straight line swimming ability coupled with course conditions. Ideally, the less head lifting, the better, but swimming off course is also not advantageous. Initially, try only looking forward every 10 strokes (each arm counts as one).

•Temperatures in open water are usually colder and may require a quicker stroke rate - stroke rate is how many arm pulls you take in a minute. In open water, strokes can be counted once for each arm as it starts pulling through the water. The rate is determined by counting each arm stroke for one minute (or counting for 30 seconds and multiplying by 2, or counting for 15 seconds and multiplying by 4). The best open water swimmers in the world have stroke rates between 70 and 100 strokes per minute, with women generally on the higher end of that scale.(www.poqswim.com)

A faster stroke rate will assist in keeping a swimmer warmer in cold water. Have a friend time your rate in the pool. If it is under 60, you may want to work on increasing it to better handle colder temperatures.

Don't get frustrated if increasing your stroke rate is difficult. People usually do not have a daily activity where their arm muscles exercise 'aerobically'. Swimmers develop "aerobic arms" through years of training. A runner's aerobic capability may not automatically transfer to the pool where the arms are the primary motor instead of the legs. Likewise, I can swim comfortably at 80 strokes per minutes after years of training, but watch out if I'm out running; I sound like a steam locomotive. (www.poqswim.com)

•One more suggestion with which some coaches may disagree; modifying the stroke recovery. The recovery is how a swimmer brings the arm out of the water and back to the front after completing a stroke. Many times coaches teach swimmers to sharply bend their elbow during the recovery. This usually brings the hand close to the surface of the water. This type of recovery may not work as well in waves. A majority of open water marathon swimmers use a straight arm recovery as opposed to a bent elbow recovery. I believe a straight arm recovery works better in waves and also helps reduce strain on the shoulder. The pectoral muscles work more to recover the arm when it is straight while the shoulder and rotator cuff muscles work more to recover the arm when it is bent at the elbow. 

www.poqswim.com

Sales:jack@poqswim.com

Open Water Swimming For Beginners

Open Water Swimming For Beginners

Open water swimming is a never ending adventure. Some of my favorite memories are from open water swimming: leaving from Catalina Island for the California mainland at 1AM on a windless moonlight night, watching the phosphorescence glow as my arm pulled through the water and fish dart below; open water swimming in tandem with my husband, Dave, silhouetted against the beautiful blue Caribbean water off the coast of St. Lucia. There is a freedom and challenge to open water swimming which just can't be experienced in the pool. Besides that, open water swimming is FUN!!

Other memories include the sense of fear before beginning a 42 kilometer swim in Newport Vermont, which heads north up Lake Memphremagog toward Canada and a foggy memory (due to mild hypothermia) of finishing in Calais, France after crossing the English Channel. There was also the exhilaration of conquering tough cold conditions or large waves and chop, swimming and finishing races despite mother natures' indifference to my plight.

www.poqswim.com

sales:jack@poqswim.com